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The Hollywood Star System

The Hollywood Star System was a method used by movie studios to create stars on their terms.  Studios would sign on young and promising actors and then they would build an image for them that might not have actually fit who they were as a person.  Studios did this as a way to better promote themselves and the actors that worked for them.  An example of this is Rock Hudson.  Rock’s image was that he was the perfect man.  Rock’s real name was Roy Fitzgerald and he was gay.  That’s not to say that those two things wouldn’t make him the perfect man, it’s just not how the studio wanted to portray him.

Studios would oftentimes write up contracts for their actors that would help bind them to the image that the studio wanted to create.  The contracts would have morality clauses about not using drugs, not committing adultery, or anything else that might taint them in the public eye.  Studios would even go to great lengths to maintain the images of their actors.  For instance, a journalist caught wind about Rock Hudson being secretly gay so his agent gave information about another actor that had a secret criminal past.

 

The concept here is that studios were able to increase their profits by cherry picking actors and turning them into whatever they needed to become more successful.

I do not believe that this concept exists in other media platforms.  In fact it doesn’t really exist in the Hollywood platform anymore either.   In 1919 Charlie Chaplin, along with other major movie stars, chose to start up their own company so that they could build themselves up how they saw fit.

If the Hollywood Star System never existed I believe that actors and actresses would have been much happier working with the studios.  Instead many of them felt like they were being unfairly controlled and chose to go their own way.

This concept matters because it highlights how money hungry the movie industry can be.  Studios used their actors like puppets in any way that they could that they thought would bring in more money or improve their image.

 

https://www.classichollywoodcentral.com/background/the-star-system/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3815272?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/05/28/hollywoods-star-system-at-a-cubicle-near-you

 

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Pick Up on South Street: The Gist

Pick Up on South Street is a classic crime film.  The plot is centered around a pickpocket named Skip who unknowingly stole important films from a woman’s purse on the subway.  He believed he was just doing his typical pickpocket routine and was unaware that the films he stole contained scientific information meant to be given to Communists working against the United States.  The woman he stole from was under surveillance by a couple of detectives as they were trying to catch whoever she was supposed to deliver the films to.  

    Each character portrayed in the film was either a criminal, helping a criminal, or was law enforcement.  The woman with the films, Candy, didn’t know what she was delivering. However, her old boyfriend Joey was aware of the information and was having her deliver it to try and keep himself out of hot water.  Candy didn’t know that Joey was working with communists.    

    In the film, Candy is clearly the protagonist.  The entire plot line is centered around her actions to find the films and get them back.  Once she finds them it turns into her dealing with the consequences of interacting with dangerous people as well as doing illegal activities.  Skip is the antagonist as he thwarts Candy’s attempts to either find the films or buy them back from him. 

    The narrative of the story is done in chronological order from when the films are taken to when they are returned to the police.  It first shows Candy in the subway when she has her wallet stolen from her purse by Skip. Then it goes on to introduce the detectives that were following her and shows them bring in another character, Mo, to help them find the possible pickpocket.  Once the storyline gets rolling it switches back and forth between interactions with the cops and Skip, Candy telling Joey about the lost films, Candy finding Mo and then finding Skip, and eventually it all rounds back up to the detectives and finding the films.  The story is told in this way to keep the audience engaged with what’s going on. It also helps everything flow smoothly and make sense.

    The actors and actresses in the film did a great job playing their characters.  Candy and Skip, the protagonist and antagonist, seem to have an attraction to one another but they have different motivations behind the films.  Once Candy learned what was on the films she was horrified to know that she almost helped communists with an attack against her country. She was a very empathetic character.  Skip, however, was more concerned with the money aspect of the arrangement. He knew everything had a price and since the films were very valuable to someone he knew he could raise the price tremendously.  He didn’t seem to care much at all what he was selling, just that he benefited financially from it. 

    The actors chosen for the cast were somewhat well known.  Elizabeth Jean Peters, the woman that played Candy, had participated in A handful of films like Captain from Castile, It Happens Every Spring, and Deep Waters by the time she was cast for Pick Up on South Street.  Richard Widmark had also participated in a few movies before playing the part of Skip. He seems to have played in movies that were also dramas or action type movies. The importance of using the actors that they chose is that they know the actor will play the part really well.  Also, if the star is up and coming a studio probably saw them as a good investment opportunity for building fan bases in the future.  

