Week 15: Digital Cinema and Hollywood in the Last Five Years Flashcards
How is the contemporary Hollywood “studio” system different from the classical studio system? If you use the terms “diversification”, “conglomeration,” “sequelization,” and “synergy” (and you should!), be sure you show that you understand what they mean.
Studios from the classical era still exist, but primarily as subsidiaries of media companies and distributors of films produced by independents.
Diversification:
Film productions and distribution
Broadcast, cable, and satellite television
Publishing
Music
Theme parks
Film exhibition
Conglomeration:
The New Majors-
Comcast (owns Universal Pictures)
Paramount Global
Sony (owns Columbia Pictures)
The Walt Disney Company
Warner Brothers Discovery
The New Minors
A24
Amazon M-G-M Studios
Amblin Partners
STX Entertainment
Synergy:
Media conglomerates maximize profits and minimize risk through corporate synergy
Sequelization:
Other built- in guarantees include sequelization, bankable stars, and presales to cable television.
What are three ways that cinema has become a digital medium in the 21st century?
Theaters become equipped with digital sound in the early 1990s and digital projection in late 1990s
Filmmakers start shooting with digital camera in early 2000s
Digital 3D led to a dramatic increase in conversion of theaters to digital projection in 2010.
How is digital technology used in post- production?
Incorporation of digital special effects began in the 1980s and use of digital editing systems began in the early 1990s.
A film may be shot on celluloid, but digitally scanned into a data file for the “digital intermediate” stage of post- production workflow.
How have streaming platforms changed the traditional distribution/ exhibition model for cinema?
The rise of streaming services pose a threat to the future of theatrical exhibition:
Amazon began producing films in 2010
Netflix formed its own studio in 2012 to produce original TV series and movies (in 2019, it became the first streaming service to join the MPAA).
Although some of their films are given limited theatrical releases, most go straight to streaming (short- circuiting the production- distribution- exhibition process)
What is the relationship between digital cinema and video games?
Line between films and video games has blurred as films structure narrative action in a way that resembles the experience of gaming.
In what socio-political ways has Hollywood progressed since the classical era? In what ways has it not?
OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo movements formed in response to Hollywood’s culture of racism and sexism/ misogyny respectively
In 2019, 82% of executive positions in major media companies held by men (92% white), but only 18% by women
“Intimacy coordinators” hired to make actors comfortable filming scenes with nudity/ sexual content
Producers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild establish new guidelines on when and how to hold meetings and set up producers to protect female employees.
Law in California passed to prohibit secret settlements and non-disclosure
agreements that would prevent victims from speaking out in sexual harassment cases.
What impact did the Covid- 19 pandemic have on cinema in the U.S.
In mid-March 2020, the nation’s largest theater chains (AMC, Regal, and Carmike) announced their closing.
Seven smaller chains followed, resulting in the closing of 90% of all theaters
Most of the major studios ceased live- action production and postponed the releases of more than 80 films.
