MCOM72 Week 5

Question 1

Who dominates the world movie business?

Answer 1

Warner is one of a handful of studios that dominate the
global movie business (an oligopoly in practice)

Question 2

Nickelodeons:

Answer 2

first form of movie theater
* Name combines admission price with Greek
word for “theater”
* Often converted storefronts
* Live music by piano players
* Transcended language barriers
* Peaked by 1910

Question 3

Narrative films

Answer 3

movies that tell stories—shift movies to mass medium stage

Question 4

Edison’s Trust:

Answer 4

cartel of major U.S. and French film
producers formed in 1908

Question 5

Studio system:

Answer 5

an arrangement in which five powerful movie studios took
control of multiple aspects of the film industry

Question 6

Vertical integration:

Answer 6

a company’s ability to control the three essential
levels of the movie business (production, distribution, and exhibition)

Question 7

Big Five:

Answer 7

Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and RKO

Question 8

Little Three:

Answer 8

Columbia, Universal, and United Artists

Question 9

Division of labor

Answer 9

helps studios maximize
their resources

Question 10

Star system:

Answer 10

a method of cultivating
and exploiting the allure of certain
actors

Question 11

Block booking:

Answer 11

exhibitors had to rent B movies in order to gain access to A movies

Question 12

Movie palaces:

Answer 12

full-time single-
screen movie theaters that offered a
more hospitable moviegoing
environment than nickelodeons

Question 13

Mid-city movie theaters

Answer 13

Built in convenient locations near
urban mass-transit stations

Designed to attract the urban and
suburban middle class

Question 14

During Hollywood’s Golden Age (mid 20s to late 1950s)

Answer 14

studio system dictates style of
filmmaking, known as classical Hollywood cinema

Question 15

Two basic components of Hollywood narratives:

Answer 15

story and discourse

Question 16

Classical Hollywood narratives fit a genre:

Answer 16

category in which conventions regarding similar
characters, scenes, structures, and themes recur in combination

Question 17

Continuity editing:

Answer 17

producing and combining
shots so that viewers experience a coherent flow
of action as it plays out within and across scenes

Question 18

After studio system ends

Answer 18

studios focus energy on film distribution rather than production

Question 19

Cinema verité:

Answer 19

French for “truth film”; made possible by development of portable cameras

Question 20

Other countries have a rich history of producing successful films

Answer 20

The new wave in France (Godard, Truffaut, Rohmer)

Auteurs mostly from Europe, but also from other regions

Question 21

The French New Wave

Answer 21

The Nouvelle Vague in France in the 1960s
influenced all a generation

In the 1960s, political and social discussions
disrupt cinema

Question 22

Three interconnected developments transform cult filmmaking into wider-reaching indie film movement

Answer 22

Home video rental

New studios to market indie films (Miramax)

Major film festivals (Sundance, Cannes)

Question 23

New Big Five

Answer 23

Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal, Sony Pictures, and Paramount
* Account for about 83% of commercial film revenues

Question 24

Mini-majors:

Answer 24

independent studios that have modest market share

Question 25

synergy:

Answer 25

opportunities to generate profits that
come from interaction and cooperation among a conglomerate’s different subsidiaries

Question 26

tentpoles

Answer 26

Studios rely on tentpoles being hits in order to offset losses on riskier films

Question 27

Theatrical exclusivity:

Answer 27

roughly three-month window when studios agree to make
their films available only in theaters in order to drive ticket sales

Question 28

Megaplexes:

Answer 28

facilities with fourteen or more screens

Question 29

Studios earn revenue

Answer 29

from distributing films in foreign markets; international box-office
revenues can be nearly triple domestic box-office receipts

Question 30

Revenues linked to home and mobile viewing

Answer 30

are the biggest source of studio income

Question 31

Movies function as consensus narratives:

Answer 31

Products that become popular and provide shared cultural experiences

Operate across different times and cultures

Question 32

Digital environments underscore movies’ complex cultural impacts

Answer 32

Streaming services provide easier access to a wider range of movies and sort them into niche categories