Blog # 10---Option 1

In my opinion, independent film makers have really helped the American film industry. The Hollywood studio has so many rules that the themes end up being about the same. The "Indies" have the power to do whatever they want and come up with crazy themes that they think will be successful. It brings more variety to the American film industry. It also gave film directors and producers that didn't have much money the chance to show their work due to how cheap they were to make. The "Indies" aren't really financially supported so it makes it rough for them to make films.

Independent filmmakers around the world have created a diverse range of film making styles that symbolize their own unique cultures and subcultures such as experimental film and underground film. Some independent filmmakers use digital video techniques. While most of the US film industry is located in Los Angeles, one-third of all independent films in the US are produced in New York City. While Hollywood sold films that were safe, escapist and mega-expensive, independents were the opposite. Now a days, it's easier to make independent films because of all the computer software available and how great the digital camcorders work. They have such nice picture quality to them. Independent films have believable plot lines and realistic characters, and they often delve into the darker side of life that the studios would not touch.

Independent movie-making has resulted in the proliferation and repopularization of short films and short film festivals. Full-length films are often showcased at film festivals such as Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival, the Slamdance Film Festival, the South By Southwest film festival, the UK's Raindance Film Festival, or the Cannes Film Festival. Award winners from these exhibitions often get picked up for distribution by major film studios, and go on to worldwide releases.

It wasn't until the 90s that Miramax changed other studios minds. They started buy "Indies" and were making profit. Small budget films such as Sex, Lies and Videotape, Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting helped change people’s attitudes toward independent film. Compared to the studio pictures, indies were made for very little money, relatively quickly and with first time directors and screenwriters. Independent films began grossing hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, and the studios began to pay attention. Independent film directors are very passionate about their films and will do almost anything to get them produced. Now that the studios have their fingers in the financing of many indie films, it seems that creativeness may have been stifled. Studios cut, re shoot and change the endings of many indie films in order to make them more palatable to a mainstream audience.

Blog # 9---Option 1

The major directors from the film school generation are Martin Scorseses, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas. They were all considered "Movie Brats" of the 1970s. Scorseses has a reputation of being one of the leading filmmakers of his generation. He has a style of his own. He went to NYU Film School. He grew up in New York so he likes to make it the background of a lot of his movies and he does a great job doing it. He did this in the movie Taxi Driver. In this movie he used jump cuts, expressionist lighting, point of view shots, and slow motion to reflect the protagonist's heightened psychological awareness. After Taxi Driver, he made Raging Bull in 1980 which stared Robert De Niro as well. This movie was named best Film of the Decade by numerous magazines and critics' polls. This movie received 8 academy award nominations. Different from his previous movies he used employing extensive slow-motion, complex tracking shots, and extravagant distortion of perspective. He used things such as jump cuts, expressionist lighting, point of view shots A lot of his films had insecure males, violence, guilt, and redemption in them. Some other films he directed are Goodfellas, New York, New York, The King of Comedy, After Hours, Gangs of New York, and the Aviator.
Francis Ford Coppola went to film school at UCLA. His first notable film was low-budget Dementia 13. He also directed Patton which won him an academy award. What really made him though was the production of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. This was the first sequel to both win Academy Award for Best Picture. He also filmed Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, Peggy Sue Got Married, The Godfather Part III, and Marie Antoinette. He also founded the American Zoetrope studio. This would be a studio where you could do what you wanted and have no one telling you anything. It was away from the Hollywood Studio rules. Now his children own it.
George Lucas went to USC for film school. His huge success came from American Graffiti and Star Wars. Star Wars turned out to be one of the most successful films of all time. In 2005 Forbes.com estimated the lifetime revenue generated by the Star Wars franchise at nearly $20 billion. With the money he earned he opened Lucasfilm. The sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm, respectively, have become among the most respected firms in their fields. Lucasfilm Games, later renamed to LucasArts, is highly regarded in the gaming industry. Lucas and Spielberg worked together a lot on films most notably the Indiana Jones Trilogy.
These men were all great directors. I think people just loved all of the action in their films. Almost all of their films are non stop action. They all made a lot of money and had a lot of success.

