Chapter 8 Book Notes - Summary Mass Communication: Living in a Media World PDF

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Chapter eight summary over film....

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Chapter 8 Book Notes 

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Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity was shot intentionally to be in 3D, not for commercial profit; most films today are not shot to be 3D or IMAX features, but instead edited and changed to do so to generate higher ticket prices o The Development of Movies The Development of Movies  Roots in 1880s, but became a major entertainment in the early 20th century o The First Movie Makers  Thomas Edison credited w/ developing American motion picture industry, but he just created the medium of film  Edison, Marey, and Muybridge  Etienne-Jules Marey o Helped develop systems for taking repeated photos of ppl and animals in motion  Eadweard Muybridge o Bet the governor of CA to establish if all horses four hooves leave the ground when it gallops; used child’s toy that put images on a spinning cylinder o Eventually photographed both humans and animals moving against black and white screen; Animal Locomotion  Edison o Developed the kinetoscope—an early peep show—like movie projection system developed by Thomas Edison that could be used only by an individual viewer  First demonstrated on May 9, 1983 w/ Blacksmith Scene o Replaced where films could be projected onto a screen; became a group activity  Called “nickelodeons”  Early French Filmmakers  Auguste-Marie and Louis-Jean Lumiere o Cinematographe—portable movie camera that could also be used as a projector o Set standards for speed that film would be shot at and for the format of the film  Edwin S. Porter: Telling a Story w/ Film  Porter made movies for Edison after he saw one in France that told a story  The Great Train Robbery  D.W. Griffith: the Birth of the Blockbuster  Lucas/Spielberg of the silent film era  Created Feature-length Film—theatrical movie that runs more than one hour o The Birth of a Nation

o Intolerance  Marked point where films needed outside financial backing  Movie Stars  Directors/Studios reluctant to put actors names in films  Discovered ppl liked some, and so it became beneficial to put names on o The Studio System—factory-like way of producing films that involved having all of the talent, including the actors and directors, work directly for the movie studios. The studios also had almost complete control of the distribution system  EX: MGM, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., etc.  Movie industry partially moved west to get out from edison’s “patent police” and CA had better physical locations  Studios had control from writing to editing and from writers to directors and actors  Distribution o Block bookings—requiring a theater to take a whole series of movies in order to get a few desirable, headliner films. This system was eventually found to violate antitrust laws o Studios could buy theaters  United Artists  Artists didn’t like being told what they had to make, so a handful of popular ones created United Artists  Acquired and distributed films after independent film producers had completed them  Like today’s modern film studios (source of financing and distribution)  Remained independent until 1981 when one film lost almost its entire cost of production; the studio merged w/ MGM  Talking Pictures  Black&White/color coexisted for years, but silent was almost immediately taken over by sound  Jazz Singer usually credited as the first picture w/ sound o It was a talkie—movie w/ synchronized sound; quickly replaced silent films o Helped make Warner Bros. a powerhouse  Don juan was a silent film w/ synchronized soundtrack—sound effects, music, and voices synchronized w/ the moving images  Took a bit to catch on bc they were new (not silent films and not plays)  Star Wars was first to fully exploit Dolby surround system  End of the Studio System  US Department of Justice saw the studio system as a monopoly  Tried to break it up; required studios from then on to:

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o Show theater owners films before booking them, limit block booking to five movies at a time, no longer force theaters to book short films o Later on, supreme court ruled that studios has to: sell theaters Today, studios mainly finance and distribute films produced by independent companies

o The Blacklist  House Un-American Activities Committee—congressional committee chaired by Parnell Thomas that held hearings on the influence of communism on Hollywood in 1947. These activities mirrored a wider effort to root out suspected communists in all walks of American life  Parnell Thomas o Held hearings and mainly asked ppl if they were communists  Hollywood Ten—a group of ten writers and directors who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee about their political activities. They were among the first ppl in Hollywood to be blacklisted  Blacklist—group of ppl banned from working in the movie industry in the 1940s and 1950s bc they were suspected of being communists or communist sympathizers. Some of them, such as a few screenwriters, were able to work under assumed names, but others never worked in the industry again; ended in 1960 o Ended up going to jail for padding payroll o Television and the movies  In the 50s, ppl turned to TV, sports, and moved away from cities, which took them away from movies  Larger-than-Life Movies  3D o Cons: required special equipment and glasses o Started out cool, but ppl quickly became bored o Dial M For Murder was the first one to be taken seriously o Experienced revitalization in 2000s w/ children’s movies o Now a common thing  Cinerama o Each scene shot from three angles and projected on curved screen  Larger Movies o Ten Commandments and Spartacus  The Advent of Color

