A Brief Outline of Film History

A Brief Outline of Film History

I.  The Beginnings (1890s)

        A. one shot

        B. the camera didn’t move

        C. everyday life

                - people getting off a train

                - someone squirting someone else with a water hose       

II. The Silent Era (1900)

        A. cinematic techniques began to develop

                1. more than one shot

                2. moving camera

                3. The Great Train Robbery (1903)

                        Twelve minutes

        B. Nickelodeons

                1. etymology

                2. 1905 in Pittsburg

                3. sprang up in cities all over the country

III. The Coming of Sound (1927)

        A. story

        B. cinematic techniques

        C. The rise of Hollywood

1. 1913 the center of the American film industry was New York

2. W. D. Griffith (1875-1948)

        a. contributions

                1) close up

                2) flashback

                3) lighting

                4) emphasis on casting

                5) parallel action (cross-cutting)

                6) tracking/trucking shot

                7) shoot outdoors (Hollywood)

        b. Why Hollywood

Weather

Mountains

Ocean

Cities

Forests

Deserts

Agriculture

IV. Classical Hollywood (1930-1945)

A.   The Studio System

1.   Defined

2.   Production: 476 films per year

B.   The Studios

  1.   Fox Film Corporation (Twentieth Century Fox)

  2.   Metro-Goldwyn=Mayer (MGM)

  3.   Paramount Pictures

  4.   RKO Radio Pictures

  5.   Warner Brothers

  6.   Universal Pictures

  7.   Columbia Pictures

  8.   United Artists

  9.   Disney

C.   The style

  1.   The centered subject

  2.   Lighted subject

  3.   Main object in the foreground

  4.   “The invisible style”

  5.   Subordination of style to story

D.  Thematic element: The Resolution of Incompatible Values

  1.   American exceptionalism- based on the idea that America is unique

    a.       Liberty

    b.       Capitalism

    c.       Individualism

    d.       Frontier spirit

    e.       Possibility

  2.   Dichotomies

    a.       Individual/community

    b.       Wilderness/civilization

    c.       The West/The East

    d.       Outlaw hero/official hero

          The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

V. The Postwar Period (1946-1966)

VI. The Modern Period (1967-1980)

VII. The Contemporary Period (1981-Present)