186 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Mediaactivities and promotion. Millions of people are generating, manipulating,
and utilizing motion pictures every day.
In these early years of the cinema, the struggle between creative expression
and fi nancial pressures began to develop. Th is was not a new story: the history
of the practice of creative arts is consistently balanced between the actual
creation of novels, poetry, paintings, and other works, and the need to earn
a living and receive just compensation for one’s work. While the studios
recognized the need to create works that attracted the public through new, fresh
concepts and high production values, they were also led by businesspeople
who were primarily interested in attracting the largest possible audience into
the theater. Th us, artistic choices were constantly weighed against perceived
tastes and reactions to motion pictures, and the concept of previewing and
using test audiences became a standard step in the process leading up to
fi lm distribution.Motion Picture Economics
Th e tension between independent creative expression and economic pressures
has been at the core of fi lmmaking throughout its history. As a creative medium
dependent on signifi cant technological apparatus, laboratory processes, and
additional costs for distribution, fi lmmaking was an entrepreneurial venture
from its inception. Th e necessity to develop proper fi nancial outlets for motion
picture distribution quickly emerged, and competition between producers
was present within the fi rst decade.
Th is was only exacerbated by the battles over copyrights and litigation
concerning motion picture systems, particularly instigated by Th omas Edison.
Th e Trust, a monopolistic association of fi lm companies founded in 1908
by Edison and several competitors, hired enforcers to stop independent
productions. As director Allan Dwan explained, “Th ey found that by shooting
holes through the camera, they could stop their use and that became their
favorite method.”
With the triumph of the studio system, two seemingly opposing forces
were readily apparent: the desire to create motion pictures that demonstrate
originality and authenticity versus the directive to conform to perceived
popular tastes and to produce a conventional product. Th ese two values,
and the infi nite nuances between the two poles, generate a great deal of the
dynamic in fi lm production. Much of the history of fi lm production and
many of its human confl icts and dramas revolve around the tension between
these forces.
When you study the movies made within the studio system, you will see
many examples of both tendencies. Certain fi lmmakers developed distinguished
bodies of work and were able to fl ourish within the studio system. Studios
benefi ted from the creations of artistically celebrated directors and could use
this to promote their product, as with Fox studios in the 1920s with their
amazing lineup of John Ford, Frank Borzage, F.W. Murnau, Raoul Walsh,
and Howard Hawks. On the other hand, many writers, directors, and otherVIEWFINDER
“.. .fi lm is not about rules
and structures, but the
human condition.”–Yasmin Ahmad–
Malaysian commercial director
of over 50 international ads;
director of such features as
Sepet (2004), Gubra (2006), and
Ta l e n t i m e (2009)Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).