Communications Chapter 7 Homework American Audiences Will Support Not Only Foreign Films But Also Movies That

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Chapter 7

Movies and the Impact of Images

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Chapter Opener: Star Wars marks a cultural shift in film, pushing the boundaries of special

effects and demonstrating the marriage of technology and storytelling.

I. The Early History of Movies

Creative and bold innovators have collaborated to constantly advance the industry.

A. Advances in Film Technology. The concept of film goes back as far as the time of

Leonardo da Vinci.

1. Muybridge and Goodwin Make Pictures Move. By the late 1800s, a number of

inventors worked on capturing moving images and projecting them.

II. The Evolution of the Hollywood Studio System

By the late 1910s, the movie industry’s three basic economic divisions—production,

distribution, and exhibition (the so–called three pillars)—were controlled by five major

studios: Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox, and RKO.

A. Edison’s Attempt to Control the Industry. Edison formed a cartel of French and U.S.

companies in 1908, but a lawsuit in 1917 broke up the trust.

B. A Closer Look at the Three Pillars. Competition sparked tension between the forces of

centralization who wanted to control all pillars and those of independence.

1. Production. By the 1920s, film production had evolved into the studio system,

which turned moviemaking into an assembly–line process, with stars, directors,

III. Hollywood’s Golden Age: The Development of Style

A distinct moviemaking style developed that was characterized by narrative techniques,

sound, and movie genres.

A. Narrative Techniques in the Silent Era. Moviemaking became an art form with the use

of techniques like close–ups, fast–paced editing, and symbolic imagery.

B. Augmenting Images with Sound. The introduction of sound further established

moviemaking’s style and dramatically increased attendance.

C. Inside the Hollywood System: Setting the Standard for Narrative Style. Three

ingredients give Hollywood movies their distinctive flavor: narrative, genre, and author.

1. Hollywood Narratives. The two basic components of the narrative are the story

(what happens to whom) and the discourse (how the story is told).

2. Hollywood Genres. These standard categories, like westerns, comedies, and horror,

enable the industry to create a set of formulas (product standardization) and a

IV. The Transformation of the Hollywood Studio System

Starting in the late 1940s, significant cultural and social changes—such as suburbanization

and television—had begun to reshape the moviegoing experience.

A. The Paramount Decision. This 1948 court ruling forced the big studios to end vertical

integration.

V. The Economics of the Movie Business

The Hollywood studio system has adapted to change and continues to make money.

A. Making Money on Movies Today. The cost of making movies has increased, so the

studios have had to find more ways to make money.

1. Box–Office Sales. Studios get about 40 percent of ticket sales.

2. DVD/Video Sales and Rentals. These sales start three to four months after a movie’s

5. Independent–Film Distribution. Studios make money by distributing the work of

independent filmmakers.

6. Licensing and Product Placement. Sales of toys based on movie characters and fees

paid by companies that want their products featured in movies are another revenue

stream.

B. Conglomerations and Synergy in the Movie Industry. The “Big Six” (media

conglomerates) currently rule the Hollywood commercial film business. They make the

VI. The Movies in a Democratic Society

Movies function as consensus narratives by providing shared cultural experiences. This

power raises questions about the effect of American films on other countries and on our own

democracy.

LECTURE TOPICS

1. Using a Muybridge animation and early Edison films, describe the novelty of early film

images.

2. Lecture on the development of the American movie industry and how the major studios

gained control of production, distribution, and exhibition. Consider drawing parallels with the

rise of other media industries.

3. Explain the development of Hollywood storytelling, including Hollywood genres and the

LECTURE SPIN–OFFS

Star Wars

• The enormous success of the 1977 film Star Wars, produced, written, and directed by George

Lucas, changed the culture of the movie industry. As the late film critic Roger Ebert

explained: “Star Wars effectively brought to an end the golden era of early–1970s personal

filmmaking and focused the industry on big–budget special–effects blockbusters, blasting off

a trend we are still living through. . . . In one way or another all the big studios have been

trying to make another Star Wars ever since.”

segment of the U.S. movie audience—the twelve– to twenty–four–year–old age group—

accounting for 38 percent of theater attendance.

• Another part of the blockbuster mentality created by Star Wars and mimicked by other films

is the way in which movies are made into big–budget summer releases with merchandising

tie–ins and high potential for international distribution. By 2008, the six Star Wars films had

• Star Wars has impacted not only the cultural side of moviemaking but also the technical

form. In the first Star Wars trilogy, produced in the 1970s and 1980s, Lucas developed

technologies now commonplace in moviemaking—digital animation, special effects, and

computer–based film editing. With the second trilogy, Lucas again broke new ground in the

• “It’s official: J. J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the highest–grossing film of all

time in North America, not accounting for inflation.” So begins Pamela McClintock’s article

in the Hollywood Reporter on the 2015 film—the first in the Star Wars franchise since

Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012. In its first twenty days, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

earned $764.4 million. By comparison, the previous top

North American film, Avatar, took

seven months to earn about $750 million. (Star Wars: The Force Awakens also earned more

than $10 million in later rereleases in movie theaters.)

