Final Film 6A midterm actually

Vertical Integration

(started in late 1910s-20s) how studios controlled every aspect of the lifecycle of the film, production, distribution and exhibition

Buster Keaton

-"great stone face" of the screen, known for his deadpan expression and imaginative visual comedy -parents were vaudevillians and added Buster in performance when he was only 3 -specialized in knockabout acrobatics -Began making movies with Fatty Arbuckle, soon went in to production for himself and Ade features, ten in five years. -His comedy always had as its goal the restoration of order in the face of society's errors and false judgements. -Comic fantasy rested in the outer world of American mechanical civilization in its encounter with nature. -Could not make the successful transition to talkies

Studio System

-A business model adopted by five Hollywood studios—Paramount Pictures, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Warner Brothers Pictures, 20th Century Fox and RKO—that combined all facets of film production with studio-owned distribution chains and theaters. -Started in Hollywood, California in the 1910s, when LA became the center for commercial film production in the United States. -Operations of the studios were modeled on the kind of mass production that Henry Ford was introducing to the auto industry at the time. -These major studios were able to maintain their profits by vertically integrating the entire movie process into their companies, from production to exhibition to distribution. By doing so, studios were able to hire a crew, actors and directors on a contract as opposed to a film by film basis. -To further ensure profit from all their movies, studios sold their feature films in blocks to theater chains they didn't own. This practice of block-booking several low budget movies with an 'A' budget feature safeguarded the studios from losing money.

Vaudeville

-A type of inexpensive variety show that first appeared in the 1870s, often consisting of comic sketches, song-and-dance routines, and magic acts. - A family friendly alternative to entertainment at the time, when people went to saloons (for men who drank), broadway plays (elitist, , college educated and expensive) and burlesque shows ( male audience, rowdy) -Made for women and children and the forgotten middle class -Weekly program change employed by theinterstate vaudeville circuit, whose acts would travel to different cities and create repeat business. -Exposed small towns to top talents which could only previously be seen in big cities.

Lee de Forest

-American inventor most famous for the three-element "Audion" vacuum tube, the first practical amplification device. -The Audion tube was the foundation of the field of electronics -Developed an optical sound-on-film process called Phonofilm. -Phonofilm recorded the electrical waveforms produced by a microphone photographically onto film, using parallel lines of variable shades of gray. -When the movie film was projected, the recorded information was converted back into sound, in synchronization with the picture. -In November 1922, de Forest established the De Forest Phonofilm Company. -None of the Hollywood movie studios expressed interest in his invention, and because at this time these studios controlled all the major theater chains, this meant de Forest was limited to showing his experimental films in independent theaters. -de Forest's choice of primarily filming short vaudeville acts, instead of full-length features, limited the appeal of Phonofilm to Hollywood studios.

Hal Roach

-American motion-picture producer, director, and writer best known for his production of comedies -He ranks with Mack Sennett as a creator of inspired chaos in the early Hollywood comic style. -Roach began his film career in 1912 as a bit player in westerns. -In 1914 he formed a company to produce the comedies of Harold Lloyd. -Five years later he established the Hal Roach Studios. From that studio, he went on to produce other Lloyd films, including his famous Safety Last! (1923). -Roach's insistence on carefully constructed scripts with solid story lines and well-worked characterizations resulted in a humour based on character and situation rather than on a string of sight gags; because of this emphasis, his comedies have withstood the test of time better than the rather one-dimensional slapstick efforts of Sennett. -The most successful Roach comedies were those starring the team of Laurel and Hardy, the original fat-skinny duo. -created the little rascals comedy -kids comedy

Roscoe Arbuckle

-American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter working for Keystone Studios. -He mentored Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. -His comedies are noted as rollicking and fast-paced, have many chase scenes, and feature sight gags. Arbuckle was fond of the "pie in the face". -Arbuckle was the defendant in three widely publicized trials between November 1921 and April 1922 for the alleged rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe. Rappe had fallen ill at a party hosted by Arbuckle at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco in September 1921, and she died four days later. A friend of Rappe accused Arbuckle of raping and accidentally killing her.

Joseph Breen

-An American film censor with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America who applied the Hays Code to film production -In 1933, the Roman Catholic National Legion of Decency was founded, and began to rate films independently, putting pressure on the industry. -The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) had, up until then, enforced the motion picture industry's own self-censorship standards, albeit not very seriously. -Hays, who had been in charge of enforcing this voluntary code since 1927, worried that the NLD's efforts could weaken his own power, that of his office, and industry profits -Hays appointed the "tough Irish Catholic" Breen to head the Production Code Administration (PCA), a newly created department of the MPPDA, created to administer the Motion Picture Production Code. -Unlike previous attempts at self-censorship, PCA decisions became binding — no film could be exhibited in an American theater without a stamp of approval from the PCA. Any producer attempting to do so faced a fine of $25,000. -The Production Code was not created or enforced by federal, state, or city government; the Hollywood studios adopted the code in large part in the hopes of avoiding government censorship, preferring self-regulation to government regulation. -Under Breen's leadership of the PCA, enforcement of the Production Code became notoriously rigid. -The first major instance of censorship under the Production Code involved the 1934 film Tarzan and His Mate, in which brief nude scenes involving a body double for actress Maureen O'Sullivan were edited out of the master negative of the film.

