201 MIDTERM PREP
Midterm Prep
Multiple-choice: key terms and figures
1870s-1890s: pre-/early cinema
“cinema of attractions”
Term coined by film historian Tom Gunning to describe early films
Prioritized visual spectacle directly to the audience over traditional stories
Directly engaged viewers through the camera, breaking the fourth wall.
Fronality (facing camera), viewer address (directly engaging audience), and spectacle (shocking or entertaining viewers, influenced by vaudeville).
Ex: The Great Train Robbery mugshot and shooting audience
Black Maria
World’s first motion picture studio, built for Edison
Produced short films for Kinetoscope parlors
Built on a rotating base to turn toward sunlight for filming
Used for early film sets and shooting short videos
Filmed actualities (short nonfiction films of everyday life)
Bioskop
Developed by the Skladanowsky brothers
One of the earliest motion-picture projectors
Used for one of Europe's first public, paid movie screenings
Cinématographe
Invented by the Lumière brothers
All in one camera, film printer and projector
Portable and could be operated by one person
Kinetograph
Camera developed by Thomas Edison’s team
Used to record moving images on film
Used celluloid roll film with sprocket holes (perforations) to move the film smoothly through the camera without tearing or breaking
Kinetoscope
Viewing device developed by Edison’s team
Allowed one person at a time to watch short films through a peephole
Latham loop
Developed by the Latham family's team
Used a loop of slack film in a steady pace to prevent tearing or breaking
Allowed for longer films
W.K.L. Dickson
Edison’s lab assistant
Helped develop the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope
Left and founded a company called Biograph Company
A studio where many filmmakers got training and experience
Lumière brothers
Lumiere brothers invented the Cinematographe
Held one of the first public, paid film screenings in 1895
Known for early actualities (short nonfiction films of everyday life)
Étienne-Jules Marey
First to record continuous live movement with one camera
Chronophotographic gun, capturing 12 photos per second
Interested in study of human anatomy and organisms
Eaeweard Muybridge
Photographed a horse galloping using multiple cameras along a track
Used 24 cameras to capture different stages of movement
Proved that all four of a horse’s hooves leave the ground during a gallop
Georges Méliès
Obtained the British Animatograph (film projector) and founded Star Film Company
Built a studio and produced around 500 films
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
Leap of telling stories
Stop motion special effects
Pioneered transitions (fade in, fade out)
1900s-1910s: narrative/industry developments
“dream palaces”
Large, luxurious movie theaters that replaced Nickelodeons
Featured orchestra pits for live music
Mark Strand Theater in NYC first opened in 1914
block booking
Distribution tactic where studios required theaters to buy packages of popular and less popular films together
Cross-cutting
Editing between simultaneous actions
Pioneered by English filmmakers of the Brighton School
Italian superspectacle
Large-scale Italian films featuring epic stories, elaborate sets and large casts
Ex: Cabiria (1914, Giovanni Pastrone)
Alice Guy-Blaché
First woman to direct films
Worked at Gaumont as director, screenwriter and head of production
Founded Solax Studios in the US
Pioneered narrative storytelling and longer films
The Spring Fairy (1906): Featured hand-painted color
Her contributions were largely forgotten for decades
D.W. Griffith
Began at Biograph as an actor and writer, then became a director
Pioneered film editing techniques, including crosscutting, flashbacks and shot transitions
Used editing to create dramatic and emotional impact (e.g., last-minute rescues)
The Lonedale Operator (1911): Example of suspenseful crosscutting
Left Biograph for Mutual, bringing actors and crew
The Birth of a Nation (1915):
Groundbreaking, expensive Civil War epic
Deeply racist, featuring blackface and glorifying the KKK
Helped inspire the KKK's revival
Thomas Ince
Worked at Inceville, Triangle Motion Picture Company and Thomas H. Ince Studios
Pioneered the studio production system with supervisors and small production units
Used continuity scripts to plan filming and maintain consistency
Edwin S. Porter
Joined Edison’s company in 1900
Pioneered editing between scenes to tell stories
Life of an American Fireman (1903): Experimented with editing
The Great Train Robbery (1903):
Helped establish the one-reel standard (10–11 minutes)
Used camera movement, hand-colored effects and direct audience address (gunshot at camera)
Important advancement in narrative storytelling
Lilian St. Cyr
One of the first Native American actors in mainstream film
Worked with James Young Deer on 100+ films for Pathé Frères (1911–1914)
Worked as a writer, costume designer, stuntwoman and cultural advisor
