Film Studies: History, Modern Application, and Education

Hailey Hudson

English III Honors

Pd. 5

Mr. Alburger

February 23, 2017

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Hailey Hudson

Mr. Alburger

27 January 2017

English III Honors

Film Studies: History, Modern Application, and Education

December 18th, 2015. One of the noisiest nights in film history, and although this noise

touches every corner of the civilized world, at the center of it all Los Angeles sings louder,

shines brighter, and opens its arms wider, an invitation to one and all. On December 18th an

army marches on the city, carrying with them the timbre of a thousand voices and a kind of

excitement only evoked by years of anticipation. The dazzling congregation storms theaters,

dances through stopped traffic and fills blocks upon blocks worth of sidewalks. By the time the

lights cut off no seat remains empty, and a jittery hush descends on the crowd. Suspense stands

like an archer in the back of every theater, knocks her arrow and pulls back the bowstring. The

city holds its breath...for a moment, no one in LA makes a sound. Then all at once the opening

music explodes from every speaker, the arrow flies. No man-made structure can contain the kind

of hysterical passion that erupts from every person, in every seat, in every theater, in every city

in the nation. December 18th: the night that rocks the country- also known as opening night of

Star Wars Episode VII. Who could the masses have possibly trusted to create something that

holds so many promises for so many people? A team of trained professionals who have worked

tirelessly for the past year and a half to make this movie a success... and they have had the eyes

of the world on them the whole way there. Despite its short lifespan, the film industry has

become irrevocably ingrained in modern society; those who make careers in this industry must
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endure years of education, acquire experience, and face unflinching exposure to the opinions of

both peers and strangers.

The history of the film industry began with the invention of the first film camera by none

other than famous inventor Thomas Edison in 1889. Admittedly, his idea grew from an

experiment done by British-born Eadward Muybridge; he hypothesized that when a horse ran, a

moment existed where all four feet left the ground. After making several bets against those who

disbelieved him, he set up a camera and took several pictures in rapid succession of a galloping

horse. His hypothesis proved accurate, but more relevantly the pictures put together gave the

illusion that the horse moved as the frames went by. After assembling a team of muckers to work

on the project, Edison and his associates crafted the Strip Kinetograph, the earliest form of movie

camera. People would pay five cents to watch short 30-40 second movies in a tiny building

called a black Maria- many compared the dimensions of the building to that of a police wagon or

a hearse (Kirsner).

While Edison and his team took the credit for creating the Strip Kinetograph, many other

inventors of the time crafted technology equally as vital to the development of modern film. For

example, the phantascope- invented by Thomas Armat and Francis Jenkins- had the ability to

project images onto a screen, so a roomful of people could watch instead of going one at a time.

This invention ultimately wound up a patent of Edisons after a falling out between Jenkins and

Armat (Tomadjoglou). Regardless of who owned what patent, the general amalgamation of this

technology paved the way for the emerging film industry to timidly make its way into the eye of

society.

By the turn of the century the prospect of making films evolved from experimental shorts

to endeavors that could promise revenue; the average American citizen began to consider film an
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actual industry. Stabilization of film in the early 1900s resulted in the introduction of several new

amenities such as backgrounds, editing, and music, also making room for cinematography to

branch out and form newer styles (Motion). An example of this evolution comes in 1903 with the

release of The Great Train Robbery, a ten minute long film directed by one of Thomas Edisons

former employees, Edwin S. Porter. Containing fourteen scenes, the project shooting location did

not match the Wild West setting- in fact, the filming took place in a studio owned by Edison in

New Jersey (Jones). The Great Train Robbery contains historical parallels to an actual train

robbery, describing the robbery and the subsequent gunfight between the outlaws and the police.

Despite its simplistic storyline, it soon became the most successful film of the pre-nickelodeon

era .

This film marked an important milestone in cinematic history, as the creators of the film

employed the use of several new innovative techniques. Cross-cuts and jump-cuts enabled the

director of a film to show two different actions happening simultaneously, normally using a line

across the screen. Also, filming the same event from several different angles became a popular

trick used to catch the audiences attention, similar to a playback during a sports event; while this

would look strange to the modern moviegoer, it impressed those who viewed it. Some techniques

found their very start in the production of this film, with two notable examples. The first pan

shots appear in the film- meaning a shot where the camera moves steadily to encompass a wider

area or larger movement- to capture the train as it passes in scenes eight and nine. These kinds of

shots appear in films today, a staple of cinematography in the modern era (Jones). The Great

Train Robbery also introduced the use of stunt dummies, and later, stunt doubles- one of the

scenes features someone tied up and pushed off the roof of a moving train. Use of a jump cut
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gives the director time to exchange his actor for the dummy, making it look like the man hits the

ground.

