COMM chapter 6

Photography - Performs surveillance and cultural transmission, Verify factual claims, Tell a story or convey information quickly, Engage, entertain, and elicit emotion 

Commercial History 

Camera obscura - Dark box or room, small hole inverts outside image to display on opposite inner wall 

Daguerreotype - Early type of photography (1893) 

Matthew Brady - Pioneering photojournalist 

George Eastman - Invents roll (paper) film (1884) 

Kodak Camera (1888) - Makes photography a mainstream, commercial product 

What happened to film in 1999 - Sales of film peak, and begin to rapidly decline afterwards 

Movies - Primary function entertainment, but cultural transmission also important. “Most commercially produced motion pictures are intended to make money, only occasionally rising to the level of serious art.” (p. 154) 

History of the Movie Industry 

Movies in 1891 - Thomas Alva Edison creates a Kinetoscope, the “peep show” 

Movies in 1895 - Louis and Auguste Lumiere patent Cinematographe, a portable camera, film processing unit, and projector  

What is Hollywood known as - The Big Studios 

Hollywood in 1908 - Edison founded Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), often called The Trust) 

What companies controlled the movie industry from California - Triangle Company, Paramount, Fox, and Universal

Movie making process -  Script development, Project approval (including actor contract & schedules), Shooting, Postproduction 

Marketing and Distribution for Movies - Heavily advertising occurs two weeks before release; nearly impossible for movie to become popular after poor attendance upon release 

Television - Average viewer spends 11 year watching TV. More than two-thirds of homes get TV via the Internet, cable, or satellite. Rapid evolution towards audience control: from time and place shifting to on-demand streaming 

History of Television - First television systems: CRTs 

1950s for TV - early 1960s: the first “Golden Age” included soap operas, sitcoms, dramas, children’s programming, variety shows  

 Late 1960s - 1970s: major new developments such as in 1969 Sesame Street, 1970 Monday Night Football, and 1971 All in the Family, 1975 The Jeffersons 

In 1980s for TV - cable and satellite becomes mainstream , 1981 MTV launches 

Late 1990s - Second “Golden Age” of “prestige TV” begins. Explosion of cheaper content 

Digital Television and Convergence - June 2009: all US TV Broadcast signals switched to digital. Enables convergence of computing, television and telecommunications. HDTV produced much higher-resolution image, sharper color, wider aspect ratio, and superior audio. Flat Panel (LCL and OLED) displays create near theatre-quality experience at home for sound, color, and picture clarity 

Broadcast TV  - Traditional means of over-the-air distribution for networks, affiliates, and local stations  

Cable TV  - Developed in 1948 so communities in hilly or remote terrain could access TV broadcasts, expands in 70s/80s with new business model  

Internet streaming - Increasing convergence of function with streaming services 

Outlook for the Television Industry - Entirely digital TV signal moving us toward exclusively digital media world 

What will “TV” become - Content, distribution systems, and business models are all changing rapidly