Film Industry Pressent

Film is something that many of us have been exposed to since we were young. From Disney to action packed or horror films films have some place in everyone's life. We now see a bigger trend in movie rentals that going to the actual theater to view a film especially in a economy where American's are trying to cost costs in their daily lives. Which is where we can see a decrease in box office sales. "Attendance was down at movie complexes in 2010 - it was almost 6% lower (the lowest in 15 years) than in 2009 and fewer tickets were sold (1.3 billion vs. 1.4 billion tickets), although slightly higher revenue (over $10 billion) was due to steeper ticket prices for 3D" (Dirks, 2010). Dirks suggest that the cause of this could be a number of things, but could include noisy/rude theater patrons, poor image and sounds at the multiplex, more viewing options (DVDs etc.), the economy and media, and then social media which broadcast word of mouth on the opinions of the film that spread like wildfire. 

Some of the more notable films that the industry produced over the past year would be Toy Story 3, Inception, The Social Network, True Grit, The King's Speech, Avatar, and The Blind Side just to name a few. 

The 3D phase became relived again in the past year and is most likely going to stay. With consumers wanting to feel like they are there in a film 3D movies have become a lot more popular. "The phenomenon of 3-D didn't entirely live up to its promise, repeating its 1950s status as a short-lived fad. The prediction that 3-D films following the record-breaking Avatar 3-D (2009) would be the wave of the future fizzled in early 2010" (Dirks, 2010). After Avatar many studios were trying to put other 3D movies out as well. "It proved to be an unnecessary, gimmicky enhancement of the special effects, in most cases, and had nothing to do with the plot, character development, or acting quality. Backlash came from users who complained about eye strain, the silly glasses, dark images, shoddy transfers, etc" (Dirks, 2010). Even though studios may think 3D helps a film doesn't always mean it goes with the film.


According to Dirks, "The best example of failed 3-D was for the incoherent flop Clash of the Titans (2010), whose conversion from 2D to 3-D in post-production backfired. 3-D was also misused in The Nutcracker in 3D (2010), The Last Airbender (2010), and Saw 3D (2010). The costly and lengthy conversion to 3-D of the seventh Harry Potter film was fortuitously scrapped. Maybe 3-D was most appropriate when applied to a guilty-pleasure sexploitation film Piranha 3D (2010), the fourth installment of a zombie horror film (based on a computer game) Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D (2010), or the immature stunt-filled Jackass 3D (2010)" (Dirks, 2010). Overall, 3D films will be around for much longer and we will just have to wait and see if any other studio/director can top what has already been put out there. 

The History of Film: The 2010s Tim Dirks http://www.filmsite.org/2010sintro.html

Film Industry in the 1980s

The 1980s were definitely a very interesting decade. One where lots of trends and habits become popular. "The decade of the 1980s tended to consolidate the gains made in the seventies rather than to initiate any new trends equal to the large number of disaster movies, buddy movies, or "rogue cop" movies that characterized the previous decade. Designed and packaged for mass audience appeal, few 80s films became what could be called 'classics'" (Dirks, 1980s). Films from this particular period were popular but none of the films from the 80s became what you would call classics compared to what had been produced many years before.


The 1980s also had its fare share of bad films that you could say bombed at the box office as well as have some that were surprisingly popular. This is also where the film industry was introduced to special effects and because of this the industry began to become even more popular. At this time many studios were also taken over by multi-national conglomerates Dirks shows us that this is where we see a big rise in MGM, Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Paramount, Universal, Walt Disney, and Warner Communications. 

Dirks also notes milestones for the 1980s 

Notable 1980s Milestones:

• 36 year old Sherry Lansing was named president of production at 20th Century Fox in 1980 - and became the first female to hold this position and head a major studio (she resigned in 1982 to become an independent producer)
• Dawn Steel became VP for production at Paramount Studios in 1980, and then president of Columbia Pictures in 1987
• in 1980, CNN (Cable News Network) began operations
• in the early 1980s, Sony's superior video recording standard, termed Betamax, was overtaken by VHS (Video Home System) developed by JVC, with a longer record time of 2 hours; in 1987, when VHS commanded 95% market share, Sony finally began to abandon Betamax
• in 1980, Pioneer began to market its videodisk (laserdisc) players, thereby widening the availability of films for consumer viewing and purchase
• former Beatle John Lennon was shot dead on December 8, 1980 as he entered his New York apartment by Mark Chapman
• in 1981, the music-video cable network MTV began broadcasting on August 1st at 12:01 am - the first music video that was aired was Video Killed the Radio Star - the debut single of the British duo - the Buggles
• child-teen star and cover model Brooke Shields was the most sought-after actress of the early 80s - projecting both innocence and sexuality
• director Milos Forman's Ragtime (1981) was legendary actor James Cagney's first film - a "comeback" - after 20 years of retirement
• Ronald Reagan, a former President of the Screen Actor's Guild (from 1947-1952) and governor of California, became the first movie-star President of the US (the 40th) in 1981. His conservative reign and hard-edged approach toward the Soviet Union was reflected in Hollywood's many action-adventure films of the decade with aggressive, macho stars (Rocky, Rambo, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Clint Eastwood and others) - even his futuristic anti-missile defense system co-opted the name of Lucas' 70s film Star Wars
• Jodie Foster was stalked by mentally-impaired John Hinckley, who tried to impress the actress by attempting to assassinate Reagan in late March, 1981
• actress and aerobics guru Jane Fonda (sporting a striped leotard and leg warmers) released a workout videotape, Jane Fonda's Workout (1982), that became one of the hottest best-sellers for years, due to the increased proliferation of the home VCR
• George Lucas' THX sound system made its debut - the first movie to be shown in a THX-certified auditorium was Return of the Jedi (1983) - see more below
• during the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) in 1982, two child actors and Vic Morrow were killed in a freak helicopter crash - as a result, greater precautions would be taken on Hollywood sets
• Walt Disney Productions and Westinghouse Broadcasting launched the cable network The Disney Channel in April, 1983
• future singer/actress Vanessa Williams won the 1984 Miss America title (crowned in September, 1983, she became the first black woman ever to possess the title), but she resigned when it was revealed that she had posed for some sexually explicit photos (taken in 1982) that appeared in two issues of Penthouse magazine (September, 1984 and January, 1985)
• in 1983, 20th Century Fox began to openly solicit deals to display brand names in its films
• the American Movie Classics cable-TV channel started operations in 1984
• in 1984, the Voyager Company introduced its Criterion Collection line of 'special edition,' high-quality, feature-packed laserdiscs, often with state-of-the-art transfers, the CAV (full feature) format, the full theatrical 'letter-box' format, special commentary tracks and supplemental material, dual audio, interviews and annotated commentary by film-makers and scholars, director's cuts, deleted scenes, storyboards and production designs, and other bonus features (theatrical shorts or trailers, shooting scripts, posters, stills galleries, print booklets, out-takes, dual versions of a film, and other extras, etc.) that have since become commonplace on DVDs by the turn of the century
• in 1985, Robert Redford's Sundance Institute (established in 1980) took over the Utah/US Film Festival and later renamed it the Sundance Film Festival (held annually in January) - "dedicated to the support and development of emerging screenwriters and directors of vision, and to the national and international exhibition of new, independent dramatic and documentary films"
• Rock Hudson's homosexuality was revealed when he became the first major film industry figure to die of AIDS in October of 1985
• on September 8, 1986, Oprah Winfrey became the first African-American woman to host a nationally-syndicated daytime talk show, titled "The Oprah Winfrey Show"
• in 1987, Premiere Magazine began publishing
• The Dead (1987) was legendary director John Huston's last film, with top-billing given to his daughter Anjelica Huston and a script co-written by his son Tony
• the oldest performer to win the Best Actress Oscar was 81 year-old Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

The History of Films The 1980s by Tim Dirks http://www.filmsite.org/80sintro.html

Film Industry in the 1960s

The film industry has always been a booming industry, but the film industry in the 1960s would be one of the most unique and most effected by outside events. "Cinema in the 1960s reflected the decade of fun, fashion, rock 'n' roll, tremendous social changes (i.e., the civil rights era and marches) and transitional cultural values. This was a turbulent decade of monumental changes, tragedies, cultural events, assassinations and deaths, and advancements" (Dirks, 1960s). So all of these changes in not only society, but film as well were affecting everyone. Dirks gives us some examples of what events help trigger the whole shift in change:

• 1959 - Barbie Doll and the Microchip invented
• 1960 - Introduction of the Twist dance by Chubby Checker
• 1962 - Death of Marilyn Monroe
• 1962 - First TV broadcasts in color
• 1962 - Spacewar, the first computer video game, invented
• 1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1963 - TouchTone telephones introduced
• 1963 - President John F. Kennedy's assassination
• 1963 - Women's Liberation, signaled by the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique
• 1964 - Beatlemania, the Beatles 'invaded' US
• 1964 - Boxer Cassius Clay joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali
• 1965 - Miniskirt made first appearance
• 1965 - Watts (LA) race riots
• 1965 - Protests of racial stereotyping against 'Amos and Andy' TV show forced it off the air
• 1966- One Million Years BC made Raquel Welch a sex symbol in a two-piece fur bikini
• 1967 - "Hair" opened off-Broadway
• 1967 - Human Be-In (Golden Gate Park), and Summer of Love in San Francisco
• 1967 - First Heart Transplant
• 1967 - Anti-Vietnam War Protests Escalated as War Deaths Multiplied
• 1968- "60 Minutes" debuted on CBS-TV
• 1968 - Martin Luther King, Jr's and Robert Kennedy's assassinations
• 1969 - Woodstock Musical Festival in upper-state New York
• 1969 - Introduction of the indoor-safe NERF ball
• 1969 - "Sesame Street" debuted on TV
• 1969 - Mai Lai
• 1969 - Arpanet (first Internet) invented
• 1969 - The brutal and 'ritualistic' murder of 26 year-old actress Sharon Tate (Roman Polanski's pregnant wife) and others in Los Angeles (Bel Air) by Charlie Manson's hippie 'cultic' family
• 1969 - First Man on the Moon with Apollo 11 space flight
• 1970 - Kent State Massacre
• 1971 - Charlie Manson and three of his female followers in their 20s were convicted of the Tate-LaBianca murders, after the longest murder trial in US history
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•  Each one of these events helped trigger the amount of change experienced in the 1960s. Dirks will also go on to say that this decade was one of the worst decades for film. Especially 1963 where he shows us that there were only about 121 films produced.  Hollywood would be hit the hardest during this decade with the lack of production and the post war movement. Also this would be when the industry would experience financial difficulties and a bigger production spirt in made for TV movies. This is also the era the produced the Megaplex which is now a big player in the film industry. 
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• Film History of the 1960s by Time Dirks http://www.filmsite.org/60sintro.html

Film Industry in the 1940s

The film industry was affected greatly in the early 1940s with the attack at Pearl Harbor which is where the United States joined the war efforts. The war hit every industry hard. "However, Hollywood film production rebounded and reached its profitable peak of efficiency during the years 1943 to 1946 - a full decade and more after the rise of sound film production, now that the technical challenges of the early 30s sound era were far behind. Advances in film technology (sound recording, lighting, special effects, cinematography and use of color) meant that films were more watchable and 'modern" (Dirks 1940s)'. Which then led into what Dirk's calls Hollywood's most profitable year in 1946 beacause of the amount of people who went out and watched films. 


The war which did economically hurt all other industries was actually surprisingly helping the film industry. "The US government's Office of War Information (OWI), formed in 1942, served as an important propaganda agency during World War II, and coordinated its efforts with the film industry to record and photograph the nation's war-time activities" (Dirks, 1940s). The first war to be documented would be a huge move by both the government and the film industry. In the early 1940s because of the war efforts we began to see big Hollywood productions that are patriotic and may not have the greatest plot, but because of their patriotism and the timing they were very popular.

Many new stars were also being generated in the 1940s. "A new breed of stars that arose during the war years included Van Johnson, Alan Ladd, and gorgeous GI pin-up queens Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. (Betty Grable had signed with 20th Century Fox in 1940 and would soon became a major star of their musicals in the 1940s.)" (Dirks, 1940s).  Not only did the war period produce stars, but it also helped in careers of some directors. "Some of Hollywood's best directors, John Ford, Frank Capra, John Huston and William Wyler, made Signal Corps documentaries or training films to aid the war effort, such as Frank Capra's Why We Fight (1942-1945) documentary series (the first film in the series, Prelude to War was released in 1943), Ford's December 7th: The Movie (1991) (finally released after being banned by the US government for 50 years) and the first popular documentary of the war titled The Battle of Midway (1942), Huston's documentaries Report From the Aleutians (1943) and The Battle of San Pietro (1945), and Wyler's sobering Air Force documentary Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944)" (Dirks, 1940s). 


The History of Film: The 1940s by Tim Dirks http://www.filmsite.org/40sintro.html

Film Industry in the 1920s

In the 1920s the film industry began blossoming. It began growing and the most popular types of films at this time were silent films. "By the mid-20s, movies were big business (with a capital investment totaling over $2 billion) with some theaters offering double features. By the end of the decade, there were 20 Hollywood studios, and the demand for films was greater than ever" (Dirks). This is when the industry was the most prodomiant and your choices of films were wide. Although they weren't as avaliable to the public as what they are now the 1920s definitley made a mark in the film industry. "Most people are unaware that the greatest output of feature films in the US occurred in the 1920s and 1930s (averaging about 800 film releases in a year) - nowadays, it is remarkable when production exceeds 500 films in a year" (Dirks). 


Genre became known in the twenties as well as several different genre styles. "The major genre emphasis was on swashbucklers, historical extravaganzas, and melodramas, although all kinds of films were being produced throughout the decade" (Dirks). Westerns became very popular in the 1920s and would continue to be throughout the next several decades. 

