Facets+of+Film

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= TV and Film Converge - Seth Oclatis = ==== The TV and film industries may seem like two distinct entities, but they happen to be connected at the hip. The media industry as a whole brings into perspective the essence of needs versus wants and why the two industries are dependant on one another. All large media companies are sinking their wallets into both ventures in hopes that each will make out on top. The capitalistic financial ties have done more to link TV and Film by converging ideas, forming cross-platform franchises. ==== One very successful franchise that rehashed in 2009 was “Star Trek” the movie. Manohla Dargis provides some noteworthy connections between the TV and film industries in her review of Star Trek in her New York Times article titled “A Franchise Goes Boldly Backward.” Star Trek was directed by J.J. Abrams, known for the TV hit “Lost,” and brought back an old favorite by using his skills from television on the silver screen. Manohla wrote that Star Trek is “a testament to television’s power as mythmaker, as a source for some of the fundamental stories we tell about ourselves”(Dargis, 2009). In other words, TV has dictated the future of film and vice versa. The article picks deep at the character development of the blockbuster, comparing and contrasting this film to the TV series and other Star Trek films. Characters and plots aside, the evidence of TV and film convergence is in the continuation of franchises like “Star Trek.”

Click [|here] to see what else J.J. Abrams is involved in. I chose this video to represent a director who is cross-platform, producing TV, low budget and blockbuster films. He is a major player in today’s convergence of TV and film.

Paranormal Activity Turning a Paranormal Profit - Taylor Duscha
As filmmaking technology has improved and expanded over the years, so too have the budgets for big Hollywood pictures. It is now commonplace for a studio to spend upwards of 100 million dollars on films with big name stars or that they believe will be successful with movie audiences. Films have not necessarily become better films, but just flashier and more expensive.

With all of these flashy, mediocre films constantly bombarding movie audiences, it is refreshing to see a low budget film succeed against the larger films in the box-office. Such is the case with Paranormal Activity.

With no large Hollywood budget to turn to, Oren Peli funded the entire film on his own. “He shot the film in his home in seven days, for a cost he estimates at $10,000…the two unknowns who played Katie and Micah, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat were each paid $500” (Wadler, 2009, p. 1). The film then went on to gross more than $61,580,588 in the US box offices.

In “An Introduction to Mass Communication” Stanley Baran discusses the technological changes that have occurred in the film industry and how the changes have made it easier for low budget film directors to produce and distribute films.

The availability of newer, cheaper, film making technology allows for new artists to produce their own projects without the interference of large studios that could play a detrimental role in the creative process.

It is important that these films continue to be possible because it allows for more creative, independent films to be produced and distributed on a national scale. It also allows them to compete against mediocre high budget films, and offer audiences a much-needed relief from such films at the theatres today.

=No Angel - Mae West = = =

The author of this article, Richard Schickel, takes Mae West apart when it comes to her career in film. Although it states that she had a short film career, it seems as if she left her mark when it came to scandals in the industry. She began this scandalous attitude in her first writing which was called “Sex”. Because of this writing, she was charged in a morals charge in 1927 which she was made to serve 10 days on Welfare Island (Schickel, 2006, p. 1).

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Another reason the article stated in the reasons why her career in the industry decline so rapidly was because of the production code’s censors which began to enforce provisions more heavily. This was seen when Will Hay's helped establish the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. But despite this she still sang her racy songs and wiggled her hips when she danced; which all of this was seen as improper or scandalous for this time. But despite all of this, she could not bring her image together so in result her film career disappeared.  American movie business was born in 1896. Since it was a time where people lived simple lives, introducing any kind of change in their lives could be seen as wrong or even to the extent of scandalous. Because of the already established radio industry, “there were no precedents, no rules, and no expectations for movies” (Baron, 2010, p. 144). So when there was a kiss seen in the 1896 move take off of the Broadway show //The Widow Jones// it was seen as scandalous and was offensive to many viewers. This was a time that even public kissing was seen as indecent. In the 1920s films began depicting divorce, drugs and sex which got the attention of the government. This lead to “more than 100 separate pieces of legislature to censor otherwise control movies and their content” (Baron, 2010, p. 152). Her provocative style could have cost her career based on how people viewed the content of movies. The textbook stated that once the actor’s performance aesthetics improved it increased the number of those watching the films (Baran, 2010, p. 151). Not wanting to conform to the standards of time or improving her abilities hurt her career the most in the long run. = =

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