1 / 17

Movies

Movies Mass-Producing Entertainment The Movie Industry 1920s-40s Major studio system dominated production All talent under contract Studios made “assembly line” films Studios controlled what was made Controlled distribution--owned theaters (vertical integration)

Pat_Xavi
Download Presentation

Movies

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Movies Mass-Producing Entertainment

  2. The Movie Industry1920s-40s • Major studio system dominated production • All talent under contract • Studios made “assembly line” films • Studios controlled what was made • Controlled distribution--owned theaters (vertical integration) • US Supreme court ruled against these monopolies in 1948

  3. The Movie Industry: 1950s • Competition from Television • Movies shift to color film • Epics, musicals, film noir • Multiplexes appear • The Blacklist: House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) (1947) • Investigated communism in Hollywood • Hollywood Ten: (mostly screenwriters) • refused to testify • found in contempt, jailed, blacklisted • In 1953—blacklist contained 324 names

  4. The Movie Industry: The Blockbuster Era • Jaws (1975): • first movie to gross more than $200 million • good direction and music score • based on a popular novel • giant television advertising campaign • summer release • 2008: Dark Knight, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, Quantum Solace

  5. Profits in Movie-Making • Blockbusters: high budget means must have high ticket sales • Other revenue sources: tie-ins, int’l tickets, DVD rights, cable rights, toys, product placement • 1980s: 50% revenue = ticket sales • 1995: fallen below 15% • Low-budget films cost less, need less to turn profit

  6. The Blair Witch Project: 1999 • Promotion on the Internet • low-cost promotion like production style: • mock documentary on cable television • “creepy” website • handlettered posters looked like “missing” posters • sold to Artisan Entertainment for $1.1 mil • Made $50 million in first week of release

  7. Home Video • 1994: 85% of U.S. homes had a VCR • 2006: 81% had DVD player, 79% VCR • The Incredibles—$261 million in theater, $368 million in DVD sales • opened up a world of older movies to today’s audiences

  8. Movies and Society How Much Influence Do Movies Have? • The Payne Fund: • series of thirteen studies • found repeating themes • 3/4 of all movies involve crime, sex, or love • high level of recall

  9. Movies and Society • Herbert Blumer • studied how young people thought movies affected them: • imitating the behaviors • copying actions in games and play • Considered source of ideas about action, romance, and standards of beauty • Social learning theory: movies show how to behave as an adult • What effects do you see? Do films give young people behavior to imitate? Fashion? Language? Actions? Others above? Examples?

  10. The Production Code • Theater owners formed the National Board of Censorship (1909): • establish national standard for movie • prostitution, childbirth, drug use banned • stars’ off-screen behavior seen as equally offensive • Hollywood viewed as a mass of “wild orgies,” “dope parties, “kept men,” and “kept women.”

  11. Birth of the Production Code • Morality guidelines set & passed in 1927 • The Code controlled movie content from the 1930s-1968: • evil not be made to look alluring • villains and law breakers not go unpunished • no profanity or blasphemy • passion needed to be handled carefully

  12. The Ratings System • Jack Valenti, MPAA President • Eliminated Production Code in 1968 • Ratings assigned by panel of twelve parents • Screen and discuss three movies a day • G: General audiences. All ages admitted • PG: Parental guidance suggested • PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned • R: Restricted. Under 17 must be accompanied by adult • NC-17: No one under age 17 will be admitted • NC-17 does not mean “obscene” or “pornographic” in the common or legal meaning of those words (mpaa website)

  13. Content that prompts ratings • drug use requires at least a PG-13 • sexually oriented nudity = R • rough and persistent violence = R • “F-word” requires a PG-13 • “F-word” used more than once or in a sexual sense=R rating

  14. The X Problem • MPAA did not trademark the X rating • Porn industry labeled its unrated films XXX • Midnight Cowboy: • first and only X-rated movie to win an Oscar for Best Picture • rating eventually changed to R, after award • Saving Private Ryan rating debate • graphic depiction of Normandy landing troublesome to some

  15. Discussion • Are movies hurt by directors cutting scenes in order to get an R rating? • Should there be an A rating that indicates adults only but milder than NC 17? • Why have ratings? Nonstigmatized adult rating? mpaa.org

  16. The Future of Movies • 2005—U.S. box office down by 6 percent from 2004 • first decline since 1991 • too many sequels and remakes

More Related