Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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|
Term
| Eadwaerd Muybridge 1830 1904 |
|
Definition
| Stanford > photographs of galloping horse |
|
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Term
| Etienne Jules Marey 1830 1904: |
|
Definition
capture flying birds > Chronophotographer (photographer
in time); mosaic camera; correspond with Muybridge |
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Term
| Thomas Edison 1847 1931 & W. K. L. Dickson 1860 1935 |
|
Definition
> bringing film into the
commercial market |
|
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Term
| Edison's contribution to film(literal) |
|
Definition
Edison files with patent office (do he hadn’t invented anything yet); Eastman
visits and gives Edison samples of his plastic roll film (17mm in width > too high res, D.
changes format to 35mm, also puts sprocket holes into film stock) |
|
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Term
| 18921901 The Black Maria |
|
Definition
The Black Maria (one room shack: black on the outside, glass windows to direct
sunlight, building could be rotated on pivot to catch the sunlight) |
|
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Term
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Definition
1894 Kinetoscope (oneperson, peepshow cabinet) offered for sale > commercial use only:
bought by ppl owning penny arcades; storefront Kinetoscope parlors; films last less than a
minute, single shot, single perspective > films could be ordered through mail |
|
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Term
| Lumiere Cinematographe: Auguste 18621954, Louis 1864 1948 |
|
Definition
acquired Kinetoscope,
created camera/and projector in one > Cinematographe: handcranked (easier to
transport/handheld camera, allows outdoor filming) > created strong want for their product:
project films to large audience (they didn’t invent projecting images in darkened rooms: magic
lantern > slide projector/still pictures; common toys sold in late 1900century and used for
speeches/lectures)
started projecting films in Grand Cafe basement > huge success2
Edison started working on projector after Lumiere’s success (1896) > projects in vaudeville
houses, brings film into mass entertainment |
|
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Term
| mass entertainment before cinema |
|
Definition
traveling theater groups, medicine/minstrel shows,
19th century industrial revolution/growth of cities: opera, Broadway plays, classical concerts
for the elite; salon entertainment & Burlesque shows for working class men; P. T. Barnum
dinein museum (oddities), 1880 introduction of vaudeville for middleclass |
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Term
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Definition
creates American Biograph Co.
The Mutoscope: reinvented camera to avoid patent infringement; 70mm films (better quality) >
Edison begins lawsuit |
|
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Term
| Blackton (1875 1941) founds Vitagraph |
|
Definition
(borrowed camera from E, improved upon it &
gets patent; also sued by E); 1898 starts making war films: revival of interest in film due to
French African War |
|
|
Term
| Georges Melies (1861 1938): |
|
Definition
narrative storytelling,
fantasy films; 1895 attends first Lumiere show, creates Star Films: starts making trick films
(magicians) but quickly moves on to more elaborate productions (multishot narrative film),
1902 Trip to the Moon; myth: created special effects by accident |
|
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Term
| Edwin S. Porter 1870 1941 |
|
Definition
Filmmaker at Edison 18981909 > E wants him to create an
American Trip to the Moon > Jack and the Beanstalk (1902)
Life of an American Fire Man (1902): first closeup, multiperspective, The Great American
Train Robbery (1903): crime picture/western, shot on location, with real horses/train, starts
Nickelodeon era, one reel narrative films; huge success |
|
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Term
|
Definition
Exhibition: converted store/theater, seats 753003
low admission price, 510 cents
onereel subjects: topicals, westerns, melodramas
frequent change of program
films rented from distribution exchanges > development from mailorder films to distribution
exchanges (production, distribution and exhibition); central booking office set up by exhibitiors
(movie houses still don’t buy films, rather they rent/exchange them) |
|
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Term
| Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph: |
|
Definition
after 1904 growing demand, majority of films comes from Europe; American companies