Thomas Ince

-An American silent film producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. -Ince was known as the "Father of the Western"and was responsible for making over 800 films. -Created the first major Hollywood studio facility -invented movie production by introducing the "assembly line" system of filmmaking. -He was the first mogul to build his own film studio dubbed "Inceville" in Palisades Highlands. -Developed the role of the producer in motion pictures. Before this, the director and cameraman controlled the production of the picture, but Ince put the producer in charge of the film from inception to final product. -He was also one of the first to hire a separate screenwriter, director, and editor. -the studio's weekly output increased from one to two, and later three two-reel pictures per week. These were written, produced, cut, and assembled, with the finished product delivered within a week. By enabling more than one film to be made at a time, Ince decentralized the process of movie production to meet the increased demand from theaters. -WWI disrupts film production in Europe & wipes out EU rivals. When the war ends, EU companies try to reestablish domestic production but studio system has already been established

Eadweard Muybridge

-An English-American photographer important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion. -The former governor of California, Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner, hired Muybridge for some photographic studies. -popularly debated question of the day - whether all four feet of a horse were off the ground at the same time while trotting. -Muybridge began experimenting with an array of 12 cameras photographing a galloping horse in a sequence of shots. -He copied the images in the form of silhouettes onto a disc to be viewed in a machine called a "zoopraxiscope". -This device was later regarded as an early movie projector -During his later years, he continued to study human and animal locomotion and gave many public lectures and demonstrations of his photography and early motion picture sequences.

MPPDA

-As the economy emerged from its downturn following the war, movie patronage declined. -Moralists claimed the drop in attendance was due to public discontent with movie-star behavior and salacious films. -Issues with lack of censorship involving Mae West and several Hollywood scandals in the 1920s involving William Desmond Taylor, Wallace Reid, and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle damaged Hollywood's public image. -The main focus of the MPPDA in its early years was on producing a strong public relations campaign to ensure that Hollywood remained financially stable and able to attract investment from Wall Street, while simultaneously ensuring that American films had a "clean moral tone". -Hollywood followed precedent from major-league-baseball owners in hiring a conservative judge to serve as commissioner of the sport following the Black Sox bribery scandal. -Hired an outsider with credentials that could serve as defenses against their enemies: political influence, active christian convictions, and ties to the American heartland. -Will H. Hayes, a former chairman of the Republic National Committee and Presbyterian elder from Indiana, was given the title. -Hays oversaw the creation of a code of "Don'ts and Be Carefuls" for the industry. This list outlined the issues that movies could encounter in different localities. It was largely unsuccessful. -In 1930, the MPPDA introduced the Production Code, sometimes called the "Hays Code". The Code consisted of moral guidelines regarding what was acceptable to include in films. -Unlike the "Dont's and Be Carefuls", which the studios had ignored, the Production Code was endorsed by studio executives. -Among other rules, the code prohibited inclusion of "scenes of passion" unless they were essential to a film's plot; "pointed profanity" in either word or action; "sex perversion"; justification or explicit coverage of adultery; sympathetic treatment of crime or criminals; dancing with "indecent" moves; and white slavery. -Because studio executives had been involved in the decision to adopt the code, MPPDA-member studios were more willing to submit scripts for consideration. -However, the growing economic impacts of the Great Depression of the early 1930s increased pressure on studios to make films that would draw the largest possible audiences, even if it meant taking their chances with local censorship boards by disobeying the Code. -Central Casting was established in an effort to regulate the proclivity for Hollywood executives to promise roles to young people who sought employment as extras for sexual favors. -Hays had four main goals for Central Casting: to do away with the high fees extras were charged by private employment agencies, to ensure extras were paid legally, to discourage the influx of people flocking to Hollywood to seek employment as extras, and to provide steady employment to qualified extras.

Eric von Stroheim

-Austrian-American director, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant garde, visionary director of the silent era. -He also wrote screenplays and won recognition as an actor, notably for roles as sadistic, monocled Prussian officers. "Th man you love to hate" -He began working with D.W. Griffith, taking uncredited roles in Intolerance. -Following the end of the war, Stroheim turned to writing and then directed his own script for Blind Husbands in 1919. He also starred in the film. -As a director, Stroheim was known to be dictatorial and demanding, often antagonizing his actors. -best remembered work as a director is Greed, a detailed filming of the novel McTeague by Frank Norris. -He originally intended it to be a highly detailed reproduction of the original . Shot in San Francisco with his actors in period dress and Silent Movie makeup while the city itself was represented in its modern form. -Greed is considered by some film historians to be the first feature-length film shot on location. -The original print ran for an astonishing 10 hours. Knowing this version was far too long, Stroheim cut almost half the footage, reducing it to a six-hour version to be shown over two nights. It still was deemed too long. -The shortened release version was a box-office failure, and was angrily disowned by Stroheim. -His unwillingness or inability to modify his artistic principles for the commercial cinema, his extreme attention to detail, his insistence on near-total artistic freedom and the resulting costs of his films led to fights with the studios. As time went on, he received fewer directing opportunities.

vitagraph studios

-Founded by J. Stuart Blackton -English émigré Blackton was sent to interview Thomas Edison about his new film projector. -A year later, Blackton and business partner Smith founded the American Vitagraph Company in direct competition with Edison -The company's first claim to fame came from newsreels: Vitagraph cameramen were on the scene to film events from the Spanish-American War of 1898. -Used the techniques of stop-motion and drawn animation, is considered a father of American animation. -Avoided patent infringement lawsuits from Edison by buying a special license from Edison in 1907 and by agreeing to sell many of his most popular films to Edison for distribution. -Major stars included Florence Turner (the Vitagraph Girl, one of the world's first movie stars).

