Classic Hollywood Cinema - Essay Example

?Running Head: IC HOLLYWOOD CINEMA ic Hollywood Cinema Technological developments in production, distribution andexhibition since the 1980s In the era of advanced technology and globalization, almost everything has advanced to a level that is one notch above the previous decade. As for the film industry, more than 53 countries are producing and endorsing films all over the world. Where some are contending in the field of box office, others compete in the arena of foreign imports for their country. Films can be defined as stories that aim to define cultures of all kind (Sobol & Firmin, 2009). It is not only an entertainment zone of human stories, but it is also a source of investigating identities of individuals. Thus, along with holding the art of self-expression, films are a means of communicating social and developmental messages that combines film, culture, and technology (Adams 2001). With a huge economic potential working toward its advantage, the interest in films is growing at every level (Sobol & Firmin, 2009). Since the beginning of times, film industry has been constantly dominated by only a few countries. Where at one end American and European companies have held the dominant side, the developing countries have mostly revolved around the edges. Thus, the picture has been quite imbalanced. However, with the changes in the distribution, production, and exhibition in the technological arena, the picture seems to be changing. Statistics state that a figure of approximately US$75 billion makes up the global value of the film industry where the production and sale of DVDs bring in a total of US$55 billion (Sobol & Firmin, 2009) along with spending on theatrical tickets amounting to $9 million (Eliashberg, Leenders & Elberse, Feb, 2005). Statistics also state that globally, 4000 movies are made each year of which only 700 are created in the US. Apart from the production in the earlier mentioned country, India also stands as a major producer of films. In 2001, India produced a total of 1000 films whose motion picture industry is also known as Bollywood (U.K. Film Council 2002). With revenue of over 45 billion Rupees in its bucket, its sales are increasingly being aided by countries like the United Kingdom that sometimes add one third in the revenue. This allows for the industry to use more money in the production phase with high production budgets. Other than the Bollywood, Hollywood also is a major player that is leading the local films of countries like France and Italy (European Audiovisual Observatory 2003). The technological effect on the production, distribution, and exhibition phase of films can be better understood with a value chain for motion pictures. (Eliashberg, Leenders & Elberse, 2005) Over the years, there has been such major technological advancements that the scope of exhibition and distribution have expanded to a great extent (Sobol & Firmin, 2009). After the decade of 1950s, one of the most apparent advancements in technology gave way to increased use of television in the fields of both, production as well as exhibition. With the advancement of 1980s, the advent of cable, home videos, and satellites gave the life of theater a chance to breathe. After analyzing the current data, it can be confidently stated that intentionally or unintentionally, the movie makers aimed for the ‘shot for the box’ approach at that time (Bordwell, Ledoux & Dale). According to Derks, the era of 1980s was the era of high concept films that started as an extension of the previous decade. Cinematographers in this era belonged to such a school of thought that favored speed cutting and close ups as it was believed that it would keep the eyes of the audience glued to the screen (Bordwell, Ledoux & Dale). The concept of these films could be easily understood in a few words and thus were easy to understand as well as promote in the market. This concept was first originated by the producer Don Simpson, who, after exploiting the MTV concept with the film Flashdance from 1983, introduced the concept of a freeze frame ending. The era stretched forward with films like the Saturday night fever, Star Wars and Alien from 1977 and 1979 belong from the age of high concept films and ended with films like James Cameron's Aliens and Die Hard in 1986 and 1988 (Dirks). (See appendix A) In this period, the most high-flying production technology was the video. The films in this era were shot with a film and video camera attached but had less resolution. This was the era when editing was done on tapes to change according to choices in the end (Bordwell, Ledoux & Dale) and recording began on various recordable products (Longman, 2002). However, these films were highly formulaic and less original. According to statistics, production costs were high with budgets of $18 million but even with the early fears that the film industry is travelling a downward curve, predictions proved to be highly serious as this phase is one of the most costly phases (Eliashberg, Elberse & Leenders, 2006). Thus, distribution of films was encouraged through videocassettes; cable TV networks, and broadcast satellites (Dirks). Then came the era when editing shifted on tapes; the 1990s. This was also the era where the most amounts of Cineplex complexes were introduced along with a decline in the drive-ins. The 90’s inception proved to be a lucky decade for the technological developments and added to the quality of the films to a great extent to begin with. Although, special effects like graphic orchestrated violence, shoot 'em-ups, and stereotypical chase scenes increased the costly output of the industries, but it did a great deal of help to the films which aimed to compete in the exhibition (Dirks). With advancement