Advocated for Native American representation
Known for The Squaw Man (1914)
Lois Weber
Early female filmmaker who worked with her husband as “The Smalleys” as co-director, co-actor and principal screenwriter
Known for social problem films, especially women's issues and poverty
Shoes (1916): Explored poverty and women's struggles
First female honorary member of the Motion Picture Directors Association
One of the highest-paid directors of her time
Founded Lois Weber Productions through Universal
Brighton school
Group of English filmmakers, not an actual school
George Albert Smith, James Williamson, Alfred Darling and A.A.E. Collins
Experimented with filmmaking techniques and technology
Pioneered close-up shots and crosscutting/intercutting
Motion Picture Patents Company
Aka “The Trust”
Edison-led monopoly controlling film patents, licensing, royalties and film stock
Independent filmmakers had to pay extra or obtain licenses
Standardized one-reel films and no technical credits
1910: Formed the General Film Company to control film distribution
Société Film d’Art
French company that aimed to make film a respected art form
Used famous theater actors and writers
1920s: Soviet & Weimar cinemas
agitki
Short Soviet propaganda films and newsreels promoting Bolshevik ideas
Agitki tours: Traveled to educate and influence the public during the Russian Civil War
Served as a training ground for early Soviet filmmakers
dialectical montage
Developed by Sergei Eisenstein
Opposing shots or ideas collide to create new meaning through montage
Combining shots creates a new idea, not just a sequence
Builds emotional intensity and intellectual meaning through editing
5 methods of montage:
Metric: Shot duration
Rhythmic: Movement within shots
Tonal: Emotional tone
Overtonal: Combination of the first three
Intellectual: Conceptual relationship between shots
Kino-glaz
Aka Cine-Eye
Developed by Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov
Belief that the camera could capture reality better than the human eye
Focused on real life and documentary footage rather than staged stories
Used montage (editing) to reveal deeper truths about reality
Kuleshov effect
Same shot of a man's face followed by different images makes audiences interpret different emotions
A shot's meaning comes from both what it shows and its relationship to other shots
Demonstrates how editing creates narrative and symbolic meaning
Leninist film proportion
Lenin ordered a fixed ratio between Soviet information/propaganda and entertainment films
Dziga Vertov proposed a 4:1 ratio, favoring information films
Exact ratio was never officially established
Narkompros
Soviet government organization that controlled education and the nationalized film industry
Helped establish VGIK, the world's first film school, in Moscow
Trained filmmakers to produce agitki (propaganda newsreels)
Sergei Eisenstein
Background in engineering, theater, set design and agitki poster design
Kuleshov’s workshops and apprenticeships
Associated with Esfir Shub and Eduard Tisse
Films: Strike (1925) and Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Soviet montage: Explored spatial, temporal, rhythmic and graphic editing
Esfir Shub
Soviet filmmaker and editor at Goskino, editing foreign films for ideological compliance
Edited over 200 films
Pioneered the compilation film, re-editing existing footage to create new political meanings
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (1927)
Re-edited footage to portray the Romanovs negatively
Dziga Vertov
Soviet filmmaker who rejected fiction films and favored documentaries
Agitki editor who experimented with compilation films
Developed kinoki and kino-glaz (Cine-Eye)
Used hidden cameras to capture natural, unstaged behavior
Created Kino-Pravda (“screen newspaper”)
Known for Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Autorenfilm
German films based on famous writers’ stories or plays
Used well-known authors to make movies seem more serious and artistic, rather than just entertainment
Paraufamet Agreement
Deal between Paramount, MGM and Germany’s UFA
American studios loaned money to UFA in exchange for access to German movie theaters
Increased Hollywood’s influence over the German film industry
Schüfftan process
Special effects technique invented for Metropolis (1927)
Used mirrors to combine miniature models with live-action sets, making them appear as one scene
1920s-1930s: from silent to sound
“Big 5 Agreement”
Agreement between MGM, Famous Players (Paramount), First National, Universal and PDC
Studios agreed to choose and adopt the same sound technology for movies
Helped avoid incompatible sound systems across the industry
“midnight rambles”
Late-night screenings of Black films after regular theater hours
Provided Black audiences access to films during racial segregation
Blimp
Soundproof covering around a film camera to reduce camera noise during sound recording.