Adolph Zukor

-Began his career in the motion picture industry operating a small string of nickel theaters. -A perceived obstacle to his ambitions was the fact that movies, or "flickers" as they were called, were very short, usually no more than 12 minutes. Zukor felt that audiences would sit through a movie for an hour or more, if it had a good story. Zukor tested his theory by buying the rights to a three-reel European religious movie, Passion Play. -Believed the best way to make movies appealing to the Middle class would be to produce longer and more expensive films modeled after familiar middle-class forms of entertainment. -Established Famous Players Film Company. "Famous players in famous plays" -The company merged with Jesse L. Lasky's company to form Famous Players-Lasky. -The Paramount Pictures Corporation was formed to distribute films made by Famous Players-Lasky. -The early stars of their films were drawn from the stage, but soon Zukor realized that he would have to create his own stars. -One of Zukor's best decisions was to offer broadway actress and Biograph alum, Mary Pickford, a contract. -Because he alone could deliver the biggest stars in Hollywood Zukor learned to exploit theater owners by "block booking." If a theater owner wanted to show the films of Pickford, he or she had to take motion pictures with less well known, up-and-coming Famous Players-Laskystars. -Theater owners eventually caught on and formed their own "booking cooperatives." Zukor's response was to purchase theaters. -He eventually owned 300 theaters and with Balaban and Katz, the most innovative theater chain at the time notable for being the first to offer air conditioning in its theaters. -The theaters were called the Paramount-Publix theater chain and soon become the largest theater circuit in the world. -merged eleven regional distributors to create the Paramount distribution network. The Paramount Distribution network quickly took over other national distributors and soon had a stranglehold on the marketplace for film distribution throughout the United States. -One of the first companies to fully execute vertical integration.

Carl Laemmle

-Carl Laemmle was a prominent film distributor who was wildly against the monopolization of the trust -He had established one of the largest film distribution companies in just three years. He was licensed by the trust, but it refused him any voice in the industry. HE eventually declared his independence. -In order to secure a regular source of films after separating from the Trust, Laemmle founded the Independent Moving Picture Company (IMP) when lumiere started selling its raw film stock. later re-named Universal Film Manufacturing Company, and later still re-named Universal Pictures Company. - Using Lumiere film stock and European cameras to avoid Edisons lawsuits, they attempted to make films with little success. They started to use Edisons cameras secretly. -Edison caught wind and sent spies to check if producers were using his cameras. -Laemmle alone was the target of 289 legal actions taken by the Trust -Organized the Motion Picture Distributing and Sales Company to consolidate the movement of films from producers to distributors, which eventually lured more licensed distributors away from the trust. This made the MPDSC at one point equal the trust in total film production. -Laemmle also decided to capitalize on the profitability of stars - Hired the 'Biograph Girl' Florence Lawrence away from Biograph and gave her star billing by name in IMP films. Fabricated a story about her dying in a car crash. Later revealed that she was alive and would be starring in a new film. Everyone was excited to see her alive and wanted to see the film. -Also lured Mary pickford form the same company by doubling her salary. -Found that the star system was the only successful form of advanced publicity.

Rudolph Valentino

-Cecil B. DeMille was an American filmmaker known for his Scandalous dramas and biblical epics which titillated audiences while also reinforcing their moral standards. Characters in the films were not allowed to let their lures and desires override their fundamental morality. -The films at first were successful in satisfying middle class ideological expectations, but they eventually frustrated audiences who wished to live vicariously through these stories, succumbing to temptation. -This longing from Postwar audiences sent filmmakers on a quest for more commercial and emotionally satisfying entertainment formulas. -At the same time, European companies were diverted from making fiction feature films following the European war from 1914 to 1918. American filmmakers were thus given the ability to perpetuate their own versions of Europeans in their films. -Europeans were more sensual, decadent, emotional and direct than Americans. They dared what innocent Americans in DeMille films could not, which was to be direct with their intentions, and to express themselves emotionally to fulfill their desires. -By the time of WW1, the sexualized European was already established, but the war infused the character with more intensity and desirability as audiences saw the fate of humanity resting upon the success of the French and the British. -One of the most successful films to emerge from this trend was The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, based on a romantic novel following an Argentine playboy in Europe. -Rudolph Valentino was cast as the lead role after taking extra work in Hollywood for several years. -The film established him as an early pop icon and a sex symbol, known soon as the "Latin lover". -Women loved him and thought him the epitome of romance. He was passionate and loved openly onscreen. He was also a skilled dancer and moved gracefully. -However, American men were less impressed and often questioned his masculinity. -Shortly after the premiere of The Son of the Sheik, the 31-year-old Valentino died suddenly from peritonitis after he suffered a ruptured ulcer. -His death caused worldwide hysteria, several suicides, and riots at his lying in state, which attracted a crowd that stretched for 11 blocks. Reportedly, more than 80,000 fans attended his funeral. -Each year after his death a mysterious "Woman in Black," sometimes several "Women in Black," appeared at his tomb.

PCA

-Created in 1934 under the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA). -Led by Joseph Breen, an Irish-Catholic Philadelphia newsman, appointed by Will Hays. -Created a set of guidelines that films under the MPPDA had to follow in order to be approved, including limitations of depictions of crime, passion, brutality, childbirth, adultery, drug use, cruelty to animals, revealing costumes, and certain profanity. -The guidelines were heavily influenced by religious beliefs. -Producers had to send story ideas, scripts, and finished films to the PCA, and if approved the film was given PCA Seal and allowed to be distributed under MPPDA affiliates. -If a film was not approved, MPPDA theaters and affiliates were not allowed to screen the film or would face a $25,000 fee. -Forced all major studios to conform to the codes or the film would suffer from an extremely limited release.

