Hanson, Mass Communication 8e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Lecture Notes
Chapter 7: Movies: Mass Producing Entertainment
Learning Objectives
1-2 Explain why the studio system’s factory-like process of making films led to the creation of
United Artists
1-4 Explain how the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite started trending during the 2016 Oscars campaign
and give examples on how the Academy has tried to be more diverse since then
1-5 Identify three long-tail tools that have changed the movie promotion and distribution
process
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. The Development of Movies
A. 1870s and 1880s:
i. Étienne-Jules Marey
ii. Eadweard Muybridge
a. Animal Locomotion
iii. Edison
a. Kinetoscope: peep show-like device
b. Blacksmith Scene
iv. Penny arcades and “nickelodeons”
B. The Earliest Filmmakers
i. Auguste-Marie and Louis-Jean Lumière
a. Cinématographe
ii. Georges Méliès
a. A Trip to the Moon
iii. Edwin S. Porter Telling a Story with Film
a. Expanded on Méliès’ ideas
b. The Great Train Robbery
iv. D. W. Griffith: The Birth of the Blockbuster
a. Prominent producer of the silent movie era
b. Created the first modern feature-length film
a. Blatantly racist The Birth of a Nation
v. Movie Stars
Hanson, Mass Communication 8e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
a. Star power of certain actors and actresses
b. Florence Lawrence and breakout from Biograph
II. The Studio System
A. Appeal of southern California
i. Away from patent police
B. Two ways of distribution
i. Block bookings: required theater owners to book a whole series of movies to get
a few desirable films
ii. Studios buying up theaters
C. Rebellion against the studio system
D. Talking Pictures
i. Don Juan
a. Synchronized soundtrack: synchronizes sounds with pictures in the
movies
b. Musical accompaniment
ii. The Jazz Singer
a. Talkie: a movie with synchronized sound
b. Singing impressed people
c. Helped build the status of Warner Bros
iii. Challenges of talkies
a. Required actors to speak well while acting
b. Required expensive equipment
c. Restricted camera mobility from sound issues
iv. Star Wars
a. Full use of the Dolby sound system
b. Standard of the THX theater sound system
v. The End of the Studio System
a. The studio system was seen as a monopoly by the U.S. Department of
Justice
E. The Blacklist
Hanson, Mass Communication 8e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
i. After WWII
a. Diminished studio power from the antitrust ruling
b. Fear of Hollywood’s role in spreading communism
ii. House Un-American Activities Committee: congressional committee that held
hearings on possible communist influences in Hollywood
iii. Hollywood Ten: unfriendly witnesses that questioned the right of the committee
to ask about their associations and beliefs and challenged the constitutionality of
the hearings
F. Television and the Movies
i. Turn to television for routine entertainment in the 1950s
ii. Declining interest in movies
a. Hollywood’s attempts to reverse this trend
a. 3-D format
b. Larger pictures
i. Current go-to standard of Ultra HD 4K screens
iii. The Advent of Color
a. Television helped bring about the conversion to color movies
b. Initially required a complex camera that shot simultaneously on three
film reels to make color movies
III. The Blockbuster Movie Era
A. Blockbuster era: period from late 1970s to present day, where studios try to make
relatively expensive movies with a large, predefined audience
B. Creation of the blockbuster era with the release of Jaws
i. Accompanied by a giant television advertising campaign
ii. Started tradition of summer movies
C. Argument of movement into a franchise era
i. Star Wars
ii. Marvel Cinematic Universe
iii. See Table 7.1
D. Movie Viewership in the Digital Era
i. Prior to COVID-19: relatively successful movie industry
Hanson, Mass Communication 8e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
ii. Specialness of watching movies
iii. Large Format Films
a. IMAX theaters
a. Change from science and nature documentaries to blockbuster
movies
b. Group experience
iv. Home Video
a. 1980s: VCRs
E. Digital Production and Projection
i. First use of computers in Star Wars
ii. Computer Generated Images
a. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
a. First mainstream American movie with only computer animated
backgrounds and sets
b. Computer-generated imagery (CGI): visual effects created by a
computer
iii. Digital Projection
a. Better 3-D image and lower cost of distributing prints to theaters
b. Some directors still want to work on film
a. Quentin Tarantino and The Hateful Eight
b. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar
F. What Makes a Movie Profitable?
i. Best-known way
a. Big-budget blockbuster with big stars and a big-name director
ii. Black Panther
iii. The Mummy remake
a. International box office saved the domestic failure
iv. The Fault in Our Stars
v. See Table 7.1 and 7.2
vi. How movies become breakout hits
a. The Post and Ready Player One
G. Where Are Movies Made?
Hanson, Mass Communication 8e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
i. Produced across the United States and around the world
ii. Popularity of Georgia
a. Good movie production infrastructure and tax incentives
iii. Tyler Perry’s Georgia
a. Root of growth: Tyler Perry’s company studio in Atlanta
iv. Hooray for Bollywood: India’s Movie Industry
a. Biggest source of movies in the world: Bollywood
IV. Movies and Society
A. #OscarsSoWhite in 2016
i. Highlighted lack of diversity in nominees
ii. Turning individual successes into a long-term trend
B. Audience enthusiasm for movies starring people other than white males
C. Challenge for the Academy: keeping up the idea of representation
D. Problematic Depictions of Race
i. Disney+ and classic films
a. Use of disclaimers
ii. Whitewashing
a. Whitewashing: process where white actors are casted in parts intended
for people of color
a. E.g. Ghost in the Shell
b. Audience enthusiasm for movies with Asian actors and stories
E. The Production Code: Protecting the Movies From Censorship
i. 1909: New York Board of Censorship
a. National standard for movies
ii. Behavior of stars off-screen
a. Prompted some censorship efforts
iii. The Birth of the Production Code
a. “The Don’ts and Be Carefuls” guidelines in 1927
b. Will H. Hays
F. The Ratings System
Hanson, Mass Communication 8e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
i. 1960s: movies were violating provisions of the Production Code or were released
without the code’s approval
ii. Jack Valenti and the Motion Picture Association of Americans (MPAA)
a. Scrapped the Production Code
b. Replaced with a system of voluntary ratings for appropriate audiences
a. G: General audiences. All ages admitted
b. PG: Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be
suitable for children
iii. The creation and desirability of the PG-13 rating
iv. The X Problem
a. Lack of trademark of the X rating
b. Use of X rating by the pornography industry
c. Creation of the NC-17 rating
d. Criticisms of the rating system
V. The Long Tail and the Future of Movies
A. 2007: availability of films as digital downloads from Apple’s iTunes store
B. Audience interest in choices
i. Prior problem of distribution
C. Increased streaming market competition due to Netflix’s popularity
D. The Blair Witch Project
i. Effectiveness of the web-based viral marketing campaign
E. Declining Ticket Sales
i. Uncertain future of movies
a. Impact of COVID-19
b. Increase in dollars earned from increased ticket prices not audience size
ii. Movies as a Brand