film exam 1 Flashcards
1
Q
Vertical Integration
A
Ownership of all phases o pre-production, production, and exhibition
2
Q
economies of Scales
A
- making the most out of the facilities, methods, and personnel in order to produce high volume of cost effective films
- resulted in high level of professionalism
- in house training and development
- long term contract employment
- studio owned theater houses (opulent)
3
Q
The Financial-Creative tension and balance
A
- many of the movies were financed in New York and filmed in Hollywood
- there was some creative freedom because of this. However, there was always an effort to find a balance
4
Q
The Golden Age of the Studio System
A
- 1927-1948 until Paramount Decision and TV expansion ended it.
- unique era when cultural, economic, and technological currents coalesced.
- profitability: studio produced 60% of all films and collected 95% of revenues
5
Q
1939: The year of Genius within the system
A
- the year when artistic excellence occured
ex: Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Of Mice and Men, etc..
6
Q
The Big Five Studios
A
- Paramount
- RKO
- MGM
- Warners
- 20th Century Fox
7
Q
The Little Three Studios
A
Little because they didn’t own many or any theaters
- United Artist (essentially a distribution company)
- Columbia (didn’t own theaters, so continued to be profitable even in the slow years)
- Universal
8
Q
Limitations of the Studio System
A
- not able to produce large expensive movies, because they would place too much demand on resources of tightly scheduled studios
- also, not able to do really low budget movies, because they were not worth the effort considering the return on investment
9
Q
Adolf Zukor
A
- head of Paramount Pictures
- credited for the star system, block booking, and a higher artistic and cultural aspiration than box office alone
10
Q
Block Booking
A
- When selling films to independent and other studio theaters, Zukor sold the rights to A level films with stars along with B level films in order to ensure that all movies were seen
- this began to cause resentment within the theaters and independent community
11
Q
The Contemporary Big Six Studios
A
- Paramount
- Time Warner
- Disney
- Sony
- Universal
- Twentieth Century Fox
12
Q
Studio Identity and artistic brand
A
- Paramount: Glamour-European-exotic. (comedies, epics, musicals)
- RKO: Musicals, women’s films (literary adaptations, horror, series)
- MGM: Glamour-Taste-European (comedies, musicals, adventure, literary classics)
- Warners: stories from headlines (gangster, women’s films, adventures, musicals)
- 20th Century Fox: biographies, novel adaptations (westerns, film noires), introduced widescreen cinemascope and was quite innovative
13
Q
The Star System
A
- Creation and Development
- Promotion
- Exploitation
14
Q
The Importance of a Star
A
For the audience, a major star insured the film would be predictably entertaining and have the highest production values
15
Q
The Star System (Cont.)
A
- Actors typically signed 5-7 year contracts with a 6 month option should it not work out
- they would be trained, developed, and assigned to pictures for the best exploitation
16
Q
The System of Genre
A
- films identifiable through their use of conventions included: -narrative formulas -characters -setting -iconography
17
Q
Role of Genres
A
- to formulate a model for future production
- to build audiences for particular genres
- to produce minor variations on the model and thereby retain audiences who expect similar but slightly different movies
18
Q
Major Genres
A
- Drama
- Historical Epics
- Westerns
- Crime films
- Musicals
- Comedies
- Adventures
- War
- Horror
- Science Fiction
19
Q
The artistic attractions of genre
A
- Directorial training and growth
- exploration of plot, character, and theme
- technical and stylistic challenges
20
Q
Stages of Genre
A
- Primitive
- Classical
- Revisionist
- Parodic
21
Q
Stages of Westerns
A
- Primitive: (The Great Train Robbery)
- Classic: (Stagecoach)
- Revisionist: (High Noon)
- Parodic: (Blazing Saddles)
22
Q
Reasons for collapse of the Studio System
A
- The Paramount Decision of 1948
- Television
- Family life and free time after WWII
- Growing independence of stars like Jimmy Stewart
- Studio Overhead costs (real estate was worth more than the value of yearly product)
23
Q
Achievements of the Studio System
A
- established the essential technical and creative methods for filmmaking
- refined the jobs and various craft personnel for guilds
- developed system through which films were released, distributed, and exhibited
- produced films that had global influence
24
Q
What to look for in Studio Era Screenings
A
- Genre
