What effect did Hollywood's 'Golden Era' and the Studio System have on Film Production today - Dissertation Example

‘Motion pictures evolved from stage presentations when portable movie cameras were invented. “Magic Lantern” shows were popular in the late 19th century, but they required an artist to design and perform a show. The show itself could not be duplicated, merely moved to another venue. Thomas Edison invented the Kinetoscope, a box with a hand crank with which to run film over a lamp, similar to a “peep show”. Its limitations were obvious; the design limited the audience to one viewer. Louis Lemière improved on the Edison technology with a hand held motion picture camera which could feed a film through a claw device.

Once the film was shot and developed, the camera acted as a projector, and in conjunction with the magic lantern, large audiences could view the film together.’ (Sklar, 1993, p.22-5) ‘At first, films served to bring distant places or recorded acts to vaudeville and burlesque shows. These films were brief, often only a minute or two. Travelogues and news dominated early film. At the same time projected movies developed, mass production newspapers became popular. In many ways, early film competed against newspapers and only supplemented stage shows.

Motion pictures’ advantages included realism, global appeal, reproducibility, visual reports and propaganda value.’ (Sklar, 1993, p.26-7) ‘The urban environment of the early 20th century consisted of immigrants and a faster paced lifestyle compared to the farm. Industrialization sped life up a bit. A two minute news film could be viewed at a commuter train station, and the viewer did not need to know the language since the films were silent or accompanied by a musical score.’ (Sklar, 1993, p.28) ‘In the beginning of the film industry, the artistry of camera work was as much the spectacle as the scene itself, and time did not a flow naturally.

Modern films move a story forward temporally while the first films were more analogous to instant replays, showing the action from differing angles.’ (Sklar, 1993, p.33) ‘The Brighton School of Filmmakers, a British group, experimented with and developed camera angles, moving camera shots, close-ups and point-of-view shots. This innovative technology allowed films to tell more compelling stories, and “modern” cinema was born. ‘(Sklar, 1993, p.37) ‘When films told stories, they competed with live stage, vaudeville and burlesque.

Rather than embrace this innovation, vaudeville and burlesque rejected the new technology and films moved to permanent movie houses, theaters known as nickelodeons.’ (Sklar, 1993, p.47) Now entertainment and news were combined to compete in the urban market. The very early film industry was confused. Harold Lloyd wrote, directed, produced and starred in his own productions. Mack Senate produced and directed his films, but often wrote them as the cameras were rolling, an advantage in silent films.

Howard Hughes bought the RKO studios, but kept his office at Goldwyn’s. The Golden Age of Hollywood served to organize and industrialize film making. In the Henry Ford image of mass production, producers and directors were meant to turn out volume. As movie houses began to win the competition with stage performances, and innovation such as talkies emerged, many old vaudeville performers entered the film industry as a more profitable means of entertaining. ‘Notably the Marx Brothers and other ensemble casts became movie stars.

Irving Thalberg of MGM studios market researched his audience reactions by sending the Marx Brothers on the road to perform their musical