in technology, the filmmakers recognized what ‘aesthetic’ meant. This can be illustrated with the help of an example of action sequences. It so happens, that the intensified continuity of these scenes appear in such a way that the scenes mostly become a blur and the fast cutting makes it quite difficult to understand (Bordwell, 2002). With the advent of this era, filmmakers used the production technology in such a way that showed precise gestures and highly intensified by close-ups (Bordwell, Ledoux & Dale). For example, The Blade from 1995 uses the medium shot approach for the clash, then with the use of a close up for the shouting warrior springing into another shot comes next which again turns into a medium shot for a spatter of blood across the scene. More examples like A Hero Never Dies from 1998 could also be quoted here which used the symmetrical close-ups and other techniques for the action sequences to present every detail clearly (Bordwell, Ledoux & Dale). The conventional school of thought had thus faced huge amount of pressure in this era. The entire process began with market research in the pre-production phase ending in risk-averse films, then the phase of production used special high tech effects and digital effects along with computer generated images resulted in high cost of production. Of course the results were better than the previous decade, but combining it with the phase of marketing resulted in high budgets (Dirks). (See appendix B) The 90s also proved to be an era of block buster such as Titanic from 1997. Written and directed by James Cameron, this movie was made with a high amount of budget that was shared between two studios; Fox and Paramount. The exhibition of this film resulted in a total of $600 million gross in its home with an amount of approximately $1.8 billion worldwide for both of these studios. The film production phase was equipped with high tech digital effects with a budget of more than $200 million. The film was a huge success as each scene in the film retold the ill-fated story the ship Titanic with clear and crisp details (Dirks). With state of the art technology, the production phase managed to use a real life size version of the ship that began with a love story of two passengers and slowly grabbed motion to end with a climax. Apart from the technological aspect, this movie also became popular for the following reasons; one, it most successful film ever that broke the record of Gone with the Wind from 1939, two; it made a total of gross of $ 1 billion world-wide and three; with eleven Oscar wins, this film sucked the most amount of money (Dirks). With video tapes still high in demand, the digital age silently appeared in the scene. Kodak introduced the photo CD player in 1990 and by 1992, cable channels were seen to be given more preference by the audience than the broadcast channels (Dirks). Kodak had also been the pioneer of identifying the needs of digital post production technology. As years passed, the year of 1997 introduced the digital video discs that were better in all aspects such as copy right protection, quality and durability. In the beginning years of 1990 and 1993, films like Dick Tracy and In the Line of Fire came with digital sound tracks and refined scenes. Also films like Jurassic park, Batman and Robin, and Braveheart cannot be forgotten. Other films that used photo trickery and fantasy sequences from 1994 were Forest Gump and Heavenly Creatures. The proliferation of the World Wide Web along with the concept of home computers also managed to add to a great extent towards the proliferation of technological advancements in the production, distribution and exhibition of films (Dirks). Then came the era where editing was done on hard drives and the entire concept of filmmaking changed. Since 1996, the trade in audiovisuals internationally increased and continued till the year 2005. With the easy excess of and access to the technology, the production, distribution and exhibition were affected greatly. The burst of internet revolution made the delivery and distribution in various countries quite easy. Other than that, the production was also made quite easy after the introduction of various cheap digital equipments. The pocket film festival in 2005 (see appendix C) can be quoted here which became a platform for all those films that were made by mobile phones. Of course quality films cannot be expected out of the mobile cinema currently, but it does acts as a good addition to the film industry which has seen tremendous growth in the recent years (Sobol & Firmin, 2009). The introduction of technological advancement made things a lot easier for the cinematographers as well (Woodstock team, 1999). With the new millennium beginning on the first of 2001, January 1st 2000 became the beginning of a new decade for the film industry. With the belief of all is well that ends well, the end of the decade handed out the movie Avatar in 2009 that was marked as one of the highest grossed film. The film made records head to head with Titanic from 1997 and managed to grab the top five positions becoming one of the top five movies that earned $ 1 Billion in the worldwide gross. This decade was also the time when technological development had gained pace and the life cycle of high tech products reduced drastically. The era was dominated by Amazon, you tube and many networking sites like twitter and facebook. The high tech products that made their mark were compact omnipresent laptops, ebook, skype, blackberrys, smartphones and much more (Dirks). (see Appendix D) Other films that dominated the stage were Gigli and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle from 2003, and a History of Violence and Mr. and Mrs. Smith from the year 2005. As for the end