Blog # 8

The war film is a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. Sometimes they focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles. Their stories may be fiction, based on history, docudrama or occasionally biographical. When women aren't in war films, there is a totally different set of sexual dynamics. But women do have bigger roles in some of the war films.

A war film is usually dominated by males almost looking like a male world. When a women does enter a war film, she is usually just an object of want and desire. It is also almost always at least two or more men that want her and it usually ends in a fight. They don't seem to argue over the sexual competition but rather exchange while enjoying a homosocial relationship. Some of the war films that show this are What Price of Glory?, Hot Shots!, and Casualties of War.

Another thing that women do by being in a war film is that they pose threats to the men. Just having a wife on the screen, introduces an emotional element that is usually realized in terms of the man's essential vulnerability. Some examples of this are Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and Air Force. There are very emotional farewells and it brings more emotion into the plot of film.

The biggest reason why women are in war films would have to be that they draw a whole new audience. Most women are not into just men war films. When you bring a woman into the film, it's not just a war film but its a love story at the same time. This makes the film more feminine and brings more interest and attention the women.

Blog # 7---Option 3

Slapstick comedy is a special type of comedy that involves a lot of action and activities even to the point of exaggerated physical violence. Some of the actions are pratfalls, throwing custard pies, and a character hitting someone else in the head with a frying pan. The term slapstick refers to the flat stick clowns used to hit one another in the more physical forms of theatrical pantomine. The beginning of slapstick comedy was during the Renaissance and was at least somewhat present in almost all comedic genres since the rejuvenation of theatre in church liturgical dramas in the middle ages. They would beat the devil off the stage in religious plays. There is also slapstick comedy in Shakespeare plays. Even though it was popular in the 19th and 20th centuries, it gained even more popularity in the Golden Era of black and white, silent films. Some of the major directors of it were Mack Sennett and Hal Roach. They had great actors such as Buster Keaton, Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Marx Brothers, Keystone Kops, and the Three Stooges. Today, there is slapstick comedies in the cartoons we watch, such as Tom and Jerry and Looney Toons.

Charles Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities in the silent film era. He acted in, directed, scripted, produced, and eventually scored his own films. He was known as a tramp, a vagrant with the refined manners and dignity of a gentleman who wears a tight coat, over sized trousers and shoes, a bowler hat, carries a bamboo cane, and has a signature toothbrush moustache. His character was based on an archetype American hobo. He couldn't settle down or hold a job due to the fact that he loved change and moving around. Some of the best work he is known for takes place with machines such as a revolving door, escalator, or a folding Murphy bed. He rejected the modern world. The Circus is one of Chaplin's famous films.

Buster Keaton was a popular and influential American silent film comic actor and filmmaker. His trademark was physical comedy with a stoic, deadpan expression on his face, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face."Unlike Chaplin, he embraced the modern world. He also relied on uniquely American virtues of common sense, ingenuity, and know-how. He adapted himself to whatever the world around him did. This enabled him to move with modern times. Keaton's character was more middle class based. Some of his famous films are Seven Chances, The Navigator, and Sherlock Jr.

Harold Lloyd also played a middle class character.He was an American film actor and director, most famous for his silent comedies. The difference between him and Keaton though, was that Lloyd was worried about his status in the community and had to impress those around him. He had an obsession with success. He is best known for his "Glasses Character", a resourceful, success-seeking go-getter who was perfectly in tune with 1920s era America. Some of his famous films are The Freshman, Safety Last, and Mad Wednesday.

I would say that slapstick comedy was such a success because even the lower and middle class people could really relate to it. Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd were acted like just regular guys and they were funny. The lower and middle class people needed a laugh once in a while so the slapstick comedy became very popular. Most people enjoy seeing silly comedy where people are violently getting hurt but there's no blood or pain. They just get right back up and do another joke.

