HollywoodIndustry Research

HistoryThe cinema of the United States, often generally referred to as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. The dominant style of American

cinema is Classical Hollywood Cinema, which developed from 1917 to 1960 and characterizes most films to this day. Since the 1920s, the American film industry has grossed more money every year

than that of any other country.

• The history of film began in the 1890s, with the invention of the first motion-picture cameras and the establishment of the first film production companies. The films of the 1890s were under a minute long and until 1927, motion pictures were produced without sound.

• Hollywood was a small community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It officially merged with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, and soon thereafter a prominent film industry began to emerge, eventually becoming the most recognizable film industry in the world

• The 1920’s were when the movie industry truly began to flourish, along with the birth of the ‘movie star’. With hundreds of movies being made each year. Hollywood was the rise of an American force.

• Four major film companies – Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO, and Columbia – had studios in Hollywood, as did several minor companies and rental studios. In the 1920s, Hollywood was the fifth largest industry in the nation.

Golden Age of HollywoodBy the early 1910s, film-making was beginning to fulfill its artistic potential. in

America this artistic change is attributed to filmmakers like Griffith finally breaking the grip of the Edison Trust to make films independent of the manufacturing monopoly. • 1913 was a particularly fruitful year for the medium, as pioneering directors from

several countries produced masterpieces such as The Mothering Heart (D. W. Griffith), Ingeborg Holm (Victor Sjöström), and L’enfant de Paris (Léonce Perret) that set new standards for film as a form of storytelling.

• The visual-narrative style of classical Hollywood cinema, was heavily influenced by the ideas of the Renaissance and its resurgence of mankind as the focal point. It is distinguished at three general levels: devices, systems, and the relations of systems.

• Classical Hollywood cinema possesses a style which is largely invisible and difficult for the average spectator to see. The narrative is delivered so effortlessly and efficiently to the audience that it appears to have no source. It comes magically off the screen.

• Devices - The devices most inherent to Classical Hollywood Cinema are those of continuity editing. This includes the 180-degree rule, one of the major visual-spatial elements of continuity editing. The 180-degree rule keeps with the "photographed play" style by creating an imaginary 180-degree axis between the viewer and the shot, allowing the viewer to clearly orient themselves within the position and direction of action in a scene.

• Systems – The narrative logic in the classical era progressed through psychological motivation, i.e. by the will of a human character and its struggle with obstacles towards a defined goal. This narrative element is commonly composed of a primary narrative (often a romance) intertwined with a secondary narrative, such as a business or a crime or tragedy. This narrative is structured with a conventional trait of films in general i.e beginning, middle and end that often shows a defined resolution to the narrative shown in the movie. The characters in Classical Hollywood Cinema were active, and very goal oriented.

• Relations of Systems - The aspects of space and time were almost negligible to the narrative element portrayed in films in the classical era.

• Major Figures in Classical Era - D. W. Griffith, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder

Notable Films in Classical Hollywood• Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)• Broken Blossoms (1919)• The Last of the Mohicans (1920) • Orphans of the Storm (1921)• Safety Last! (1923)• Greed (1924)• Ben-Hur (1925) • The Black Pirate (1926)• It (1927)• The Wind (1928)

New HollywoodThe "New Hollywood" period, spanning the mid-1960s and early 1980s, was a period of artistic and commercial revival. Though they largely continued to follow classical norms, the films made in this period are characterized In that their narrative logic and subject matter were often unconventional.• This new generation of Hollywood filmmaker was predominantly film

school-educated, counterculture-bred, and, most importantly, from the point of view of the studios, young, therefore able to reach the youth audience they were losing.

• This group of young filmmakers—actors, writers and directors—dubbed the "New Hollywood" by the press, briefly changed the business from the producer-driven Hollywood system of the past, and injected movies with a jolt of freshness, energy, sexuality, and a passion for the artistic value of film itself.

• Technically, the greatest change the New Hollywood filmmakers brought to the art form was a new closeness to everyday life.

• During the height of the studio system, stars were remote, lofty figures and films were made almost exclusively on set in isolated studios.

