Movies and the Impact of Images All right Mr DeMille Im ready for my closeup Discussion Consensus Narratives Discuss a recent film youve viewed in the context of consensus narrative by identifying mainstream values and whether they are either being challenged ID: 554649
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Slide1
MAC 215 Media History
Movies and the Impact of Images
All right,
Mr
.
DeMille
,
I'm ready for my close-up
.Slide2
Discussion - Consensus NarrativesDiscuss a recent film you've viewed in the context of
consensus narrative by identifying mainstream values and whether they are either being *challenged
or
reaffirmed.
*Often challenged by more traditional or emerging valuesSlide3
The Transitional Period (1907-1913)
Industry and Cultural FormSlide4
Moguls move west (1911-1912)
Carl
Laemmle, IMP, then Universal
Pictures
William
Fox,
20
th
Century Fox
Adolph
Zukor
,
Paramount
Marcus
Loew
, MGMSlide5
Industrial practices
vertical
integration
central planning
competition
and
cooperation
p
ermanent exhibition sites
f
irst run, second run venuesproduct differentiationstars and advertisingSlide6
Hollywood 1922Slide7
D.W. Griffith (1875-1948)
Mature storytelling technique
Motion pictures as high art & entertainment
Director as author/central creative force
Film as social forceSlide8
Cultural Form
Cinema of narrative integration
Style serves story
Increased length (
multireel
or feature)
Multiple shots
Internally coherent
stories
Acting
Individualized characters (identification) ‘Verisimilar’ styleIncreased use of editing (standard film grammar)
Subjectivity, POV
Analytical editing
Continuity or spatial-temporal relations (match cuts)Slide9
Hollywood: Triumph of the Studio System (1930-1945)
Technological Standards -
SOUND!!!
Majors
and Minors (an oligopoly)
Production
Code
Standard exhibition practices
Contract Player System
Stars, Directors, Looks,
Genres Slide10
Studio EraSlide11
Studio EraSlide12
SOUND
Sound
effects machines standard by 1908
Continuous musical accompaniment by 1914
Producers began commissioning original scores
In 1920s all features were accompanied by cue sheets Slide13
SOUNDSlide14
SYNC SOUND
Competing systems
s
ound
on
disc
sound
on
filmSlide15
SOUND
Competing systems
s
ound
on
disc
sound
on
filmSlide16
SOUND
Competing systems
s
ound
on
disc
sound
on
filmSlide17
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Starring Al Jolson
Directed by Alan Crosland
Released
by Warner Bros.
Premieres October 6, 1927
Earns over $3.5 million
Considered the first “talkie,” in fact a “part talkie”
Initiates studios to invest in sound technology for motion picturesSlide18
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Starring Al Jolson
Directed by Alan Crosland
Released
by Warner Bros.
Premieres October 6, 1927
Earns over $3.5 million
Considered the first “talkie,” in fact a “part talkie”
Initiates studios to invest in sound technology for motion picturesSlide19
Impact of Sound
Economic
Technological
StylisticSlide20
Impact of Sound: Economic
Capital
Investment and the
alliance
between Wall Street and
Hollywood
Investment
in excess of
$300 million
for the motion picture industry’s conversion to
soundmost $ lent by Rockefeller and MorganSlide21
Impact of Sound: Economic
Mergers and
realignments
by
1930, eight studios account for 95 percent of US film
production
The Big Five (vertically
integrated)
Paramount
, MGM, 20th Century-Fox, Warner Bros (bought First National), RKO
The Little Three (lacking theater chains)
Universal
, Columbia, United ArtistsSlide22
Impact of Sound: Technology
Rise of technical agencies
SMPE Society for Motion Picture Engineers
ASC: American Society of Cinematographers
AMPAS: The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences Slide23
Impact of Sound: Technology
Technological standardization & interoperability
Bell and Howell cameras
Mitchell cameras
Eastman Kodak panchromatic film stock
Movietone
optical sound system
Moviola
editing equipment
Mole Richardson incandescent lights
standardized blimps, tripods, booms, microphones, speakersSlide24
Impact of Sound: Style
Early Problems
Directional microphones
Noisy
cameras
Problems with stasis (camera and actor)
Repetitive
cutting (inflexible tempo)
Reduced variety of camera anglesSlide25
Impact of Sound: Style
The Adjustment to Sound
Multicamera
shooting
Booms
Dollies, small cranes, camera carriages
Increased camera mobility
post
-synchronization (dubbing in postproduction)
Hallelujah
(Vidor, 1929) Slide26
Impact of Sound: Style
The Adjustment to Sound
Multicamera
shooting
Booms
Dollies, small cranes, camera carriages
Increased camera mobility
post
-synchronization (dubbing in postproduction)
Film:
Hallelujah (Vidor, 1929) Slide27
II. Regulation of content and the Production Code
Antecedents to film censorship
moralists and reformers fought against the
corrupting influence
of film on youth
Mutual v. Ohio, 1915 (Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio)
MPPDA/The Hays Office (the voluntary period)
Hollywood Scandals in the 1920s
Hollywood film and the
“
New Morality
”Slide28
1922-1934 MPPDA/The Hays Office (the voluntary period)
M
otion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) March 1922
A self-regulatory trade organization
Will Hays as head (dubbed the Hays Office)
A public relations and lobbying firm
rarely censored films
1927 Motion Picture Production Code
Unenforced! Slide29
Hollywood Scandals
Roscoe
“
Fatty
”
Arbuckle (1887-1933)
September 1921,
“
Fatty
”
Arbuckle charged with the rape and murder of actress Virginia RappeSlide30
Hollywood scandals
February 1st, 1922, director found murdered
actresses Mary Miles Minter and Mabel Dormand accused, careers destroyedSlide31
Hollywood scandals
January 1923, actor Wallace Reid dies of heroin overdose Slide32
Hollywood films and the new morality
Films of Cecil B. Demille
Features of late era silent films:
Extramarital sex
Hedonism
Lurid spectacleSlide33
Precode - Trouble in Paradise (Lubitch, 1932) Slide34
The Production code of 1934
Headed by prominent Catholic Joseph BreenSlide35
The Production Code of 1934
A wide range of subject prohibited on film (p. 112):
Scenes of
passion, profanity, nudity, excessive drinking, depiction of crime and the law defeated, excessive violence, narcotics, gambling
…Slide36
Process of PCA Certification
A preliminary conference with Breen, with basic story and plot discussed
Careful scrutiny of the script
Conference with writers to make changes where necessary
Approval of script by Breen to go into production
Continued conferences during production
Previews of sequences during production
Preview of the completed picture
Certificate of approval granted to picture, after requested changes are madeSlide37
The Enforcement of the Production CodeSlide38
Enforcement of PCA
In 1942 The Outlaw was initially denied a certification . . .Slide39
Analysis: social implications . . .
