The "Long Tail" concept of marketing states that media have easy access to every audience group, and that this makes it possible to make profits with unique, small-focus products. Netflix, for example, can make Adam Sandler films such as The Cobbler that
Nice2020
MotionPictures.docxMotion Pictures.
You have earned 0 point(s) out of 0 point(s) thus far.
The New Grammar of Motion Pictures.
Motion Pictures. Motion pictures, unlike our previous print media, required the audience to develop new skills of media use in order to use the product. Previous media all had a well-trained public to use and understand their products: print had people trained to read in school, recorded music had people used to local performances in music. Motion pictures had no precursors in how to interpret or use pictures that moved and told a story. Today we are going to look at this unique mass medium in how it developed its audience, how it standardized its product, and how it became a global product.
I. Motion Pictures are a mass medium that had to develop its audience to understand it's product.
A. Visual literacy had to be taught to audiences. Films then moved steadily from very simple construction to much more complex as audiences became experienced and literate.
1. Visual movement was so new that early audiences were thrilled by the simplest films.
a. Earliest films were short and simple, usually only a single scene, such as this.
Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) - LOUIS LUMIERE - L'Arrivee d'un Train a La Ciotat
0:42
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjtXXypztyw" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
b. The final scene of The Great Train Robbery scared people who were unused to motion pictures. They treated it as a real threat by a gunman.
The Great Train Robbery (1903) Full COMPLETE Original Film RESTORED
12:10
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuto7qWrplc" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
c. The big-budget film "Intolerance" failed because it's plot with 4 parallel stories was too difficult for audiences to understand then. Intolerance
d. Any modern film, such as Star Wars or Interstellar, would fail if shown in the 1910's because the audience was not highly film literate. Popular films were like these below.
Edison Kinetoscope Films 1894-1896
4:24
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmZ4VPmhAkw" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
2. Motion pictures have since developed a whole grammar that is used to make meaning in pictures.
a. Camera shots give information going from long shot, to medium shot to close up tell us what to focus upon. This is later expanded upon with extreme close ups, interviews with shot-counter shot, two shots.
b. Camera angles also provide information in how to interpret a person or situation. High angle shots put the subject in an inferior position, low angle shots enhance them.
c. The movement of the camera itself communicates information. It can move quickly, zoom in or out, spin all to tell us more about what the scene means.
How David Fincher Hijacks Your Eyes
5:31
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfqD5WqChUY" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
d. The use of lighting tells us if something is safer, with brighter lighting overall, or more dangerous, with lower lighting.
e. Editing of the film helps tell the story. Faster paced editing implies excitement, slower pacing implies thoughtfulness, or dullness.
f. There are often new techniques arising for us to learn. For example the complex editing of multiple stories in one day of Pulp Fiction, or the backwards story telling of Momento.
3. The broader your audience focus, the more basic the visual grammar needs to be. US only films can be more complex than globally oriented films where audiences may not know the full set of conventions.
B. The Film Production system evolved to recognize the high emotional impact of it's products. They had to recognize they were selling not things, but dreams.
1. The first films were sold "by the foot" to customers who used them in Kinetescopes: for 5 cents one person watched a short film.
2. Soon producers found that Distributing films as rentals was the key to profits.
a. Films were not sold, only rented to theaters. Disney films could be re-released for theater display every 7 years to increase their revenue with new child audiences.
b. A standard film cycle was developed where a film went first to first-run theatres, then smaller second-run venues such as 99 cent theaters, then college campuses, television and finally home video.
3. With audiences quickly learning film grammar they wanted stories, not just simple scenes. Films with better stories made more money by 1915, highlighting the role of screen writer and director.
4. The Emotional connection that audiences had with the story, and the actors, grew as a key to film popularity. This then highlighted the role of the actors as well.
a. Early actors were not acknowledged as important. Once audiences started to show a preference for some actors the Star system was created to promote their favorites
b. The impact of films through this emotional connection were thought to decrease rational thought. Censorship issues arose as some were concerned about audiences following characters in films who acted as bad role models.
i. The early scandal of Fatty Arbuckle demonstrated a great fear that audiences would copy their favorite actors.
ii. The Hayes office was developed in 1932 to control the moral element of films. This stayed in place until the late 1960's.
