A History of the American Film Industry - finish adding comments

A History of the American Film Industry

- 2nd most prolific film industry in the world after Bollywood

Early History of the US Film Industry:
- 1893: Thomas Edison constructed a motion picture studio in his laboratory
- Edwin S. Porter took charge of motion picture production at Edison's company and began making longer films
- Porter's most notable film - and the most famous work of early cinema - was The Great Train Robbery (1903)

The Great Train Robbery - Full Film

History of the US Film Industry:                               The Kid (Charlie Chaplin) - Trailer
- Until WW1, France was the leading film-producing country
- By the 1920's, most films come from the United States
- Today America is the leading country in the exportation of movies
- American Cinema is mainly associated with the Hollywood entertainment industry, 'the dream country'
- In the 1920's, Chaplin began making feature-length comedies: including The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925)
- Advent of recorded sound in the 1920's changed motion pictures
- First demonstrated in 1926, recorded sound was in almost universal use by 1930.

Scene from the Jazz Singer - the first talkie:

- Two new genres that flourished with the coming of sound were gangster films and musicals (Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers)

Singin' In The Rain trailer:

Top Hat (Fred/Ginger musical) trailer:

Steamboat Willie: Full Film

- Film animation gained popularity; Walt Disney first animated cartoon with synchronised sound -> Steamboat Willie (1928)
- Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (1937) -> animated film -> first colour animated film

Original Snow White Trailer:

- In 1941, Orson Welles made Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane Trailer ->












A history of US film continued:
2001: A Space Odyssey Trailer (Kubrick):
- Colour was used in only a minority of films under the 1950's; colour movies had become the standard by the 1960's
- The advent of television caused a great disruption -> scenes became shorter & more fanatic
- Increasing emphasis on the importance of the director in the 1960's (Kubrick, Altman)







The Godfather Trailer: (Coppola)

- In the early 1970's, a younger generation (the Brat Pack?) of filmmakers emerged (Coppola, Lucas, Scorsese, Spielberg)












Jaws Trailer:
- Jaws marked the turning point in the fortunes of the American Film Industry -> first film to earn more than $100 million for its studio - a blockbuster
- George Lucas' Star Wars (1977), a science-fantasy film with spectacular special effects
- Blockbuster films tended to be fantasies based on comic-book characters or adventure heroes (e.g. Raiders of the Lost Ark)







Star Wars Trailer:

- Titanic (1997), directed by James Cameron; 11 Academy Awards, Top Grossing Movie of All Time

- Mega-blockbusters continued to rule Hollywood at the start of the 21st century

Avatar - the highest grossing film of all time worldwide:

- The digital video disk, or DVD, became one of the major techniques for viewing movies on computers & also began replacing video cassettes as the major format for home viewing.




Summary:
What was the task:
The task was to find out how the film industry has changed since the 1900's and to find out about important moments in regards to filmmaking and the industry.



What I've learnt from completing this task:
I have learnt more about the film industry from completing this task as this research has given me a greater insight into the ways of the industry and what types of films were in demand in which decades. I have also learnt about early Hollywood and how prolific the studio system was in the first half of the 1900's.



How will this help me prepare for my exam:
This will help me prepare for my exam as I can use the information of what the film industry was like at the times that the films were released to help me understand the context behind the production of the films.