Outline 2

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2nd OUTLINE: THE INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION OF THE CINEMA ● After 1905, film industry became more stable and formalized ● Italy and Denmark became major players in the cinematic world 1905-1912 Film Production in Europe France:Path versus Gaumont ● Pathe and Gaumont were the 2 big players in French industry ● Pathe was a very large multinational firm with both horizontal and vertical integration ● Film was growing in popularity because of decreased work weeks. The middle class watched french films ● Pathe made their own equipment. They also developed a method for coloring films ● “Boireau” series, “Rigadin” films, and Max Linder series were Pathes biggest hits ● Louis Feuillade took over Gaumont’s filmmaking operations after Alice Guy left and became one of the most important silent film makers ● The Film d’Art company produced for the elite audiences and set the standard for what is now considered an art film. ● By 1910 most films were shown in large theaters Italy: Growth through Spectacle ● Cirnes, Ambrosio, and Itala were the main Italian fillm companies ● Italy was quick to adopt cinema as showcased by the fact that they were one of the first countries to build many large cinemas, and by their early shift towards the art film style

● One of the first film industries where making films with multiple reels was common ● Italian films were popular internationally. By 1910, 2nd to France only in exports ● Italian firms poached French filmmakers for their own ranks in response to a lack of Italian film experience initially Denmark: Nordisk and Ole Olsen ● The Danish industry was virtually entirely Ole Olsen’s Nordisk company. He bought out or drove competitors out of business ● The Danish films were very popular internationally. Asta Nielsen, a star in a film called The Abyss by a small competitor became one of the first international film stars ● The first World War choked out the Danish film industry Other Countries ● Japan began making films in 1908 ● England was minor, but still significant player ● The German industry really didn’t take off until 1913 ● No other countries could challenge France, USA, Denmark, Italy The Struggle for the Expanding American Film Industry ● Pre-WW1, the US did not dominate the international market like it does today ● Also, there was still ferocious competition for the domestic market The Nickeodeon Boom ● The nickelodeon was a bare bones small theater that had a low price of entry ● This low price made film consumption available to the masses

● Louis B. Mayer, William Fox, Adolph Zukor, Warner Brothers, and Carl Laemmle, all huge names in the foundation of Hollywood, got their start in the nickelodeon business ● The nickelodeons could show as many as 450 films a year so the demand was integral for the flourishing of my national film industries The Motion Picture Patents Company versus the Independents ● Edison and AM&B were fierce competitors who litigated against each other to gain dominance ● Eventually the two companies decided to work together, in the face of an explosion of start up film companies. They founded the Motion Picture Patents Company in order to keep competitors under them and force them to pay fees licensing fees under the threat of litigation ● MPPC locked out many international film companies ● Eventually, independents fought back against MPPC and won a legal case. The band of independents that fought MPPC were the start of a Hollywood Social Pressures and Self-Censorship ● There was a push back on films as they portayed a lot of violence and adultery ● The MPPC submitted themselves voluntarily to self censorship, in part to stave off laws on censorship and in part to gain respect ● As films looked to get cleaner they looked to Shakespeare and other famous literary influences for narrative inspiration

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● Also, as films cleaned up, there was a shift away from nickelodeons and into more elegant theaters. The shows in these dropped the “low-class” aspects and focused on making the film experience comfortable and narrative focused. The Rise of the Feature Film ● Feature used to just mean an unusual showing, like a fight or something ● Eventually Feature meant a long multireel film. These became increasingly popular in Europe and then in the USA, despite the MPPC The Star System ● The more regular actors began to attract fanfare and gained nicknames ● Eventually the industry exploited this fanfare for marketing The Movies Move to Hollywood ● NJ and NY were the original home of USA film ● Firms started to set up shop in Florida and LA during the cold months ● Eventually, LA became a filmmaking hotspot because of the great weather and awesome, diverse landscapes and topographies ● Hollywood, an LA suburb, was where companies set up shop The Problem of Narrative Clarity ● Starting 1904 the film industry moved towards narrative story telling ● With films getting longer there came a problem of how to make films that made sense Early Moves toward Classical Storytelling

● In order to better tell stories, filmmakers employed cause and effect storytelling and worked towards creating a sense of time continuity or discontinuity through lighting or set cues ● Intertitles between scenes also helped where film editing created a confusing transition ● Depth was utilized better in storytelling in order to draw attention to the correct characters in scenes, or for a handful of other reasons ● Focus on character psychology to make story easy to follow Intertitles ● Expository intertitles setting up or summarizing a scene ● Dialogue intertitles placed in the beginning or middle of shots to convey a character's thoughts more directly Camera Position and Acting Color ● In order to better use character psychology, filmmakers began putting actors closer to the camera and even filmed from torso up in order to document facial gestures ● Actors were trained in “enlarged expression” ● Used high and low camera angles for better vantage points Set Design and Lighting ● Initially, sets mirrored theatre sets (2D). But then there was a move towards using 3D sets ● Lighting was flat at first but then filmmakers learned how to manipulate it for effects

The Beginnings of the Continuity System ● Starting 1906, filmmakers began to realize that you had to make films that seemed continuous to keep the audience engaged ● The continuity system used intercutting, analytical editing, and contiguity editing. An International Style ● WW1 interrupted international circulation of films and countries developed their own styles Griffith's Importance in the Development of Film Style ● Griffith brought intercutting to the forefront in America

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