Uncensored Film Example
0:46
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-loLqR2014" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
ii. This was the idea behind film rating systems we use today. G, PG, PG-13, M, R, X.
C. Films production had to be made for the popular audiences. This was the only mass medium that skipped the Elite stage. It focused almost immediately on broad, large audiences and so was made with simple appeals.
1. Urban immigrant audiences wanted broad comedy and drama. Theaters were basic, there was no sound.
2. The lack of English competency was not a disadvantage when watching silent films. The basic stories were easily understood.
3. This use of simple plots, stereotyped characters and broad acting made a story easy to interpret. This trend is seen in films today aimed at broader, less educated audiences. Definitely not aimed at Elite audiences.
4. The continued popularity of films led to the development of standard formulas for making films.
a. From 1900-1930 the 3 themes of Crime, Sex and Love accounted for ¾ of all movies. Note the themes of the top films of the 1920's.
i. Westerns were produced for the male audiences who liked the action and "tough guy" stereotypes.
ii. Children liked comedies and cartoons.
iii. Women liked drama and comedies.
iv. Family pictures had attractions for all elements
b. Films were made at different budget levels to attract the audience in diverse ways. Production of multiple products was important as the average family went to films twice per week until the 1950's.
i. A films were big budget films aimed at a big adult audience: Birth of a Nation, Gone With the Wind.
ii. B films were lower budget and made more quickly. The studio resources often created a good product nonetheless: The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca.
iii. C films were low budget and quickly made, usually for younger audiences who saw new films weekly: Hopalong Cassidy, Buck Rogers, The Perils of Pauline.
simple
Motion Pictures.
You have earned 2 point(s) out of 2 point(s) thus far.
Standardizing Production of Motion Pictures.
Motion Pictures developed a studio production system that allowed for steady production of films to the audience. This standardization is a necessary step for mass media to meet entertainment needs of a large audience.
A. Film plots and themes were developed to rely on easily-understood events and strong, often stereotyped characters, with clear positive endings.
1. Tumbleweeds was a silent film based on the well-known Oklahoma land rush with a strong cowboy character who won in the end.
TUMBLEWEEDS (1925) -- William S. Hart, Barbara Bedford
1:25:49
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy5lbpzsOxs" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
2. The 1920's saw films based on the fascination of gansters, 1930's on the Depression, 1940's on the war and continuing through today.
B. High production costs of film making increased the search for predictability in making films that would be profitable.
1. Western Films have been popular with audiences since the silent era, featuring a lone male character, a challenge, and eventual victory.
2. Serial Films were very low-budget short films made into the 1950's, with the same characters and similar plots making easy, but simple, entertainment.
C. Formulaic films were limited by the incursion of Art in the industry. Original, creative productions pushed audience expectations such that most productions could not stay stagnant in their productions.
1. While films such as Keystone Cops were popular and easily made, other directors pushed for dramatic, meaningful films. Note Roger Ebert's review of Greed, a very early silent film drama that pushed the limits of film making then.
Safety Last - Harold Lloyd 1923. Full movie,excellent quality.
1:13:34
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-XZWZVVhvQ" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
2. Successful directors were given free reign to create longer films, clever plots and more. The more they remained profitable, the more the directors gained complete control over how they made a film.
[ THE GOLD RUSH ] Thanksgiving dinner
3:04
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpjIGWDiNrM" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
3. The 80/20 rule in film applies here. Out of the 300+ films made in Hollywood every year, 20% can be considered “good” by artistic standards.
a. The Golden Age of film, from the late 1920's to the early 1960's, had a production system with major resources in actors, writers, directors and producers which could make films of long-lasting value.
1. Wings was an examination of the human costs of WWI.
2. The Grapes of Wrath transferred the novel indicting the problems of a capitalist system onto film.
3. The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind took popular books and made meaningful, popular films.
b. Good films are not necessarily the most popular, or profitable, films, but those that push for artistry or theme development.