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Definitions – Week 2B: Finalize & Publish Definitions TAILS

Crime Films

 

Crime movies are usually TV movies with police activities. Crime movies can also be called police movies. Different from gangster movies: crime movies focus on the detective to catch criminals, crime and crime to prevent the abhorrent immoral all the drama process; Gangster movies focus on the freedom and right of assembly and association, and the rationalization and heroism of gangs’ struggle for power and profit. Police detectives’ detection and prevention of crimes is the plotline, even without police detectives. Crime movies and gangster movies are action movies. They are commercial movies for the public to buy, watch and entertain(Leitch 2002, 84).

 

The scope of crime movies is relatively broad, but the director has a more focused aspect in the shooting process. Taken, for example, is a crime movie. But it focuses more on the rescue process to show the audio-visual feeling of martial arts scenes, so it is more considered as an action film. Crime films can also be called police and bandits films. In all drama films, there must be both crime and detective investigation.

Watching crime films gives a sense of drive and danger. Such films are quite amusing, the crime may seem like something quite trivial. You can not watch a crime film without experiencing strong emotions towards the hero – either sympathy and concern for his/her fate, or the strongest hatred and desire that everything went wrong with the character.

Martin Scorsese, Guy Ritchie, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, created dozens of films on this subject, are recognized as kings of crime genre. And among legendary directors, the same actors are often the heroes and inspirers. Martin Scorsese – Leonardo DiCaprio, Guy Ritchie – Jason Statham and Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino – Harvey Keitel and John Travolta, Robert Rodriguez, Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp.  They weave a deadly (often literally) seriousness with humor.

 

 

Source

Leitch, Thomas M. Crime Movies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Internet resource.

https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmgenres/crimefilms (Links to an external site.)

http://screenprism.com/insights/article/what-is-the-difference-between-film-noir-and-the-crime-film

 

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Definitions – Week 2B: Finalize & Publish Definitions HEADS

Low-Key Lighting

“The term key light is the source of two commonly used adjectives: low key and high key… These expressions come from cinematography. When cinematographers, also known as directors of photography (DPs) use a low proportion of fill light to key light,… is called low-key lighting. The lower key the light, the more shadowy the effect. The distorting, spooky nature of extremely low-key lighting is perfectly illustrated by a trick almost every child has played: in the dark, you shine a flashlight up at your face from below your chin. That flashlight was your key light, and since there was no fill light at all, the proportion of fill to key was as low as you could get” (47).

Source: Textbook Definition from Ed Sivok’s Film Studies: An Introduction (Film and Culture Series)

Author, Terry O’Rourke, reveals how we can be a bit ambiguous in our approach to lighting and how that is essentially what low-key lighting is all about. It is about the ambiguity, which is a wonderful way to invoke a sense of mystery and intrigue within your artistic medium, in this case film, to your audience. He then explains the simplicity in creating such lighting:

“You can do this with any existing lighting situation, provided you turn most of them off. If there is no existing lighting – even better. Set up your lighting designs with the idea that less is more, because with low-key lighting you are lighting for shadows. One light in the middle of a room and you have all the shadows you could ever want. Move that light around and you can put the shadows wherever you want. Use a reflector along with that one light and you can create all the drama one could ever need in a scene. The point here is that low-key lighting involves shadows just as much as it does light.”

High key lighting is used to produce images that encourage an optimistic, upbeat reaction. The photos come out youthful and simple but sophisticated. Low key lighting, on the other hand, produces images that are the opposite of high key photos. The low key technique uses a lot of darker tones, shadows, and blacks.

High Key Lighting:

  • Bright and high lights dominated by ranges of whites
  • Very minimal blacks and mid-tones
  • Optimistic, upbeat, youthful, light, and airy
  • Mostly used in portrait, wedding, newborn and fashion photography

Low Key Lighting:

  • Uses a lot of deep blacks, darker tones, and shadows
  • Very minimal amount of whites and mid-tones
  • Reduces lighting to produce images with striking contrasts
  • Produces dramatic and mysterious photos
  • Features a lot of shadows

With low key lighting, you can create incredibly sensual images (within the dimensions of photography), full of mysterious atmosphere and drama. Low key lighting creates stunning contrasts in your images, along with mood and mystery. It gives depth, feeling, and emotion — and is an invigorating challenge for novice and professional photographers alike. Traditional photography lighting is called three-point lighting: key light, a fill light, and a backlight to illuminate the subject. Low key photography, on the other hand, uses only a key light, which is optionally controlled with a fill light or a simple reflector. This means that shadows remain in the dark and only the subject is highlighted. Low key lighting tends to heighten the sense of alienation and suspense, and hence is commonly used in the film noir and horror genres.

