Natasha Lloyd - Film Industry Boom

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Film Industry Boom
Natasha Lloyd
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1920s Beginning of Film Industry

• By the mid-20s, movies were a big business. By
  the end of the decade, there were 20 Hollywood
  studios, and the demand for films was greater
  than ever.
• Most people are unaware that the greatest output
  of feature films in the US occurred in the 1920s
  and 1930s (averaging about 800 film releases in a
  year) - nowadays, it is remarkable when
  production exceeds 500 films in a year.

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The Silent Era

• Throughout most of the early decades, silent
  films were the predominant product of the film
  industry.
• A silent film is a film with no synchronized
  recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue.
• In silent films the dialogue is transmitted
  through muted gestures, pantomime, and title
  cards.

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The Great Train Robbery

• One of the most famous examples from the silent
  era is The Great Train Robbery, a 1903 American
  Western film by Edwin S. Porter.
• Twelve minutes long, it is considered a milestone
  in filmmaking because of its use of a number of
  innovative shooting and editing techniques.

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Film Industry Boom

• After The Jazz Singer in 1927, "talkies (or
  non-silent films) became more and more
  commonplace and within a decade silent films
  essentially disappeared.
• After the early decades and the silent era, films
  began to be manufactured, assembly-line style, in
  Hollywood's 'entertainment factories,
• In these factories production was broken down
  and organized into its various components
  (writing, costuming, makeup, directing, etc.).

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Film Industry Boom

• Even the earliest films were organized into
  genres or types, with instantly recognizable
  storylines, settings, costumes, and characters.
• Films varied from melodramas and biblical epics
  by Cecil B. DeMille, to westerns, horror films,
  gangster/crime films, war films, the first
  feature documentary or non-fictional narrative
  films, romances, mysteries, and comedies (from
  the comic masters Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd).

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The Big Five

• During the early decades of filmmaking, the
  studio system was born.
• Studios employed long-term contracts for stars,
  lavish production values, and rigid control of
  directors and stars by the studio's big bosses.
• After World War I, America was the leading
  producer of films in the world. Production fell
  into the hands of five major studios, sometimes
  referred to as The Big Five.
• These five studios produced more than 90 percent
  of the fiction films in America and distributed
  their films both nationally and internationally.
• Each studio separated its products from other
  studios with logos, specific stars and directors.

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The Big Five

• Warner Bros Bugs Bunny cartoons, The Jazz
  Singer, Rin Tin Tin, gangster films
• Paramount Pictures stars Mae West, Bob Hope,
  Bing Crosby, director Cecil B. DeMille
• RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) Pictures
  Astaire/Rogers musicals, Citizen Kane, King Kong,
  once owned by eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) famous MGM lion roar,
  The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Tom Jerry
  cartoons, stars Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy
• 20th Century Fox stars Shirley Temple and Betty
  Grable

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The Big Five
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The Introduction of Sound

• As anticipated, the arrival of sound created many
  problems for film studios.
• Many Hollywood actors/actresses lacked good
  voices and stage experience.
• Acting suffered as studios attempted to record
  live dialogue because stationary or hidden
  microphones prevented the movement of actors.
• New investments had to be made for expensive new
  equipment, technological innovations, and
  sound-proofed stages.

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The Introduction of Color

• Another technological advance, in addition to
  sound, was the use of color.
• In the earliest years of the industry,
  hand-tinting/painting had been tried, but it was
  largely impractical, time-consuming, and
  unrealistic looking.
• In 1915, the Technicolor Motion Picture
  Corporation was founded to develop a more
  advanced system to colorize motion pictures.

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Beginning of the Academy Awards

• The non-profit organization, the Academy of
  Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was
  founded in 1927 with Douglas Fairbanks as
  president, to recognize and reward excellence
  within the film industry.
• In the first year of the Academy Awards'
  presentations, separate awards (not known as
  Oscar quite yet) were given for Best Production
  (now termed Best Picture).

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Hollywoods Early Mega Stars
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Clark Gable
Joan Crawford
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Hollywoods Early Mega Stars
Bette Davis
Katherine Hepburn
Charlie Chaplin
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Hollywood During the War Years

• The movie industry, like every other aspect of
  life, responded to the national war effort by
  making movies, producing many war-time favorites,
  and having stars (and film industry employees)
  enlist or report for duty.
• While the film industry was negatively impacted
  at first by WWII, Hollywood film production
  rebounded and reached its profitable peak during
  the years 1943 to 1946.
• Advances in film technology (sound recording,
  lighting, special effects, cinematography and use
  of color) meant that films were more watchable
  and 'modern'.

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Thank You