1. This was easier as the mature industry had seamless editing, great set design and budgets to cover greater themes.
2. Note how easy it is to get involved in a short clip from Gone With the Wind, demonstrating the quality of its construction.
Gone with the Wind - You Need Kissing Badly
1:13
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nACj50uq6_s" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
3. A 1950's B level film demonstrated these resources by covering an issue of racism against Japanese in an interesting way.
4:43
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2o3QWwwQLI" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
D. Specialization had to occur as television forced major changes in the system.
1. Adult audiences stayed home to watch tv as an easier and cheaper alternative to film. Film admissions plummeted with the general introduction of television.
2. The first stages of industry adaptation to new challenges is to try to maintain the past. Their first moves were to use technology to maintain popularity of the old system.
a. Smell o vision let you smell the movie.
b. 3-D vision makes it seem like you're in the picture.
c. Earthquake vision lets you feel the action.
d. Super widescreen Cinerama used 3 screens to show you the biggest picture ever.
This is Cinerama (DVD/Blu-ray trailer)
3:54
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWgG5ioX_sA" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
3. Adaptation to the audience meant making films for the youth audience. Like with radio and recorded music, the youth audience is the major user of films after television.
a. This approach assumed that action and romance would attract youth audiences. Quality in plot and acting was a distant consideration for many of these films.
b. Low budgets and action-focus made forgettable films that still made good profits from the youth audience.
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) Original Theatrical Trailer I
2:36
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0xE-68P4ao" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
c. This approach has continued through to today.
i. less drama, more action.
ii. lots of comedy
Motion Pictures.
You have earned 2 point(s) out of 2 point(s) thus far.
Motion Pictures on a Global Basis.
The film industry today is a concentrated, world-based business that uses the most common languages of the art.
A. The Major profit is gained from film users 12 to 18, followed by 18 to 30. This youth audience is what is driving film production today.
1.Fast-paced action films have the biggest audiences, and the biggest emphasis.
2. Films for broad audiences have less emphasis on plot complications or subtle acting. Note the clarity and simplicity of this sort of high-budget action scene.
Battleship #1 Movie Clip - Attack! - Liam Neeson Movie (2012)
1:28
<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8dK0b24UFA" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div>
3. Formulaic films are easier to make for this market, with many following screenwriting rules. Note the chart here that indicates the most profitable Tom Cruise movies are the least complex.
4. Advertising is up to 50% of film costs. Good marketing gets audiences into theaters even if reviewers don't like the film.
i. Tomorrow Never Dies had a $34 million dollar advertising campaign to interest audiences.
ii. Disney re-released Toy Story 3D with a $30 million advertising campaign.
5. A few major studies control most films by production or distribution, little new entrants. Once a producer becomes large and profitable, it is very difficult for new companies to compete with it, thus the big 6 we have today.
B. Video sales mean that profits come within the first six months of any new film. Timeless appeal is not a trait producers focus on.
1. Video sales means a focus only on the first six months of a film's life. This means big advertising and marketing for fast popularity.
a. average cost to produce and market a film in 2012 was $139 million.
b. Big first weekend sales numbers are important to provide support for later video sales and tv revenue.
c. Multiple tie ins with music, t-shirts, books and other merchandise add to marketing and profits.
C. The future of film is uncertain.
1. Internet-based delivery reduces the current profit strategy of theater sales.
i. Audience choice expands and lets them ignore the more formulaic films studios like to produce.
ii. Films made for streaming delivery, like Netflix's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2" means watching first weekend without going to the theater.
2. Stunting may not be able to stem the move away from traditional film theaters.
i. Projection using 270 degrees and better sound is being tried. It is reminiscent of the desperate acts of 1950's movie theaters and producers.
ii. The popularity of laptops, tablets and smartphones for viewing suggest this is a likely future venue for watching films.
CONCLUSION: The film industry is a huge mass media that can reach literally billions of people throughout the world. It has a history of almost 100 years and shows no signs of fading in popularity: moving through video rental and pay-per-view to streaming. Films are exactly what most people want for involving entertainment and they are getting more action and adventure as the concentrated industry standardizes for predictable profits. It is up to you to seek greater diversity, if that is what you want.