 

Source:

https://www.videomaker.com/article/c13/15235-the-art-of-low-key-lighting

https://contrastly.com/understanding-the-basics-of-high-key-vs-low-key-lighting/

https://skylum.com/blog/low-key-lighting-photography-tips

 

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Week #1A Definitions

Digital Filmmaking has had a rush of excitement aswell as negative remmarks in the last 10 years or so.  Steve Mcqueen states “all this technology, it’s changing every five minuets”. He says “because everyone is making money out of it” and this is not an overstatement. Comparing digital cinema now to 2010 we can see a massive change in how special effects and filimg can be improved in such a short period of time. For some people in the industry moving on from carrying heavy film cans and the use of diffrent size film and other aspects of using film means the end of true movie making. Although we have moved in the direction  of digital film, in 2014 six out of nine Oscar nominees were shot entirely on film. Using film compared to digital methods can still be more rewarding especially when the hard work is put in. But digital filimg takes less time, less equipment, and has brought the standard of movies to a new level.

personel

hhtps://nytimes/how-digital-ischanging-35mmfilm//

journalstic

https://newrepublic.com/article/119431/how-digital-cinema-took-over-35mm-film

scholalry

https://stephenfollows.com/film-vs-digital/

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Film Analysis Night Of The Living Dead

Logan Nicholas
July-16-2019

Night Of The Living Dead
Analysis

This horrific black and white film told to be the original zombie ice breaker into the movie industry was directed by George Romero, and can be described as one of a kind. Solely written by Romero this movie is a pure representation of his way of portraying a zombie horror film. Even with a low budget Romero was able to exemplify his film to an accepting audience fairly well. With sex, political views, violence, and racial equality incorperated with its blood and gore it seemed to not shock its audence as a reasonable person would think. Audencese took Romeros take on a zombie horror film as a reality that could happen. While first impressions of the film being in black and white might have labeled it as poor quality, some might say it was because of the low budget, others seem to think of it as having a deeper meaning.

With racial tensions high at this time, you can notice some racial tension during the film. Nevertheless the making of this cinema caused a huge fascination in zombie horror and films alike. It may have been the feeling it radiates when you think of a world dominating force with only your demise as its goal, and that coming together to stop the carnage is all that we have left. At this time coming together as a whole may not have been the country’s main objective in the 1960’s. It could even be seen as a metaphorical picture to unite white people together and eliminate a threat to their livelihood, which in this day was seen to be African Americans.

”choppy black/ and white scenes” was just one discription about the actual picture and visual of this cinema, although having “special effects ahead of its time” during the Vietnam era this film experienced a number of rewrites and character changes throughout the filming. With emotions and opinions high about war, sexual opinions, racial equality and politics, having these themes bridge together by a global threat was a smart tactic to use to keep viewers entertained. Over all this film was a small spark that helped edge many movements to the light. Not only in society but in the film industry as well. For younger folks at the time it was something no one had seen before which made it so special.

Fast forward to current horror genre zombie films such as 28 days later, resident evil, World War Z, and even some comedies like Shawn Of The Dead zombie movies have been steadily increasing in popularity since then. Night Of The Living Dead was original, had shock value, incorporated social and political views, and was advertised well enough to make a big hit in the world of cinema, Although the film may be more appreciated in recent years it’s ripped its way into the televisions of generations not only as a benchmark for zombie films, but as a teaching subject for cinema enthusiasts.

 

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Film Analysis #1 Blog Post 3 Night of The Living Dead

The genre of Night of The Living Dead is horror. There is plenty of evidence of this throughout the film. The plot of the film is a bunch of adults hiding from ghouls in a house, which is a horror film concept. None of the characters are villains or anything that would suggest they’re evil but after they get attacked by the ghouls they turn into ghouls and start attacking the other characters. 

In terms of the dramatic structure, the exposition takes place when Barbara and Johnny are at the cemetery when Barabara get attacked and then she retreats to the house. During this scene we get some background knowledge on where the setting of the film will be and who is one of the main characters is. The rising action occurs when Barbara meets Ben and the other characters in the house and they are all planning on what they should do to escape the ghouls. The climax occurs when Tom and Judy hop in the truck outside and Ben follows them, then the truck catches on fire while Ben fights off the ghouls. The falling action is after everyone has either turned into a ghoul or died besides Ben the next morning and there is a search team that finds Ben. The denouement occurs when one of the members of the search team mistakes Ben for a ghoul and kills him. 

The narrative is mainly structure around Ben. Ben is the one who seems to take charge and make all the decisions. He takes on a leadership role and boards up the windows and doors, lighting the couch on fire to fend off the ghouls, and using the rifle to shoot the ghouls. I think if the narrative were different and they would have structured it around Barbara for example, then the movie would have been much different because Barbara was very quiet throughout the whole film. This supports the genre because in all movies, and especially in horror movies, one character has to be brave and take on a leadership role to overcome the adversity that they are facing in order to prevail and Ben takes on that role in Night of The Living Dead. 

