Motion Pictures

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Chapter 9

• Motion Pictures

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Early Days

• Thomas Edison 1888 kinetoscope
• Edisons assistant William Kennedy Dickson
• Edison also borrowed ideas from Marey and
  Muybridge and their photographs
• Idea was actually Ptolemy Greek astronomer who
  discovered persistence of vision

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Early Days

• Persistence of visionhuman eye retains an image
  on the retina for a moment after the image
  disappears
• Flip books
• 1895 French brothers August and Louis Lumiere
  took Edisons projector to a larger scale and
  called it cinematorgraphe
• Finally, vitascope, developed by Armat and
  JenkinsVaudeville houses with live musical
  accompaniment

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Early Days

• Popularity grows and so does price to a nickel
  thus nickelodeons

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The Films

• A Trip to the Moon 1902
• The Great Rain Robbery 1903
• Birth of A Nation D.W.Griffith 1915
• Civil War epic three hours
• Pantomine
• EPS Cycle movies remain in Elite stage shortest
  period of time of any medium more elite movies
  today than in early years

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Comedy

• Recurring theme throughout all media comedy is
  usually most popular genre
• Keystone Kops Mack Sennett 1912
• Hal Roach Our Gang
• Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy Whos On First?
• Charlie Chaplin The Tramp
• Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd

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World War I

• Propaganda films
• War Effort
• 3 years over 175 films
• The Kaisers Finish
• This also sees Hollywood become the leading
  producer of films worldwide

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Sound

• Many thought it would end the industry
• Many actors with weak voices did not make the
  transition
• Dr. Lee De Forest one of the first sound on film
  processes around 1923
• Warner Bros. 1927 The Jazz Singer starring Al
  Jolson changes everything
• Silent films disappear quickly

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Censorship

• We should add this as the third step in the EPS
  cycle
• Every time a medium goes popular, a wave of
  social change comes about and morality is
  threatened
• Roaring 20s/Jazz Age
• PCA Production Code Administration 1934
• Motion Picture Producers and Distributors
  Association 1922 Will H. Hays
• Republican/Presbyterianneed I say more?

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Censorship

• Hays gave fines for not getting the approval up
  to 25,000 a huge sum for that time
• First real challenge was Otto Preminger
• Released his films without Hays permission
• Classic line from Clark Cable was also cited by
  Hays

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Studio System

• As we stated earlier, Payne Fund Studies show
  large numbers of teens going to movies weekly
• To keep up with demand, Hollywood develops a
  system of major studio producing hundreds of
  films each year
• Marketing departments create stars and contracts

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Studio System

• Warner Brothers
• MGM Metro Goldwin Mayer (sp?)
• Paramount
• 20th Century Fox
• Universal
• RKO
• The Great Depression movies aid morale

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Musicals and Other Genres

• Westerns
• Comedies
• Musicals Busby Berkley
• Gangsters
• Romantic comedies
• Frank Capra films Its A Wonderful Life
• Blockbusters Gone With The Wind

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HUAC

• 1947 House Un-American Activities Committee
• Communist propaganda
• Became a witch hunt
• People were blacklisted and never worked again
• Many would work under assumed names
• Later credits were restored but many were ruined
  and were guilty of nothing

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Anti-trust

• 1948 Supreme Court
• Illegal monopoly of studios to operate all
  aspects from creation to distribution
• Created laws prohibiting ownership of studios and
  theatres by same company

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Television

• 1948 TV networks emerge
• Baby Boom after World War II kept many home with
  small children
• Sports such as baseball transferred well to TV
• Studios forced to create alternative experiences
  gives rise to 3-D and color in films (TV was
  still B W)

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Ratings System

• One more time, a new medium forces culture to
  review its morals
• Because of TV, movies cater to youth culture and
  counter culture and contain sexually explicit and
  violent materials
• Blackboard Jungle
• Causes concerns
• Enter the ratings system of 1960s

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Ratings System

• G
• PG
• R
• X (now NC-17)
• PG 13 added after Spielbergs Gremlins and
  Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom
• XXX

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1970s

• Disaster and violence become genres
• The Poseidon Adventure
• Towering Inferno
• Halloween
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre

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1990s

• Special effects
• Again, a response to programming on TV cable
  allowed for more explicit programming
• Hollywood responds with big budget special
  effects films
• Video Rentals people believe will kill the
  industry
• DVD digital video disk
• Conglomerates
• Future?

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