Movietone News

-Fox tries to compete against Warner by offering audience something different, newsreels with sound -Fox's first use of recording a news event was on May 20, 1927: Charles Lindbergh's take-off from Roosevelt Field for his historic solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean was filmed with sound and shown in a New York theater that same night, inspiring Fox to create Movietone News. -Fox Movietone is an optical sound system. It records sound directly onto films that guaranteed synchronization between sound and picture. Eventually used as a standard for the industry, instead of sound-on-disc.

W.K.L. Dickson

-Developed the Kinetoscope at the Edison lab -Kinetosocpe: peep show machine showing a continuous loop of the film lit by an Edison light source, viewed individually through the window of a cabinet. The Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video. -Kinetograph: motion picture camera with rapid intermittent, or stop-and-go, film movement. -Left Edisons company and turned his attention to development work for the KMCD group (Koopman, Marvin, Casler, Dickson) which he and three friends had set up at the end of 1894. -This eventually became the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company -The Biograph was a projector using wide-gauge 68 mm film, four times that of Edison's 35mm format, a decision made to avoid violating Edison's motion picture patents. -The Mutoscope was a viewing device utilising bromide prints in a 'flick-book' principle. -Biograph films before 1903, were mostly "actualities," documentary film footage of actual persons, places and events, each film usually less than two minutes long. -Director D.W. Griffith joined Biograph in 1908 as a writer and actor, but within months became its principal director. Griffith helped establish many of the conventions of narrative film. -Biograph joined Edison in forming the Motion Picture Patents Company in an attempt to control the industry and shut out smaller producers. -After the Trust disbanded, Biograph was slow in entering feature film productions and couldn't manage to establish a star system as other independent studios had done.

Anti-Trust/ NY Film Rental Co

-Edison cuts off New York Film Rental Co.'s supply of Trust films when Fox refuses to sell out to the Trust -William Fox decides to sue the Trust he wins the case and the right to keep his license -Final US supreme court ruling, rules against the Trust

Motion Picture Patents Company (Trust)

-Edison wanted complete control of the motion picture business, but instead of driving his competitors out of business, he tried to force them to use only his cameras under his license, and to sell or rent only to the exchanges and exhibitors who agreed to use licensed products exclusively. -After a long lawsuit war with Biograph involving a patent infringement of Edisons sprocket mechanism for moving the film past the lens, The Motion Picture Patenst company consisted of nine of the biggest producing companies. -They pooled 16 patents: one for film, two for cameras, and thirteen for projectors. -Any distributor or exhibitor who broke the rules of the trust was fined and blackballed. -The Trust increased their influence in the industry when it established the General Film Company, which controlled the rental of licensed films. -In July 1912, the Democratic Party nominated Woodrow Wilson as its candidate, who accused the Republican Party of favoring big business. -In response to these accusations, the Republican Party filed suit against the Trust, charging it with restraint of trade in violation of the 1890 Sherman antitrust act. -The Trust argued that the trust established higher order in the industry and relived individual production companies from the restrictions of patent infringement, which allowed them to focus their energies on making better pictures which protected the morals of the public,as evidenced by their cooperation with the National Board of Review. -The Federal court still declared the Trust an illegal conspiracy in restraint of trade. -In the end, the Trust did not end competition, it fostered it. It regulated a shrinking segment of the industry and encouraged independent companies to develop different methods of filmmaking, promotion, and exhibition. -In their exlcusion and harassment, the Trust encoruaged a growing opposition composed of former immigrant nickelodeon managers who were now in control of the industry.

D.W. Griffith

-Failed playwright and actor looking for odd jobs in Hollywood -Role as an extra in a biograph film where he met cameraman Billy Bitzer, which started his career in the industry. -Eventually becomes head of production at Biograph -Abandons staged style of films for more dynamic cinematic techniques (Long shot, medium shot, moving camera dolly) -Rehearses actors in advance and discovers Mary Pickford. -Revolutionizes editing for meaning and pacing. -Billy Bitzer contributes to using lighting as a way to convey meaning -Griffith left Biograph because of company resistance to his goals and his cost overruns on the film. -Griffith The Birth of a Nation and is considered one of the first feature length American films. -The film was a success, but it aroused much controversy due to its depiction of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, and race relations in the American Civil War and the reconstruction era of the United States. -Griffith's indignation at efforts to censor or ban the film motivated him to produce Intolerancethe following year, in which he portrayed the effects of intolerance in four different historical periods. -He mostly financed Intolerance himself, contributing to his financial ruin for the rest of his life. The film did not do well in the box office. -Griffith's production partnership was dissolved and he founded United Artists together with Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks; the studio was premised on allowing actors to control their own interests, rather than being dependent upon commercial studios. -The first director to make a motion picture in Hollywood. His 17-minute short film In Old California (1910) was filmed for the Biograph Company.

