Moving Images, Understanding Media

170 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Media

and editing, the communicative and artistic potential of motion pictures

began to emerge.

By the 1920s, a number of tendencies could be seen in motion picture

production. In the United States, moviemaking studios had developed systems

of production that followed an industrial model. Th e simple outfi ts that

churned out early silent movies evolved into highly structured businesses that

organized the fi lmmaking process into a series of units. Diff erent personnel

would be responsible for a particular aspect of pre-production, production, or

post-production. Th ese studios fi nanced and executed the making of motion

pictures and then distributed them across the country and internationally.

During this time, these fi lm studios oft en also controlled distribution

through the ownership of theater chains, but this practice was later deemed

monopolistic and was curtailed by the legal system.

The Industrial Model

Th e studios sought to organize fi lm production following examples seen

in the industrial world. Companies such as MGM, Paramount, Twentieth

Century-Fox, Warner Brothers, Columbia, and Universal also eff ectively

“owned” the careers of the people who worked on the production of their

fi lms. Typically, production heads oversaw the selection and development of

projects, and many aspects of creative control were kept from the personnel

most responsible for the artistic decisions during the making of motion pictures,

particularly writers, directors, and editors. In Europe, although there were

major production studios as well, many fi lmmakers sought outside fi nancing

to develop individual projects or they nurtured personal initiatives with a

small production team. Production personnel oft en worked as independent

professionals hired for a particular project.

During the 1960s in the United States, the studio system that controlled

company personnel and most aspects of production began to collapse. Shift s

in production organization were paralleled by major changes in fi lmmaking

content and styles. Th ese transformations in the motion picture world can be

seen in many movies of the late 1960s and 1970s and refl ect the cultural and

societal upheavals across the globe during that time. Film studios began to

drop their in-house production lines and started to supervise the development

of motion pictures in a way in which producers managed individual projects

in a more independent fashion, although executives continued to retain

control over fi nal cuts of movies as a standard procedure.

Today, when writers and directors have an original idea for a motion picture,

they will oft en seek out funding from studios or independent producers. To

do this, they will set up pitch meetings to convince investors of the interest

of their project. Th ose doing the pitch need to convey the original idea’s

audience appeal, unique elements, and box offi ce potential. A pitch is one

of the most common forms of salesmanship in motion picture development,

and it has similar roots in the history of entrepreneurial investment, in which

a businessperson seeks funding for a new project or product.

VIEWFINDER

“I think the most

important link between

acting, directing, and

writing is the rhythm.”

–Agnès Jaoui–

French director, writer, and

actress whose fi lms include Th e

Taste of Others (2000), Look

at Me (2004), and Let it Rain

(2008)

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