Moving Images, Understanding Media

Chapter 5 Personal Expression and Studio Production 171

By the middle of the twentieth century, equipment and materials were

developed and made available so that consumers could also create motion

pictures for personal use. Although professional moviemaking tools and

methods remained almost completely separate from those of amateurs for

most of fi lm history, the development of more inexpensive cameras and

more widely available fi lm stocks and other recording media allowed more

widespread creation of motion pictures by small-scale outfi ts, independent

collectives, and individual artists. Associated shift s in production have been

taking place ever since and have accelerated extensively with the advent and

rapid growth of digital media.

Reaching the Audience

Th e conditions of production have been the most central factor of the creation

of motion pictures since the birth of the cinema. Th e next step in the complete

chain of motion picture creation is the point at which a movie reaches an

audience. Th e ability of a movie to reach an audience is fundamental to its

existence, and the capacity of moviemakers to access viewers stems from

their power to assure widespread distribution of their feature fi lm, short,

commercial, or other type of motion picture.

At fi rst, motion pictures were briefl y seen in Nickelodeons and soon

aft er in movie theaters. Cinemas then became the exclusive site for the

experience of viewing motion pictures for nearly half a century. At the core

of the development of fi lm studios was the building and running of movie

theaters across the country and the world as well as the creation of systems

for printing and shipping reels of fi lm to exacting deadlines. As you learned

during the discussion of the integration of sound, the infrastructure of fi lm

distribution and the relationships of fi lm producers with projection venues

Figure 5-3 Tim Robbins

plays studio executive Griffi n

Mill in The Player, a satire on

the Hollywood studio system

written by Michael Tolkin and

directed by Robert Altman.

(Courtesy Fine Line Features/

Photofest)

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