Popular Cinema- Week 2

Front 1

The Studio System-

Back 1

Emerged in the silent era, controlled by a small group of large studios.

5 major ones controlled their own production/distribution/direction. 3 minor studios.

There is an emphasis on a standardised product.

Studios would reuse sets and have stars on contract.

Different studios became known for different types of films. E.g. Warner Bros for gritty films and MGM for grandiose musicals.

Front 2

Fordist production-

Back 2

Industrialised/standardised mass production. A house style.

Vertical integration: studi in control of production, exhibition and distribution.

Front 3

Classical Hollywood-

Back 3

Named so because of its place/time (the classical era) and it is not a reference to 'class' or high quality.

Front 4

Editing in the studio system-

Back 4

Invisible/continuity editing. E.g. 180 degree rule. Made with economical editing. For instance Chekov's Gun. Goal driven and linear. Cause and effect. Repetition with variation.

Front 5

Motion Picture Production Code of 1934-

Back 5

An agreed set of rules within the industry to prevent censorship from the outside. Dissolved in 1960.

Front 6

Block booking-

Back 6

Studios insisted that if cinema wants to show a movie they have to show a b movie too. The Paramount decision of 1948 ended block booking and put a dent in the structures of vertical integration. Divestiture, reduction of existing business.

Front 7

Designed for popularity-

Back 7

The films were designed to appeal to the masses using stardom, marketing campaigns and genre.

Front 8

A cycle-

Back 8

A large volume of films tied to a time period, believed to be prompted by an event in history/responding to the changes at the time.

Front 9

Screwball Comedy-

Back 9

Began with Capra's It Happened One Night. Named after the baseball metaphor. They lost appeal during the war, people lost their ability to escape into a fantasy. Characterized by a female that dominates the relationship with the male central character, whose masculinity is challenged

Front 10

The Depression in the US-

Back 10

Started in the 1929 with the crash of the stock market. 25% unemployment, 33% decrease in economic growth. Roosevelt elected in '32 and created the New Deal.

Worry of Communism after Russian revolution.

Front 11

The New Deal-

Back 11

The New Deal was a series of programs, including, most notably, Social Security, that were enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938.

Front 12

The Popular Front

Back 12

An antifascist/pro-New Deal/pro labour alliance of mental and manual workers, liberals, Socialists and Communists. They became a constitutive presence in politics/economic/cultural life of the country.

Front 13

Preston Sturgess

Back 13

Paramount director. The first person to earn 'written and directed by credit' for The Great McGinty. Common use of narratage, claimed to be the first person to use it.

Front 14

Meta-reflection-

Back 14

A constant and continuous process of thinking, analysing, observing and reinterpret the activities and intellectual tasks. Reflection on the meaning of these practices.

Front 15

Sturgeon Karma-

Back 15

The idea that making rights/doing the right thing proves a characters deserving of a positive outcome- also vice versa

Front 16

Narratage-

Back 16

The voice over speaking over the top of the film, often to comic effect.

Front 17

Mr Smith Goes to Washington-

Back 17

When the idealistic young Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) winds up appointed to the United States Senate, he gains the mentorship of Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains). However, Paine isn't as noble as his reputation would indicate, and he becomes involved in a scheme to discredit Smith, who wants to build a boys' campsite where a more lucrative project could go. Determined to stand up against Paine and his corrupt peers, Smith takes his case to the Senate floor.