found production units that turn out 12 reels per week
shift to fiction film: before Great Train Robbery mostly actualities, topicals etc > by 1907 90%
of the films produced are fiction films > shift due to demand of audience
production units: dedicated to filming films all year around |
|
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Term
| ”Ben Hur” copyright case 190711 |
|
Definition
Kalem Company produces 10 min version of “Ben Hur”:
holders of the theatrical rights sued Kalem, trial went to supreme court which decided that
films fall under copyright law
> studios realized that they needed professionals to develop scripts and understand copyright
issues: screenwriters become part of film companies |
|
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Term
| Early Production Companies: |
|
Definition
Edison’s patents gave him full control of camera technology, even though B and V had their
own patents, Edison sued them repeatedly
still more demand than supply: new companies are founded > set up shop away from NY and
Edison |
|
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Term
| e.g. Lubin (Philadelphia): |
|
Definition
| pirated films, reshot Great Train Robbery |
|
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Term
| Broncho Billy created Essanay (Chicago) |
|
Definition
| specialized in Westerns and comedies |
|
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Term
|
Definition
early animal and nature pics (owned a zoo), sent filmmakers out to film
scenic backdrops of Western US; none of the films survive, but Selig was the first to film in
SoCal |
|
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Term
| George Kleine (Cleveland) |
|
Definition
| signed small European companies and brought their films to US |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| female producer Alice Guy |
|
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Term
| The Motion Picture Patents Company: “The Trust” (1908) |
|
Definition
Edison realizes he can’t fulfill
the demand for films by himself, but proposes licensing idea to collect royalties
Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph, Selig, Essanay, Lubin, Kalem, Kleine, Star (Melies), Pathe,
Eastman Kodak
> lawsuits dropped, Edison gets most of the royalties; group monopoly/ kartell (inspiration
Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Union Pacific Railroad, AT&T)
strong forces against monopolies: Roosevelt and Republicans > William Howard Taft breaks
up Standard Oil monopoly; Populus/Democrats were antitrust as well4
> Sherman AntiTrust Act |
|
|
Term
| Independent Moving Picture Company (IMP): Carl Laemmle (1867 1939) |
|
Definition
to
differentiate his product from Edison he creates film star > Florence Lawrence (The Biograph
Girl), Laemmle signes her with IMP; public relations stunt: Lawrence supposedly run over by
street car while on publicity tour (“We nail a lie.”) |
|
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Term
| MPPC forms the General Film Co |
|
Definition
first nationwide
distributor); Trust bought 58 out of 69 distributing companies, 10 went out of business, but
one didn’t want to sell out FOX |
|
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Term
|
Definition
Greater New York Film Rental Co: Fox (18791952) > Edison cuts off supply to
Fox; Fox realizes in order to guarantee supply he has to produce films; also Fox sued Edison
> Department of Justice investigates and files own lawsuits against trust → 1917 Final US
Supreme Court ruling against the Trust, companies that were part of the Trust fall apart but
Fox and Universal still exist |
|
|
Term
| D.W. Griffith (1875 1948): |
|
Definition
first famous filmmaker, credited with solidifying cinematic
language
> 1875 born in Kentucky > aspired to screenwriting job, becomes actor instead e.g. Rescued
from an Eagle’s Nest (Edison, 1907); applies for job as head of production for Biograph
(19081912): responsible for 100 films per year (2 films per week, one directed by him >
allows him to develop his filmmaking style) |
|
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Term
|
Definition
first film director (supervises production not camera technicians): long
shot, medium shot, closeup; moving camera > breaks with stage tradition; doesn’t invents
any of these techniques but incorporates them into coherent whole
credited with inventing film editing (pace, editing for meaning, complicated patterns)
social commentary and big themes: not just trivial entertainment for the masses; preachy
The Girl and her Trust (1912): chaserescue, cutting between different locations, romantic
story as a backdrop, action story |
|
|
Term
| The Birth of a Nation (1915) |
|
Definition
2 ½ hours, first worldfamous
