The studio system was a system that sort of streamlined the film production process. In order to reduce risk major studios created a system that controlled production and distribution of films. Studios implemented long-term contracts for all involved to have exclusivity with with studio under control of a central producer. Major Studios created an oligopoly that was mass producing and distributing feature films.…
First aired in January 1977, Roots, a dramatic factional TV miniseries captured the minds and hearts of the nearly 80 million people who watched (Bird 94). The series was based on the book Roots by Alex Haley; both depict his family tree going back eight generations (on his mother’s side) when his family was still in Africa. The story begins with Kunta Kinte begin a young man in the Juffree village, Gambia, West Africa who was taken from his village to become cargo on the Lord Ligonier; a ship that landed in Maryland in c.1767. (Clare 1). He was then sold into slavery in Virginia where he was given the name “Toby”. At the slave trade the auctioneer was quoted saying, “This is a choice young nigger! Do I hear seven fifty” (Haley 198). After years at the plantation he married Bell, a house slave, who gave birth to their only child, a daughter named Kizzy.…
Glory is a movie about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the first official all black units in the United States during the Civil War. It’s an inspirational story of how a young Union soldier, Robert Gould Shaw, is offered the chance to lead an army unit that will change not only his life, but the lives of many other Americans.…
High risk, prohibitive costs, on-the-fly changes, delays, creative differences describe the making of a movie. To curtail the costs, the Studio System was set up leading to an oligopoly of five major Hollywood studios. This paper will focus on the Studio System; its organization, role in the Golden Age, and factors contributing to its decline.…
The “Big Five”: 1930s, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, RKO and Twentieth Century Fox all dominated the movie business. They were all vertically integrated; they produced movies, distributed them worldwide and owned theater chains, which guaranteed their pictures being shown.…
The Red Scare caused a large dispute between the Un-American Activities Committee and Hollywood in the 1940’s. The Hollywood Ten, a group of writers and directors, were sent to jail, “for contempt of Congress after they refused to testify about their past associations.”(Henretta, pg.746) This very well known event in history was one I had known about, but was unsure of the exact details. I went in search of the events that lead up to arrest of the Hollywood Ten.…
The Revolutionary war, sparked by the colonist's anger towards taxation without representation, was a conflict between the United States and its mother country Great Britain. This event had been considered the most significant event in the American history. It separated the thirteen colonies from the tyrannical ruling of King George. The revolutionary war was not a big war, "The military conflict was, by the standards of later wars, a relatively modest one. Battle deaths on the American side totaled fewer than 5,000"1. However, the war proved that the thirteen colonies were capable of defeating the powerful Great Britain. Over the years there were many Hollywood films made based on the revolutionary war, 1776, Revolution, Johnny Tremain, and The Patriot. But, no movie has stirred up as much controversy as the Mel Gibbson movie The Patriot. The patriot is very entertaining but it is historically inaccurate. Too much Hollywood "spices" was added to the movie for viewing pleasures.…
History Vs. Hollywood: The Roaring Twenties was a time of jazz and flappers and good times, however, other aspects of the twenties life were arduous and troublesome. The youth of America was lied to by the government and their parents during the 1910s and World War I. With the reintroduction of the car, the youth rebelled against their parents and standards previously created. Other minorities also began to change. The women of the 1920’s wanted more rights, which they received when Congress amended 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. When women gained the right to vote, they had more freedom than ever. Another aspect people do not think about in the Roaring Twenties was the innovation of the radio. The radio connected the disillusioned youth, women, and all minorities and the majorities together. The radio was enjoyed by nearly every household, and it also entertained them(Sterling). In 2002, director Rob Marshall combined the important topics of the 1920’s into the musical titled…
In the Cold War era of communist witch hunts, and blacklisting, Hollywood executives had even more pressing worries: the imminent death of the studio system and the meteoric rise of television, which subsequently led to a drastic decline in ticket sales. To combat the drop in profits, the studios quickly sought to attract moviegoers—particularly families—from the living room by enhancing and exploiting their medium's technological advantages, namely its relatively large image size and its color format. Not coincidentally, the 1950s were the first decade of drive-in movie theaters, stereo sound, wide-screen formats, and epics shot in glossy color, and a full gamut of movie such as 3-D film technology.…
The technological advancements, such as sound and color, were leaps and bounds in advancement compared to the silent picture shows that started the film industry. Film studios were able to immerse the audience with sound and involve another sense in the movie process. This added depth to movies that had never been present before. Film studios then added color which brought fantasy lands, such as the Land of Oz, to life. This added another dimension to films. The combination of these technological innovations allowed film studios to create a real life experience. This experience gave the audience a place to go to leave the Great Depression behind. The golden age of film in America was fostered by the technological innovations in film at the time coupled with the need of a an escape from the overwhelming harsh realities of the Great…
Back to the Hollywood, this Hollywood trend did not impact on just Hollywood. It also spread competition to the whole city. To gain more people’s attention, the firms started to use media to advertise widely. Stars and celebrities started to participate in those advertisement to advertise themselves. During the World War II, the government used the mass media to show their own propaganda against Communists. This impacted much on population that united all the ethnics and races into one as American. After the World War II, the immigration officially had been started. According to Jacqueline Desbarats, “reinforcing the long-established and well-documented migration streams from the Philippines, China, and Korea, a new wave of migrants from mainland…
The 1950’s was a time marked by fear, paranoia, and persecution, where even Hollywood was under scrutiny. Those involved in Hollywood whether it be directing or acting found themselves being censored and limited due to the political events taking place around the world. Within the accounts of Mark Goodson and Arthur Miller, they cite the ways in which the anti-communist movement affected television programming and motion pictures during the 1950’s. To start, Mark Goodson recalls his experiences as a television producer during the Red Scare. He said his first experience when dealing with the movement was at the start of his television show, What’s My Line?, when a member on his panel was listed in the Red Channels.…
History is the study of the past; however, every person’s opinion varies and tends to make history a sore subject. In today’s society the average American knows little to almost nothing when it comes to history. During high school many people have thought of history being not as important as other subjects and put it off to the side. Yet later on in life they have watched a historically based movie or television show and found interest in history. Learning from movies that inaccurately portray history is embarrassing, but it can also motivate people to learn more about the topic.…
In the 1920s, movies were introduced for the first time. Movies back then were black and white, had no sound, and were usually accompanied by a live organ or piano player. Movies provided huge entertainment value, and audiences were fascinated by seeing a moving picture on a silver screen for the first time. The first ever theatres were called Nickelodeons, and were extremely basic compared to our theatres today. The actors and actresses were idolized by many around the world, and the people couldn’t get enough. The 1927 film “The Jazz Singer” was the first popular film to include sound. After the release, other studios started to make sound films to compete with the studio that produced “The Jazz Singer”. By 1927, Hollywood was the center of american moviemaking, with 85% of movies being made in or around Hollywood. During the 1920s, an average of 800 films were produced annually. Incorporating sound into movies was still an experimental feature, but the demand for movies and the opportunities to make money encouraged studios to produce “talkies”, or films with sound, for release. During this era, Rudolph Valentino and Charlie Chaplin rose to fame,…
Many different methods are used to produce and distribute films. I am going to explore Working Title Films who are becoming increasingly popular due to funding from the multi conglomerate, Universal studios. I will use them as an example of how films are produced and distributed in the film industry.…