United Artists

-First National had come into being as a reaction to Adolph Zukor's practice of block booking. If theaters wanted Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks films, they had to agree to purchase all of the 100 plus Famous Players films each year, no matter the quality. -In response, 26 smaller theater owners banded together to buy and distribute films at competitive rates, vowing not to compete against each other. The idea was so successful that a year later, 600 theaters were in the First National cooperative. -Then, no longer content just to buy films from others, they created First National Pictures to make their own films. -The first big name to sign with them was Mary Pickford, who was later joined by D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin. -They enjoyed considerable autonomy over their work through First National, which provided them with production financing and a share of the profits. -Rumors of a consolidation with Paramount that intended to cap salaries and limit creative control placed the stars on the defensive. -Pickford was particular in maintaining the quality of her work and a merger with Paramount would mean a major studio would again profit in the millions from her popularity and even sell inferior films with it. She would also relinquish creative control and not be provided the necessary funding for her films. -She, Fairbanks, Chaplin, prominent director D.W. Griffith banded together, in response, to form a distribution company for independent producers. -By forming United Artists they would now have to secure their own financing and oversee the selling of their pictures. -The partners hoped the new enterprise would guarantee them both artistic control and improved profits. -Was able to succeed due to the prominence, wealth, and popularity of its founders

William Fox

-Fox was a Jewish emigre who came from nothing and had big dreams. -First Nickelodeon owner to break through into middle class audiences. -Low admissions drew bigger crowds and brought him greater profits despite the lower price. -Fox introduced organ accompaniment to the silent films shown in his theatres and pioneered in designing theatres for the comfort of the patrons. -news series Movietone News, the first commercially successful sound film. --Greater New York Film Rental Co: When he expanded in to motion picture distribution, he ran in to the trust. -When the Trust attempted to take over all licensed distributors, he took the Trust to court and won the right to keep his license,becoming the only distributor to resist takeover completely. --As the medium grew, Fox organized the Motion Picture Association (MPA) to protect theater owners from Edison's patent attorneys. -Decided that as an independent distributor he should have his own film supply, so he went into production, pioneering the model for vertical intergration which Is now commonplace In the industry.

Etienne-Jules Marey

-French physiologist inspired by Muybridge's images took up photography to make motion studies of his own, which he called Chronophotography. -Invented a photographic gun to study animal locomotion, specifically the flight of birds. -The camera had a revolving cylinder with photographic plates, so he could take aim and shoot through 12 frames a second. These series of photographs could be combined to represent movement.

Marcus Loew

-He had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for a steady supply of films for his large Loew's Theatres chain. With Loew's lackluster assortment of Metro films, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 to improve the quality. -From the outset, MGM tapped into the audience's need for glamor and sophistication. Having inherited few big names from their predecessor companies, they began to publicize a host of new stars, among them Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, William Haines. -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) -MGM, however, was the very last studio to convert to "talkies"

Thomas Edison

-Inspired by Eadweard Muybridge to pursue the development of a motion picture system. -Filed a preliminary claim with the U.S. Patent Office announcing his plans to create a device that would do "for the Eye what the phonograph does for the Ear". It is clear that it was intended as part of a complete audiovisual system. -A second caveat was filed, in which the proposed motion picture device was given a name, Kinetoscope, derived from the Greek roots kineto- ("movement") and scopos ("to view"). -Edison assigned Dickson to the job of making the Kinetoscope a reality. -The first film made for the Kinetoscope is known as Monkeyshines, No. 1. -Attempts at synchronizing sound were soon left behind. -Edison filed another patent caveat, which described perforated film to allow for its engagement by sprockets, making its mechanical conveyance much more smooth and reliable. -One of Edisons employees, based on stock manufactured first by Eastman, succeeded in developing a functional strip-based film viewing system. -The lab also developed a motor-powered camera, the Kinetograph, capable of shooting with the new sprocketed film. -At the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, the first film publicly shown to the public was Blacksmith Scene . It was produced at the new Edison moviemaking studio, known as the Black Maria. -A public Kinetoscope parlor was later opened by the Holland Bros. —the first commercial motion picture house. All films presented were Edisons. -By the 1890s, Edison owned most of the major US patents relating to motion picture cameras. The Edison Manufacturing Company's patent lawsuits against each of its domestic competitors crippled the US film industry. - Exhausted by the lawsuits, Edison's competitors — Essanay, Kalem, Pathé Frères, Selig, and Vitagraph — approached him to negotiate a licensing agreement. The purpose of the licensing agreement was to preserve the business of present manufacturers and shut out smaller producers. -The "Edison Trust," as it was nicknamed, was made up of Edison, Biograph, Essanay Studios, Kalem Company, George Kleine Productions, Lubin Studios, Georges Méliès, Pathé, Selig Studios, and Vitagraph Studios, and dominated distribution through the General Film Company. -The Motion Picture Patents Co. and the General Film Co. were found guilty of antitrust violation and were dissolved.

effects of the Depression on the industry

-Novelty of sound lasts until 1931, box office plummets and almost every company is losing money (exception: MGM and Columbia); by 1933 half of the companies are in bankruptcy -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) -the double bill & the Bmovie: 2 for the price of 1. Hollywood couldn't afford to make twice as many 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 -Bankruptcy and receivership for Paramount, Fox, RKO, Universal. The main cost to studios was actors salary and was the first to be slashed. -Studios decided to instigate 50% pay cut for above-the-line personnel -Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild and the Writers Guild were founded in 1933 in an effort to eliminate the exploitation of Hollywood actors after the Academy was not helpful in protecting their rights.

