Differences between the Studio System of the 1930s and 1940s and New Hollywood Post 1975 - Term Paper Example

? What were the main economic and al differences between the studio system of the 1930s and 1940s and 'new Hollywood' post-1975? [Institution] The main economic and institutional differences between the studio system of the 1930s and 1940s and 'new Hollywood' post 1975 Hollywood has widely been regarded as the hub of the film production in the America, and across the globe. Despite of the cultural richness of the Great Britain and the super powers of the nineteenth century, the Hollywood became the symbol of exhilaration in the film world (Neale and Smith, 1998, p. 20). A lot of talent was drained from western countries and the Hollywood nurtured that talent by providing them lucrative benefits and rich culture. The staring era of films in the Hollywood was the era of silent movies and the messages were delivered by the body language, sounds, and the sequence and some time running the text on the screen. However, the economic, technological and institutional transformation occurred around the world revolutionized cinematic activities and Hollywood witnessed major changes in the studio system during different eras. Hollywood has always been the source of economic wellness for the actors from the different regions and it provided the global platform for the actors and producers to use the resources available at one place. In the previous era, theatre was the source of entertainment and classical tradition and the contemporary stories were also the source. The circumstances associated with that era were reflected in these theatre performances (Chaplin, 2003, p. 95). The modern Hollywood is a billion dollar industry and for the optimists is has actually become a billion dollar industry and now the films are doing business in billions when in the past the collective budgets of the film at any time was not equal to that amount, the Hollywood grew as an institute and the parameters for its sustainability and its development, growth, advantages, affects and the risks to it has been considered since it has become an industry. The classical Hollywood had the genuine plot of the films and used to have a message in them for which they were made, whereas in the modern and the post-modern or present day Hollywood this has been compensated for the technology. Some of the movies are inspired by the true events and some of them are inspired by the fabricated plots, fictions and the legends. Classical Era Types of the movies in the classical era (classical studio) As it seems clear by the name that the classical movies had class, these movies were based on the Fictional and real plots. Irrespective of the time frame, both the movies based on the idealism and realism has been presented and has become hit on the box office. The combination of the real situation has also been used in some movies like the De Vinci Code (2006) and it has been done irrespective of the time frame. Either the classical movies or the modern movies both have been reflecting the contemporary culture in their entities but the difference is the time, so understanding the difference of time can put a light on the above mentioned criteria of the question. The classical era had many glamorous stars which provided synergies to the film industry of that super glamorous era, and the faith killing beauties were cast with the support of solid stories. The beautiful faces were not the only criteria there, but the strong script was the trade mark of that era which is still believed as the golden era of the film industry Solid plots with strong theme and story Both Gone with the Wind (1939) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) were based on the bestselling novels and both movies were released in the same years. The 1930-40 was an era when the cream of best writer, directors and actors were coming there and it was a heaven for them (Chaplin, 2003, p. 91). A good work was immediately noticed in the Hollywood, and the feasibilities were made for them to release films on them. The industrialization affected the film industry and the base for the modern film industry was set in that era, in the present time industrialization has affected more that it was actually needed, as the films are made with the business point of view, so the profit maximization is the primary aim for the corporate managers of these companies so the originality is compromised and the unique movies are avoided such that they have the risk of being rejected, which may result in financial loss. Pure art was main content and the industry was the heaven for the talented persons. In the era of 1930, a lot of Hollywood movies went popular with the plot moving around the relationship between men- women mainly focused on the enjoyment of their relationships with each other (Karnick and Jenkins, 1995, p. 63). This was considered as a positive thing and appreciated well as these plots had become successful. The Industrial and Economical aspects of Classical era The technology was not advanced as much as it is in the present time. In the classical time, the fabricated stories were represented with the theory of sequence which is not given too much attention in the modern and the post-modern film industry. The classical Hollywood used the credit sequence to initiates the film narration (Bordwell et al. 1985). Radio and TV and the Cinema were the main source of popularity, so the actors who got fame, or those who gave fame to these media, were the super stars at that time and they had more fame than the present superstars, and presently there is abundance of the stars and the self-made stars who made their fates by dint of their hard work, and they come due to the open media policy which were not present or possible that time. As a classical Meta narrative, the history of classical Hollywood cinema lacks only one element: a happy ending. Its resolution is problematic, untidy and uncertain (Neale and Smith, 1998, p. 21). The World War 1 and the World War 2 affected the world in a bad way so the people at large had suffered from the tragedies and the depression of these wars and which was the reason of these sad movies. Modern Era Technology drift As the technological changes have come in the world and computer generated graphics are helping to generate the visual fantasies in the movies of the present time. In the previous era the visual sense was exploited rather hearing sense and the films were silent but as the rapid-fire dialogues were introduced these old techniques volatile. Writers were not using creative sound uses as were used in the days of silent films, and the actors performance had to be enhanced by the visual cues (Balco, 1995, p. 81). The super hero genre movies were made by using the various innovative techniques and depended on the abilities if the director, as compared to the classical movies there is no need to make huge sets for any location, the most modern animations can do the same with the realism incorporated in it. Despite of the advancement in science, the movies are still presented with the realism and it is not necessary that these techniques are forcefully used in the films. The technology has also provided a good way in which these films are presented, as in the previous times the old techniques of editing were used, whereas now all can be done on the computer generated special effects. In the old days the techniques that were used were using the sets to fulfil the requirement of the film or using the screen on which the previously taken shots were played so as to provide the background for the performance, and these performances were done in front