Moving Images, Understanding Media

Chapter 5 Personal Expression and Studio Production 173

Films in the early 2000s that have reached wide audiences in unique ways

include Donnie Darko, Juno, and Paranormal Activity.

Evolving Media

At the midpoint of the twentieth century, the development of a new mode

of widespread diff usion of moving images off ered a major new media outlet:

television. As we discussed in the last unit, this presented new possibilities

for motion pictures while posing a challenge to the business practices and

prospects of fi lm production for the big screen. Television prompted new

types of formats and uses of motion pictures, such as recurring dramatic

shows that evolved from the serial format. Moreover, one of television’s most

revolutionary developments would have an enormous impact on future

societies across the world: the commercial.

Yet again, economics and motion picture production were completely

intertwined. Advertising became the key fi nancial support to the new medium

of television, and commercials developed their own traditions of visual impact,

narrative, thematic eff ect, and social commentary in the world of the moving

image. Concurrently during the 1950s, there was tremendous growth in new

motion picture formats outside of the traditional shorts, feature fi lms, and

newsreel images of the movie theater. Industrial shorts and educational fi lms

began to be an important source of motion picture production.

Within the past few decades, recorded media have allowed viewers to

watch personal copies of motion pictures, fi rst on magnetic tape videocassettes,

then on digital discs, and fi nally on digitized fi les read and shown through

computer programs. Th ese media sources have in turn opened up new viewing

Figure 5-5 Megan Fox (as

Carla) and Lindsay Lohan

(as Lola) in a video-game

dance off from Confessions

of a Teenage Drama Queen,

directed by Sara Sugarman.

(Courtesy Disney/Photofest)

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