landmark motion picture, Griffith is now the most famous filmmaker of its time; most
successful film of its time but causes controversies; costs $700.000; civil war and aftermath
(50th anniversary); source material: Thomas Dixon’s The Clansman > white supremacist with
Southern perspective on Civil War
critique: rewriting of history from Southern perspective, Griffith = liberal, prounion,
proworking man, proprisoners rights, pro=womens rights → didn’t understand why he was
being criticized; film was shown in the White House for Wilson (who used to be a historian) |
|
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Term
|
Definition
response to his critics; superspectacle, set in 4
different periods of history to depict intolerance/prejudice throughout the ages (Babylon,
Passion Play, France/Huguenots, present day/union strike); failure (G loses all the money he
made with Birth of a Nation); Griffith was never given that much freedom again; not clear why
the film was such a failure, potential explanation: pacifist message of the film that was
outoftouch with American reality (involvement in WWI) |
|
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Term
|
Definition
The Deluxe Theater (new generation of movie theaters instead of converted
store fronts/Nickelodeons) e.g. The Strand, NY 1914 → admission $12; capacity up to 6000;
features with live music, accompanied by short films; weekly change of program; picture
palaces were labor intensive >< Nickelodeons; extras: printed programs, orchestra concerts in
intermission = whole evening of entertainment |
|
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Term
|
Definition
nationwide feature film distribution
1914 W.W. Hodkinson (had worked for the Trust & General Film Company before) >
first with distribution system; distributes Zukor’s and Lasky’s films
1916 Zukor & Famous Players Lasky merge production and distribution > Zukor wants
to merge with Hodkinson (who didn’t want to because of his experience with Edison,
feared that the quality of the films would go down); Zukor goes behind Hodkinson’s
back and buys up his debts; takes over Paramount > begin of vertical integration
(distribution and production together) |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| (distribution and production together) |
|
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Term
|
Definition
maximize profits; theater had to book all the films produced by the
studio; guaranteed that every movie was exhibited |
|
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Term
|
Definition
“350 Sunny Days a Year” (guarantee yearround film production)
variety of location
inexpensive property: NY was most expensive area; studios need huge amounts of
land
open shop town: NY was most unionized town; almost no unions in LA
distance from NY: get away from Edison and the Trust; Independents were leaders of
move to Hollywood; first film shot in H > Squaw Man (1913, Cecil B. DeMille)
“Hollywood”: gradually film production becomes centered in Los Angeles; Hollywood
means all the other parts of LA but is known as the center of the film industry |
|
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Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Spectacular Features Italy > |
|
Definition
before WWI beginning of feature film business in Europe, in
France construction of Deluxe Theaters e.g. GaumontPalace, Paris (opened 1910); Italian
films mostly historical epics (Caibira, Quo Vadis)
> Kleine had rights for Italian features that lasted 12 hours; couldn’t put them in
Nickelodeons because they were too long, took them as special road show engagements >
hired orchestra, charged admission price of up to $1, special events |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
brings feature films to US > Hungarian, started to run Nickelodeons, realizes
potential of longer films; multireel film Oberammergau Passion Play > Zukor presented film
as special event; acquires rights to Queen Elizabeth (1912) with Sarah Bernhardt (Film d’Art
Company): 4560 mins; Zukor creates company Famous Players in 1912 > shows film around
the country |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
had appeared
in Biograph films, returns to Broadway to legitimize herself, Zukor puts her in one film per
week, she becomes the first movie star!!!!!! |
|
|
Term
| Thomas Ince & The Studio System |
|
Definition
what puts Hollywood on the map is studio system as
mass production; goal = 50 films per year; costefficient production
factory/mass production system: influenced by Ford assembly line (rage by 1910s);
departmentalization of labor
significance of screenplay to make film production more efficient; screenplay =
blueprint for movie; coherent narration and producer could control costs beforehand