- Realism - Classicism - Formalism
- Mood
- Setting
- Actors
25
The Legacy of the Studio System
- Systemized industrial model of production
- continuing importance of stars and genres
- continuing influence on distribution
- continuing world-wide influence on international cinemas
26
The Production Code
- first introduced by the motion picture producers and distributors association
- regulated the moral content of films
- self-regulation was an attempt to discourage government imposing legal restrictions to film content
- formally institutionalized in 1930
27
The Great Train Robbery (Edwin Porter)
- realized shot was fundamental unit of film, not scene
- 14 shots, 12 min film
- dealt with spatial and temporal issues
- crosscutting between actions in different places
- overlapping shots
- pans and tilts
- close up at end
- in-camera compositing
- frame by frame color tinting
- camera on moving train
- depth and space utilization for exterior shots
- stage bound acting on painted interior sets
- realistic acting on most of the exteriors
28
A Trip to the Moon (Georges Melies)
- made theatrical techniques cinematic through editing, optical tricks, and set design
- utilized the concept of screen vs. real time
- 30 scenes (did not make distinction between shots and scenes)
- dissolve used to indicate passing of time
- superimposition
- time-lapse photography
- filmic art direction
- lighting effects
- stage bound acting and depended on 2 dimensional prscenium
29
Goals of Artist
- taking elements of the quotidian world and rearrange them in a form that creates new meaning
- to create unity among disparate objects
- to create an expressive work greater than the sum of its parts
- to constantly question the assumptions of the first three. challenging conformity and assumptions in the world
30
The three arts of film art
- Narrative
- Drama
- Cinematography (photography)
31
Great Art
- includes a singular experience unlike any other
| - includes an other worldly strangeness
32
Kinds of films
- narrative features
- television
- shorts
- documentaries
- animated films
- experimental films
- instructional films
33
Elements of Film
- Screenplay
- Direction
- Cinematography
- production design
- editing
- sound
- performance
34
Shot
- a single uninterrupted film event
35
Scene
- action that takes place in a single location
36
Sequence
- a series of scenes connected by a unity of time or place. Unlike a shot, which can stand on its own, scenes and sequences can be edited
37
Take
- a shot defined by its length , long or short.
38
Shot size
- long shot
- medium shot
- close-up
39
Camera angles
- level angle
- low angle
- high angle
- angle + angle
- dutch tilt
40
Camera movement
- pan
- tilt
- dolly-track and crab
- crane or boom up and down
41
Historical tendencies of film art
- Realism - Classicism - Formalism
- Montage vs Mis en scene
- Invisibility vs Self Reflexivity
42
Realism
- emphasizes documentary truth with minimal manipulation
- illusion of objective photographic world is maintained
ex. The Edison and Lumiere films
43
Formalism
| -
- emphasizes abstract truth through image manipulation
- filmmaker expresses spiritual, intellectual, and psychological truths
ex. Geoges Melies "A trip to the moon"
44
Classicism
- style that merges realism and formalism
| - dominant style in Hollywood films
45
Montage
- places importance on the way the shots are cut together to create meaning
- creation through editing
- more suited for formalism
46
Mise-en-scene
- french for "putting on the scene"
- meaning created through elements in the scene rather than editing
- usually emphasizes long takes, careful blocking of actors, performance, costumes, production design, and elaborate camera movements.
- more suited for realism
47
Invisibility
- the goal here is to hide from the audience the techniques of filmmaking process
- the illusion is maintained
48
Self-Reflexivity
- wants to emphasize the artificiality of the filmmaking process to create distance between film and audience
49
Important early films and filmmakers
- Le Prince: Roundhay Garden Scene
- William Dickson: Fred Ott's Sneeze, earliest complete film
- August and Louis Lumiere: Arrival of a train at La Ciotat, straight documentation, simple technique
- Alice Guy Blache: La Fee au Choux (the cabbage fairy) probably the first narrative fiction
- Edwin Porter: The Great Train Robbery, parallel editing between two events, camera pans, copositing, real locations, camera on train, close up
- Georges Melies: Trip to the Moon, first sci-fi film, special effects, animation, stop motion, real time effects onto set design, no camera movement, theatrical staging and acting.