of these screens. It was not just the technology that helped in improving the films techniques but it was the creative way in which they were used and it was also the evolution that was utilized in giving to new techniques to the Hollywood. Compensation of technology with the solid plots Optimists are of the view that presently due to the evolution of knowledge and experience with the passage of time, the film industry has been improved, whereas the conservatives believes that the films need improvements for their plots as those of classic films used to have. But the technology is considered as the cost of the script that has been replaced by the invention of modern techniques. The same attention in the present day led to the inventions which was used to be present in the script oriented stories, and this can be improved by improvising the ways of work and the quality work should be adopted. In the late 1940s, the system of studio changed itself too much which was forced by antitrust decisions, and after the war, major companies focused on the distribution and become more dependent on acquiring films by them. (Thompson, 1999, p. 32)The present independence of the film industry comes from the time of 1940s when the film makers had choices for their selection of films. The argument related to the business efficient versus quality films can be consolidated as these are the good films which are the hits on the box office and the censor boards and these type of authorities restricts the unsuitable contents so the only available contents are the suitable one and the films do their business according to their calibre and the level of marketing they have done. Marketing can be understood as the split function of the film making process, as the good film making process does not only requires the good cinematograph and filmography skills, but it also requires good businessman skills to do produce good films as the films productions are affected by the budgets set for them. The classical films were economic efficient films as the budgets for the films have grown and the marketing budgets have grown tremendously, previously the good films used to make the room for their selves by their performances, but now a good film has to make the room for itself by good marketing campaign, unless a film is an extraordinary film which makes its own place, so the previous films and their profits cannot be compared they are adjusted for their marketing because the number of people talking about the films would be different with marketing and without marketing. So the quality film without the marketing function can do a good business, but with the blessing of the corporate culture in the film industry, the weak content films can also perform well financially. ‘Classical phobia’ It is a matter of common observation that people likes their era of childhood or youth even if it was good or bad, so this may be the reason that people like previous era and consequently the previous films (Bordwell and Staiger et al. 1985, p13). So those people who like previous era films may be aged persons by following the above mentioned reasoning. The same is with the opinions related to the classical era. The movies standard has not fallen and the new good work is keep on coming and there is a lot in the process, as it is said the movies of the classical era were of the super quality and presently it’s just slogging. The opinions are also found that the commercialism has affected the film industry in a bad way and only the marketable content is just being produced. Creative or stereotyped? The real views are still included in the present films and despite of fictional or narrative stories which are based on the imaginations of the writer. The hero in the realism based movies does not look like using the anti-septic soaps to avoid the germs and so on. Male domination has also been the trade mark of the film industry and the alpha-males have been evolving and being cast in various movies. The sequels of the old movies have been appreciated and despite of making new creative movies, the old movies have become footprints for the present directors and the want to incorporate that Renaissance into their films too. Censor policy has also been debatable and the censorship authorities decides what should reach to the viewers and these standards are somewhere strict and somewhere not strict, and where they are not strict, the choice of watching has entirely been transmitted to the viewer, leading to the argument that there is no practical importance of the censorship authorities. Contrary to this the mild strict censor policies argues that the collective benefits should be more than not watching the content so it leads to content being filtered and it is made suitable for the viewership and is tailored accordingly. The censorship policy includes various things such as the state policies and the cultural and relational background. The media policies also impacts on the censor policies and its purpose is to ensure good entertainment, and have different levels of intensities throughout the world. Conclusion The detailed discussion above has described the changing process, the reason of these changes, and the nature of these changes, what were the reasons behind these changes. Technology brought a tremendous change whereas the corporate evolution brought some fine big business companies in the twentieth century, and this corporate evolution also affected, the way in which the films are made and managed, the more we can say that the corporate evolution just institutionalized the Hollywood. The Hollywood became an industry at large scale due to its professionalism and the gathering of the great minds at one place (Bordwell and Staiger et al. 1985, p8). The basic style of working has been the same, the media, the film industry under the scope of this topic, reflects the culture which is going on in the society, so the film industry have had various reflections, and these reflections in the basis of content rather than the time-frame may create disambiguation on the assuring of the quality, or the measures on the film stating whether a film is a good film or a bad film. Presently there is different perspective of what is good, both the content and the business are considered and it is generally considered that a good film earns a good profit, which is not a bad idea. Present time in the film industry is the era of the marketing and the distribution is made in scientific ways. Due to the marketing, it reaches to the prospective viewers, those viewers who cannot watch these movies in cinema can watch these movies on their TVs and PCs. The earning of one modern film may be equal to the collective earning of the year in the classical era, and it is benefiting both the art and creativity such that their creativity is supported well these financial outcomes and need not relying on the governments which may result in the total effect on their content and may not be independent in thoughts due to government or state policies. References Balco, T. 1995. Grand Design: Hollywood As a Modern Business Enterprise 1930-1939. California: University of California Press. Bordwell, D. and Staiger et al. 1985. The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960. London: Routledge. Chaplin, C. 2003. My Autobiography. London: Penguin Books Limited. Karnick, K. and Jenkins, H. 1995. Classical Hollywood Comedy. London: Routledge. Neale, S. and Smith, M. 1998. Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. London: Routledge. Thompson, K. 1999. Storytelling in the New Hollywood: Understanding Classical Narrative Technique. 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