race film
Films made primarily for Black audiences, often featuring Black casts
Created opportunities for Black filmmakers during racial segregation
Early companies included Foster Photoplay Company (1910) and Lincoln Motion Picture Company (1916)
Oscar Micheaux: Major Black filmmaker who explored racism and survived the transition to sound
Often screened through Black churches, organizations and midnight rambles
vertical integration
Studios controlled production, distribution and exhibition (showing films)
Studios bought theaters and converted them for sound
Created oligopolistic control, where a few major studios dominated the industry
Big Five Studios
Five major Hollywood studios that controlled production, distribution and exhibition, allowing them to dominate the film industry.
MGM
Wealthiest studio, biggest stars, rich color, musicals and optimistic films (The Wizard of Oz)
Louis B. Mayer led production.
Paramount
Largest theater chain, known as a director’s studio with European talent
Adolph Zukor led the company.
Warner Bros.
Working-class studio, known for crime films, social issues, low-key lighting and pioneering sound films
Jack L. Warner led production.
20th Century Fox
Formed by a merger, known for Shirley Temple films and John Ford westerns
Darryl F. Zanuck led production.
RKO
Newest and most financially unstable studio, known for Astaire-Rogers musicals, Orson Welles and B movies
Various heads of production
Dorothy Arzner
One of the only women directing at the time
Directed films at Paramount, a studio known for giving directors creative freedom
Long essay (minimum 4 pages)
Discuss how and why the nickelodeon boom emerged, the role played by The Great Train Robbery in this emergence, and the importance of this boom in the development of the American film industry, from detailing what a nickelodeon was and the kind of films it showed, to where nickelodeons were mainly located and the kind of audiences they typically drew, and finally, noting the main factors that signaled their demise
Thesis
The nickelodeon boom transformed movies into mass entertainment and laid the foundation for the American film industry.
Body 1 - Emergence of the Boom
Affordable movies became popular, increasing demand for permanent theaters.
The Great Train Robbery (1903), Edwin S. Porter:
Used cutting between scenes, moving shots and world-building to tell a more developed story.
Broke the fourth wall by aiming a gun at the audience, emphasizing spectacle.
Helped establish the one-reel standard (10–11 minutes).
Its storytelling and visual attractions demonstrated cinema's appeal, supporting the nickelodeon boom.
Body 2 - Nickelodeons and Their Importance
Small movie theaters charging five cents for admission.
Showed one-reel narratives, comedies, actualities and cinema of attractions.
Mainly located in urban, working-class and immigrant neighborhoods.
Primarily attracted working-class and immigrant audiences.
Growing popularity increased film production, distribution and competition.
The Motion Picture Patents Company (1908), led by Edison, sought control over licensing and film stock.
Body 3 - Decline
Uplift phase (1908–1916): More respectable storytelling and middle-class appeal.
Longer, multiple-reel films replaced shorter programs.
Star system promoted recognizable actors to attract audiences.
Larger, luxurious movie palaces gradually replaced nickelodeons.
Conclusion
ickelodeons established cinema as popular entertainment before longer films and larger theaters transformed the industry.
Discuss how and why UFA was established in Germany, including how it functioned for the post-World War I German national film industry, and the more prominent film styles and/or genres that contributed to its prestige and competition against Hollywood in the 1920s, and then analyze/argue how Sunrise could be regarded as a UFA film in terms of visual style, narrative, and/or performance
Discuss the impact of the conversion to sound on the American film industry centered in Hollywood, including the pivotal technological innovations, figures, organizations, and/or studios that prompted it the most, and elaborate how sound filmmaking specifically affected film production, exhibition, industry personnel, performers, and/or attitudes towards Hollywood studios and/or content
Thesis
The conversion to sound transformed Hollywood filmmaking and strengthened major studios, reshaping the American film industry.
Body 1 - Technology Innovations
Early sound experiments struggled with synchronization and amplification; silent films used live music and narrators.
Lee De Forest's Phonofilm (1919): Recorded sound directly on film.
Warner Bros. + Western Electric partnered to introduce Vitaphone (1926), a sound-on-disc system.
The Jazz Singer (1927): Warner Bros. film with synchronized singing and dialogue that encouraged sound adoption.