Blog # 6---Option 2

The similarity between westerns and science fiction films are striking. You can see the obvious attempts of Hollywood to suck in every possible demographic. After taking a more serious look at the two I have noticed that to me it seems as though there is a great difference between the audiences for a good hearted sci-fi and a cold hearted sci-fi such as Alien. Star Wars had a much wider base in age confirming the direct correlation between westerns and sci-fi. Before sci-fi people in the states used to watch westerns which had action, love, and always ended with a horse ride in the sunset. People had a fear of technology and the future. However, when America needed a thrust in technology to keep up with the Russians it produced a couple of generations of people not afraid of technology and these people needed entertainment that they were not getting from westerns.
Hollywood obliged with the sci-fi. At first the films were scary and unappealing to much of America except for the kids. Hollywood had to do something to please the masses so it started to incorporate western themes and icons into the new sci-fi films that it was creating to bridge the gap and it worked. Films such as star wars and close encounters were box office smashes for their time. Planet of the Apes was an even earlier movie that had a lot of western ties. The apes rode horses and carried rifles, the backdrop of the forbidden zone was a desolate desert wasteland. The apes also lived in dwellings which were similar to Indian adobes. Star Wars had the sand people which were treated as and were savages. In a later Star Wars movie Anikin Walkers mother is killed by sand people and he proceeds to slaughter them. The sand people lived in caves in a desert region of the planet much like some native Americans used to.
I think the image of the native American in the westerns although mostly savage, was more romantic than the image displayed today. When I think of an “Indian” today, I think of a casino owner. This is the new stereo-type presented by Hollywood and TV. Also in Star Wars Han Solo was a cowboy. He rode around the universe smuggling and being chased by bounty-hunters. He had a today’s “me” attitude, but was as John Wayne as anybody when it came to rescuing the princess. In closing I think I have shown how there is a link between the two genres.

Blog # 5---Option 3

Typecasting is when a particular actor/actress gets put into a category of playing the same types of characters even though they are moving on to different films. In most peoples eyes this is seen as negative, but some actors/actress’ like the steady work that it brings them. Others become typecast because they are not talented enough to play in other types of movies. For characters that want to move on, sometimes they have a hard time, maybe even impossible getting the roles of other characters because they already have the typecast. Some examples of this are, Charles Chaplin being identified with the Tramp, Sean Connery and Roger Moore with James Bond, William Shatner with Capt. James Kirk, and Sylvester Stallone with Rocky Balboa and John Rambo.
An actor may also be typecast by playing the same kind of role in all their film. Humphry Bogart hard-boiled, antiauthoritarian, romantically vulnerable tough guys. Everyone also looked at Marilyn Monroe as a gold digger or dumb blond because those were always the role she played in her films.
Many actors try to “play against the type” by making sure they choose to play different roles from their previous films. They do this to prevent getting the typecast. An example of this would be Tom Hanks. He had the “nice guy” image and then played a gangster in Road to Perdition. Being that Robin Williams is a comedy actor, he accepts many dramatic roles. Some actors even turn down good movies that will be hits and that they would like to do just to prevent typecasting.
On the other hand, some actors don’t mind the typecast. This usually occurs in action movies and comedies. Actors like Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, and Adam Sandler. Although Sandler has been playing other roles in serious movies and doing a very good job. An example would be Click.
I would say that typecasting is harmful and helpful. It can be harmful because when actors do want to move on, sometimes they can’t find another acting job because the producer knows they are typecast and thinks it wont work. An example of this would be the main characters from Seinfeld. They all have the typecast from the sitcom and have had a hard time getting new roles since the show ended. At the same time. I think that typecasting can be helpful if the actors enjoys playing the same roles over and over again. It seems to give them steady work. This would be the actors like Jackie Chan and Adam Sandler. They play the same role in almost all of their movies and people love them. If we know Adam Sandler is in it, more than likely it will be funny so we want to go see it. They become more popular in my eyes. I think it just really depends on the actor and if they are capable of not getting the audience bored.

