Moving Images, Understanding Media

176 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Media

primarily on their own exhibition circuit in segregated America. Micheaux

oversaw all aspects of production, including writing and directing, for a wide

variety of seriously themed, well regarded fi lms primarily made during the

1920s and 1930s, including Within Our Gates, Th e Symbol of the Unconquered,

and Ten Minutes to Live.

Studio Production in Hollywood and

Internationally

Th e Hollywood studio system typically imposed signifi cant constraints on

cinematic artists while off ering substantial technical and artistic resources.

Alfred Hitchcock was able to work within the studio system while establishing

a strong identity as a director. His movies, such as Notorious, from 1946, and

Rear Window, Vertigo, and North by Northwest from the 1950s, show us how

a director could establish a unique and recognizable visual and thematic

style. Hitchcock’s fi lms consistently established narratives that capitalized on

the perspective and editing of cinema to engage, enthrall, and provoke the

viewer. Many other directors—such as Howard Hawks and John Ford—were

able to work within the studio system and create motion pictures that display

distinctly unique visions and mastery of visual storytelling.

Figure 5-7 Oscar Micheaux,

writer and director of dozens

of feature fi lms. (Courtesy

Photofest)

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