beginning of division of labor: job descriptions still exist, were carefully outlined during
that period; paid at different rates
by the end of the 1910s studio system is established and runs smoothly
Hollywood films take over European screens: WWI disrupts film production in Europe
& wipes out EU rivals; end of the war → EU companies try to reestablish domestic
production but studio system has already been established; studio system is more7
efficient; huge market for films domestically; broadbased US culture had wide appeal
→ films were catered towards mass audience (which also made them appeal to EU
audiences)
___________________ |
|
|
Term
| Mary Pickford 2(1892 1979): |
|
Definition
Girl with the Golden Girls, storybook characters (Rebecca of
Sunnybrook Farm); Zukor’s Famous Players, before that Broadway actress, Victorian ideal;
star persona: young ingenue; married Douglas Fairbanks (estate: Pickfair); imitation Mary
Pickfords at other studios; United Artists |
|
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Term
|
Definition
: first screen vamp (=vampire = draining men of their sexual
powers); marketing centers on sexual/deathly quality; A Fool there was (Frank Powell, 1915)
→ “Kiss Me My Fool”; played great seductresses of history (Salome, Cleopatra); 90% of her
films are lost today; name = anagram for Arab Death |
|
|
Term
| William S. Hart (1864 1946) |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
with brother Sydney Chaplin in Fred Karno Comedy Troupe; December
1913 Chaplin joins Sennett & Keystone; creates Tramp character: bottom of the society, outfit,
acrobatic physical skills; most popular comedian working → leaves Sennett; becomes
complete filmmaker (even writes his music); signs with Essanay in 1915; 1916 Mutual: makes
almost $1 Million per year; 1917 La Brea studio (still exists); 1918 First National; 1919
cofounds United Artists with Pickford, Fairbanks and Griffith |
|
|
Term
| Mack Sennett (1880 1960) |
|
Definition
Keystone Studios: Slapstick Comedy; started out at Biograph
with Griffith; founded his own studio in 1912; short comedies (one reel); Chaplin’s Tramp;
Fatty Arbuckle; Bathing Beauties; formaliac comedies |
|
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Term
|
Definition
(first theater owners/exhibition): Pickford, Chaplin made films for FN
(establishes presence in Hollywood); realize that they need steady stream of films; studio in
Burbank (later Warner); add distribution; are fully vertically integrated studio |
|
|
Term
| Loew’s Inc MGM: Marcus Loew |
|
Definition
(theater owner → nicest movie houses in NY, hugely
profitable) > created his own company by buying Metro Co, employs Louis B. Mayer as studio
boss and Irving Thalberg as head of production (both had worked as Metro before); also buys
Goldwyn Company (founded by Samuel Goldwyn is ousted from new company; creates new
company also named Samuel Goldwyn even though MGM sued him; independent production
company → his son sold company in 1997 to MGM AGAIN); MGM pics run in Loew’s
theaters (other theaters named after studio) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
born as a huge conglomerate; by the end of their first year they had 2 huge
successes Ben Hur and The Big Parade (first pic to deal with aftermath of WWI) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Paramount: vertically integrated
➔ First National
➔ MGM
➔ Universal
➔ Fox
➔ United Artists |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
heman: creates swashbuckler genre with The Mark
of Zorro (Frank Niblo, 1920); every year he would play one athletic hero (e.g. Robin
Hood; The Thief of Bagdad); physical prowess; mix of comedy and action |
|
|
Term
| Rudolph Valentino (1895 1926) |
|
Definition
different approach to masculinity; Great Latin Lover:
slick, mediterranean good looks; born in Italy; The Sheik and The Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse (both 1920) made him a screen idol > makes Tango popular; dies at
1926 rather suddenly; legend: women committed suicide after hearing about his death;
burried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
flapper star; It girl (named after her 1927 hit film); difficulty transition to
sound films |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
I want to be alone (reclusive star; retired in 1941, never returned to the
screen even though he was offered film roles) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1920s Western star; handsome star (different from Hart’s more sober
characters); Tony The Wonder Horse |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Man of a Thousand Faces; disguises, masks and prosthetics; his films
can be seen as precursors of horror genre; Phantom of the Opera (1925), The
