Survey of Film 2 Lecture Notes 1 - Blacklist (Fall 2024) PDF

Survey of Film II World Cinema – From the Decline of the Studio System to the Blockbuster Era Pascoe Hollywood in Transition Part 1 -1946 – American film business peaks at $1.7 billion for domestic box-office receipts -By 1962 down to $900 million due to: -Rising costs...

Survey of Film II World Cinema – From the Decline of the Studio System to the Blockbuster Era Pascoe Hollywood in Transition Part 1 -1946 – American film business peaks at $1.7 billion for domestic box-office receipts -By 1962 down to $900 million due to: -Rising costs -production equipment -production crew -stars -Low Attendance -Shifting demographic -Competing markets -Music industry -RPM microgroove phonograph record (introduced in 1949) -Live sporting events  -Television -National television broadcasting began in 1948 -Hollywood does NOT embrace the new medium -would not let their films be shown on TV -no working film star could appear on TV until RKO allowed their stars to appear on television in 1954 -1948 Supreme Court – U.S. v. Paramount Pictures -Too much cotrol of the market by the “majors” (five major studios) (MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros., 20th Century-Fox, RKO) -Block booking -Ruling: Studios must divest themselves of their theaters -changes film economy -filmmaking business becomes more competitive -WWII and the Film Industry -America wanted movies -most popular form of escape and family entertainment - -Hollywood helps with war effort -Education (training films for soldiers) -American propaganda films -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMSnwY6tjBc (WACS) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzDHEJoE1ao (News Reel)  -Top Hollywood directors sent to make documentaries for the armed forces -https://www.indiewire.com/2017/04/directors-world-war-ii-five-came-back-mark- harris-documentary-netflix-1201797195/ (IndieWire article) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JuiCTz6Khw “Five Came Back” (official trailer) -http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26439799 -16mm prints of new releases sent to be screened overseas for FREE -Government adds special war taxes to theater tickets -Government sells war bonds in the lobbies of theaters - -Hollywood Ten and the Blacklist -Cold War years of suspicion began around 1947 -Increasing fear of the “Red Menace” -term starting during the Cold War era to describe the Soviet Union -was also a 1949 anti-communist and anti-Soviet film -“Red Menace” dir. Robert G. Springsteen - -H.U.A.C. (House of Un-American Activities Committee) -Formed by the US House of Representatives in 1938 -First set of hearings – Fall of 1947 -Hollywood Ten -Ten Hollywood players that refused to answer questions and name names -https://www.britannica.com/topic/House-Un-American- Activities-Committee (Hollywood Ten) -Motion picture industry institutes a Blacklist  -Conviction of the Hollywood Ten (1950) -https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hollywood-Ten Dalton Trumbo (Screenwriter) -Emergence of Television – -National television broadcasting began in 1948 - -1949, only a million television receivers in America -1952, number jumps up to ten million -Movie Novelties used to compete with Television -1st Novelty - 3-D -Three-dimensional, stereoscopic effect -Popular in the early 1950s  -Reasons for demise of 3-D -required special glasses -theater owners had to make costly renovations -novelty of 3-D wore off -2nd Novelty – Cinerama - -used three interlocked 35mm cameras -three images, side-by-side, projected on a deeply curved screen -width replaces depth -“This Is Cinerama” (1952) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrzjdlyZCD8 -3rd Novelty – CinemaScope -most durable and functional of the movie novelties -  -very similar to a dollar bill (2.33:1) -no extra projectors needed -did not need special glasses -recorded on 35mm film with 35mm cameras, but with a special anamorphic lens -“The Robe” (1953) – first CinemaScope feature -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lrZM4gE6GQ&t=11s (scene)  -“Oklahoma” (1955) dir. Fred Zinnemann – first 70mm film -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrGwxrqzGe4 (scene) -“A Star is Born” (1954) dir. George Cukor -takes advantage of new format https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-krTkp8iQDI (scene) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABGd0iiRXKU (trailer) -1950s -Hollywood caves in to TV -1954 RKO sells movies to TV -1956 other major studios follow suit -studios are making 30 and 60 min. shows (and commercials) -film studios being purchased for television -Hollywood lifts ban on film stars being on TV -1956 – War with TV is over  -Collapse of Studio Structure and emergence of the new Film Producer -feature film production goes independent -leaned towards either very expensive films, or very cheap films “The Ten Commandments” (1956) (scene) “Cleopatra” (1963) Made for $13,000,000 made for $31,100,000 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqCTq3EeDcY -made money back with high ticket prices and long theatrical runs -cheap films -low budget -made money back with saturation booking at neighborhood theaters and drive-ins -“Little Shop of Horrors” (1960) dir. Roger Corman Made for $28,000 -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QZCKgVImqg (full movie) I was a Teenage Wearwolf” (1957) dir. Gene Fowler Jr. Made for $82,000 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050530/ (trailer)