Discussion: Historical Changes In Film

Discussion: Historical Changes In Film

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Resource: Ch. 12 of Film Art: An Introduction.

Write a 550- to 750-word paper that examines global historical changes in film. As part of your examination, select one of the following alternative movements to American cinema:

• German Expressionism
• French Impressionism and Surrealism
• Soviet Montage
• Italian Neorealism
• The French New Wave
• Hong Kong Cinema

Discuss how the alternative cinema was affected by photography, film, form, style, special effects, and fictional narrative historically.

Describe how your selected alternative movement affected the film industry. Be sure to discuss how it differed from American cinema during the same period.

Although the start of the history of film is not clearly defined, the commercial, public screening of ten of ‘ short films in Paris on 28 December 1895 can be regarded as the breakthrough of projected  motion pictures. There had been earlier cinematographic results and screenings but these lacked either the quality or the momentum that propelled the cinématographe Lumière into a worldwide success.

Soon  and studios were established all over the world. The first decade of motion picture saw film moving from a novelty to an established mass entertainment industry.

The earliest films were in black and white, under a minute long, without recorded sound and consisted of a single shot from a steady camera.

Conventions towards a general cinematic language developed over the years with the use of several shots (mostly through ), continuity between shots, camera movements (, , ), , field size ( to extreme ) and other  all contributing specific roles in the  of films.

 became a feature in movies since the late 1890s, popularized by ‘ fantasy films. Many effects were impossible or impractical to perform in theater plays and thus added more magic to the experience of movies.

Technical improvements added length (reaching 60 minutes for a  in 1906), synchronized sound recording (mainstream since the end of the 1920s), color (mainstream since the 1930s) and 3D (mainstream in theaters since the first decade of the 21st century). Sound ended the necessity of interruptions of , revolutionized the narrative possibilities for filmmakers, and became an integral part of moviemaking.

Different  emerged and enjoyed variable degrees of success over time, with huge differences between for instance  (mainstream since the 1890s),  (prevalent in U.S. cinemas between the 1910s and the late 1960s),  (mainstream since the late 1920s) and  (experiencing a  during the 1970s).

The popularity of  seemed to form a threat to cinemas in the 1950s (at least in the U.S. and other western countries), which resulted in attempts to make theatrical films more attractive with technological innovations. New  formats enticed filmmakers to create more epic films and spectacles that looked better on a big screen than on television. 3D films experienced a short  from 1952 to 1954. Television also opened up a new market for filmmakers, introducing new possibilities that led to new genres, especially in serialized form.

Since the 1950s  became a viable, cheaper alternative to film, with direct results, forming a more accessible moving image medium for many more artists and amateurs to experiment with. This led to the emergence of  in the late 1960s and to much more  being made.

By the 1980s  had opened a big market for films that already had their theatrical run, giving people easier access to titles of their choice in .  (niche) markets usually offered lower quality, cheap productions that were not deemed very suitable for the general audiences of television and theatrical releases.

Improving over time, digital production methods became more and more popular during the 1990s, resulting in increasingly realistic  and popular feature-length .

Since the late 2000s  platforms like  provided means for anyone with access to internet and cameras (a standard feature of ) to publish videos to the world. Also competing with the increasing popularity of  and other forms of ^[], the industry once again started to make theatrical releases more attractive with new 3D technologies and epic (fantasy and superhero) films became a mainstay in cinemas.