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10 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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How did the consumer adoption of technologies such as VCR and cable television in the 1980s alter the demographic and marketing strategy for Hollywood films, and how is this change reflected in top-earning box office films of the time?
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High concept films that were easily marketed cross-platform were popular as well as movies aimed towards a teen MTV generation audience: Bill and Ted, Die Hard, Beverly Hills Cop. All the top earning films were high concept films that were easily distributed on VHS or cable after release, quick cutting and rapid action. VCR and Cable also made it possible for indie movies to be widely distributed for low costs, so that more people could see them. A bottom-line demographic strategy allowed studios to market to the most people possible. |
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Why did independent auteur cinema emerge amidst the upsurge of top-grossing blockbuster films in the 1980s and how did they maintain their "niche popularity?"
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Films were getting easier to produce independently because of commercially available handheld cameras and equipment, were easily distributed by cable and VHS. They would emerge at film festivals and often get into deals with studios to allow them to be distributed further outside arthouse circuit (Sex Lies & Videotape). It offered a view of modern life not being offered by the fantastic blockbusters of the time, which were adventure fantasies and space operas, and this simplicity appealed to people. The indie sensibility was attractive. More small cinemas, niche issues like black and gay issues were marketable for being rare. |
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How did the status of auteur directors and their films change from the 1970s to the 1980s?
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Due in particular to 2 films (Apocalypse Now and Heaven's Gate) auteur directors suffered a great fall in status between the 70's and 80's. Both films had been planed as epic masterpieces by directors with a lot of power and sway (Coppola and Cimino), but had suffered from drawn out production schedules that put them many times overbudget, and both initially bombed at the box office. Heaven's Gate even contributed to the collapse of United Artists, its studio. Both gave the directors reputations for being difficult and made studios reluctant to give directors so much power, and shifted back to an atmosphere of studio control. |
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Is it easy to lose money off independent film? |
It's easy to lose money off of any film. Producers front most of the money and only a small percentage of profits are returned to them, and profits are not really high for most indie films or films in general, because even blockbusters have to pay off high budget costs. Indies struggle to find an audience for the most part, and few make it big. It's really like playing the lottery, investing in them. The market is flooded with tons that make no money and a few that do. |
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How did changing distribution in 90's lead to rise of Identity Cinema? |
Nearly anyone from any group could make a film independent of the studio system, so black and gay people in particular could craft films that would appeal to their demographic, who were starved for mainstream content they could relate to. Early in 90's there were many indie studios trying to finance many indie films and distribute them through independent cinemas and film festivals, these studios like Miramax could rely on the notoriety of subjects that were deviant or taboo to make films successful. |
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What were, according to Ed Guerrero, the three eras of black cinema?
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Pre-Blaxploitation, submissive, whitewashed caricatures, Sydney Poitier. Blaxploitation, mythological fantasy of powerful, ubersexual gritty black characters, much more fun but still not grounded in reality. Black Independent Film, merging of LA school type black independents with blaxploitation inspired stuff, politically active films that are more real and complex. Guerrilla film that's more accessible and fun. |
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How is the Independent Black cinema of the late 1980s and 1990s different from the Blaxploitation Era of the 1970s?
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Independent Black Cinema was more socially conscious and being made by black filmmakers not for studio profit based on shock but for social reasons, to create discourse. More radical cinema, guerilla film inspired by folk art, Third Cinema. |
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According to B. Ruby Rich, what were the 4 main reasons for the beginning of the New Queer Cinema movement?
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The AIDS epidemic, Reagan's conservative presidency, the release of the Sony camcorder, and the high cost of NYC rent.
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How did these main social conditions influence the aesthetics of Poison (91)? |
Hero - theme of being "strange," escaping Horror- b-movie aesthetics a reminder of degenerate, explicit film. All about AIDS Homo- violent masculinity which ties into many 80's movies and hard body ideals. hard body acting upon hard body. all have common themes of alienation from greater society, which had always been a concern of gay populations but were especially pertinent under the Reagan administration and the current climate of alienation. The film has a grittiness that shows the independent production values and uses it to aesthetic benefit. |
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How did "Boy's Don't Cry" affect New Queer Cinema as a historical "movement?"
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It brought the movement into the mainstream, ultimately ending the movement.
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