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), The Unknown (1927) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The Kid (Chaplin, 1921) = first comedy feature;
perfectionist: a movie every four to five years; paternity suits; leaves US after Red
Scare; had the rights to his films & reissued his films; exile in Switzerland |
|
|
Term
| Buster Keaton (1896 1966) |
|
Definition
acrobatic slapstick routines; part of his parents
vaudeville act (famous for taking falls); name Buster was coined by Harry Houdini
(actually named Francis); performed with his parents from age 321 until Fatty
Arbuckle (Vaudeville star turned Hollywood comedian) convinced him to come to9
Hollywood, Arbuckle took him to the set, works with Arbuckle for 3 years, starts
making feature films in the mid1920s; also becomes auteurfilmmaker (in charge of
the whole production); outcast trying to adjust to society (<> Chaplin is antihero in
Victorian setting); novelty machinery; signs with MGM in 1928 → Keaton’s films at
MGM are successful, but he’s creatively stifled, becomes alcoholic; sobers up in the
1950s, small roles in commercials and TV; didn’t keep the rights to his films, so his
films weren’t widely shown, around 1960s his films are rediscovered |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
made more films than K and C together; allAmerican boy
but also nerd (glasses); kid of the modern era: films set in big cities, universities etc;
Safety Last (1928): dangling from clock; prop bomb incident: Lloyd lost half of his hand
(prosthetic hand that he never revealed to the public); decent transition to sound but
by the late 1930s he retired (had saved his money and lived very comfortably) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
opposite of DeMille: trying to push the envelope
but his films weren’t very successful even though they were extremely innovative; all
his films are too expensive, too long, too adult; e.g. Foolish Wives (1922), Greed
(1924), The Wedding March (1928), Queen Kelly (1929); perfectionist who often
looses control over his productions (Greed → MGM recuts the film and releases it
without the director’s consent); doesn’t compromise with the system |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
) and
lowbudget art films (The Crowd 1928) → one for them, one for me |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
starts out as actress; but also makes films that are preachy
and not very successful e.g. Where are my children? (1916) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| not synchronized with images, too expensive |
|
|
Term
| 1907 Audion Tube → Lee De Forest → Phonofilm: |
|
Definition
optical sound on film; studios aren’t
interested (why fix it, if it isn’t broken?) & argue that De Forest wouldn’t be able to
manufacture enough equipment to equip all the theaters, sells his company |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
monopoly of telefon corporations by the late 19th century; bought Western Electric
(Bell Labs) → limitation for telefon distances (sound signal faded out); 1914 AT&T buys De
Forest’s amplifier system (for $1 Million) > longdistance calls; sound on disc (still studios
aren’t interested) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Harry, Jack, Sam and Al Warner; started out as
Nickelodeon owners; then antiGerman film that becomes a success; film series around
RinTinTin (German shepherd); John Barrymore films bring class to Warner productions;
Investment Bank Goldman Sachs & Waddill Catchings invest in Warner (are interested in
wellrun, small company that might bring in profits); also bought LA radio station (KFWB) →
Sam Warner was put in charge to manage radio station, was introduced to synchronized
sound by radio technicians > tries to get his brothers on board, argues that theater musicians
are more expensive than investing in sound system/equipping their theaters → Warner and
AT&T sign exclusive deal > Vitaphone: experiments with sound in NY; Don Juan (August 6,
1926) first film with recorded soundtrack & sound effects (sound on disc), 8 synchronized
sound shorts, speech by Will Hays (the Czar of Hollywood) introducing Vitaphone technology
to the public > not huge smash hit; s |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Warner decided to make talkies (singing sequences): acquired broadway play The Jazz
Singer; start building sound stages; try to hire George Jessel, but have to settle on Al Jolson
(minstrel shows, blackface, burlesque, vaudeville headliner, recording artist, Broadway
career); film becomes a huge success; first sound film but actually only contains singing
scenes and one scene of synchronized dialog; premiere: October 6, 1927 (Warner Bros.
