1. Movies and the Impact of Images
Chapter 6
Movies and the Impact of Images

2. Online Image Library Go to www.bedfordstmartins.com/mediaculture
to access the Media & Culture, 8th Edition Update
Online Image Library.
The library contains all your favorite images from Media & Culture, 8th edition update!

3. Technology at the Movies
“Watching Avatar, I felt sort of the same as when I saw Star Wars in That was another movie I walked into with uncertain expectations…. Avatar is not simply a sensational entertainment, although it is that. It’s a technical breakthrough.” —Roger Ebert

4. Early Technology and the Evolution of Movies
In 1889 Goodwin invented celluloid.
Bought by Eastman
Edison patented kinetoscope and vitascope.
Méliès made the earliest narrative films.
Nickelodeons
Silent films, “shorts”
Popular with new immigrants—images crossed language barriers.

5. The Rise of the Hollywood Studio System
Edison’s Trust: Cartel of major U.S. and French producers
Exclusive deal with Eastman
Zukor formed the Famous Players Company.
Mary Pickford broke off to form United Artists.
The studio system (1920s) controlled creative talent.

6. The Rise of the Hollywood Studio System (cont.)
Zukor’s block booking
Exhibitors forced to rent new or marginal films along with popular films
Zukor and Fox defeated the Trust
Dominated industry through vertical integration
Creation of movie palaces
Oligopoly: Big Five & Little Three

7. The Studio System’s Golden Age
Blockbusters
The Birth of a Nation (1915) is considered the first.
Talkies
1927 Warner Brothers’ film The Jazz Singer
Fox studio’s newsreels
Movietone captured first film footage with sound of the takeoff and return of Charles Lindbergh.

8. The Development of Hollywood Style
Hollywood narrative:
Character
Beginning, middle, and end
Plot
Resolving conflict
Genres include:
Action/Adventure
Comedy
Drama
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Film Noir
Horror
Musicals
Westerns

9. The Development of Hollywood Style (cont.)
Hollywood “auteurs”
Directors develop a particular style or interest.
Stemmed from Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider and George Lucas’s American Graffiti
New Wave of directors: E.g. Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg
Female directors, minorities receive few opportunities.

10. Outside the Hollywood System
Global cinema
Did well in 1920s and 1950s–1960s
Losing ground as they compete with American indies
The documentary tradition
Cinema verité
Recent resurgence in documentary filmmaking
Rise of indies
Independent film festivals important for discovering new talent

11. The Transformation of the Studio System
The Hollywood Ten
Investigations of alleged subversive and communist ties
Led by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
Blacklisted and boycotted by major studios
Paramount decision
Major studios forced to end vertical integration

12. Television Changes Hollywood
By the mid-1950s TV replaces radio and movies for family entertainment.
Movies begin to take on more serious content in response:
Anti-Semitism: Gentleman’s Agreement, 1947
Sexuality: Peyton Place, 1957
Also develop new technologies
CinemaScope, Technicolor

13. Hollywood Adapts to Home Entertainment
Introduction of cable and videocassettes in 1970s changed movie exhibition.
Video market was a financial bonanza for movie industry.
Now video rental market is declining, due to Netflix and Internet downloading/streaming.

14. The Economics of the Movie Business
1.34 billion movie tickets sold in 2010
2009 gross box office revenues = $10.6 billion
Sales and rental business still produces more revenue: $18.8 billion.
Movie business revamped its production, distribution, and exhibition system and consolidated its ownership to survive.

15. Gross Revenues from Box-Office Sales,
Figure 6.1
Gross Revenues from Box-Office Sales,
1987–2010

16. The Economics of the Movie Business (cont.)
In the 1970s, suburban moviegoers made hits of Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977).
Studios devised strategies to create future blockbusters.
Studios need a couple of major hits each year to offset costs of other films.
80–90% of films fail at box office.

17. Top Movie Theater Chains in North America
Figure 6.2
Top Movie Theater Chains in North America

18. The Major Studio Players
The Big Six:
Warner Brothers
Paramount
Twentieth Century Fox
Universal
Columbia Pictures
Disney
Only Disney not owned by larger conglomerate

19. Figure 6.3
Market Share of U.S. Film Studios and Distributors, 2010 (in $Millions)

20. What Disney Owns Publishing • Disney Publishing Worldwide
• ESPN The Magazine
• Marvel Entertainment
• Wondertime magazine
• FamilyFun magazine
Television/Radio
• Disney-ABC Television
Group
– ABC
– ABC News
– ABC Family
– ABC Studios
– Disney Channel
– Lifetime Entertainment
Services
Movies
• Walt Disney Pictures
– Walt Disney Animation
Studios
– Pixar Animation Studios
– Touchstone Pictures
– Hollywood Pictures
• Walt Disney Studios Motion
Pictures International
• Walt Disney Studios Home
Entertainment
Music
• Disney Music Group
– Walt Disney Records
– Hollywood Records
– Lyric Street Records
– A&E Television Networks
• ESPN, Inc. (80 percent)
• ABC-owned television
stations (10)
Internet/Mobile Content
• The Walt Disney Internet
Group
– Disney.com
– ESPN360.com
– ESPN Mobile Properties
– mDisney mobile
– Club Penguin
Disney Parks and Resorts
• Disneyland Resorts and
Parks (5 locations)
• Disney Cruise Line
• Adventures by Disney

21. Convergence: Movies Adjust to the Internet Age
Movie industry worked to embrace digital downloads.
Netflix, Amazon.com, Hulu, and YouTube all offer digital movie rentals.
Internet also an essential tool for movie marketing
How often do you download or stream movies online?

22. Alternative Voices Digital video:
Cheaper and more accessible than standard film equipment
Films can be made for much less money.
Same format as DVDs and Internet video, so films can be distributed online easily.

23. Popular Movies and Democracy
Do U.S. films contribute to a global village in which people share a universal culture?
Or do U.S. films stifle local culture and diversity?