At first, it was expensive, which was why it was rarely used (required a complex camera that shot w/ three reels) o After WWII, Americans adopted to using one reel  Competition from TV urged film to use color  First movies to truly utlize color: Gone With the Wind, Wizard of Oz  Some movies today are shot predominantly in black and white  The Growth of Multiplex Theaters  Moved from huge-seating to small theaters grouped together o Multiplex—a group of movie theaters w/ anywhere from 3 to 20 screen that share a common box office and concession stand. Largely a suburban phenomenon at first, they replaced the old urban Art Deco movie palaces The Movie Business o The Blockbuster Era—a period from the late 70s to the present day in which movie studios make relatively expensive movies that have a large, predefined audience. These movies, usually chock-full of special effects, are packaged w/ cable deals and marketing tie-ins, and they can be extremely lucrative if they are able to attract large repeat audiences  Spielberg credited w/ creating it bc of Jaws  First movie to gross more than $200 million  Had a giant TV ad campaign; waiters and cab drivers given books; summer release bc it dealt w/ swimming o Campaign designed to get ppl talking about it  Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Dark Knight trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean followed  HP and Deathly Hallows pt. 2 has biggest opening weekend, Avatar is most commercially successful film, Gone w/ the Wind has biggest audience (if adjusted for inflation, Gone w/ the Wind would be the highest grossing film) o Home Video  Videocassette Recorders became popular in the 80s; in early 2000s, ppl switched to Digital Video Dics (DVDs) and high-def (Blu-rays)  DVDs/Blu-rays have better sound and pic  In 2012, ppl use streaming services more than DVDs o Digital Production and Projection  Computers in Hollywood first came into the scene w/ Star Wars  Lucas used computer-controlled cameras to shoot the space battle scenes in multiple layers  Attack of the Clone Wars was first movie to be shot entirely in high-def  Digital Cinema Iniative—written by the six major studios of MPAA and is a consistent set of rules for how digital projection will be handled  Wolf of Wall Street was first to be released exclusively in digital format o What Makes a Movie Profitable?  Only 20-30% of movies actually make money 

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Best chance is to make a blockbuster o EX: Inception, Hunger Games o International box office can REALLY help boost profits in some cases  Make small budget film aimed at specific audience o Fault IN our Stars, Fireproof  It’s hard to figure out in advance which movies will/won’t work w/ large budgets  Key is in the budget Movies and Society o How Much Influence do Movies Have?  Research Results  Society concerned w/ how it affects young ppl  Payne Fund sponsored 13 studies o Who was going to the movies and what, if any, the effects the movies had on ppl o Findings  More than ¾ of all movies dealt w/ crime, sex, or love  People could remember a surprising amount of what they had seen  Young ppl use movies to learn how to behave as adults  Hooray for Bollywood: India’s Movie Industry  Responsible for the biggest source of movies o Mumbau, specifically  Mascala (spice) aka dance numbers, strong male hero, coy heroine, obvious villain are typical  Usually more conservative than American films  Moulin Rouge was made to have a Bollywood style to it o The Production Code: Protecting the Movies from Censorship  National Board of Censorship designed to establish national standard for movies o Prostitution, childbirth, masturbation, and drug use were not acceptable  Hollywood and Morality  One factor promoting censorship was that actors lived “immoral” lives o EX: Mary Pickford divorced husband to marry costar Doug Fairbanks  The Birth of a Production Code  “The Don’ts and Be Carefuls” 1927  Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America o Will H. Hays 