found out about their brother Sam dying on the operating table the day before); smash hit;
Warner realizes that ppl want dialogs, put out 1 and 2 reel talkies shortly after
> Feb 1928: studios sign with AT&T and Western Electric/ERPI → conversion to sound films
begins |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Warner tries to stay ahead of the curve by releasing an alltalking movie: The Lights of New
York (1928) → terrible film; problems adjusting to new technology; The Singing Fool (1928):
next Jolson feature > $ 3 admission (50% raise); biggest financial success of its era
1928 films 220 silent, 74 sound
1929 films 38 silent, 252 sound |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Fox Case optical sound on film
April 30, 1927 Movietone News premieres → Fox tries to compete against Warner by offering
audience something different = newsreels with sound; May 20, 1927 Lindbergh flight
(breaking news that are edited into Movietone News); stardriven approach; establishes itself
as best newsreel |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1895 Guglielmo Marconi (18741937) > invents wireless telegraph (sets up offices to send
wireless messages), starting out as physics project while he’s still in high school (recreated11
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz’s experiments): used in WWI for research, training, military use
(communication between ships at sea) |
|
|
Term
| General Electric, Westinghouse, AT&T |
|
Definition
pick up technology and try to make it popular (aka
financially successful), 1919 Radio Corporation of America (RCA) is founded; 1920 Dr. Frank
Conrad (8XK1916) sets up private radio station, huge success, KDKA Pittsburgh = First
Broadcast Station; also used for commercials; great toy with a future… |
|
|
Term
| 1922 Toll (commercial) broadcasting |
|
Definition
(telephone companies offer equipement > inspiration for
radio station: AT&T sets up radio station for everyone to use, as long as they provide the
content → radio commercial as way of making money); 1922 Network radio → nationwide
coverage (using the the same wires set up for telephones) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
own soundsystem (because AT&T had made a deal with all the other
studios) → optical sound on film; FBO: Kennedy’s Film Booking Office (distribution), Pathe
American (production), KeithAlbeeOrpheum (theater chain) and RCA (technology for
synchronized sound systems) band together to form vertically integrated studio; RCA RKO
NBC RCAVictor lead by David Sarnoff |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
STOCK MARKET CRASH → most studios are built on paper money;
Fox’s indictment (jail) |
|
|
Term
Sound Film
changes in production: |
|
Definition
static camera (camera was too loud and heavy to be moved around:
camera booth & hiding the microphones behind props) → like filmed stage plays; by 1930s
housing for cameras was developed, thus the camera could be moved around the set; boom
microphones, and multiple microphones; conversion of stages to sound stages (sound and
light proof); early sound films: by 1929 directors start to experiment with sound e.g. Love
Parade (Lubitsch, 1929), The Virginian, City Streets (Mamoulian, 1931); used Broadway
performers e.g. Marx Brothers |
|
|
Term
Sound Film
change in exhibition: |
|
Definition
US theaters wired 19261931; AT&T wired all theaters, started with big
firstrun theaters, then moved to suburban neighborhood theaters etc |
|
|
Term
Sound Film
changes in Hollywood: |
|
Definition
hiring of sound personal, stage directors to supervise dialogs, vocal
coaches, composers, songwriters; early sound stars → most silent stars made the transition12
but others didn’t (Clara Bow, foreign born stars: Emil Jannings → went back to Germany;
Garbo still acted in silent films until 1929, first sound film Anna Christie cements her position
in Hollywood); also studios hired Broadway actors: Spencer Tracy, James Cagney, Humphrey
Bogart, Bette Davis; special cases: Al Jolson = limited film career, moved on to radio |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
musical e.g. The Broadway Melody (1929) won first best picture
Oscar; big revues (photographing stage plays); mid1930s: Busby Berkeley (at Goldwyn &
Warner Bros) => geographic patterns e.g. 42nd Street (1932), Footlight Parade (1933); Fred
Astaire &Ginger Rogers
gangster films: Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931), Scarface (Hawks, 1932) → genre
ended when the production code was implemented |
|
|
Term
| 1930’s Depression and New Deal |
|
Definition
novelty of sound lasts until 1931, box office plummets
after, by 1931 almost every company is losing money (exception: MGM and Columbia); by
1933 half of the companies are in receivership or bankruptcy (Stock Market Crash 1929) |
|
|
Term
1930’s Depression and New Deal
exhibition |
|
Definition
candy counter: food sales in theater; mass production of paper cups allowed for the
sale of sodas (before: glass bottles constituted risk); magic movie food: popcorn →
could be sold in paper bags (cheap), bag cost the theater 2 cents, could be sold for a
nickel; smell draws in customers (snacks bring in the biggest revenue; diversified
foodsale places); Loews’ didn’t instigate food sales in their theaters until 1940s
● the double bill & the Bmovie: 2 for the price of 1 (started in lesserrun theaters in New
England); firstrun theaters still showed only one film; Hollywood hated this idea,
because they would need to produce twice as many movies (even though they were
already broke); couldn’t afford to topquality movies: one “A” and one “B” movie
(cheaper, no stars, shorter, recycled plots/sets/costumes; cheapest genres: westerns);
