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Contemporary Cinema Midterm Essay

By
Mike Allen

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Film is an amalgam of all forms of art. Film embraces and represents a wide
array of music, painting, literature, theatre, and more. The film world is split into the two
opposing and overlapping parties of the independent world and the studio world. Of the
two, the independent world is the one that actively strives to further cinema as an art
form, whereas the studio world pushes film as a commercial commodity to be consumed
by as many as is possible. Today these to worlds exist in more or less a balance, with
many independent and studio films being released every year. This has not always been
the way though; in the beginning it took studio funding to make any kind of movie. It
was not until the 1960s that independent cinema was thoroughly established in any
serious way.
The modern independent film movement was born of the near total collapse of the
studio system during the 1960s. This collapse had been a long time coming. Movies
had ceased to be the hottest game in town. Theater attendance had been steadily falling
off ever since the television had come to be in the years following World War II. The
studios attempted to adapt, they were not going out without a fight. They tried
Cinemascope, Technicolor, and even a onetime experiment with smell-o-vision to try to
fill the seats. Old staple genres like the musical and the western were no longer in vogue.
It took the revisionism of Spaghetti westerns to revive the genre for a while, whereas
musicals have never recovered fully. After backing one too many biblical epics (1) the
studios faced financial crisis, and were forced to invest in the young filmmakers who
would go on to create what would soon become the greatest decade of American film.
The American New Wave, our countrys answer to the radical filmmaking of the
French New Wave, the grit of Italian Neorealism, and the intellectualism of European and

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Japanese art films. This era of filmmaking is the defining moment when Hollywood
decided it might be able to make a buck off of these so-called art films; and since when
has Hollywood ever turned down a chance to make a dollar? This time in American film
history is defined by deconstructions of old genre fare, as well as new genres such as the
road movie and the disaster movie. Some films disregarded genre altogether (i.e.
Badlands, Five Easy Pieces.) Movies like MASH acted as modernist updates of older
genres, in this case the war genre. Director Robert Altman was among a new generation
of director empowered by the Auteur theory and its declaration that the director is the
ultimate authority in the creation of a film (2). Other directors who debuted during this
era were Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Dennis Hopper, William Friedkin, and
Brian De Palma. These artists combined Hollywood dollars with fresh takes on
filmmaking that allowed for an artistic freedom that has since been unmatched in
Hollywood filmmaking. This generation was influenced by cinema verite documentaries,
and they used these techniques in a narrative context to add further realism to their films.
One proprietor of this hyperrealist style was John Cassavetes. Cassavetes was a
Hollywood actor who used his paychecks to independently fund his own movies,
including 1968s Faces (3). The energy that pulsed through these new films and the fresh
ideas that they presented would pave the way for the future of the independent cinema
movement as it balanced precariously between the digestible store brand products that the
studios wanted and the art that the filmmakers strived to produce.
These new generations of filmmakers were graduates of the new film schools.
Film programs sprang up at academic institutions across the nation, chief among them
USC, UCLA, and NYU (3). These film schools brought intellectual legitimacy to

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filmmaking, as well as helped to intellectualize the films themselves. These heightened
intellectual standards helped to set film apart from the dumbed downed storytelling
found on television. Martin Scorsese, a graduate of NYU film school as well as a
onetime teacher there helped make an impact on the film world with the lessons he
learned from his mentor Haig Manoogian. Another member of the film school generation
was David Lynch, the king of modern surrealist filmmaking. David Lynch graduated
from the American Film Institute (AFI), and with a grant from them funded his first
feature film Eraserhead. Eraserhead is a trippy look into the fears of raising a child in a
world that everyday appears more and more dystopian. With this film David Lynch
created an indie film classic as well as legitimized the midnight movie, a subgenre of
film that relies on cult interest and an audience made up of nighthawks interested in the
subversive. The success of these new film school graduates helped legitimize film in the
eyes of academia, and lead to the evolution of film as an art form heading further into the
20th century.
Film as art is not a wholly new concept, for it has slowly been realized as truth by
much of the movie-viewing world. However, this would likely not be true if it was not
for our newfound access to the thousands of films literally at our fingertips in the modern
Internet age. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s all serious film fanatics had were the art
house cinemas, where cinephiles could await the new Kurosawa, Ozu, or Cassavetes
films. The kind of places that would later support indie maestro Jim Jarmuschs earliest
efforts such as Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law (3). All around the nation film
societies were started in cities and towns, on college campuses and all around. These
film societies provided venues for people to see films that would have otherwise been

