History of Film

FILM 251

Film artifacts

The films themselves + the technology used to create them

Film historians use artifacts to...

To track film movements across nations and times. They investigate: Innovations, ideologies, and film accomplishments over time.

The Four Approaches to Film History Analysis

• Social History

• Aesthetic/Masterpiece

• Technological

• Economics

Social History (Approaches to Film History Analysis)

Who made it, who watched it, and how it was evaluated

Aesthetic/Masterpiece (Approaches to Film History Analysis)

Examines the story telling, the formal techniques, auteurs, and "greatest films" lists.

Technological (Approaches to Film History Analysis)

Which technologies were used and why (ex: smell-O-Vision)

Economics (Approaches to Film History Analysis)

Funding the studio, box office funds, and product placement (brand ads in films)

What are Film movements

A group of films united by shares ideologies, themes, and style.

Dogme 95 (A Danish Movement 1995)

Film movement that used handheld cameras, on location, no music, no artificial lighting

1878 - Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne Jules Marey

Standford Horse experiment (captures horses in motion via still photos)

1888 - Thomas Edison & William Dickson

Began motion-picture experiments; invented the Kinetograph (camera) and Kinetoscope (peephole viewer)

1895 - Lumiere Brothers (Auguste & Louis)

Screened films at Nickelodeons (the first indoor movie theatres) using the cinematograph. Made actualities.

1903 - The Great Train Robbery

First western movie; pioneered continuity editing, multiple camera positions, and cross-cutting

Ideology (Ideology In Film)

A personal system of belief/identity shaping views and relationships.

Dominant ideologies are…

Often invisible to us. We absorb them without noticing.

Hollywood Films…

Tend to reinstate and uphold traditional ideological values.

Independent Films…

Tend to challenge traditional ideological values.

How do we analyze ideology in a film?

Identify stereotypes, things left out, and character lifestyles

Vertical integration

A strategy where a company gains control over multiple stages of its supply chain.

During the classical Hollywood era, how did major studios hold a near-monopoly on filmmaking through vertical integration:

• Exclusive contracts with actors and directors

• Studio owned theatres/controlled theaters

The production code/Hays code (1930-1968)

An industry self-censorship system (not government implemented) that prohibited certain images and content in films.

MPPDA: Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America’s list to self censor movies

• Originally a list called The "Don'ts and Be Carefuls" in 1927.

• Enforced by Joseph Breen in 1934

• Pressured by the Catholic Legion of Decency

HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee, 1947-1954):

Investigated communist influence in Hollywood during the Cold War

The Hollywood Ten:

Ten screenwriters and directors who refused to testify before congress and were imprisoned due to suspected ties with communists

What killed Classical Hollywood?

Cultural shifts of the 60s and 70s (vietnam) and tv Comp.
The Paramount Decision.

The Paramount Case/Decision:

The Supreme Court forced studios to divest theater ownership, breaking their monopoly.

The "film school brats" generation

The first directors formally trained at film school, took over Hollywood:
George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford, Dennis hopper.

The Ratings System:

Replaces the Hays code in 1968, allowing more mature content.

Bonnie and Clyde:

Symbolically marked the "bloody end" of the Hays Code, introducing explicit content into cinema.

Womens Roles in Classical Hollywood

They were objects of desire to be "looked at" and pursued

Lillian Gish

Pioneer and was known as the "First lady of the Silent Screen," worked with Griffeth.

Mary Pickford

Co-founded United Artists with Griffeth, Chaplin, and Fairbanks.

Alice Guy-Blache

First female film director

Lois Weber

Made 100+ films in the silent era' went bankrupt in the 1920's

Dorthy Arzner

Only woman director to successfully move from silent films to talkies. First DGA (Directors Guild of America) member

Ida Lupino

Only female producer in the Hollywood studio system in the 1950s

The Bechdel Test

A simple test to highlight the underrepresentation of women in media.

A Film Passes The Bechdel Test if:

• It has at least two named women.

• Who talks to each other.

• About something other than a man.

John Berger's - Ways of Seeing

A foundation text on visual culture that highlighted how women are trained to see themselves as objects.

John Berger's Call To Action Is:

for men to stop viewing women for their appearance only

The male gaze:

A concept in film developed by Laura Mulvey that describes how media sexualize women by portraying them as objects

Scopophilia (Freud):

erotic pleasure derived from looking

Narcissism

Spectators identify with characters on screen

Voyeurism

Sexual gratification derived from secretly observing unsuspecting people.

Fetishization

A focus on body parts rather than the person as a whole.

The three types of male spectators:

Directors
Audience members
Male characters within the film

Objective shots

neutral camera

Subjective shots

camera takes on a characters POV (often male)

More female directors have...

emerged in the last 30 years than in all prior film history, including women of color.

Hollywood has become...

more diverse, depicting more diverse characters with mental and physical disabilities.