Hollywood majors made “B” movies but most of them were made by minor studios
(Universal, Columbia were delegated to make these films)
● halfprice nights, giveaways, prices → didn’t work that well |
|
|
Term
| National Industrial Recovery Act, National Recovery Administration, Code of Fair Practices: |
|
Definition
Hoover didn’t propose any solution to depression, Roosevelt proposed governmental
solutions → intervene in American economy: Recovery Act Administration traveled around
the country and tried to find solutions for every individual business sector; in Hollywood Code
included blockbooking but tried to ban doublebill; Majors dictate Code of Fair Practice |
|
|
Term
| Hollywood in the Depression |
|
Definition
bankruptcy and receivership for Paramount, Fox, RKO,
Universal; strategies: AllStarFilms (e.g. Dinner at Eight 1933); biggest cost: stars → studios
decided to instigate 50% pay cut for abovetheline personnel → personnel founds guilds and
unions because Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn’t help them to negotiate
their interests > Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, Writers Guild (battle for recognition was
a very long one: their demands were too high; too many radicals → blacklist during Cold War)
exploitation (sex and crime) as reaction to Depression |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
in order to draw in the audience Hollywood focusses on adult
themes; Paramount hires West: former Vaudeville star, Broadway plays e.g. Sex (was
arrested 3 times on the stage for obscenity); 1932 Hollywood contract: She Done Him Wrong13
(based on her Broadway play Diamond Lil’), I’m no Angel (both 1933) → both are hugely
successful; frank presentation of sexuality, wrote all her own material |
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Term
| Catholic Legion of Decency = |
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Definition
evaluation of
films, Crating (film was condemned, Catholics were discouraged from seeing these films);
attacks on Hollywood were nothing new: |
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Term
| National Board of Censorship |
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Definition
before Hollywood, established by Edison;
selfcensorship to forestall outside censorship and government regulations |
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Term
| critique of Hollywood community during the Roaring 1920s: |
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Definition
Hollywood is hit by series
of scandals → William Desmond Taylor (18721922): prominent director was gunned
down in his house, suspicion falls on Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter, no one
was ever convicted; Wallace Reid (18911923): by late 1910s established himself as
All American HeMan, after injury he became morphium/heroin addict; Roscoe “Fatty”
Arbuckle (18871933): biggest celebrity scandal, started out with Sennett, one of the
most successful comedians in Hollywood while working for Paramount, 1921 SF trip,
starlet Virginia Rappe dies of internal bleeding → Hearst prosecutes him in his
newspapers, Arbuckle was tried for manslaughter, was acquitted but his career was
over |
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Term
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Definition
Will Hays job was to clean up Hollywood and lobby in DC against government
legislation; Radio Act (Federal Radio Commission) was studio moguls nightmare;
casting couch issue is the first topic that Hays addresses → creates Central Casting
Agency; list of content regulations (Don’ts and be carefuls): vague regulations for
glorification of sex and crime |
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Term
| “Don’ts and be carefuls” into more specific Production Code; |
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Definition
some studios
didn’t follow the guidelines (Paramount); Legion of Decency is created to formalize
opposition to Hollywood films → Hollywood studios are afraid of boycotts, realize that
they have to cave in; in order to allow for negotiation room Hollywood employs Joseph
A. Breen (who represents the Legion of Decency), Production Code Administration |
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Term
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Definition
under Breen reviews every part of the film production to make sure they adhere
to the Code; films have to receive seal of approval |
|
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Term
| changes in film production after inauguration of Production Code Administration: |
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Definition
No. 1 female at the box office in 1933/4 is Mae West, No. 1 at the BO in 1935/6 is
Shirley Temple |
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Term
Production Code Administration:
general principles: |
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Definition
films shouldn’t lower the moral standards of the audience; law
shouldn’t be ridiculed |
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Term
Production Code Administration:
no sympathy for criminals; |
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Definition
; brutal crimes/alcoholism/methods of crime/smuggling/drug
trafficking shouldn’t be depicted in detail; no adultery (low forms of sexual encounter);
use of firearms should be restricted to essentials (machine guns); adultery should be
portrayed negatively; restriction for length of kissing and scenes of passion;
seduction/rape can never be used as topics for comedy (but also shouldn’t be depicted
in detail); no white slavery/miscegenation/ sex hygiene/ venereal diseases/childbirth/
perversion; no toilet and bathroom humor; obscenity in word/gesture/song/suggestion