Baby Face
(Green, 1933)Slide40
The Enforcement of the Production Code
Social implications . . .
conceal social problems that involve sexual crimes including:
Incest
Pedophilia
Sexual harassment
Sexual violence
Rape
. . .Slide41
The Enforcement of the Production Code
Other implications . . . ?Slide42
The Enforcement of the Production Code
Implications . . .
Prevents criticism of authority and corruption (police, politicians, etc).
conceals human sexuality
Infantilism of public
Masks reality
Demise of the sophisticated comedy
Rise of the screwball comedySlide43
Film Censorship Post WWII
Film Noir
Morally ambiguous
Structurally complex
Sexually bold
Pushed conventions
allusive system of representation
“
From which conclusions might be drawn from the sophisticated mind...but would mean nothing to the inexperienced
”
(Balio, p. 40). Slide44
Film Censorship Post WWII
1952 Supreme Court Case
Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495 (
1952
)
(also referred to as the "
Miracle Decision
"), was a landmark
decision
by the United States
Supreme Court
Films covered by First Amendment Guarantee of Free Speech
MPAA has problems enforcing the code
Hays Office power to dictate content begins to erode . . . why?
1966 MPAA stops issuing certificates all together Slide45
Decline of Studio System (1946-1960)
US audience attendance peaks and declines
1946 98 million viewers per week
1957 47 million viewers per week
Factors
Anti-trust litigation (Paramount Decision of 1946)
Political challenges (HUAC)
Sociological Changes (suburbia)
Competing Entertainment forms (TV)Slide46
Paramount Decision of 19481938
US vs. Paramount Pictures, Inc., et al
Big Five and Little Three accused of violating anti-trust laws
Big 5 - Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros, RKO, and Twentieth Century-Fox
Little 3- Universal, Columbia, and United Artists)
vertically integrated structure - a monopolySlide47
Paramount Decision of 1948 (cont)1948 U.S. Supreme Court decision
8 companies found guilty
Block-booking
Cooperating to exclude independent exhibiters
Big 5 ordered to sell off their theater chainsSlide48
Impact of Paramount Decision (1948)
Industry revenues decreases 20%
Studio profits decline
$120m in 1947- $31m in 1950
Output decreases
Studios
’
stocks plummet
Studios falterSlide49
Political Challenges: Hollywood Ten and the Blacklist
“
Are you now or have you ever been a
member of the Communist Party?
”Slide50
House Committee of Un-American Activities (HUAC)
conservatives sought to drive out leftists from the media
Equated labor rights with communism
1947 HUAC hearings of 1947
called 41
“
friendly
”
witnesses who named 17
10 out of 19 subpoenaed refused to testify
jailed for up to 1 year
blacklisted for many moreSlide51
Hollywood Ten
Alvah Bessie
, screenwriter
Herbert Biberman
, screenwriter and director
Lester Cole
, screenwriter
Edward Dmytryk
, director
Ring Lardner Jr.
, screenwriter
John Howard Lawson
, screenwriter
Albert Maltz
, screenwriter
Samuel Ornitz
, screenwriter
Adrian Scott
, producer and screenwriter
Dalton Trumbo
, screenwriterSlide52
Hollywood and the “Blacklist”
1947 MPAA, on behalf of studios, cooperated
Comprised a list of several hundred writers, actors, and directors who would lose their jobs
known as the blacklist
many survived by using pseudonyms or fronts
lasted over a decade
1960 Exodus and Spartacus give screen credit
Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted screenwriter
[Screen documentary:
The Hollywood Ten
(1950)]Slide53
Results of HUAC hearings and the Blacklist
Ruined lives, careers
ended forever
Talented filmmakers
left
Hollywood
Created distrust in the studio systemSlide54
Sociological Changes: suburbanization
Little
boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
—-
Malvina
ReynoldsSlide55
Sociological Changes: the rise of suburbia
R
eturning vets focused
on
careers, raising
families
Move away from city (and city theaters)
Discretionary
income goes to household goods and new
cars
E
mphasis
on participatory leisure activitiesSlide56
Television
mid 1950s TV replaces radio and the movies
1954 Americans own 32 million sets
Many people stay home instead of attend the
movies
TV Watch Parties!Slide57
Moving Towards a New HollywoodHollywood
on Hollywood
Nostalgia & Self
-
CritiqueSlide58
Color and Aspect Ratio
By early 1950s Hollywood films made in color increase from 20% to 50%
1952 Many widescreen processes introduced
CinemaScope 2.35:1 vs. Academy ratio 1.33:1Slide59
Aspect RatioSlide60
Aspect Ratio