1.Why did film makers and producers move to Hollywood?

The mountains, plains and low land prices made Hollywood a good place to establish film studios. They moved to Hollywood for a more consistent climate for year round film shooting and to escape fees imposed by Tomas Edison

2.Name some of the big stars, directors and pictures from the Silent Era of Hollywood? (at least TWO of each)

Big stars – Greta Garbo(Swedish-American actress), Charlie Chaplin (English)

Directors- Charlie Chaplin (English) , D.W Griffith (American)

Picture – The birth of a Nation, The Big Parade

3.In what ways were the early Hollywood studio system like a factory or production line or even the Premier League (football)?

The Studio system operated like a factory, with stars, directors, writers and crew all working under long-term contracts. Everything is happening in one area instead of all over the place. The stars are the properties of the studios.

4.When and what was the first “talking picture”?

The Jazz Singer, which premiered on October 6, 1927

5.Why did the end of the silent era cause problems for some performers working in the film industry?

Silent actors/ actresses who were reduced to smaller character/supporting or uncredited parts following the advert of sound, or who left the industry together, due to the unsuitability of their voice and/ or acting abilities with the new medium

6.What was happening in America(and around the world) at this time?

– Word war 1 started from July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918 : meaning things get expensive and many people lost there jobs – The Great Depression
– The wall Street Crash (1929)

Censorship

The Hays code is a set of guidelines, self-imposed by Hollywood studios, regulating the moral content of films produced from 1934 to 1968.

The Hays code forbade the use of profanity, obscenity and racial slurs and included detailed instruction outlining how certain topics should be shown on screen, especially proscribing graphic violence, criminality, substance use, promiscuity, miscegenation, and homosexuality.

The Hollywood Studio System

1930-1947 – The Golden Age of Hollywood

•1) What were the Big 5 studios & what type of movies was each studio famous for?

• Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM)
  Movie Example – Die Another Day
• RKO
  Movie Example – King Kong
• 20th Century Fox
  Movie Example – Avatar
• Warner Bros
  Movie Example – Barbie
• Paramount Pictures
  Movie Example – Titanic

•2) Explain what vertical integration and block-booking was ?

Vertical Integration is a business strategy where a company expands its operation by acquiring or merging with other companies at different stages of production within the same industry

•3) Why and when did the original studio system collapse?

Challenges in the form of pay TV, antitrust legislation, low admissions and censorship had worn down the studios in the previous decade. The studio system was also challenged under the antitrust laws in a 1948 supreme court ruling which sought to separate production from distribution and exhibition and ended such practices.

•4) What was happening in America(and around the world) at this time?

Word war 1 started from July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918 : meaning things get expensive and many people lost there jobs – The Great Depression
– The wall Street Crash (1929)

•5) What genres were popular and why did people go to the movies in this period?

Genre films were big hits, especially westerns, gangster and crime movies and musicals.
While the country was consumed in a sullen attempt to rebuild society, Films offered an accessible escape for restless minds in tough times and the theatre offered a place of escapism through entertainment.

Classical Hollywood Style

What is it meant by the invisible style of storytelling?
Invisible style of a storytelling is when the editing and the different cuts of the film is ” invisible ” or unnoticeable to the audience. The style of editing is normally associated with classical Hollywood.

What is continuity editing?
A system of cutting used to dominate continuous and clear narrative action by following a set of rules. Continuity editing is an editing system used to maintain consistency of both time and space in the film. The benefit’s of the editing technique is the shot sequence flow seamlessly into each other and its easy to watch the film.