July 21, 2004
Today we learned about how the coming of sound changed silent cinema and vice versa. some people argue that sound in movies limits the thoughts a viewer has and only offers the writers perspective on what the person should be contemplating. With sound, the camera became fixed again in one spot because of the camera sound, the cameraman was forced into a sound proof enclosure thus causing the camera to remain in one spot, limiting shoots. There were many problems with the introduction of sound, amplification in theatres, synchronizing, and different systems being used, not a universal one.
From 1926, with Don Juan to Goldiggers of 1933, sound evolved first as music, musicals, to actual dialogue being performed with scripts. In 1927, the first talkie was filmed called the Jazz Singer. Following that, in 1928, the Lights of NY, which was painful to watch and subsequent to that, moslty musicals.
The legacy of silent film will always be with us. The coming of sound was a traumatic time for all of Hollywood, and dialogue was not immediately instituted into film right away, it was a process, first starting with music, and more music. We can see in Alfred Hitchcock 1960 film "Psycho" how silent film still played a part in modern films. The techniques are still used even in today's movies. Silent films became an artistic work to the actors and producers and is still respected today!
P.S. Professor Woll: I enjoyed your class, and learning about the history of American film. Thank you for your lectures and all I learned!
July 20, 2004
During this lecture and class discussion Professor Woll educated us on some aspects and differences of Keaton, Lloyd, and Chaplain. Keaton saw women as physical props and was the least understanding of women, whereas, Chaplain had intense relationships with women and constantly searched for success with women. Both Keaton and Lloyd had relatively short careers compared to Chaplain. Chaplain was also world renowed and considered an international movie star.
In addition to the above, the explanation was given as to who really controlled cinema in the roaring 20's. The studios were the real power brokers of Hollywood. The system of production as Bazan called it was the film makers, the geniuses of the system. In the beginning (1903), the studio was merely a simple operation, which grew into a monster of power by the 1920s. In essence, the studio would later control, the actors, directors, editing, finished product, marketing, distribution and ultimate viewing in theatres. The studios not only owned all this, they also controlled the theatre chains and reaped the profits of everything.
In addition, studios controlled what independent theatres could show their feature films and negotiated block bookings and sold films to these independents. They performed blind selling also to independents and controlled the entire market of the movies.
Between 1936 to 1951 there was legislation going on regarding the monopolizing and restraint of trade issues among the studios and in the US Supreme Court case US v. Paramount the Court ruled that the studios had to sell they holdings in the theatres. This broke up the monopoly the studios had over the viewing of movies.
Following this discussion, we viewed a documentary on "The United Artists", Chaplain, Griffith, Pickford and Fairbanks. This explained films advancements beyond adolescence , which the stars created. Their own power and how they helped build Hollywood. In reality, the studios controlled Hollywood and the films, however, United Artists gave the actors a legitimate position in the industry and said to the studios, without the actor, you are nothing.
July 20, 2004
During this lecture and class discussion Professor Woll educated us on some aspects and differences of Keaton, Lloyd, and Chaplain. Keaton saw women as physical props and was the least understanding of women, whereas, Chaplain had intense relationships with women and constantly searched for success with women. Both Keaton and Lloyd had relatively short careers compared to Chaplain. Chaplain was also world renowed and considered an international movie star.
In addition to the above, the explanation was given as to who really controlled cinema in the roaring 20's. The studios were the real power brokers of Hollywood. The system of production as Bazan called it was the film makers, the geniuses of the system. In the beginning (1903), the studio was merely a simple operation, which grew into a monster of power by the 1920s. In essence, the studio would later control, the actors, directors, editing, finished product, marketing, distribution and ultimate viewing in theatres. The studios not only owned all this, they also controlled the theatre chains and reaped the profits of everything.
In addition, studios controlled what independent theatres could show their feature films and negotiated block bookings and sold films to these independents. They performed blind selling also to independents and controlled the entire market of the movies.
Between 1936 to 1951 there was legislation going on regarding the monopolizing and restraint of trade issues among the studios and in the US Supreme Court case US v. Paramount the Court ruled that the studios had to sell they holdings in the theatres. This broke up the monopoly the studios had over the viewing of movies.