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inaccessible to them. Later on with Laserdisk, VCR, DVD, and Blu-ray the audience was
able to possess their own personal copies of the movie that they had access to whenever
they wished. Cable viewers were able to catch movies that played on the different
channels. Movies that were unable to make a profit upon initial release now had a shot of
making their money back through video sales. This market opened up distribution for
films that would have previously not received it.
Film festivals were created to aid in the legitimization of film as an art and to
celebrate the medium in general. Awards were given out to celebrate the best art.
Although some may argue that giving awards to art is ludicrous, and they may have a
point, these awards gave these independent films credibility among audiences who had
not yet seen them. Among these film festivals were Cannes Film Festival, the Venice
Film festival, and the Sundance film festival (4). Success at any one of these could result
in widespread acclaim and anticipation for many films.
The modern audience is a sophisticated one. With its visual literacy and its access
to all types of movies have lead tastes to become more and more diverse. The audiences
who go out of their way to see these independent films are very supportive of film as a
whole. They travel miles to independent movie theatres that play the films they would
otherwise have to wait months to see. These dedicated few are the lifeblood of the
independent film industry, and without them the art films would not make the little profit
they need for their creators to make more.
Some early breakthrough independent films include Faces, Francis Ford
Coppolas The Rain People, Martin Scorseses Mean Streets, and Eraserhead. Some
follow ups to these successes were the No Wave filmmaker Jim Jarmuschs Stranger

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Than Paradise, Spike Lees Shes Gotta Have It, and Steven Soderberghs Sex, Lies, and
Videotape. Some of these films lurid sexual content attracted more casual cinemagoers to
see the films in pursuit of a more base thrill, but overall this newfound interest in the art
film is a response to the audiences insatiable need for smarter films, films with meaning
and subtext. Films with a voice, and that is what all of the aforementioned films have in
common. A unique voice and vision that separates them from the pack and makes them
undeniably interesting and enthralling for anyone who so happens to see them.
Indie filmmaking does not always result in a profit, and even when it does it
usually isnt the hundreds of millions in box office gross that many a blockbuster
receives. Therefore Independent film needs help for it to survive. Independent film has
been supported by a variety of different groups and institutions throughout the years.
Among them are the American Film Institute, which provides grants and classes for
young filmmakers, as well as operating as a filmmakers graduate school. An education
at the American Film Institute can lead to long and successful careers as evidenced by
alumni David Lynch and Terrence Malick. Some television channels like HBO and
Showtime support filmmakers by running their films on their channel and paying them to
do so. The Independent Spirit Awards are the equivalent to the Oscars for Independent
film. This recognition for Independent film helps the industry thrive and celebrates the
independent spirit that makes the art possible. Certain institutions like Sundance sponsor
filmmaker workshops wherein filmmakers from all around meet and work with each
other on their own films. Just as important as the films that are produced are the
relationships that are formed and the connections that are made. These connections and
bonds form to make the independent film world a tight knit community of passionate

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filmmakers working together in an attempt to create the best independent art cinema that
they can.
Developments in technology have lead to the democratization of filmmaking. No
longer are thousands upon thousands of dollars necessary to make even the simplest
movie. In the digital age one no longer must spend money on film. A filmmaker can get
a camera that results in a satisfactory image for several hundred dollars. Obviously better
gear and technology never hurts to have, but in this day and age anybody and everybody
has the ability to make a film. Never have the opportunities for independent filmmaking
been greater. An example of this change in funding is the mumblecore film movement
that started around 2005 (1). A generation of young filmmakers including Mark Duplass,
Jay Duplass, Joes Swanberg, Lynn Shelton, and Andrew Bukalski used their DIY
mentalities to create extremely low budget movies, many of which are quite good and
have had much success. With these low budgets comes an incredible amount of artistic
freedom for the filmmakers. They are able to have complete control over the films that
they make, and they are able to maintain total independence from any major studios,
usually only having to deal with low-level distributors. The new technologies even allow
for some filmmakers to be able to self distribute their own films. The concept of selfdistribution would have been crazy only a generation ago, but now the artist can
experience full vertical integration, creating, financing, and selling their own product.
Advancements in technology have given the filmmaker many tools to deal with the everchanging film world and have created a truly independent cinema for the filmmakers who
exist outside of the studios.

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Financing for films has become more open in some ways and more restrictive in
others. On one hand the market for independent film is larger than ever. However, the
definition of independent film is always changing. Nowadays films made for up to $30
million can be labeled as independent films. A new dichotomy has sprung up, now
there are micro-budget films, also known as DIY films where the budget is generally less
than a couple million (1). During the 1990s an assortment of companies like Miramax,
Fine Line, and Sony Picture Classics were created to fund independent filmmaking and
distribution. These companies were crucial to both the financial success of independent
film, as well as the loss of autonomy in independent film. Many new independent films
were looking more and more like studio movies with lower budgets. Films that are made
by committee, lacking the personal and unique voice that once made independent film so
special and powerful.
With these production and distribution companies came the rise of the
Indiewood phenomenon. Indiewood, as the name makes apparent, is the merging of
the two parties of filmmaking, the arty independents and the Hollywood studios. In the
modern day most studios have sub-companies that exclusively fund and distribute indie
films. Fox has Fox Searchlight, Sony has Sony Picture Classics, and Paramount has
Paramount Vantage. These companies have given directors budgets and funding that are
exponentially larger than ones they had worked with previously. This both empowers the
directors and allows them to fully pursue their vision unheeded by monetary restraint.
However, this collaboration with studios can often be a Faustian deal that leads to the
filmmakers losing their independence and being forced to conform to making the type of
films that the studio can market, instead of creating pure unfiltered art. Independent with

