Film History again? Yes! Exam? Yes! Love
Thomas Edison
The Lumiere Bros.
Georges Melies
Post 1900
Things get more interesting
Edison’s company was making some movies and who was showing the movies?
Many people who owned shops and wanted to maximize the amount of use they got out of the buildings they were renting – many of these shopkeepers were Jewish immigrants – they were almost all from Europe, specifically Germany, Russia, Hungary, etc
These movies were low class in appearance, in exhibition, and in the way people thought about them – were they low class? No – it was just a public attitude held by upper class, white, Anglos
- these Jewish men started needing more and more movies
- because they wanted more audience, and more money, so they needed more product – what happened? They started focusing more on movies and less on their shops – why? Movies were making big money – lots and lots of nickels (their “theatres” were eventually called nickelodeons)
We start to see a group of people who ONLY make movies – professional filmmakers – what does this mean? It means movies get better and better after 1900
One of the early filmmakers in the US who was really important was Edwin S. Porter
Directed Life of An American Fireman 1903
- one of the first North American movies to tell a story
- had parallel action (two stories going on at the same time)
- action, a rescue, drama
- smoke effects, outdoor shot, etc
- this was a real big step towards modern movies
- NOTE: the acting in these old original movies is very much exaggerated because they had to really push their feelings because the movies were silent and didn’t yet have close ups
- This is also before movie stars, which is funny – the actors were just people who were around or related to the filmmakers
The Great Train Robbery – 1903
- also Edwin Porter
- first Western, first action/crime movie
- gunplay, explosion effects, fight scenes,
- he had some moving camera (pan, tilt)
- he coloured on the film to show colour in the B&W movie, which is creative
- KEY – he was thinking about the audience’s response – he was going to impact on the viewer, which is very American to this day – the last shot is really interesting – a bad guy shoots into the camera – it is there ONLY to effect the viewer – to scare those early audience members
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After these years, movies get more and more popular with common folk – cheap, you can watch all day off one ticket price, and the movies were new, so they were really exciting
Problem – Edison is still taking his cut off every single movie made – he owns the patent for everything and he is strongarming everyone – remember, he is also anti-Semitic – he’s not a big fan of the Jewish guys and doesn’t care if they don’t like his greedy ways
A Strange Situation
- a few filmmakers start to move away from Edison and his thugs and they end up about as far away as you can get and still be in the US – they end up in Los Angeles
- at this time, LA is a small city, a rural area, farms, orange trees, cowboys, Latinos, and old school ranchers.
- The film people show up there for a few different reasons, BUT they stay and gather there for other reasons
1. Diverse terrain and landscapes for all kinds of different movies and locations – ocean, beach, desert, foothills, woods, mountains, snow
2. Temperature is always nice – cool at night, warm in the day ALL THE TIME – they made those old movies outside or in roofless sets, so they NEEDED sunlight and nice weather – LA is always sunny and nice (almost)
3. Escape from Edison Thugs – Edison literally hired thugs and private detectives to shake down rogue moviemakers who weren’t paying his group – this is pretty rough and people didn’t want to pay this owly old racist
4. Land was cheap and available and everywhere – when these New York area people get to LA, they say “Wow!” it is so open and roomy and you can get a house and land and a yard and a garden and a quality of life –you can also get space and land for a movie set or a little studio
Interesting Tidbit – the first studio in LA was a barn rented to hold the gear while a Western movie was being made
It was out at Hollywood Farm.
5. The Jewish men who were now making big bucks showing movies were trapped in a situation in New York where they were being judged by people who expected them to live the way they were “supposed to” – ie Jews lived in X part of New York and had X and Y for their jobs and that’s the way it is
- out in LA these men could start fresh and be whatever they wanted – they had money now and could buy land (which they couldn’t in NY) and they could literally run their own towns
EG – a man named Carl Laemmle set up his family and his workers in an area, and built a town called Universal City
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