Following this discussion, we viewed a documentary on "The United Artists", Chaplain, Griffith, Pickford and Fairbanks. This explained films advancements beyond adolescence , which the stars created. Their own power and how they helped build Hollywood. In reality, the studios controlled Hollywood and the films, however, United Artists gave the actors a legitimate position in the industry and said to the studios, without the actor, you are nothing.
July 19, 2004
Today the discussion was primarily centered around Charles Chaplain and his film career. Chaplain was considered a very controversial person because of his view that America should enter World War II. In 1939, he made a movie called "The Great Dictator" depicting the war and his views thereto. Chaplain was an independent, wealthy film maker. He had his own studio and financed everything himself. He was known to spend a lot of time shooting a scene, he loved to "take his time". He disliked scripts and improvised a lot, however, it must have been an uneconomical way of shooting film and costed his a lot of profits.
At or around 1915 to 1917, he developed a character called "The Tramp" and stuck with it for about 20 years. He was to become the first actor to ever be paid one million dollars in a year, this was achieved through First National Movie Co. in 1918-1919. Subsequent to his stint at First National, he went independent and bought his own studio.
Chaplain was also a womanizer, he loved younger women (16-18 years old) and had many affairs with women, which would eventually hurt his financial health because of court, tax fraud, etc. Eventually, he would leave the United States for Switzerland. All in all, Chaplain was considered a good business man who had total control of his films production, minus his women problems.
Chaplain held on to silent films the longest and wasn't featured in a "talkie" until 1939. We enjoyed the film "Gold Rush" in class, which I thought was an excellent film for its' time in 1925. It was a mixure of comedy, sadness, action, and adventure all wrapped in one package. It definitely must have been a hit during the era it was released.
Silent Film Comedy
On July 14, 2004 the lecture and class discussion was centered on Silent Film Comedy. The three main actors who were considered the most popular were Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. Lloyd and Chaplain proved to be very good business men and had control over their films, whereas, Keaton's career was hurt by the introduction of sound in movies and a drinking problem. Although all three actors found talkies to be a problem, Chaplain and Lloyd were able to survive and continue their silent film careers by developing a visual aspect of their comedy. Each developed a character and stuck with it, often portrayed as shy, common people. Another aspect of their acting was to overcome dangerous stunts and triumph in the end.
The class viewed "Safety Last" with Lloyd filmed in 1923, which was filmed in Los Angeles. This film was a good story about a man who left to work in the city so he could make enough money to get married and become successful. His girlfriend visits him and thinks he is the department stores general manager. The film is very comical and primarily deals with the main character Lloyd trying to make himself look like someone he isn't. The last scene is Lloyd scaling a wall as a promotion for his store for a fee of $1000. It was an excellent film and very funny one at that.
Silent Film Comedy
On July 14, 2004 the lecture and class discussion was centered on Silent Film Comedy. The three main actors who were considered the most popular were Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. Llyod and Chaplain proved to be very good business men and had control over their films, whereas, Keaton's career was hurt by the introduction of sound in movies and a drinking problem. Although all three actors found talkies to be a problem, Chaplain and Lloyd were able to surive and continue their silent fiom careers by developing a visual aspect of their comedy. Each developed a character and stuck with it, often portrayed as shy, common people. Another aspect of their acting was to overcome dangerous stunts and triumph in the end.
The class viewed "Safety Last" with Lloyd filmed in 1923, which was filmed in Los Angeles. This film was a good story about a man who left to work in the city so he could make enough money to get married and become successful. His girlfriend visits him and thinks he is the department store's general manager. The film is very comical and primarily deals with the main character Lloyd trying to make himself look like someone he isn't. The last scene is Lloyd scaling a wall as a promotion for his store for a fee of $1000. It was an excellent film and very funny one at that.
