Film Narrative Commercial Expansion

George Méliès

• French magician and the owner of the Robert Houdini theatre.

• He perfected the use of stop-motion photography.

• A Trip to the Moon

Conversion and disappearance

magical tricks in film used by George Méliès

Stop-motion photography

The effect that is produced by stopping the camera and not cutting the film. Stop the film and change to something else (like magic trick)

Point-of-view shot/subjective camera

Shot seen through a particular character

• What he dreams, thinks, imagines, etc.

• Narrative context as to what a character sees.

Plan sequence

A group of interrelated, consecutive shots.

A Trip to the Moon

• George Méliès's masterpiece

• Established the basis for science fiction films

Charles Pathé

• Frenchman who built one of the earliest film empires —> Film Studio Pathé

• He was able to conquer all the branches of the film industry —> cameras, projectors, film stock, film production, theatres, etc. —> vertical integration

Vertical integration

The process of controlling every aspect of film - from production to distribution.

Leon Gaumont

Frenchman who did the same as Pathé - he visualized the incredible potential that film had as a business. (vertical integration)

Alice Guy

She was the first woman in the world to direct films and to head a production studio. (1896)

• Her first film was The Cabbage Fairy.

David Belasco

He was a theatrical producer who introduced elements of strong emotion into films —> tears, laughter, violent suspense, violent laughter, etc. —> brought drama to film

Emile Cohl

He is considered to be the father of animated film.

Max Linder

He was the first internationally famous motion picture star —> Early 1900s

Edwin Porter

• Director who worked with the Edison Company (Macy's in Manhattan)

• He showed different actions that appeared to be continuous.

• He was the first director to present a character's thoughts, later to be known as mind-screen.

• Mind-screen: the presentation of a character's thoughts (ex: Cinema Paradiso is through flashbacks/mind-screen)

• His masterpiece is The Great Train Robbery.

G.A. Smith

• He made the first fully mind-screen film - Let Me Dream Again.

• He developed the point-of-view shot/subjective camera

Cecil Hepworth

Director of the film Rescued by Rover - believed to be the most energetically edited pre-Griffith film.

G.W. Bitzer

Photographer who shot almost all of D. W. Griffith's films. One of the greatest cameramen of his time.

Editing and composition

Consisted of the fact that a filmed story was a function of the way the individual shots were composed and stitched together.

Two major genres of the early 1900s:

Melodrama and Farce

Melodrama

(genre) serious themes/tragedies

Farce

(genre) comedies and satires

The Assassination of the Duc de Guise

• Made in France in 1908, is considered the first art piece in cinema.

• It was produced by the Societé Film d' Art, bringing the best in all of its components —> actors, script, composers, etc.

Adolph Zukor

American who created Famous Players in Famous Plays, promoted film as an art in the United States.

Why did film move from the northeast (NYC) to California

cheaper, more space, better weather

How were films in the 1900s?

They imitations of earlier ones - no big changes

Who set the basis for realistic films

The Lumiere brothers

Who set the basis for fantasy and science fiction films?

Melies

What characterized films before 1910

By outdoor shots that looked vital and fresh, while the indoor shots looked vital and fresh, while the indoor shots looked static, flat, and dead.

Piracy

There were no patents or copyright laws --> Piracy was common and out of control