Zoetrope

-Pre-film animation device that produces the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings -A cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides, and a band of images on the inner surface -Persistence of Vision fooling the brain into believing the images are moving instead of a series of still images

Photography

-Preceded before motion picture -Depended on chemicals, creating chemicals that can respond to light and preserve images - Niepce took the 1st successful photograph of a real-world scene - Daguerrotype 1st successful photographic processeach Daguerrotype was a very detailed, 1 of a kind image on a copper plate, developed in mercury fumes and stabilized with salt water by 1830s 1840s, already taking very high quality photographs - Talbot invented the Calotype processes (Negatives), a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride was exposed to light, and produce negative image. Talbot's negatives allowed multiple copies to be made - Dry plate photography glass plate coated with chemicals, could be stored until exposure - George Eastman invented plastic roll film and the Kodak camera that could be used with the film. Kodak cameras were meant for everyone, not just professionals

Sound changes (how did sound change production, exhibition, stardom, genres, etc)

-Production: Sound stages had to be built, only 1 film could be shot in a building, couldn't have multiple going on at once -Exhibition: Theaters had to be rewired for sound films. This took a few years, as rewiring started with major cities and then worked its way down to smaller theaters. Sound companies and studios helped rewire theaters. -Stardom: Silent film stars got the voices tested for sound. Some stars were able to stay and succeed, some couldn't. New stars were created because of the search for voices -Genres: The musical was created, and able to succeed.

Mae West (1893-1980)

-Sensational and exploitative films were pushed to the box office to boost interest. -Paramount went through some of its worst losses during this time and decided to hire Mae West, a sex star, to appear in paramount films. -Unapologetic displays of female sexualty, homosexuality etc. -Her frank displays of human sexuality brought forth concerns from religious and moral groups -Went on trial for crimes of obscenity -Lay Catholics formed the legion of decency. -Provided guidelines for what movies to see. Rated them based on decency. -First time hollywood faced outside pressure in censorship -Complaints that movies were bad for people. Movies made crime look to fun and taught them too much about sex

Roxy Rothafel, Picture Palaces

-Several motion picture exhibitors suspected that they needed to change the environment of the movies before they could win over the steady patronage of the middle class -The first American theater built especially for motion pictures was the Regent in New York city. It was built like a vaudeville house and almost failed before it was refurbished by Roxy Rothapfel, the first great showman of motion picture exhibition. -"Don't give the people what they want, give em something better" -Theaters run by Roxy were more memorable for their service than for their design. -Special lighting, orchestral music, uniformed ushers. -American audiences were more responsive to amenities and the larger and more extravagant the theaters, the more numbers they drew. -Extravagant designs would help remove patrons from the workday world and put them in a suitable frame of mind for the fantasies of the screen. -Built in the newest architectural styles. -Admission price was higher and could hold large amounts of people- up to 6,000 patrons.

Mary Pickford

-Started her career at Biograph working for D.W Griffith. -Actors were not listed in the credits in Griffith's company. Audiences noticed and identified Pickford within weeks of her first film appearance. Exhibitors, in turn, capitalized on her popularity by advertising on sandwich boards that a film featuring "The Girl with the Golden Curls", "Blondilocks", or "The Biograph Girl" was inside. -Left Biograph and bounced around between IMP and broadway before signing a motion picture contract with Adolph Zukor and the Famous Players Film Company. -Zukor sought her out because people were becoming disinterested in the older theater actors and he wanted to show youthful faces on film. -Often remembered for her portrayals of children. Pickford's petite size and youthful beauty made her ideal for these parts, but it was her acting talent that seared these roles into the public consciousness. She quickly grasped that movie acting was simpler than the stylized stage acting of the day and was praised for hernaturalistic acting abilities. -Because moviegoers had already singled Pickford out as a favorite, her success in features was guaranteed.

Amplification & synchronization

-The Kinetophone was an early attempt by Edison and Dickson to create a sound-film system. -The viewer listened through tubes to a phonograph concealed in the cabinet and performing approximately appropriate music or other sound. -Edison did not try to synchronize sound and image. -The Chronophone was an apparatus patented by Léon Gaumont in 1902 to synchronise the Cinématographe with a disc Phonograph using a "Conductor" or "Switchboard". -The Audion Tube developed by Lee De Forest was the foundation of the field of electronics, making possible radio broadcasting, long distance telephone lines, and talking motion pictures. -De Forest also developed Phonofilm, which recorded the electrical waveforms produced by a microphone photographically onto film, using parallel lines of variable shades of gray, an approach known as "variable density". - Warner Bros. launched sound and talking pictures by developing a synchronized sound system called Vitaphone (a short-lived sound-on-disc process) -This process allowed sound to be recorded on a phonograph record that was electronically linked and synchronized with the film projector - but it was destined to be faulty due to inherent synchronization problems. -William Fox of the Fox Film Corporation responded to Warners' success with its own similar and competing, advanced Movietone system - the first commercially successful sound-on-film process developed in conjunction with General Electric. -It added a 'soundtrack' directly onto the strip of film and would eventually become the predominant sound technology. -The first feature film released using the new Fox Movietone system was Sunrise

NIRA / NRA

-The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime New Deal agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt(FDR) in 1933. -The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices.

George Melies

-The first person to explore the capacity for motion pictures as a magical form of spectacle. - attended a demonstration by Antoine Lumière. -Méliès offered to buy one of the Lumière projectors. He was turned down but soon bought a rival camera offered by British inventor Robert William Paul and acquired several other movie cameras as well. He imported short films made in America by Thomas Edison to show in his theatre. -Méliès started making films of his own. At first these films consisted of a single short reel, but Méliès advanced quickly. -Built a film studio on his property in Paris. The main stage building was made entirely of glass walls and ceilings so as to allow in sunlight for film exposure. -Early movie camera equipment was notoriously unreliable, and while Méliès was filming an ordinary street scene for one 1896 film he discovered that the film had jammed inside the machine. As he examined the film, he noticed that the resultant gap had created a curious illusion: a carriage moving along the street appeared to have been replaced suddenly by a hearse. -He discovered and exploited the basic camera tricks in his experimentation: stop motion, slow motion, dissolve, fade-out, superimposition, and double exposure to create magical illusions. -He specialized in depicting extreme physical transformations of the human body (such as the dismemberment of heads and limbs) for comic effect.

