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.