The 1920s films were becoming a lifestyle. "The studio system was essentially born with long-term contracts for stars, lavish production values, and increasingly rigid control of directors and stars by the studio's production chief and in-house publicity departments" (Dirks).  This is when many women became involved in the industry and were signed to studios as contract stars. Hollywood began to lead the world in film production. "After World War I and into the early 1920s, America was the leading producer of films in the world - using Thomas Ince's "factory system" of production, although the system did limit the creativity of many directors" (Dirks). Hollywood went full steam ahead and kept producing major productions. "Production was in the hands of the major studios (that really flourished after 1927 for almost 20 years), and the star system was burgeoning" (Dirks). 

Also in the 1920s is when we started to see the major studios form and become predominant. The big five studios consisted of Warner Brothers, Paramount, RKO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and 20th Century Fox. There were also three minor studios which were Universal, United Artists, and Columbia. And then there were the Independent Studios will ilnclude Disney, 20th Century Pictures, and Republic Pictures. 

"The top box-office stars in the 1920s included Harold Lloyd, Gloria Swanson, Tom Mix, Norma Talmadge, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Colleen Moore, Norma Shearer, John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, Sr., Clara Bow, and "Little Mary" Pickford" (Dirks).  

The History of Film: The 1920s http://www.filmsite.org/20sintro.html

Semiotic analysis: The sign

To understand semiotics in film we first have to study semiotics. According to Semiotic terminology
"Semiotics, or semiology, is the study of signs, symbols, and signification. It is the study of how meaning is created, not what it is. Below are some brief definitions of semiotic terms, beginning with the smallest unit of meaning and proceeding towards the larger and more complex:
Signifier: any material thing that signifies, e.g., words on a page, a facial expression, an image.
Signified: the concept that a signifier refers to".

Semiotics in film may be different to everyone, but normally you can find a common sign and meaning in some movies. For example, in the movie American Pie in the whole series of films you have this pie that symbolizes sex for Jim and you continue to see this sign throughout the whole series of these films. 

Film is something we have experienced since we were younger. Little girls will mostly grow up watching the fairy tales where everyone lives happily ever after. For them this symbolizes happiness and the hope that one day they may find their prince charming. According to The Development of the Semiotic Film, "film has been made a part of our lives--a dominant mode of human expression, relatively little studied and understood at a time when the study of other, perhaps similar modes, such as verbal language, painting, and music, have developed venerable bodies of theory and analytic methods"

"In conceptualizing film from a semiotic standpoint, it becomes quite clear that one of the basic suppositions employed by de Saussure, Morris, Sebeok, and others is the notion of a relationship between signs themselves and between signs and their users and context. A sign is not a phenomenon in and of itself; a "thing" becomes a sign only because it has a specific relationship to other "things" (The Development of the Semiotic Film). The sign may be something like a color like yellow which now shows our support to the troops, but use to stand for sadness. It is something we see and then picture this idea.

The Development of a Semiotic of Film: http://astro.temple.edu/~ruby/wava/worth/sone.html

http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/terminology.html

Shot and editing

Shot and editing can make or break a film. It can make a film look spectacular or make it look amateurish. Filmmakers uses different techniques on shots and editing to help better direct their story as the plot unfolds.

“You tell a story with the film provided to you by the director and when you have a director who is a superlative craftsman, an artist like Howard Hawks, it becomes fairly easy” (Blangested, 1976). For some directors it may come easy for them to make a film they are proud of, but for it to be editing and finished the way they want is always a success.  

Editing is one of those things that can help a film because if you are having trouble with a particular scene the editor can always go in and fix a scene with a simple edit or play up a scene with a more complex one. “It is one of the many functions of a film editor to protect the actors. The technique of storytelling is the use of performances by actors and when you can help actors, you're helping your film and you're making a better film out of it” (Blangested, 1976).   

Editing and how a film is shot can help set the mood for the film. “Editing is as much an art form as motion picture direction, writing, or photography; yet most of us have probably not thought of it in that light. This is a good time to begin thinking in that direction” (Putnam, & McCarron, 1949). The art form can be interpreted in many different ways if the editor is not careful.

The overall responsibility of the scenes the editor gets is the director. “The director is actually responsible for getting scenes a cutter can do something with” (Putnam, & McCarron, 1949). The director needs to make sure they can get good quality shots because without the shots needed to make the film then the editing may be lacking because of it.

A closeup shot is one that is used a lot in film. “I think you can define a closeup as being a shot

which is close enough to show the idea you are presenting. There have been a lot of terms

which Hollywood uses; waist shot, knee shot etc., but they are all relative and it depends upon

who is using it as to how they will convey their particular idea” (Putnam, & McCarron, 1949). 

The close up shot is a form of editing that takes a shot and zooms in on the character or object and then in th 

editing process they can make it more subtle or more dramatic.

BLANGSTED, F. (1976). On film editing. Journal of the University Film Association,, 28(4), Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/20687339.pdf

Putnam, V, & McCarron, J. (1949). Production problems: editing. Journal of the University Film Producers Association,, 1(1), Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/20686206.pdf