Warner Brothers

-The founders emigrated as young children with their Polish Jewish parents to Canada from Poland. -The three elder brothers began in the movie theater business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in their theater. -In 1918 they opened the first Warner Brothers Studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. -Rin Tin Tin, a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier, established their reputation -Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummel. Beau Brummel was named one of the ten best films of the year -Warner bros was now arguably Hollywood's most successful independent studio, where it competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National, Paramount Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). -gained backing from Goldman Sachs. With this new money, the Warners bought the Vitagraph Company which had a nationwide distribution system. In 1925, Warners' also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles. -Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized sound. -After a long period denying Sam's request for sound, arguing that theater musicians were more expensive than investing in sound system/equipping their theaters, Harry greenlit synchronized sound for the studio as long as it was for background music purposes only. -The Warners signed a contract with the sound engineer company Western Electric and established Vitaphone. -Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. -Don Juan did not recoup its production cost -As a result of their financial problems, Warner Bros. took the next step and released The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson. This movie, which includes little sound dialogue, but did feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures". -With the success of these first talkies, they expanded by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain. This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures. -Warner released The Singing Fool following the failure of the Lights of New York. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight -impact of radio: Radio was free entertainment and threatened studios. Big 5 start research on sound systems -Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox. When the Great Depression hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios. Soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank. -With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros. turned to more socially realistic storylines. Warner Bros. soon became known as a "gangster studio" -The Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio's historical dramas, melodramas (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Muni, and Errol Flynn, avoided the censors.

Lumiere Brothers

-The kinetoscope system was available in Europe, as Edison had left his patents unprotected overseas. -The machine was the primary inspirations to the Lumière brothers, who would go on to develop the first commercially successful movie projection system. -Cinématographe: smaller and lighter than the Kinetograph, and operated with the use of a hand-powered crank. ---The Cinématographe could record, develop and project motion pictures. -shot footage of workers at their factory leaving at the end of the day. -Had public screenings of their films with depictions of everyday life from both home and abroad, fascinating audiences. -The cinematographe made projection of pictures more popular, as it was then possible to project movies for large audiences. -Started some of the major cinematic trends in their films depicting everyday life, such as comedy and documentary.

Star System

-The main catalyst for change was the public's desire to know the actors' names. Film audiences repeatedly recognized certain performers in movies that they liked. Since they did not know the performers' names they gave them nicknames (such as "the Biograph Girl", Florence Lawrence, who was featured in Biograph movies). -Introduced by Carl Laemmle through the Independent Moving Picture Company -Laemmle is considered to have birthed the "Star System" as he used actors to market and popularize films 1910: Laemmle spread a rumor to news outlets that Florence Lawrence, only known as the "Biograph girl" till then, had been killed by a trolly. Laemmle later discredited the false reporting and published pictures of Lawrence showing that she was alive and okay and would be starring in his next film. This generated publicity for the film as people were expecting to see Lawrence who was not dead. -Block-booking: major feature films with popular movie stars were distributed alongside "B" films. The actors of the major pictures were used as a marketing tool. -the star system became the most important stabilizing feature of the movie industry. This is because stars provide film makers with built in audiences who regularly watch films in which their favorite actors and actresses appear

Block Booking

-The studios created the films, had the writers, directors, producers and actors on staff (under contract), owned the film processing and laboratories, created the prints and distributed them through the theaters that they owned: In other words, the studios were vertically integrated, creating a de facto oligopoly. -At a time when star prominence was the single most important factor determining a film's box-office success. Using this leverage, Paramount was able to insist that prospective exhibitors interested in, say, the Pickford films, acquire them in large blocks along with a quantity of less attractive titles, which made both production and distribution operations more economical. -This issue of the studios' then-alleged (and later upheld) illegal trade practices led to all the major movie studios being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice. As the largest studio, Paramount was the primary defendant.

Sound on disk vs. sound on film

-There would be two competing sound or recording systems developed during the early 'talkie' period: sound-on-disc, and sound-on-film. -the formation of the Vitaphone Company (a subsidiary created by Warner Bros. and Western Electric). Warner Bros. launched sound and talking pictures, with Bell Telephone Laboratory researchers, by developing a synchronized sound system called Vitaphone (a short-lived sound-on-disc process) -This process allowed sound to be recorded on a phonograph record that was electronically linked and synchronized with the film projector - but it was destined to be faulty due to inherent synchronization problems. -William Fox of the Fox Film Corporation responded to Warners' success with its own similar and competing, advanced Movietonesystem - the first commercially successful sound-on-film process developed in conjunction with General Electric. -It added a 'soundtrack' directly onto the strip of film and would eventually become the predominant sound technology. -The first feature film released using the new Fox Movietone system was Sunrise

Black Maria

-Thomas Edison's movie production studio in West Orange, New Jersey. -It is widely referred to as "America's First Movie Studio". -The Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze(aka Fred Ott's Sneeze) was one of the first series of short films made by Dickson for the Kinetoscope in Edison's Black Maria studio with fellow assistant Fred Ott. -The first films shot at the Black Maria included segments of magic shows, plays, vaudeville performances (with dancers and strongmen), acts from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, various boxing matches and cockfights, and scantily-clad women. -Many of the early Edison moving images released after 1895, however, were non-fictional "actualities" filmed on location: views of ordinary slices of life — street scenes, the activities of police or firemen, or shots of a passing train.