This kind of progress resulted in the emergence of the Nickelodeons- or five cent movies.

This made seeing movies less expensive and widely accessible, it encouraged more people to

flock to the theaters (Dirks). The increase in ticket sales permitted directors to continue

experimenting with their craft and make a decent living from it. This kind of expansion

continued through the beginning of World War I, and soon the government realized the potential

the film industry had to sway the average American; soon after, propoganda reared its head in

every major theater in the nation. The newborn creative medium- twenty years ago just a few 30

second tricks- now had the power to affect the country.

After the end of World War I the country rode a tidal wave of carefree fervor. In the

midst of the booming economy, the American film industry pushed out West, and Hollywood

sprung up seemingly out of nowhere. The 1920s and 1930s welcomed the industry into a golden

age, filled with important milestones such as the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer in 1927.

By that point, movies had become big business endeavors with equally large investments (the

average being up to $2 billion) (Dirks). Distinctive genres formed as early as 1925, each had its

own cinematographic style, costumes, and taglines. Although many genres existed, the most

popular genre of the time emphasized adventure, melodrama and historical pieces. Here

historical epics hit their initial stride- best personified in 1925s Ben Hur. Throughout the 20s the

film industry kept steady pace alongside the banks and other big corporations, but when the

Great Depression struck and those industries came to a screeching halt, Hollywood continued to

soar (Dirks). The introduction of the color camera, increased sound quality as well as primitive
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special effects only served to boost overall popularity (Tomadjoglou); even when the country

went broke, the movie stars earned their living.

While Hollywood cranked out up to 500 big budget movies a year, the companies in

charge of funding and overseeing them grew at an exponential rate; soon, five of these

companies pulled ahead of the others, and reached a point where they collectively owned most

every big-budget film released (Hirschberg). Nicknamed the Big Five, these corporations often

came about as a result of mass mergers and consolidations between smaller studios- three out of

five studios remain active and successful to this day: Paramount Pictures, Metro Goldwyn-

Mayer, and Warner Bros.

When America plunged into World War II, the entertainment industry as a whole

plateaued. The number of movies produced annually decreased, less people lined up to see them,

and the Big Fives normally big-budget spending habits took a hit (Dirks). The governments

involvement in the war took such a toll on Hollywood that by 1945 supervising anti-Nazi

propaganda became one of the only jobs an aspiring director could find. The dry spell lasted until

the end of the war, and by then the introduction of special effects, vivid colors and improved

sound quality helped the industry regain its footing; however, a new challenge lurked just down

the road, one that threatened to render Hollywood a thing of the past.

The 50s go down in history as a time of massive technological innovation, and debatably

one of the most important inventions came in the form of the television- a contagious trend that

soon spread throughout the whole country. With entertainment at their fingertips, families went

to the movies less and less, preferring to stay home (Scott). Studio moguls panicked, and set to

work trying to figure out how to stay afloat when faced with such stiff competition. Eventually,
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the TV movie manifested as a compromise between the two industries; in fact, from the mid-50s

to the mid-60s they became indiscernible from the other.

The twenty year stretch brought rock and roll, teenage liberation and endless adventure to

the forefront of society. The demographic in response changed to fit this new outgoing norm

with edgier plots and actors such as James Dean. By the early 70s, VHS and cassette tapes

stimulated an influx of revenue, which assisted in Hollywoods ascent from its downturn. That

and an increase in special effects budgets led to especially groundbreaking cinematic feats

(Scott). Two films properly exemplify the massive leap in the competency of the industry: Jaws

and Star Wars. (Mulvey) These monolithic achievements took the theaters by storm and almost

single-handedly launched Hollywood into an age of commercialized splendor.

This would eventually lead to the release of the over-hyped, over-sensationalized and

underwhelming movies of the 80s and 90s. Although a few stood out for poignant writing,

comprehensive plot and skilled execution, the decade earned a characterization of feverish

overproduction in an attempt to boost ticket sales. Studios began to choose special effects over

quality content, and for that, only a few of the many films released during that era became

classics (Scott). According to some, modern day Hollywood still relies too entirely on the

influence of special effects, and has not yet rebounded fully from its lapse in true creative spirit.

