film history

Directions: Using word processing software to save and submit your work, please answer the following short answer questions.  All responses to questions should be one to two paragraphs, composed of five to seven sentences, in length.  Your responses should include examples from the reading assignments.

1.      How did the major Hollywood firms respond to the challenge posed by First National Exhibitors' Circuit in 1917?  What kinds of benefits resulted from the industry's adoption of vertical integration?  Explain how this policy benefited both major and minor film companies.

2.      Identify the major technological and aesthetic factors that influenced Hollywood film form during the 1920s.  How did the resulting changes enhance or complement the classical narrative style, which was by then the industry norm?  How are these changes evident in the film screened in class?

3.      What events or conditions motivated the calls for the moral reform of the American film industry in the early 1920s?  How did the industry respond to these calls?  Analyze how this response placated the reformers and at the same time protected the industry's own interests.

4.      In what ways were the formal innovations of European cinemas assimilated by American filmmakers and integrated into the classical Hollywood cinema during the late silent era?  What kinds of contributions were made by European directors working in Hollywood?

5.      Under what conditions did African American audiences experience films during the silent era?  In what ways did individual filmmakers or companies tailor their films to appeal specifically to these audiences?

6.      Discuss the motives behind the emergence of "Film Europe."  How did the national film industries of Europe cooperate in combating the influence of American movies?  Why were these cooperative efforts halted at the end of the 1920s?

7.      What were the institutions that championed and promoted "art cinema" during the late silent period?

8.      What were the theoretical and aesthetic principles that characterized the Dada, Surrealist, and "cinema pur" movements?  Which formal and stylistic qualities did their films share, and in what ways did they differ?