Edwin S. Porter

-Took charge of motion picture production at Edison's New York studios after Dickson left. -Tasked with improving upon Melies 'Trip to the Moon'. Creates 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. -Credited with establishing several techniques in modern filmmaking. -Pursued realism in his films rather than the fantasy of Mellies films. Does this by shooting on location rather than using sets. -In 'The Great Train Robbery' and 'The Life of an American Fireman' he uses cross-cutting in editing to show simultaneous action in different locations. -He helped to develop concept of continuity editing, and is often credited with discovering that the basic unit of structure in film was the "shot" rather than the scene.

RCA/RKO

-Warner Bros success with The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length talking picture prompted Hollywood to convert from silent to sound film production en masse. -RKO was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum (KAO) theater chain, Joseph P. Kennedy's Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) studio, and American Pathe were brought together under the control of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). -RCA chief David Sarnoff engineered the merger to create a market for the company's sound-on-film technology, RCA Photophoneas an alternative to Western Electric's dominant sound-on-disk system. -In the 1930s, RKO churned out movies at the rate of forty per year under the names Radio Pictures and RKO Pathe. -As head of production for two years, David O. Selznick signed a number of stars who would carry RKO through the decade, including Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Katharine Hepburn. The company signed a lucrative distribution deal with Walt Disney Productions in 1936 that would last until 1954.

Charlie Chaplin

-While touring America in a pantomime act, Chaplin was signed to appear in Mack Sennett's Keystone comedy films. -He was the first to popularise feature-length comedy and to slow down the pace of action, adding pathos and subtlety to it. -Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in, and composed the music for most of his films. -Silent era comedies were full of prat falls, sight gags, and the classic "slipping on a banana peel" schtick. Chaplin differs from his fellow slapstick comedians is how his brand of comedy affected audiences on a psychological level. -Chaplins immortal screen alter-ego, 'The Little Tramp', was characterized by a too-small coat, too-large pants, floppy shoes, a postage-stamp mustache and a cane. -Chaplin's silent films typically follow the Tramp's efforts to survive in a hostile world. The character lives in poverty and is frequently treated badly, but remains kind and upbeat; defying his social position, he strives to be seen as a gentleman -He was unique in his comedy because audiences related to his suffering, and laughter is a defense mechanism that allows people to explore and talk about things that are unpleasant and painful. -The way Chaplin incorporated tragedy into his comedies, typified in the Tramps struggles against adversity, gave audiences someone they could truly identify with as they struggled to survive the Great Depression. -Social commentary was a feature of Chaplin's films from early in his career, as he portrayed the underdog in a sympathetic light and highlighted the difficulties of the poor. Later, as he developed a keen interest in economics and felt obliged to publicise his views, Chaplin began incorporating overtly political messages into his films.

Mack Sennett

-Worked at Biograph as an actor and comedy director before leaving to start his own production company, Keystone. -A master of comic timing and effective editing. was the first director of comedies to develop a distinctive style. -His style could be characterized by trick camera work and high-speed and slow-motion photography -His films were often parodies or satires that mocked the foibles of an increasingly mechanized society with a violent and vulgar energy.

Film d'art

-a category of film that considers film as very closely tied to literary arts, specifically, theater and the novel -Spectacular Features from Italy- beginning of feature film business in Europe

Slapstick comedy

-characterized by broad humor, absurd situations and vigorous usually violent actions -the main lead must be an acrobat, stunt performer or magician -originated from Greek and Roman mime in which the main lead use a slapstick for comical effects on his victims -made more hilarious by speeding up the camera -reached climax in American vaudeville theaters in late 1800s -most famous: Charlie Chaplin and Keystone Kops -Keystone Kops: insanely incompetent police force, dressed in ill-fitting uniforms, dashing off in jerky, sped-up tempo

Nickelodeon

-first type of indoor exhibition space dedicated to showing projected motion pictures. -Set up in converted storefronts and vaudeville theaters, these small, simple theaters charged five cents for admission. -Showed series of short films to continue with the Vaudeville tradition. -The establishment of "film exchanges" was due to the popularity of multi-reel films. -Film exchanges would buy films from manufacturers and then rent them out to exhibitors. -Frequent change of programs (twice a week) to ensure repeat business -Economic competition between film production companies put pressure on them to create more elaborate, and often longer, films, to differentiate one film from another. -Longer films were also more attractive, as the price paid by exhibitors depended on a film's length and the longer a film, the more profit there was to be made. -Directors had a great desire to make longer films because it meant greater artistic innovation as they tried to find new ways to engage audiences.

Douglas Fairbanks

-played go-getter all-American boy types -athletic prowess, gallant romanticism King of Hollywood in the 20s -the Mark of Zorro - the very first superhero film -swashbuckler -super-couple w/ Pickford

Payne Studies

A series of studies on movies and its effect on children. They found that it disturbed their sleeping patterns, elicited more emotional responses than adults, and forged long-lasting memories.

Silent Hollywood - the Dream Factory

Paramount: vertically integrated ➔ First National ➔ MGM ➔ Universal ➔ Fox ➔ United Artists

Persistence of Vision

Persistence of vision refers to the optical illusion whereby multiple discrete images blend into a single image in the human mind and believed to be the explanation for motion perception in cinema and animated films.

Big 5 Agreement

agree to collectively work on sound film due to popularity of radio