Behind every major shift or change over the industrys turbulent century-long lifespan,

there lies a key person or group who worked to make it happen. As technology progressed and

the net of film widened, many of todays careers in film emerged to meet staggering demands.

More and more people needed to work on a project to ensure its completion. The massive

behind-the-scenes crew eventually led to certain crewmembers becoming especially good at

certain activities. Comparable to economic specialization, these preferences soon became a

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career all on their own; hence, the emergence of such fields as sound or lighting design,

costuming, or special effects supervision (Kirsner). Each part of the sprawling team must have

the ability to work together, collaborate, and create a cohesive product from a million scattered

pieces. The one career that carries perhaps the most creative responsibility for a movie on and off

set- the director- must familiarize him or herself with every part of a working film crew, and

know how to properly manage the whirlwind of production life.

As a brief summary, the directors role in a films production rests predominantly on

creative management. As opposed to the producer, who manages on-set production, plus

finances, hiring staff, and other logistics, the director works in the middle of on-set chaos.

Usually, the producers hire the director, and the director answers solely to them (Scott). The true

definition and of a film director remains flexible; professional directors tend to give differing

opinions concerning amount of involvement, vitality and what exactly they do on the job. In a

general sense, whether the director explicitly works with each member of a team, or just creates a

specific context through offering their very presence, one thing proves unquestionable: the

directors artistic vision has the power to characterize a film in its entirety, the only crewmember

whose self-expression and skillset extends far enough to do so.

A directors responsibilities include managing the dramatic structure and pace of scenes,

as well as maintaining viewer interest. They also stage and plot the action, map out what camera

angles would work for respective scenes, supervise set construction and rehearsals, plus giving

commands and/or suggestions throughout post-production (The Film Director). When

searching for words to describe the process as well as a directors countless responsibilities,

many compare the job to conducting an orchestra or supervising the construction of a house.

Roland Joffe, director of 1984s The Killing Fields, states "being a film director is like playing
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on a multilayered, multidimensional chessboard, except that the chess pieces decide to move

themselves" (The Film).

Interpreting the script sits near the top of a directors priority list; communication

between them and the screenwriter can make or break a project. On some occasions, the vital duo

can come in one package: the writer-director. Many writer-directors work in modern Hollywood

and find great success; in fact, some of the most successful directors in the industry also write

their own screenplays (The Film). A few notable examples: James Cameron- the mind behind

Titanic, Quentin Tarantino and his laundry list of stylized projects, newcomer Damien Chazelle-

whose Oscar-winning film Whiplash now shares critical acclaim with his fantastical movie-

musical La La Land, and innumerable others.

Modern technological innovations allow special effects and other non-live-action

mediums to raise a successful market right alongside live-action Hollywood. Some of the most-

attended and highest-rated films of the modern era have relied either entirely on animation, or

leaned on it to an extent where the live-action segments become nearly indiscernible from the

animation. In fact, the current highest-grossing movie of all time- James Camerons Avatar- uses

only a few present actors, instead employing voice actors and computer generated imagery (CGI)

to bring the foreign creatures, landscapes, and intense action sequences to life (The Film

Director). A director of both live-action and animated features must stay aware of constantly

changing technologies, and what they could add to a project.

Similar to other facets of a job as a Hollywood director, salaries remain highly relative. A

member of the Hollywood elite makes incomprehensible amounts of money annually, but most

lesser-known directors face financial instability as a part of daily life. For example, a director

could go from making $50,000 a week to earning $10,000 per year (Arkins). The most cohesive
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average income of an incoming film director sits at around $68,000 per year. If one could enter

into the exclusive pool of Hollywood giants, the pay grows exponentially; J.J. Abrams, for

example, walked away with over $10,000,000 after directing Star Wars: The Force Awakens

(Arkins). This pool, however, remains a small one, only a few particularly gifted or stylistic

directors reside there.

When exploring educational options, a multitude of schools all over the country boast

impressive alumni and courses designed to push any potential directors to their limits. Earning a

degree in this field gives young filmmakers a leg up on uneducated competition, and helps them

familiarize themselves with all the moving parts of a creative team. Seeking a higher education

can also reward a renewed perspective on the business of Hollywood, how best to approach

potential employers, navigate the extensive career hierarchy, and form meaningful connections

that will prove beneficial later on the career path (Appelo). From the many schools in the country

that offer courses for student directors, the top three highest rated schools have an impressive

track record as well as courses tailor made to stimulate a students creativity and want to

challenge themselves.