and profanity are forbidden; nudity is not permitted, no undressing scenes, dances
with suggestive movements are forbidden; religion shouldn’t be ridiculed; treatment of
bedrooms should be treated with delicacy (separate beds); use of flags should be
respectful (the same goes for nations and political leaders); brutality/police
brutality/prostitution/surgical operations shouldn’t be shown |
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Term
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Definition
(Paramount, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, RKO)
vertically integrated companies: production, distribution and exhibition
Federal Government would break up oligopoly of the studios (AntiTrust Act) |
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Term
| Hollywood: The Big Five cont'd |
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Definition
Big 5 owned regional first run theater chains (15% out of all the theaters, but 75% out of all
the first run theaters: fate of the film is determined by the first run)
→ Big 5 cooperate to reach national audience, theater chains were regional so studios had to
share their films to fill screens (theaters required 100+ films/year; big studios made only 50
films per year) > collaboration: no blockbooking for the studios |
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Term
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Definition
Universal, Columbia, UA) supply “B” & independent films (symbiotic relationship
with the big studios) |
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Term
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Definition
| Westerns, cowboy films changed from very big moral messages to more young and fun; his horse was just as famous |
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Term
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Definition
| Started off in Vaudeville comedy, semi-rival to Chaplin because of work in the same genre, did a lot of acrobatics “knock about acts” in Vaudeville, he couldn’t transition to talkies after joining MGM, and it caused him to become an alcoholic; his wife later cleaned him up and brought him back to the business to do ads and short in the later years of his life |
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Term
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Definition
| Comedian, similar genre as Keaton and Chaplin, known for his extended chases and the image of him hanging off a clock; was able to stay really rich throughout his life; blew off part of his hand while holding a hand bomb |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
|
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Term
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Definition
| First using Vitaphone with talking intro (not many people saw it because few theatres were wired for sound), |
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Term
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Definition
| First using dialogue, AL Jolson |
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Term
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Definition
|
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Term
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Definition
taking electrical signals from sound and convert to light signal and apply it onto film
Developed by De Forest
Most of Hollywood rejected it at first due to expenses
Later brought back by Fox with Movietone |
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Term
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Definition
| problem of getting sound to work in entire theatre, issue solved and patented by Lee De Forest (Audion tube) |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Double bill--during Great Depression |
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Definition
The price of one feature for two screenings
Popular among the public companies had to deal with the popularity |
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Term
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Definition
Famous for her sexual based films and performances
Often up on trial and arrested several times for her excessive performances – obscenity |
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Term
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Definition
Hollywood decided to bring in William Hays to lead to MPPDA
MPPDA was initially used to distribute movies but it eventually decided to censor sensitive topics
Hays was a postmaster general
Do’s, Don’ts and Be Carefuls – warnings about sensitive topics that might irritate the public
Used Hays as a way to not get the government involved
Also created central casting – for a more systematic way of getting actors |
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Term
| producer Hal Roach (18921992) |
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Definition
Lloyd and Roach worked their way up together, he
became his first producer; Laurel and Hardy comedy team (25 years); Our Gang film
series (later called Little Rascals): fully integrated |
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Term
| director: Cecil B. DeMille |
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Definition
→ gigantic films, biblical epics, huge
topics/budgets, but his films don’t challenge the mores of their time (unlike Griffith);
biggest budget films at Paramount, tireless self promoter (radio show, column,
speeches), remains top director well into the 1950s; The Squaw Man (1914), The
Cheat (1915), The 10 Commandments (1923), King of Kings (1927) |
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