Movies: History of Technology

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Movies History of Technology
The illusion of motion persistence of
motion Eadweard Muybridge (1879) sets up a
serious of cameras to photograph a race horse to
see if at any time all four legs were off the
ground. He did this for California Governor
Leland Stanford who bet that, indeed, a horse got
off the ground. Stanford won the bet and
Muybridges photographs were a precursor of
motion picture technology (Zoogyroscope, 1880).
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Movies History of Technology

• The development of film
• Flexible film (Hannibal Goodwin and George
  Eastman, 1880s)
• Continuous film and photography
  kinetoscope (1888)
• Projection Lumiere Brothers (1895)
  cinematagraph
• Reliable projector Armat and Jenkins film
  gate Latham film loop
• Vitascope Edisons wide-screen projection
  (1896)
• The Nickelodeon (1905) The first theaters aimed
  at the working class

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Movies The coming of the story film

• George Melies (1900s) French magician creates
  stories with in-camera editing for special
  effects.
• Edwin Porter (for Edison) The Life of an
  American Fireman (1902) and The Great Train
  Robbery (1903). Editing for continuity.
• D.W. Griffith (1910s-1920s) The multi-reel
  story film the feature

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Movies The studio system

• First attempt was to control the hardware
  Motion Picture Patents Company (1908)
• Independents fought back with The feature
  film as standard The development of stars The
  move west to Hollywood Vertical Integration
• These Independents became the new
  Majors Paramount-Famous Players M-G-M-Loews
  Fox United Artists (1919) Universal
  (no theaters)

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Movies The studio system 1920s-1930s

• The studio system as production All facets of
  the production under control of one studio, from
  script to final edit. All creative and craft
  personnel under contract. Bank financing to
  control risk.
• Distribution Block booking and reciprocal
  theater access. Also control of foreign markets.
• Exhibition Control of first-run theaters by
  region the growth of the picture palace.
• The coming of sound Adds two new majors in
  Warner Brothers and RKO (created by Radio
  Corporation of America by buying
  Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater circuit.

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Movies The studio system 1920s-1940s

• The development of the Hollywood narrative film
  based on studio system.
• Genres Specific categories of films, such as
  crime dramas, westerns, etc. The appeal of genres
  guaranteed audience appeal.
• The Auteur The director as author of the
  film. Notion developed in the 1960s that tried
  to explain how certain directors styles
  superceded the homogenization of the studio
  system. Examples include John Ford, Howard Hawks.

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Movies The Documentary Tradition

• From the start, many film makers believed that
  non-fiction was the true art of the film.
  Greatest early example was Robert Flahertys
  Nanook of the North
• John Grierson Scottish film maker working in
  England coins the term Documentary in a review of
  Flahertys Moana. The creative treatment of
  actuality. Grierson organizes documentary units
  in Great Britain.
• American documentarists work for the Federal
  government during the Depression and World War II

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Movies The Documentary Tradition

• Improved portability leads to cinema verite (from
  the French) in which film makers attempt to
  become invisible and record raw reality. Most
  notable example was Frederick Wiseman.
• Documentary makers continue to this day continue
  to use film as a medium to record reality. These
  films take many forms, from the social satire of
  Michael Moore to the social commentary of Barbara
  Kopple and Peter Davis to the many independent
  film makers who illuminate historical, social,
  economic, and cultural issues without the use of
  fictional stories.

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Movies The 1950s-1960s

• The Paramount Decision (1948) Divorcement
  decree breaks up vertical integration, thus
  undermining the financial security of the studio
  system.
• Competition from television and foreign films
  forces change in content (more adult themes) and
  exhibition (color, wide-screen).
• Runaway production Movie making moved from
  Hollywood to locations with lower production
  costs.
• Hollywood Ten Blacklist affects the movie
  industry as some named names to avoid public
  censure.
• 1960s Discovery of the youth market. Escalation
  of sex and violence in movies.

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Movies Trends

• Movie studios as producers for network and
  syndicated television
• Blockbuster strategy Spend more on one film
  (particularly for popular stars and directors) in
  order to get a big hit (opposite of studio
  system). Studios more important as financing and
  distribution partners for independent film
  makers.
• Hollywood bookkeeping Gross revenue does not
  correspond to profit. Major players get theirs
  up front.
• Multiplex theaters Lower overhead, less variety
  in types of films.
• Multiple windows for film/video distribution
• Concentration of ownership in production and the
  reemergence of exhibitors as major players
• Digital film production and exhibition
• Home video, piracy, and P2P file sharing