Taking the number one spot, the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, CA provides a

conservatory experience with seven different disciplines, placing special attention on Direction,

Screenwriting and Cinematography (Majors). First year tuition sits at $38,416, and notable

alumni include David Lynch and Darren Aronofsky; they both agree that the school equipped

them with all the tools necessary to succeed in Hollywoods turbulent atmosphere.

Taking second place, the University of Southern California boasts such alumni as George

Lucas, Ron Howard and Jon Landau (Appelo). Comparable to AFI, USC offers several schools

and disciplines in which a student could further knowledge of a certain field. Among the many
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arts majors offered there, some notable ones include the USC School of Dramatic Arts and the

USC School of Cinematic Arts; both of which have educated some of the most poignant minds in

modern entertainment.

Located nearby, nestled in the Hollywood hills, the University of California Los Angeles

takes the third place spot. Included in its famed School of Television, Film, and Theater, many

majors deal with just that. As stated on the website, UCLA offers an innovative curriculum that

integrates the study and creation of live performance, film, television and the digital arts.

Among their graduating classes, several noteworthy alumni attest much of their success to the

education they received when studying at UCLA; Francis Ford Coppola and Tim Robbins for

example. Starting out-of-state tuition falls at $39,162 for the first year (UCLA). Its location

makes the school a prime target for celebrity events and seminars, both of which provide useful

information to any student.

Becoming a director takes immense creativity, responsibility, grace under pressure, as

well as authority, drive, and several equally important innate characteristics. The path to

becoming a director leads to obstacles, long days, sleepless nights, collaborations with

sometimes unreasonable third parties, and potential financial instability. However, with enough

passion and perseverance, doing what one loves ultimately pays off in the end.
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Works Cited:

Appelo, Tim. "The Top 25 American Film Schools." Hollywood Reporter 27 (2013): 64.

MasterFILE Complete. Web. 28 Dec. 2016.

<http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,custuid&custid=s845

5861&db=f6h&AN=89664647&site=ehost-live&scope=site>

Arkins, Audrey. "Dream Job: Film Director." Salary.com. Salary.com, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

<http://www.salary.com/dream-job-film-director/>.

Dirks, Tim. "The History of Film: The 1920s." FIlmsite. American Movie Classics LLC, 22 Dec.

2015. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

<http://www.filmsite.org/20sintro.html>
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Hirschberg, Lynn. "Thats Entertainment." W Magazine 45.10 (2016): 92. MasterFILE

Complete. Web. 1 Jan. 2017.

<http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,custuid&custid=s845

5861&db=f6h&AN=119594829&site=ehost-live&scope=site>

Jones, Ian. "The Great Train Robbery 1903." Internet Archive. Internet Archive, 05 Sept. 2011.

Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

<https://archive.org/details/TheGreatTrainRobbery1903>

Kirsner, Scott. Inventing the Movies: Hollywood's Epic Battle between Innovation and the Status

Quo, from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs. Scott Kirsner, 2008.

"Majors." American Film Institute. American Film Institute, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

<http://www.afi.com/conservatory/about/>.

"Motion Pictures." National Park Service. National Park Service, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

<https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/kidsyouth/motion-pictures.htm>

Mulvey, Laura. "Looking at the past from the present: Rethinking feminist film theory of

the 1970s." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30.1 (2004): 1286-1292.

<http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/421883?journalCode=signs>

Scott, Allen J. "On Hollywood: The Place, The Industry." Princeton University Press.

Princeton University, 07 Aug. 2007. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

<http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s7848.html>

"THE FILM DIRECTOR." Filmmakers.com. Filmmakers.com, 08 Aug. 2013. Web. 08 Feb.

2017.

<http://www.filmmakers.com/features/film/director3.htm>.
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"The Film Director." Media College. MediaCollege.com, 17 May 2014. Web. 08 Feb.

2017. <http://www.mediacollege.com/employment/film/director.html>.

Tomadjoglou, Kim "Introduction: Early Colour." Film History: An International Journal, vol. 21

no. 1, 2009, pp. 3-6. Project MUSE.

<https://muse.jhu.edu/article/267307/summary>

"UCLA School of Television, Film and Theater." UCLA. UCLA, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

<http://www.tft.ucla.edu/>.