• The content of films was limited by the Motion Picture Production Code, and though golden-age film-makers found loopholes in its rules, the discussion of more taboo content through film was effectively prevented.

• The shift towards a "new realism" was made possible when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) film rating system was introduced and location shooting was becoming more viable.

• Because of breakthroughs in film technology (e.g. the Panavision Panaflex camera, introduced in 1972), the New Hollywood filmmakers could shoot 35mm camera film in exteriors with relative ease.

• Since location shooting was cheaper (no sets were needed to be built), New Hollywood filmmakers rapidly developed the taste for location shooting, which had the effect of heightening the naturalism of their films, especially when compared to the artificiality of previous musicals and spectacles made to compete with television during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Major Figures in New Hollywood – Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone

Notable Films in New Hollywood• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)• Alex in Wonderland (1970)• The Godfather (1972)• Chinatown (1974)• Carrie (1976)• Grease (1978)• The Shining (1980)• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)• Formed in 1922• The main focus of the MPPA in its early years was on producing a strong public

relations campaign to ensure that Hollywood remained financially stable and able to attract investment from Wall Street, while simultaneously ensuring that American films had a "clean moral tone".

• It also instituted a code of conduct for Hollywood's actors in an attempt to govern their behavior offscreen. Finally, the code sought to protect American film interests abroad by encouraging film studios to avoid racist portrayals of foreigners.

• MPAA Members – Warner Bros., Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox

• The MPAA administers the voluntary film rating system.• As part of its campaign to stop copyright infringement, the MPAA is fighting to stop the

sharing of coyrighted works via peer to peer file sharing networks.• The MPAA’s anti-piracy campaign has gained much publicity and criticism.

Universal Studios• Universal Studios, is an American film studio owned by Comcast through its

wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal , and is one of Hollywood’s six major movie studios.

• Founded in 1912, it is the oldest movie studio in the United States of America. It is also the third oldest in the world that is still in continuous production.

• As of 2015, Universal is the only studio to have released three billion-dollar films in one year; this distinction was achieved in 2015 with Furious 7, Jurassic World and Minions.

Notable FilmsJurassic World, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Despicable Me, Fast and the Furious, Minions, Meet the Fockers, The Grinch, Jaws, Bruce Almighty.

Paramount Pictures• Paramount Pictures Corporation is a film and television

production/distribution company founded in 1912. It is the fourth oldest existing film studio in the world behind Universal Studios.

• Paramount is consistently ranked as one of the largest (top-grossing) movie studios.

• It is a division of American media conglomerate Viacom. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Notable FilmsParanormal Activity, Rise of the Guardians, Jack Reacher, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Top Gun, Star Trek Into Darkness, World War Z

Columbia Pictures• Columbia Pictures is an American film production and distribution

studio of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

• It is one of the leading film companies in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six..

• The studio, founded in 1919, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later.

Notable FilmsSkyfall, The Amazing Spider-Man, 21 Jump Street, Men in Black 3, Hotel Transylvania, Underworld: Awakening, The Vow, and Resident Evil: Retribution

Warner Bros.• As one of the major film studios, it is a division of Time Warner. • Founded in 1923, having several subsidiary companies,

including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation etc.

• As of 2015, Warner Bros. is one of only three studios to have released a pair of billion-dollar films in the same year; the distinction was achieved in 2012 with The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Notable FilmsThe Great Gatsby, The Hangover Part III, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, The Conjuring, We’re the Millers, Prisoners, Gravity

Walt Disney Pictures• An American film production company, division of Walt Disney Studios, owned by The Walt

Disney Company.• Main producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit.• Today, in conjunction with the other units of Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Pictures is

classified as one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios.• Nearly all of Walt Disney Pictures' releases are distributed theatrically by Walt Disney Studios

Motion Pictures, through home media platforms via Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.• The studio's first feature-length motion picture was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

(1937) and its first live-action film was Treasure Island (1950). • Animated films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar are also released

by Walt Disney Pictures. • Walt Disney Pictures has released four films that have received an Academy Award for

Best Picture nomination; Mary Poppins (1964), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010)

• The Walt Disney Studios is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).