of the decade, Up in the Air was made of a downsizing hit man who loved firing employees till video conference threats and technological firings affected his job as well (Dirks). With the advent of 2000, a number of players in the distribution sector gained a foothold but the difference between large and independent player also became clear. The list included the likes of; paramount, Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros, and many more. It was also predicted about the current century that the performance of the box office will start to depend on a small amount of blockbusters. Other than that, due to the technological advancement, the budget of advertising by the distributors would be high and distributed evenly across different vehicles of media. The explosion of the dot com world can be mentioned here as sources that provide information on films increased to a great extent. The web has thus introduced web portals, chat rooms, customer review areas and critic sites like Yahoo Movies, Moviefone, Amazon, IMDB, and Rottentomatoes. It also became obvious in this era that the cost of distributors became extremely outweighed by the digital technology (Eliashberg, Leenders & Elberse, 2005). In 2010, Hollywood proposed to use such a revolutionary model given the decline in revenue of home entertainment. The move included the use of internet to facilitate the consumers with near to zero lag in delivery and on demand service. This model was told have such a huge effect that would surpass the burst of DVDs in the 1990s. The approach aims to use all internet based devices such as smartphones, tablets, and TVs. The model proposed several options that combined exhibition and technology together. Beginning with the concept of ‘Cloud,’ the model proposed to hand an account to the consumers who would be able to watch a movie they purchased with their own login. Digitizing DVD Collections was also proposed where a digital locker would be provided to the tech savvy consumers (Dirks). Therefore, the fast changes and growth in the technological aspect of the films has become a means of changing the overall filmmaking environment. This trend has also changed and widened the scope of distribution and exhibition that has opened ways for films from developing countries to introduce their work. However, multiple accesses and ways to reach various audiences in far off places still remains a challenge. It is important to mention here that consumer behavior is important to cater to when exhibition through technology is mentioned in the arena of motion picture in every format. In this way, metrics for measuring success becomes easy to consider and issues regarding the management of every phase and its effects on the business practices that are being affected through technological advancements becomes important to consider. With technological advancements working as an important driver in the evolution of the film industry, today these advancements have become the most integral part. All stages of the value chain have become entirely dependent on these developments and its repercussions can be easily imagined. The effects of the digital age on the production, distribution, and exhibition on the films, television, video and mobile devices along with the internet stretch beyond our imagination. Thus, a broad perspective while conducting a research on the motion picture industry is advisable. It can also be concluded that it has now become increasingly difficult to chalk out boundaries of the industry because effects of industries like Telecom, consumer electronics and informational technology have gained pace in the production, distribution and exhibition of films. Thus, it is eminent that we realize the importance of marketing strategies and earlier strategies must be reengineered as technology can offer revolutionary changes (Eliashberg, Leenders & Elberse, 2005). References Adams, M. (2001) Bond Girls: Gender, Technology and Film, Culture, Communication & Technology Program, Georgetown University, p (2) Bordwell, D. (2002) “Intensified Continuity: Visual Style in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema," Forthcoming in Film Quarterly Bordwell, D. Ledoux, J. and Dale, H. Technology and Technique: Hollywood, Hong Kong, and the Emergence of Contemporary Film Style, University of Wisconsin; Madison, p(2, 3, 5) Critical issues in practice, current research & new research directions, p (3) Dirks, T, The History of Film [Website] Retrieved from: http://www.filmsite.org/80sintro.html Eastman Kodak Company, 2007, the essential reference guide for filmmakers, p (16) Eliashberg, J. Elberse, A. and Leenders, M. A. A. M, (2006) The Motion Picture Industry: Critical Issues in Practice, Current Research, and New Research Directions, Vol. 25, No. 6, November–December 2006, p (640) Eliashberg, J. Leenders, M. A.A.M. And Elberse.A, (Feb, 2005), The motion picture industry: Marketing Science 25(6), p (638-661) European Audiovisual Observatory, (2003), Focus 2003: World market film trends. [Website] Retrieved from www.obs.coe.int Longman, R. J. (October, 2002), The Next Generation of 5?-inch Optical Storage Technology, Technology Overview, p (4) Sobol, J. and Firmin, A. (2009), The Bigger Picture: A way forward for film in the Commonwealth, Commonwealth Foundation, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, p (7, 8) U.K. Film Council, (2002), The Indian media and entertainment industry. Report by P. Vir, J. Woodward, N. Watson. Retrieved January 2003 retrieved from: http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/filmindustry/india. Woodstock team, (1999), Back to the land: Woodstock cinematographer returns for a filmic look back. P (3) Appendix (A) Appendix (B) Appendix (C) Appendix (D) Read More