РефератыИностранный языкFiFilm Production Essay Research Paper In the

Film Production Essay Research Paper In the

Film Production Essay, Research Paper


In the period previous to the 1930’s, the predominant form of filmmaking was


that of the crank camera. This is not to say that motor-driven cameras were


not possible. However, the motors to advance the film were so large that they


were simply too cumbersome to be effective. Thus, it was the cameraman


himself who would crank the film at a steady rate to expose the frames.


When it came to showing the film, on the other hand, motor driven projectors


were quite convenient, and by the 1920’s a standard 24 frames per second


was established for projecting films. Filming, however, remained


unstandardized due to the inherent variation in recording speeds, since it


depended directly on the cameraman. An experienced cameraman was


capable of filming an entire film at approximately the same speed, yet often


variations were made in the recording speed for dramatic effect. Decreasing


the number of cranks, for example, exposed fewer frames and thus when


projected at the standard 24 frames created the frenzied action that


characterized much of the Vaudeville cinema. The French filmmaker Georges


Melies was among the first to employ changing backdrops and costumes to


tell his story. Up until that point many film were only a few minutes long taking


place on a single set. Changing sets and costumes opened a vast range of


new possibilities and spurred further growth in the fledgling industry. As the


film industry expanded in America, filmmakers found and increasing need for


to establish a single location at which they could build sets and film


undisturbed. The bright sunlight, relative stability of climate, and varied terrain


found in California made it an ideal place to film, much of the reason for the


industry’s concentration there. During this time, films were shot on a single


reel, resulting in filmstrips that were only 15-20 minutes. Independent


producers pioneered the use of double reel filmmaking during the years


before the First World War. This allowed much longer films and opening the


door for further opportunity, both financially and creatively, as well as


bringing into being the double reel camera that became such an icon of movie


production. The major advance of the 1930’s was the introduction of


synchronous sound and dialogue in the late 1930’s. First invented and shown


in the 1920’s, it became the standard by the early 1930’s, partly due to the


invention of a device based on the radio that could effectively amplify sound


in the theater. Initially there were two available systems with which to record


sound. The first was similar to a phonograph, and recorded the sound to a


separate disc. The second, more popular, system recorded the sound directly


onto the celluloid strip. Initially sound hindered the filmmaking process, since


the cameras had to be encased to muffle the noise of their motors and actors


could not stray far from the stationary microphones. However, technological


advances soon made up for this and the sound became an integral part of


filmmaking. The incorporation of sound into film and the resulting movie


theater draw triggered a number of mergers in Hollywood as companies tried


to consolidate their power (and their wealth). The result of these unions was


the creation of the first major studios that dominated the industry for decades,


Fox Studios (later 20th Century Fox), Leow’s Incorporated (later


Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer), Paramount, RKO, and Warner Bros. These


studios monopolized the industry through vertical consolidation, meaning they


controlled every part of the production process. They owned the writers, the


directors and producers, the actors, the equipment and crew, even the


theaters. They controlled every step and dominated Hollywood until 1948


when the U.S. Government found them to be an illegal monopoly. It was also


during this time that color in movies became possible through the use of the


Technicolor system. Technicolor was created using a special camera that ran


three strips of film, one in red, one in blue, and one in yellow. When the three


strips were consolidated, the resulting image was in full color, though the


colors were frequently very exaggerated as can be seen in two such films that


were filmed in this manner, Gone With The Wind (1939) and The Wizard of


Oz (1939). The 1940’s also marked the beginning of the Italian movement


known as “neorealism.” This movement focused on portraying the


non-fictional aspects of Italian society for entertainment, in contrast to many


of the dream worlds that were being produced by Hollywood. Future


generations of filmmakers would look to this movement as inspiration for their


own films depicting their home countries in a style that is sometimes known as


“slice-of-life.” A novelty technique used during the 1950’s was the


introduction of 3-D. Filmed with special lenses and then viewed by the


audience with special glasses, Hollywood released about 35 of these films


during its brief popularity. Unfortunately, audiences quickly became bored


with it and Hollywood soon dropped it. Another technique introduced in the


1950’s was the wide screen format. It was introduced largely to distinguish


movies from television in an effort to lure dwindling audiences back into


theaters. Cinemascope was the first such technology, using a special lens to


compress the wider image onto a 35mm film reel. A second lens on the


projection piece would later decompress the image to creat

e the wide screen


format. It was later replaced by the Panavision system, which did not require


special lenses. The 1950’s also saw the rise of the French “New Wave”. The


New Wave began with a group of French film critics who believed that the


majority of French cinema was overly devoted to written aspects of a film.