Blog # 4---Option 3

There were many different Hollywood studios that produced a variety of movies. Studios had their own personality and it became able to tell what studio produced certain movies juts by what type of movie they were. A lot of actors were contracted with the same studio for large portions of their career which made it easier to make the same type of movies for one studio. Some the popular studios were M-G-M, Paramount, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and RKO. Their golden ages were from the 1930’s until about the 1950’s.
M-G-M had a huge amount of stars working for them. Some of the actresses that dominated the screen for them were Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Louise Rainer, Myrna Loy, and Greer Garson. They brought sincerity, refinement, and sophistication to their screen roles (p.78 Belton). They had a polish and gloss image although they had earlier actresses such as Marie Dressler and Lassie which was more earthly. Some of the movies that M-G-M produced are, Tod Browning’s Freaks. The Marx Brothers made sober, restrained, and calculated comedies for M-G-M such as
A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, and Room Service.
Paramount’s leading actresses were Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Claudette Colbert, and Carole Lombard. These ladies combined sexual savoir-faire with tongue-in-cheek wit. The Marx Brothers also made pretension-deflating comedies for paramount such as Animal Carackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and Duck Soup. Paramount also had a deft European style in the subtle ironies of Ernst Lubitche’s comedies, including The Love Parade, Monte Carlo, trouble in Paradise, and Design for Living. That style was also in the exotic erotic fantasies produced by Josef von Sternberg in movies such as Morocco, Shanghai Express, and The Scarlet Empress.
Warner Brothers was considered to be the working man’s studio. The photographic style was more hasty and rough looking to look more realistic. Their specialty was gangster films such as Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, The Petrified Forest, and The Roaring Twenties. Some of the major stars in them were James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and Humphrey Bogart. These men were categorized as the tough-guy. Some of the other movies that Warner Brothers produced are Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, I Was a Fugitive from the Chain Gang, Wild Boys of the Road, and Confessions of a Nazi Spy. Most of those were threw at the lower class though. Some of Warner Brothers actresses were Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan, and Lauren Bacall. These women played parts such as the girl-next-door, gold diggers, molls, and down-to-earth dames that even traded wisecracks with men and were still feminine. Warner’s audience tended to be urban, blue-collar workers and shop girls.
20th Century Fox targeted the opposite audience as Warner Brothers. Their audience was rural. It was run by an Irish Catholic former cop named Winfield Sheehan and then a Methodist named Darryl Zanuck took over. It was the only studio that wasn’t owned or operated by Jews. Some of Fox’s major stars were Will Rogers, Stepin Fetchit, Shirley temple, Henry Fonda, Tyrone Power, Betty Garble, Marilyn Monroe and Don Ameche. Zanuck discovered that the audience liked films with a certain social consciousness. Therefore films like Gentleman’s Agreement (staring Gregory Peck), The Grapes of Wrath (produced by John Steinbeck), Tobacco Road (produced by Erskine Caldwell), The Ox-Bow Incident, Boomerang, The Snake Pit, and Pinky. Fox’s biggest hit was Star Wars in 1977.
RKO did not just stick to one type of film, their films ranged from King Kong to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals and Citizen Kane. RKO had many different Heads of productions. They had David Selznick whom produced What Price Hollywood? and Bill of divorcement; Merian C. Cooper whom produced The Lost Patrol; George Schafer whom produced Abe Lincoln in Illinois and Citizen Kane; Charles Koerner whom produced The Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Spiral Staircase; Dore Schary (supervisor) of Crossfire, Out of the Past, and They Live by Night; and last but not least, Howard Hughes that produced I Married a Communist, Vendetta, and Jet Pilot. Some of the directors for RKO were John Ford, George Stevens, Robert Siodmak, and Jacques Tourneur. Some of the stars for RKO were Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Robert Mitchum. Even though RKO had all those people, they still lacked the thematic and stylistic consistency that other majors enjoyed. During RKO’s golden age, they had Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, William Powell, Claudette Colbert, Alan Ladd, and Marlene Dietrich.