Film - Snow White, Shang-Chi Flashcards
outline the general history of Walt Disney + the company’s creation
- 1923: Disney was made
- 1955: opened Disneyland
- 1983: Disney Channel was set up
- 2009: bought Marvel for $4 billion
_ of every dollar spent at the __ is spent on _
- 40% of every dollar spent at the box office is spent on Disney
define oligopoly
- oligopoly = an industry where a small number of powerful companies share the power
outline the Golden Age of Hollywood
- during the 1930s
- the film industry thrived compared to other struggling industries due to the Great Depression - escapism
name the 5 main studios during the period of Snow White’s release
1) MGM Studios: Wizard of Oz
2) Paramount Pictures: Morocco
3) Warner Brothers: Moby Dick
4) 20th Century Fox: Ramona
5) RKO: King Kong
outline the concept of ‘block booking’
- block booking = theatrical ‘packages’ which were a great way of using a big film to simultaneously sell shorter films to cinemas
- Disney/ RKO did this with Snow White
what role did RKO play in terms of Disney
- was the studio Disney worked with
- RKO was the larger company that packaged, marketed and distributed Disney’s short films for cinemas
describe Disney’s reputation in the 1930s
- had an established reputation for short cartoon films, e.g. Silly Symphonies
- known for iconic characters like Mickey Mouse
what was the budget of Snow White
- $150,000, but ended up being $1.5 million - was an extremely costly film to make at the time
- made it a huge risk for Disney
what were the risks of Snow White
- it had a very costly budget ($1.5 million)
- Disney was in debt before SW
- SW, a full length animated feature film wasn’t wanted by audiences
- people thought a full length coloured film would hurt their eyes
- had dark subject matter
outline Walt Disney (the man)
- Walt Disney:
- was a key figure in the company
- his name was recognisable and was a promise of quality, family friendly content
- Walt had a personal interest in darker genres of film and wanted to use SW to explore + experiment with this
what was the marketing of Snow White
- focused on the involvement of Walt Disney himself due to the lack of actors/ voices to promote it
- word of mouth had a main role
- posters promoting the use of technicolour
- at the premieres there were people dressed up as SW characters
- open air concerts using the Disney orchestra where music from the film would be played
- released a trailer
- newspaper reviews
- Disney produced 7 foreign language versions of SW (in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish and Dutch)
what new technology was used in the making of SW
- the multiplane cameras; allowed for filming to be through different layers of animation to create depth in 2D animation, was revolutionary + industry changing
- technicolour; used to make the film in colour
- also; used cells, used different filters, worked with frame rates
what older technology was used in the making of SW
- rotoscoping;
- drawing over a film of real people moving in order to get a realistic animation of movement
outline the release process of Snow White
- due to the film’s high risk nature, RKO released it only in Miami + NYC for a short period after its premiere in LA
- once it had gained popularity, RKO released it more widely in several other countries, e.g. UK, also in 7 different languages
outline the Hayes Code + its rules
- were the major principles governing film made in 1930s for film
- the code was racist, homophobic and sexist
- all film companies had to stick to these rules to be allowed to release movies
- e.g. villains cant win, no nudity, no lustful kissing, no inter racial or queer relationships
when was the Great Depression
- 1929 to 1939
when was the technicolour camera created
- 1922
what are the anti-trust laws
- anti-trust laws = laws that encourage competition between the big 5 studios for capitalism by limiting the power of one company
what was the SIMPP
- Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (SIMPP)
- introduced in 1941 due to the dissatisfaction of domination in the film industry
- aimed to make the industry more equal for independent producers
outline Walt Disney’s ‘volting’
- Walt Disney ‘volted’ all his old tapes to then re-released in cinemas on anniversaries - goes against conventions of the industry
- scarcity of the product creates demand
- was a successful scheme
__ is the _ most successful __ of all time
- Snow White is the 10th most successful Hollywood film of all time
outline the success of Snow White
- had both positive critical and commercial success
- at its time of release, it was the most successful sound film of all time
- was a huge success domestically + internationally; e.g. in London the film ran for over half a year
how was Shang-Chi marketed
- trailers; appealed to both general, global audiences coming to the MCU for the first time as well as MCU fans
- word of mouth online
- pre-sold audience to story of Shang-Chi from comics/ fans of Marvel content
- project unveiling at 2019 Comic Con
- soundtrack album
- limited edition Lychee drink - ties in with East Asian culture
what was Shang-Chi’s budget
- $150 million - one of Marvel’s lowest
how much did Shang-Chi make
- $432 million worldwide
where was Shang-Chi filmed + its significance
- was filmed in Australia
- the Australian gov gave $24 million in funding as it provided jobs for Australians - fed into AUS economy
- was filmed in Fox Studios - which Disney owned - e.g. of horizontal integration
what was the age rating of Shang-Chi
- PG-13 in US / 12A in UK
what were the challenged for Shang-Chi’s release
- would it follow up Avengers: Endgame’s success
- small pre-sold audience for cast - only very small for story
- was released post- pandemic; fear of covid kept many out of cinemas
how many cinemas was Shang-Chi first released in
- 4,300 cinemas
outline the economic context of Snow White; free market capitalism
Free market capitalism:
- Hollywood works to a commercial imperative (to make money)
- the Anti-Trust laws protect the free market by ensuring competition
outline the economic context of Shang-Chi; economic distribution of the US film industry
- being a small fish in a big pond is advantageous - allows films to be globally distributed
- most Asian self-representations struggle to compete globally with Hollywood blockbusters like Shang-Chi
don’t need to know
outline the economic context of Snow White; economic distribution of the US film industry
- part of Disney’s ‘genius’ was to be a small fish in the most economically powerful film industry at the time - thus, his films were globally distributed
don’t need to know
outline the economic context of Shang-Chi; shown in China
- The China Film Group Corporation has a state granted monopoly (possession/ control) on imported films into China
- this allows political + ideological control over what audiences can see
- e.g. Shang-Chi wasn’t shown in China due to a push back on Western culture in China
outline the economic context of Shang-Chi; globalisation
- SC represents a globalised product; an American film, shot in Australia, represents Chinese culture
outline the economic context of Snow White; globalisation
- SW was successful in the global market
- suggests that the film industry was an early adopter of globalisation
outline the historical contexts of Snow White
- attitudes to Dwarfs in 1930s were patronising
- gender representations uncritically reflects a patriarchal society
- Hays code: restricts many of the things considered normal today - homosexuality, miscegenation (interracial relationships),
- 1930s cinema was escapist from the 1929 Great Depression
outline the historical contexts of Shang Chi
- Covid played a restrictive role on the filming of SC - e.g. was placed on hold for a couple months in 2020
Snow White’s _ re-releases from _____-__ made £____ million
- Snow White’s 8 re-releases from 1944-93 made over £37 million