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a asterisk, but perfect for the art filmmaker whose sensibilities align more with
mainstream tastes.
One of the genres of Independent film that emerged early on in independent
filmmaking is the Arty Indie (1). Arty indies have been concerned primarily with
experimenting with the film form, taking steps toward advancing filmic expression. A
subgenre of the arty indie is the hyperrealist film. An example of this type of film is
Faces by John Cassavetes. Faces deals with the realistic and incredibly detailed
dissolution of a marriage. The characters talk like real people, they are petty, they are
vulgar, and they are honest; even when they lie. Larry Clarks Kids is another film that
falls into the category of hyperrealism. Another subgenre of independent film is the
modernist film. An example of a modernist film is MASH by Robert Altman. MASH is
the cynical, satirical, and incredibly poignant deconstruction of the American war film.
As a modernist film much of its humor is derived from the irony of modern life,
especially a life lived in wartime. The other subgenre of the arty indies is post-modernist
film. An example of the post-modernist film is Slacker by Richard Linklater, a movie
about nothing and everything all at once. Post modernist film is a complete
deconstruction of genre (1). In post-modernist film there is no set structure, a rebellious
ideal that gels well with the radical philosophies of many filmmakers. Richard Linklater
would later explore a similar form of storytelling in his 2001 film Waking Life.
Altogether these arty indies are the most radical form of independent film and are
necessary niche which pushes film forward.
The Off-Hollywood indie are films that are very similar to Hollywood films, only
with a fraction of the budget. An example of one such film is Sex, Lies, and Videotape by

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Steven Soderbergh. These films can be seen as generic in comparison to their arty
counterparts, but that does not mean that they cannot be quite entertaining. When these
films are successful they usually lead to a long Hollywood career for the director where
they are granted bigger budgets with which to make their easily digestible dramacomedies best consumed with some popcorn and a large coke.
Another subsection of indie films is the retro indie. The retro indie is a film
where an old Hollywood genre is resurrected and given a fresh veneer of independent
spirit. An example of this is the biopic I Shot Andy Warhol, about the life of Valerie
Solanas, radical feminist and one time would be Andy Warhol assassin. A film that fits in
the old Hollywood genre of the biopic, but about a subject that is decidedly antiHollywood. Another example of this is Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino. An update on
the tried and true crime genre leads to long discussions about Parisian cheeseburgers and
the sensuality of a foot massage; not exactly classical Hollywood (4).
Beyond this is the DIY indies. DIY indies are films wherein the filmmaker has to
scrape together the film by their own means. The most authentic form of independent
filmmaking is by far the most challenging. An example of this type of film is Slacker by
Richard Linklater. Linklater spent $23,00 of his own money funding his breakout film.
Another example of this is Kevin Smiths Clerks (4). Smith, inspired by Linklaters
Slacker, made his own no-budget film about the day in the life of a convenient store
clerk. The movie was filmed in Smiths hometown, in the very convenience store he
worked in (4).
The last and most abrasive type of independent film is the scatological or shock
film. These films are intended to disgust the audience with their garish and intense

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imagery. An example of this kind of film is John Waters Pink Flamingoes, in which a
cross dresser eats dog feces. Another filmmaker who occasionally breaks into this
category is Harmony Korine, the radical independent whos film Gummo contains scenes
of drowning cats, minors visiting prostitutes, and one sided discussions on race that
would make a klan member blush. Korine nevertheless has the talent to find the charm in
the subversive, and is able to humanize even the foulest of characters.
Independent filmmaking has come a long way from living under the allencapsulating shadow of Hollywood. Today Independents can make great profits at the
box office, and are able to be seen by many through online distribution. The future, as
always, is unclear, but it seems more and more likely every day that filmmakers are more
empowered than they have ever been before.

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Sources:
1. Bordwell, David, and Kristen Thompson, Film History: an introduction, 3rd ed.,
New York: Mcgraw Hill, 2010.
2. Self, Robert T., Robert Altmans Subliminal Reality, University of Minnesota.
Press, 2002.
3. John Pierson, Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of
Independent Cinema. New York: Hyperion/Miramax, 1995.
4. Biskind, Peter, Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the rise of
independent film. New York, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004.