(Source: Pamela McClintock, “Box Office: ‘Star Wars: Force Awakens’ Tops ‘Avatar’ to

Become No. 1 Film of All Time in North America,” Hollywood Reporter, January 6, 2016,

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box–office–starwars–force–852274.)

Movies and Current Events

Avatar, released in 2009, which is mentioned in the chapter opener as a movie that heralded a

new era in filmmaking through technical innovation, was widely perceived as a criticism of the

U.S. war in Iraq, and it also contained strong environmental themes that resonated with the

“Green” movement. Avatar illustrates how movies reflect and sometimes drive popular culture

and public opinion on current events. Examples abound through Hollywood history dating back

like 1934’s It Happened One Night, which featured a somewhat naïve heiress being rescued from

a loveless marriage by a down–to–earth newspaper reporter. Comedies, especially those that

mocked the wealthy, helped Americans take their minds off the economy. (It Happened One

Night is also famous for a scene in which Clark Gable removes his dress shirt and reveals that he

is not wearing an undershirt. According to Time magazine, undershirt sales dropped 40 percent in

that year.)

The Early History of Movies

• Thomas Edison’s 1911 prediction about the promise of motion pictures as an educational tool

was: “[They will make schools] so attractive that a big army with swords and guns couldn’t

keep boys and girls out of it. You’ll have to lick ’em to keep ’em away.”

Exhibition

Consider how our moviegoing experiences have changed over several generations:

• 1931: There is no television yet. We are enjoying Mary Pickford in Kiki. What’s more, we’re

sitting in a large downtown movie palace that comfortably seats more than four thousand

filmgoers. An afternoon or evening at the movies is part of a weekly ritual that includes

watching a cartoon, a newsreel, a film short or travel documentary, and a feature–length

movie.

• 1961: There are no VCRs yet. We are heading to our favorite downtown theater along with

throngs of teens and families, or we’re piling into hot rods and station wagons to go to the

Augmenting Images with Sound

Two classic feature films, Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Singin’ in the Rain (1952), chronicle the

film industry’s transition from silent pictures to sound. Singin’ in the Rain has a few hilarious

scenes where film producers try to work with an actress trying to adapt to talking pictures. She

Global Cinema

• Foreign films are becoming less and less available in U.S. theaters, as independent features,

which are deemed more accessible than subtitled movies, grow in number. There have been

so few foreign commercial releases in recent years that Film Comment magazine has

compiled a list of the Top 150 unreleased foreign–language films of the 1990s. The golden

era of international cinema was in the 1960s, when U.S. audiences waited impatiently for the

latest films by screenwriters like Jean–Luc Godard and Akira Kurosawa. More foreign titles

are being created than ever before, however.

Independent Films

Developed by Robert Redford as an alternative (non–Hollywood) venue for independent

The Economics of the Movie Business

• One of the reigning champions of product placement is MGM’s James Bond series. In the

2002 Bond film Die Another Day, placements were sold to more than twenty companies,

which paid more than $120 million. Placed products included Swarovski crystal chandeliers,

1. Classic: The product is incorporated into the stage set (e.g., an iPhone on 30 Rock).

2. Corporate: The product’s brand name is highlighted in the film’s or show’s dialogue

(e.g., when Hugh Grant talked about “Googling” his love interest, Drew Barrymore, in

the 2007 film Music and Lyrics).

3. Evocative: Placement doesn’t show or cite the product, but its packaging or shape is

Convergence: Movies Adjust to the Digital Turn

• A 1999 New York Times essay compared the movement in film from celluloid to digital with

the transformation in painting from fresco to oil paint on canvas, which took place in the

fifteenth century. The piece was written by Walter Murch, a sound–mix editor based in

Hollywood (and an Oscar winner for editing and sound mixing for The English Patient).

Fresco was a painstaking process that required amazing preparation and a precise

knowledge of pigments. No revisions were possible, and it was a collaborative process

overseen by the artist. Oil paint on canvas freed artists to paint wherever and whenever they

wished, without having to worry about the paint color changing when it dried. They could

paint over areas they didn’t like and have more control over every aspect of their work,

• Digital filmmaking has significant advantages:

• A foot of film costs $1 to buy and process versus 1.5 cents for digital tape; the cost of

processing a conventional film is roughly one hundred times that of producing high–

definition video.