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Production Code—industry-imposed rules that controlled the content of movies form the 1930s until 1968 when the current rating system came out  Crime must always be punished  No profanity  Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures were not to be shown; interracial relationships forbidden

o The Ratings System  By the 60s, the code was often violated or overlooked; it was scrapped  How are Movies Rated?  Assigned rating by a panel of 10-13 parents who live in LA (age range from 28-54 and variety of jobs)  Ratings o G: General audiences. All ages permitted. o PG: Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. o PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under age 13. o R: Restricted. Persons under age 17 will not be admitted unless accompanied by a parent of adult guardian. o NC-17: No one under age 17 will be admitted.  FUN FACTS: o DRUG USE GENERALLY REQUIRES AT LEAST A PG13 o SEXUALLY ORIENTED NUDITY REQUIRES AN R RATING  Gay sex may be more likely to receive harsher rating; female sexuality more likely to receive restrictive rating; interracial sex is considered inflammatory o SINGLE USE OF “F WORD” REQUIRES PG-13; IF IT’S USED MORE THAN ONCE, OR IN A SEXUAL SENSE, IT GETS AN R  There are some exceptions  Indiana Jones and PG-13  PG-13 introduced in 1984 o Some films were released as PG and contained material that wasn’t suitable for children o Spielberg supported PG-13 rating after Temple of Doom and Gremlins received backlash  G and X rarely used o G was thought of as being innocent o X was thought of as being pornographic

The X Problem  MPAA didn’t trademark X rating, so porn industry used XXX to emphasize it was really adult  Many theaters, papers, TV stations didn’t want to be associated with X rating bc people thought it meant porn  Henry and June was given NC-17 rating; everyone still treated NC17 the same as X The Future of Movies  Are movies in a downturn?  Hollywood may be too liberal, too many sequels or remakes  Hollywood continued its climb due to increase in prices, not in attendance o Movies as a Brand  Ancillary, or secondary, markets—movie revenue sources other than the domestic box office. These include foreign box office, video rights, and television rights, as well as tie-ins and product placements  Summer and holiday films have become entire industries or brands o Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen o Movie Promotion on the Internet  Blair Witch Projected promoted on Internet and cable TV Movies and the Long Tail o iTunes helped bring niche movies to audiences o Netflix brings niche to audiences as well  Tracks and recommends films 

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The film Gravity was considered a great achievement in what kind of filmmaking? o Films made in 3-D What Visual Topic did both Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey capture on film? o Animals in motion Eadweard Muybridge won a bet with the governor of California after proving this fact in moving images? o All four hooves of a horse leave the ground during a gallop 1902’s A Trip to the Moon was made by _____ and one of the first to tell a story rather than capture people in everyday life. o George Melies Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery, made in 1903, was notable for what reason? o First to establish how a story could be told on film Why did the movie industry take root in Hollywood? o California’s fair weather made filming easier, Thomas Edison’s ‘patent police’ were trying to control movie technology, access to various settings of ocean, desert and mountains, massive amounts of open land for studio space Moviemakers determined that the _____, where all the talent involved worked for the same owners, was the most effective way to produce movies. o Studio system Why was D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a nation, released in 1915, a notable achievement o It was the first feature-length film

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While the birth of a nation is recognized for technological advances, it’s criticized for what reason? o The content is blatantly racist In 1919, several of the most famous popular performers and directors rebelled against the studios and joined to form their own company, known as ________ o United Artists 1927’s the jazz singer was the first film to popularize this term o talkie the power of movie studios was dismantled in 1948 when studies were forced to ____ o sell their theaters after WWII, Congress established the _________ to hold hearings on possible communist influences in Hollywood o House Un-American Activities Committee This group of people, banned from working in the movie industry bc of suspicion of communist activities, became known as _____ o The blacklist Most films made after WWII have been filmed in color. This 2011 Academy Award winning movie, filmed in black and white, was an exception o The artist Movie theaters, which were initially large rooms w/ thousands of seats and a single movie screen, evolved to become a space w/ many smaller theaters and screens showing several movies at a time, known as a _______ o Multiplex This 1975 summer film, which grossed over $200 million, is generally credited as the first “blockbuster” o Jaws In what way did the blockbuster era launch the idea of movies as brand o Summer movies often have sequels, big promotional campaigns reinforce the movie brand, related products like theme parks based on the movie Avatar may be the most commercially successful film in dollars, but ______ remains the film w/ the biggest audience o Gone w/ the wind...