Moral Issues and Film
On July 12, 2004, the class discussed the moral issues portrayed in film. The notion that women were portrayed as very well behaved virgins was something that Griffith was concerned with especially. For example, in Birth of a Nation, the woman throws herself off a cliff instead of enduring a rape attempt. With morality as a central issue, censorship began to reach the surface and was first dealt with in 1915. The litigation was Mutual Film Corp. v. The Industrial Commission of Ohio. The Court's opinion was that movies are more complex than speech and books because they have a stronger capacity to encourage or portray evil. In essence, films were a very powerful force in society. The Court ruled that the government, whether state or local could censor movies and/or cut out portions that were considered undesirable. This rule of law stayed in effect for 35 years. The filmmakers and distributors thought this was the most horrible decision to ever come down on movie making and believed that their movies were being cut to bits. To counter the decision, the film industry wanted its own self-regulation and consequently formed the MPPDA in 1921. This organizations goal was to improve the status and the image of Hollywood. In reality, the group was made up of all major industry players to lobby Washington and essentially functioned as a public relations organization. The MPPDA hired Will Hays, a Washington insider to help them lobby to set their own standards regarding film making and censorship. In addition, they wanted the government "off their backs" so to speak and thought Mr. Hays could assist them in that venture.
Following the lecture, we viewed the motion picture, "A Fool Their Was" starring Theda Bara (1915). This picture depicted a woman as a vampire who ran men dry and destroyed their lives. The woman played by Bara was described as a "Hell Cat" of the "Vampire Species" who put men under her spell (controlled men) and drove them to drink and become depressed. A wealthy politician went from a nice family man to a jobless alcoholic in the film. He was completely destroyed and left to die by the vampire. To this writer, the film was very disturbing and surprising for a film circa. 1915. If prostitution is the oldest profession, I assume vamping is the second. In reality, there are actually women out there who do the same exact things today, but they are called "gold diggers". Also different from 1915 is that today women actually marry the man and then destroy his life and the family's. Whereas, in 1915, and as depicted in the movie, the wife was very loving, loyal and faithful. Finally, this writer thinks that "vamps" (as they were classified in 1915) now use the holy institution of marriage to destroy a man, which is even worse that the aforementioned scenario. All in all, it is quite sad that a person, whether male or female, could be so evil, horrible, self-centered and despicable! Was every person born with a soul?
July 12, 2004
Today we watched The Garage with Fatty Arbuckle & Buster Keaton. For being filmed in 1920, this writer thought it was a very entertaining piece for the time. As discussed in the lecture, during this time period a change in philosophy towards the actors or "stars" in film. The film companies were beginning to advertise the names of the actors on the screen. The reasoning behind this was to bring more people into the into the theatre's. This was also called the "star system." Actors began to publicize more by using public relations, movie magazines, and news regarding their personal lives. Stars would soon want to earn more money and more control over the roles they play in the movies. With this change in philosophy regarding the actors increase in pay, the industry needed to make more money. This caused an increase in movie ticket prices and a move from old movie places to "plush movie palaces", which would attract people with more money (just like the Phillies and Eagles did with the demolishing of Vet Stadium). Zukor wanted to destroy the slum movie places and create the palaces. Eventually, the movies would be tiered to show in the plush theatre first, and would trickle down to the less expensive ones as the film got older.
In addition, during this time period, the film industry was making a move out to Hollywood, CA because of cheap land, better weather for filming, cheaper labor and no unions. The atmosphere was good and the locations for filming was versatile.
History of American Film I
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Regarding what we have covered during the first few days of this semester, I am delighted to be learning about the history of film making thusfar. It is amazing to see how far we have come in the production, creation, invention and innovations surrounding the birth of film making. From Roget with his invention of "Animal Movement Science" to Muybridge's "Zoopraxiscope" to Edison's inventive collaboration with W.K.L. Dickson of the "Kinetoscope", the advancements to create motion pictures is phenomenal. In addition, I also found the Lumier Brothers from France to be rather interesting in their pursuit to create the idea of "the motion picture" by traveling and filming in different countries of the world. Each innovator has contributed to the evolution of film making and each has contributed immensely to the art of "shooting film." From the 19th century to present day 21st century, it is clear that technology surrounding the creation of motion pictures has amazingly evolved into awesome special effects, excellent sound and unbelievable reality and imagery. It now seems that anything can be done on the silver screen. Sometimes I wonder what else can be done to top what has already been accomplished in movies. What will the next 50 years bring to the art of movie making??? Amazing.