• Because tape is so cheap, filmmakers using digital cameras can shoot more footage,

which gives them more choices in the editing room. Because tapes run up to an hour, they

also enable directors to keep cameras rolling longer than the ten–minute maximum for a

film reel. Directors can also review a shot immediately after it is completed rather than

• Studios are the big beneficiaries of digitally distributed films. They can save a couple of

million dollars on each movie they release if it goes to theaters as digital files (via satellite,

high–speed network, or on hard drives). Currently, studios ship most film prints at around

• To pay for this investment, theater chains are selling more ads, which play before a movie.

These ads are increasingly slicker and much more expensive, featuring blue–chip marketers

such as Revlon and American Express (rather than concessions or local car dealerships).

Advertisers are even developing two–minute mini–movies just for movie audiences that star

actors such as Julianne Moore and Halle Berry. Moreover, one consumer study found that

• One significant savings that will result from going digital will come from having fewer

employees. Only one operator is needed to ready a digital film for screening: One has to

simply select the appropriate trailers (and ads) from the computer listings.

• The time it takes for a film–to–video release has decreased from six months to between four

and five months—or less, particularly for digital release. The Star Wars film Rogue One, for

example, came out in theaters mid–December 2016; was released on Digital HD on March 24,

2017; and was available on Blu–ray and DVD on April 4, 2017. (See Andrew Liptak, “Rogue

• Movie companies are also experimenting with simultaneous release of films online and in

theaters. In 2014, Sony canceled the release of The Interview, a comedy about the

assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong–un, after terrorist threats and hacking of the

company’s computer system. Six days later, though, Sony announced that it would release the

movie online and on DVD with a limited release in theaters. The movie quickly became

Sony’s most successful digital release, suggesting that it might be a model for future releases.

Many in the industry are cautious about damaging attendance at theaters, however.

(Sources: Sebastian Anthony, “The Interview Breaks Online Movie Sales Records: A Case

MEDIA LITERACY DISCUSSIONS AND EXERCISES

IN BRIEF: IN THE THEATER OR AT HOME?

(Note: A version of this activity is now available on LaunchPad for Media Essentials. See the

Media Literacy Practice Activity for this chapter.)

In class, make a tally of students who prefer to attend movies in the theater and students who

prefer to watch movies at home on DVD, Blu–ray, or a device. Discuss the advantages and

IN DEPTH: FILM SUCCESS: FINDING THE BALANCE BETWEEN FAMILIARITY AND

NOVELTY

Pre–Exercise Question: Why do some films succeed and others fail?

This discussion/exercise investigates the factors that determine a movie’s success with

audiences. To begin, select two recent big–budget films (one success and one flop) and two small

independent films (one that became commercially successful and one that never made a huge

impact).

1. Description. Isolate the major elements of the four films: What genre (or combination of

genres) does each film belong to? What are the major attractions of each film: popular actors,

renowned directors, special effects, a familiar story, an unfamiliar story? Review the

CLASSROOM MEDIA RESOURCES

VIDEOS/DVDS/CDS

The Artist (2011, 100 minutes). The arrival of talking pictures and the effect on the stars.

Behind the Screens: Hollywood Goes Hypercommercial (2000, 40 minutes). Tracking the

phenomenal rise in product placements, tie–ins with fast–food chains, and mammoth toy

The Jazz Singer (1927, 89 minutes). The first feature–length film with spoken dialogue.

Midnight Ramble: The Story of the Black Film Industry (1994, 55 minutes). This program

examines the role of race movies—films that featured all–black casts—in American culture

from the turn of the century through the 1940s. The documentary illustrates that race movies

The Monster That Ate Hollywood (1999, 60 minutes). A Frontline coproduction with Riot

Pictures. PBS’s Frontline takes a look at America’s changing movie capital, Hollywood, and

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011, 87 minutes). Morgan Spurlock

exposes product placement in movies and television.

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011). 15–part TV mini–series about the history of film.

Sunset Boulevard (1950, 110 minutes). A screenwriter hired to rework a former silent film star’s

script develops a dangerous relationship.

Trumbo (2015, 124 minutes). Biopic about Dalton Trumbo, one of the “Hollywood 10,” who

wrote two Oscar–winning scripts (anonymously) while blacklisted. Cast includes Bryan

WEB SITES

A nonprofit organization devoted to preserving America’s film heritage.

News and numbers of the film industry

A Web site devoted to box–office tallies.

Box–office reporting service. Owned and operated by IMDB.

Hollywood and media news.

Represents film and television directors in the U.S. and abroad.

Sponsors the Golden Globe awards.

Hollywood–based trade newspaper that covers the movie industry.

An online database for film festivals and other filmmaking competitions.

Known colloquially as IMDB, a comprehensive online database of films both past and

The MPAA is a nonprofit business and trade association that administers and monitors a

rating system from G to NC–17.

Trade organization representing theaters across the U.S. and the globe.

Actors union.

Film industry insight.

One of the most famous entertainment–industry newspapers.

Digital news organization that covers the business entertainment and media.

Labor union representing TV and film writers.