The Media In Your Life Chapter 8 Movies
Terms
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- vaudeville show as early movie theatre
- in the early 1900's, popular comedy, dramatic skits, or son-and-dance entertainment was presented in local vaudeville theaters. early silent films, usually with piano accompaniment, were also shown in these theaters.
- kinetoscope
- boxlike mechanism used to view short films during the late 1800's. the viewer looked into an opening and watched film move past a light bulb.
- nickelodeon
- small storefront functioning as a theater; popular about 1910. these preceded grand movie palaces.
- editing
- the technique of joining pieces of film or of digitall manipulating images in a creative process.
- oligopoly
- a business situation in which a few dominant companies control enough of the business that each one's actions will have a significant impact on the actions of the others.
- star system
- by the 1930's, the new york-financed hollywood studios had devloped a system for ensuring financial stability based on movies featuring popular stars in familiar roles. Iron-clad contracts forced actors to accept scripts that enhanced the particular image the studio wanted the star to project. stars also were required to behave as their fans expected them to, both inside and outside the studio.
- A and B pictures
- A films are usually high-budget films that studios expect to be box-office hits. B films are low-budget films designed to make money.
- block booking
- the practice of forcing a theater to book movies as a package, rather than individually. Declared illegal in the 1940's
- blind booking
- marketing strategy common in the 1930's and 1940's that required theaters to book movies before they were produced.
- vertical integration
- a system in which a single corporation controls production (including obtaining the raw materials), distribution, and exhibition of movies. Declared illegal in the 1940's.
- domination of domestic film market
- by 1930, five giant hollywood studios dominated world filmmaking: MGM, Paramount, RKO, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros. WWII cut Hollwood off from film markets abroad, but demand for movies intensified in the domestic market.
- studio film rentals
- movies produced by studios to rent to distributors and/or theaters
- art theater
- outlet for films designed for their artistic quality rather than for their blockbuster audience appeal that usually are produced by independent companies rather than by the big studios.
- response to television
- in the 1950's, the movie industry, deperate to recapture audiences lost to television, compete by offereing technical noveleties like 3D vision. then they became involved in making tv series.
- cinerama
- trade name for the process that produces wide-screen images.
- 3D
- film technique designed to create a sense fo depth. viewers wore special glasses for viewing.
- Panavision
- system of lenses used in filming that enabled a film shot in one wide-screen version to be shown in theaters without the lenses for that type of projection.
- social realism
- a genre of films critical of society's structure that has maintained its thread throughout the years of movie production, although it rarely dominates the big screens. such films play a large role in the marketplace of ideas.
- code of film content
- various regulations have been in place, particularly at the local level, to control the content of films shown in communities. The film industry, constantly facing pressure to produce exciting films yet avoid moral injury to young audiences, developed a production code to comply with various local government restrictions. In 1968 the industry altered its position from controlling content to developing a system of ratings.
- politics in movies
- even before mccarthyism and the red scare of the 1950's, some politicans saw films and television as sources of corruption. us films, seeking to avoid criticism, have seeked to avoid controversial content in movies.
- stereotypes of women and minorities.
- despite a steady evolution toward more positive roles and the elimination of the most insulting stereotypes of gender or ethnic behavior on screen, most movies continue to show only relatively narrow rangers of behaviors and few substantial roles for minority and femal actors.
- distributors
- the people of the movie industry who arrange to engage movies in theaters then on television.
- labeling for audience demographics
- the rating system that labels movies for audiences: g and pg for kids, pg 13 for teens, r for adults, etc.
- product placement
- revenue has been primarily generated by ticket sales. then in the 1980's, on-screen advertising has played a role in revenue.
- home-viewing revolution
- the vcr's appearance in the mid 70's was perceived as dangerous to the industry but the profit of spinoff sales to video have been high.
- competition in the international market
- international sales are important but more competition has been faced. even leading to influencing the industry.