They believed that the director, the creator of the final visual image should be


the true center and set out to direct their own films under this new theory. The


French New Wave also sought in some ways to reconceptualize film. Though


they were immersed in popular culture and striving to emulate Hollywood’s


success, they also incorporated new techniques and styles. One such


example of this Jean-Luc Godard, who introduced the jump cuts, temporal


cuts to disrupt the continuity of a scene. During the 1960’s Germany began its


own movement, similar to the Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave,


known as “das neue Kino”, translated as The New Cinema. Major aspects of


the New Cinema were a focus on history and hardship Germany had


endured, the effects of popular culture from America on German society, as


well as the inclusion of feminist viewpoints on these subjects. It was during


the 1970’s that the blockbusters as we now know it was officially born. The


movie that started it all, if it has to go to a single movie, was Jaws. Though


somewhat similar to the formula that had described blockbusters under the


old studio system, it broke the mold in several major ways. First, its cast was,


for the most part, unknown actors. Under the old model it was thought


impossible to have a blockbuster without a recognizable cast. Second, and


much more importantly, it used shocking special effects, namely a large


mechanical shark, to thrill the audience. Audiences had scene special effects


before, but this was a whole new level of realism. Thus was born the era of


the f/x blockbuster. A few years later the trend was reaffirmed when


audiences were again captivated by special effects in one of the most popular


movies of all time, Star Wars. Special effects surrounding romanticized and


often simplistic characters became the core of the blockbusters, the new


formula that brought back the large audiences and flowing cash to


Hollywood. By the mid-1970’s the new formula for success had been


reached. Whereas before a large number of movies were released and shown


on the screens of the theaters that bought them, movies were now released in


smaller numbers on thousands of screens at once and advertised with massive


promotion campaigns to maximize gross on each film. It broke the financial


slump of the 60’s and remains the formula today. In 1978 a device was also


developed that opened new doors for filmmakers. Dubbed the Steadicam, it


was a camera mount that attached to the cameraman rather than a tripod or


dolly. Thus, instead of being stationary or relying on a track or cart to move,


the camera could go anywhere a cameraman could walk or run. Since then,


numerous changes in the system have consistently improved its quality and


ease of use. One of the most recent examples of a sequence filmed using the


Steadicam were the Normandy battle sequences of Spielburg’s Saving


Private Ryan. The only major change in the film industry that occurred in the


80’s (aside from the technological advances that occur constantly since the


creation of the first camera but are for the most part too technical to be


interesting to you or I) was the rise of new mediums. Cable companies


exploded in the 1980’s, wiring the country with a multitude of new


entertainment possibilities. This wave of entertainment also started a trend of


increasing independent production. Up until that time, an independent film


often had trouble finding an audience as major theater chains only dealt with


studios. Cable opened up new audiences for independents and was a strong


contributor the growth of that sector of the industry. The major technical


advance of the 1990’s has been the advent of the Digital Age. All across


America people are going digital, with CD’s having completely replaced vinyl


and tapes, DVD’s becoming increasingly popular, and camcorder’s and


camera’s becoming sharper and sharper. Hollywood is not to be left behind,


in fact they are far ahead. Though digital editors have been in use since the


1980’s, it was not until the 1990’s that the non-linear format of editing


became a true standard, as even high school programs began to purchase


consumer-grade non-linear devices. At the same time, advances in the 1990’s


have grown by leaps and bounds. Numerous breakthroughs in computer


effects editing make it not only possible to alter the look of a film in a


computer, but also extremely cost effective, as more productions use the


computer to delete out mistakes in filming, or expand the grandeur of a scene


(an example of this will be seen in an upcoming war movie as yet unnamed in


which twenty extras charging across a battlefield will be digitally cloned into a


thousand-man assault). Perhaps the most important step comes from the


pioneer of the digital world, George Lucas. Releasing Star Wars: E1 in three


theaters using completely digital projectors (no film reels needed) and making


his preparations to film the next two using completely digital cameras and


encouraging release on completely digital theaters. It is now clear to


Hollywood and the rest of the world that digital is the next evolution in film.

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