The performances were suited to the genre by each actor filling their role appropriately. Ben suited the role of being the leader because he was the most vocal out of everyone and took charge of every situation and was extremely confident. All the other characters played minor roles which fits in well with the horror genre because in horror movies usually the other characters take a back seat to the leader of the group. The performances aren’t realistic, the camera turned away whenever one of the characters was about to get stabbed or eaten during the film. This isn’t a bad thing because this film was made over 50 years ago, so at the time it probably seemed realistic, but it doesn’t really take away from the plot. 

The main actor, Duane Jones, as Ben is an unknown actor. Judith O’Dea was a stage and commercial actress at the time and she played the role of Barbara. This was the first major film that Judith O’Dea acted in at the time so the audience would not have had any prior background knowledge on her work. I don’t know why the director chose to make Duane Jones take the lead role and not Judith O’Dea. It seems like it would have made sense casting the actor with more experience as the lead actor but the director possibly just wanted to have a strong males presence be the lead actor would be my guess.

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Film Analysis #1 Night of the Living Dead

There are three major segments in Night of the Living Dead. The first segment is at the cemetery when Barbara and her brother Johnny are visiting their dead father and Barbara’s Johnny jokes about there being zombies in the graveyard. Subsequently, a zombie does appear in the graveyard and attacks Barbara and then her brother while Barabara retreats to a nearby house to hide. 

The second segment is the house. At first it is just Barbara in the house and she is still in shock from what took place at the cemetery but she is soon joined by Ben. Ben kills a few zombies outside trying to get in and then begins to board up the doors and windows in the house. Shortly after, Harry and Tom join Barbara and Ben and begin to bicker about whether or not they should stay upstairs or go down to the cellar. Tom and Judy go down to the cellar while everyone else stays upstairs. While upstairs, they turn on the TV and see a message informing them that the government is aware of what’s happening. The TV anchorman states that people being stalked by zombies are supposed to report to the nearest shelter to stay safe. After seeing this message, they go outside and Ben fights off a group of zombies while Tom and Judy attempt to escape in the truck. Tom and Judy are unable to escape because the truck catches  on fire while Ben is fighting the zombies and they die. Ben and Harry go inside and begin to fight and Ben shoots Harry. Harry retreats downstairs and is transformed into a zombie and eventually Karen, Helen, and Barbara are also attacked and turn into zombies.  

The third segment is the next morning when there is a rescue attempt. Ben wakes up when he hears gunshots outside and then is shot by someone for being mistaken as a ghoul. This is where the movie ends. 

The purpose of segmenting the movie in this way is to create a gradual build up of intensity for the viewer, keeping them engaged throughout the film. The impact on the viewer is to craft a sense of intrigue, causing the viewer to wonder what’s going to happen next. is more In the end, Ben is shot and it seems like an appropriate ending to a horror film since then goal of the movie was to entertain the audience but also scare them.  

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35mm Film

Image result for 35 mm film

  • 35mm film refers to how wide the roll of film that you are using is when you are filming a movie.
  • 35mm film was commonly used to make most movies up until about 2005 when more and more companies began to use digital photography.
  • 35mm film is said to have more “soul” than digital.
  • 35mm film equipment  is now being considered vintage. There is now only a finite supply of spare parts.
  • It is making a comeback, as younger generations are gravitating towards film again.

Quotes

“Dating back to the first quarter of the 20th century, the 35mm format has mostly given way to digital still and video technologies. The 35mm film frame is 36 x 24mm, and high-end digital SLR (DSLR) and video cameras use sensors of equivalent size.”

“I also would vastly prefer to watch a classic exploitation movie with all the grit, scratches, and intermittent audio pops you experience with a well-worn roadshow 35mm (Links to an external site.) print. To me, that is part of the journey, part of the history unfolding on screen.”

“Although there is a consensus that film provides a better image than digital imaging, there is some disagreement about the resolution of 35-mm slide film confirmed that 35-mm slide film is the practical benchmark for image quality in standardized patient photography.”

“The development of cinema has seen the shift from silent to sound film, black and white to colour, and the move from 35mm film stock to recent formats such as High Definition (or HD) that capture and project images in digital form. Recent cinematic history includes advances in computer graphics and editing, stereoscopic imaging or 3D, motion capture, and sound recording, mixing and design” (Page 42).