Fox + General Electric introduced Movietone (1926), a sound-on-film system.
Big 5 Agreement (1927): Studios coordinated sound technology adoption.
Body 2 - Production, Exhibition and Performers
Early microphones and noisy cameras complicated recording.
Early camera enclosures restricted movement; blimps (1931) reduced noise more flexibly.
Tungsten lights replaced noisy carbon arc lamps.
Dorothy Arzner developed the boom microphone (1929), allowing actors more movement.
Theaters required sound wiring and synchronized projection.
Sound complicated editing, creating static, dialogue-heavy films ("canned theatre").
Silent actors struggled with dialogue and accents; Broadway and radio talent entered Hollywood.
Body 3 - Hollywood Studios and Film Content
Increased Wall Street financing supported expensive sound conversion.
Studios purchased and rewired theaters, strengthening vertical integration.
Musicals benefited from synchronized singing and music.
Crime films used audible gunfire and dialogue, intensifying violence.
Sound increased criticism of controversial film content and censorship concerns.
Production Code (1930) established content restrictions; stricter enforcement began in 1934.
Conclusion
Sound transformed filmmaking and strengthened Hollywood's studio system, reshaping how films were made and experienced.
Discuss the primary factors (social, economic), figures, and/or organizations that contributed to the development of in-house censorship among the Hollywood studios between 1930 and 1934 that became known as the Production Code of 1930 and then the stricter Production Code Administration (PCA) of 1934 and, using Baby Face, detail how such censorship directly impacted film content and/or form
Thesis
Public criticism pressured Hollywood studios to enforce censorship, restricting controversial film content.
Body 1: Causes of Censorship
Hollywood scandals and controversial films increased criticism.
Sound made violence, dialogue and sexual themes more explicit.
Religious groups pressured studios to uphold moral standards.
Great Depression hurt profits, increasing pressure to avoid boycotts.
Body 2: Development of Censorship
Will H. Hays led the MPPDA, promoting self-regulation.
"Don'ts and Be Carefuls" introduced content guidelines.
Production Code (1930) established restrictions, initially weakly enforced.
Catholic Legion of Decency threatened boycotts.
PCA (1934) required approval before films could be released.
Body 3: Baby Face (1933)
Pre-Code film about a woman using relationships with men to gain power.
Censorship toned down sexual content and altered dialogue.
Revised ending emphasized marriage and traditional morality.
Demonstrated how censorship changed storytelling and film content.
Conclusion
Hollywood's self-censorship protected studio interests while restricting creative freedom.
Discuss the components that constituted the era of the classical Hollywood studio system (1930-1946), including vertical integration, oligopoly, and identifying the major industry development that gave rise to this specific studio system era, while also describing what distinguished a major studio, a minor studio, and a B studio, their roles in relation to each other, and giving examples of each
Thesis
The conversion to sound strengthened major studios, creating an oligopoly that dominated Hollywood filmmaking.
Body 1 - Development and Structure
Conversion to sound required expensive technology and theater upgrades, restructuring Hollywood.
Vertical integration: Studios controlled production, distribution and exhibition.
Oligopoly: The Big Five dominated the industry, limiting competition.
Studios purchased and converted theaters for sound, strengthening control.
Mass production standardized filmmaking, producing hundreds of films annually.
Block booking required theaters to purchase packages of popular and less popular films.
Body 2 - Major Studios (Big 5)
Major studios were vertically integrated, controlling production, distribution and exhibition.
MGM: Wealthiest, biggest stars, expensive productions and musicals.
Paramount: Largest theater chain, European talent and director-focused.
Warner Bros.: Pioneered sound, working-class studio and crime films.
20th Century Fox: Shirley Temple films and John Ford westerns.
RKO: Financially unstable, Astaire-Rogers musicals and Orson Welles.
Body 3 - Minor and B Studios
Little Three: Not vertically integrated; lacked the Big Five's theater control.
Universal: Horror films and musicals.
Columbia: Frank Capra and borrowed talent.
United Artists: Distributed independent productions.
B studios (Poverty Row): Independent, low-budget companies with few stars and minimal production values.
Examples: Grand National and PRC Pictures.
Depression-era double bills increased demand for inexpensive B films.
Smaller studios relied on major studios' distribution and exhibition networks.
Conclusion
The Big Five's dominance created an unequal studio system where smaller companies played important but less powerful roles.