“First Man was assembled from a complex mixture of 16, 35 and 70mm IMAX footage”

“We’re now in such an instant world, with iPhones, digital cameras. It’s good to have this slow process, ripping off the wrapper around the film, putting it in the camera.”

Sources

“Encyclopedia.” 35mm Film Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia, www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/67550/35mm-film (Links to an external site.).

Journalistic – League, Tim. “35mm Film Deserves Your Respect: Alamo Drafthouse Founder Tim League Makes the Case.” IndieWire, 3 Mar. 2017, www.indiewire.com/2017/03/35mm-film-tim-league-reel-film-day-1201789618/ (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

Scholarly – III, Grant S. Hamilton. “An Objective Comparison of 35-Mm Film and Digital Camera Image Quality: A New Gold Standard.” Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, American Medical Association, 1 May 2009, jamanetwork.com/journals/jamafacialplasticsurgery/fullarticle/407315 (Links to an external site.)

Whittington, William. “Introduction to Film Studies 5th Edition Edited by Jill Nelmes.” Academia.edu,www.academia.edu/8957152/Introduction_to_Film_Studies_5th_Edition_Edited_by_Jill_Nelmes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/bule03/my_camera_shoots_across_two_frames_of_35mm_at/ (Links to an external site.)

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/28/does-reflex-slr-camera-herald-35mm-film-renaissance (Links to an external site.)

https://filmmakermagazine.com/107353-23-films-35mm-released-in-2018/#.XSgDE-hKjb0

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Digital Filmmaking Definition

     Digital filmmaking is a relatively new art form that is changing the way movies around the world are created.  “Digital filmmaking” is an umbrella term for many different techniques used in films to digitally enhance the audio or visual effects.  These techniques are carried out with the use of special digital cameras, such as Sony’s HDVS video camera or the Arri Alexa, as well as various computer programs.  These computer programs allow images or audio to be completely digitally created. Some things that can be easily added in digitally are various environments or even full blown characters.  

 

     Digital filmmaking started to become popular sometime in the 1980s.  However, the first film that utilized digital filmmaking was Rainbow in 1996.  A Solid State Electronic Cinematography camera was used in the production and a good amount of the visual effects, editing, as well as sound effects were done digitally.

    According to journalists Adam Ganz and Lina Khatib in their article “Digital Cinema: The transformation of film practice and aesthetics” many film theorists find digital cinema to be highly controversial.  On one hand the use of digital technology revolutionized cinema by enhancing production methods, reducing costs, and reducing the amount of effort needed to create a movie. On the other hand it fundamentally changed the viewing perception of the audience as well as the level of difficulty for finding an audience.  By using digital cameras the footage can be stored digitally as well which greatly reduce costs. Before digital filmmaking all footage was kept on costly films that required dark rooms and temperature control. The process of turning the film into something usable was also tedious and expensive. The films themselves are expensive, highly flammable, and if not stored properly will decompose over time.  If something were to catch fire there could be an indefinite amount of damage done. According to Film Connection the actual physical film will begin to decompose over time. The celluloid used to make the films eventually turns into a mushy gel and everything on the original film ends up destroyed. Due to that unfortunate factor there are films that have been completely lost from improper protection.  

     Now with the use of digital technology editing and additions can be made in mere minutes.  There are special computer programs that allow filmmakers to put together multiple digital or audio files in order to composite one single file.  This creates a more seamless process as well as a safer process. The cost of the films made it difficult for filmmakers to work independently and oftentimes they would have to pair up with big studios that had the ability to invest in their movie.  Now with digital filmmaking anyone could make a clip and upload it to a platform such as YouTube and have it take off. This allows people of all socioeconomic statuses to make their way into the film industry. Before, you would have to have connections or a significant amount of money to produce a movie, but now it simply needs to go viral on a site like YouTube.  Youtube also monetizes the videos once a certain number of viewing hours has been hit. So someone with very little money could become viral and begin making decent amounts of money off of every view on YouTube.

 

Sources:

 

Ganz, Adam, and Lina Khatib. “Digital Cinema: The Transformation of Film Practice and Aesthetics.” New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, vol. 4, no. 1, 2006, pp. 21–36., doi:10.1386/ncin.4.1.21_1.

 

Mateer. “Digital Cinematography:Evolution of Craft or Revolution in Production?” Journal of Film and Video, vol. 66, no. 2, 2014, p. 3., doi:10.5406/jfilmvideo.66.2.0003.

 

“The New World of Digital Filmmaking.” Film Connection Film Institute, www.filmconnection.com/reference-library/film-entrepreneurs/the-new-world-of-digital-filmmaking-0411/.