Take Two: Hollywoodland

There are so many ways in which one can first approach the topic of film. You can start from the technical details of when and how the first motion picture was filmed or maybe go into depth of the first filmmakers. I debated on how to approach this post but nothing set in my mind until I started thinking about Hollywood. So why not start with the history of American cinema?

To begin I’d like to mention a brief history of motion pictures in a more technical aspect. We first come significantly acquainted with motion pictures in 1872. Eadweard Muybridge, an English photographer, decided to fix a row of cameras and quickly take pictures of a galloping horse. As the horse passed the cameras he had placed on the side of the track, Muybridge used a thread to trigger the shutter of the camera. He so happened to shot this horse in Palo Alto, CA so in a sense you can say this was the start of cinema in America. 

The Horse In Motion (1878) by Eadweard Muybridge

This event was a spark that ignited more people to try and invent such a device that would capture moving images. Thomas Edison was one of the first people who came up with such a device (kinetoscrope). And so with the emergence of these more enhanced cameras, came the start of Hollywood.

The years between 1917-1960 is known as the Golden Age of Hollywood. This time in Hollywood began right after the World War I and after the silent film era. The Jazz Singer was the first film in America to have sound.

Southern California is known for its constant beautiful warm sunny weather. So why not have it as the entertainment capitol of the world? That’s what filmmakers back in the early 20^th century thought as well. And thus Hollywood became the filmmaking hot spot.

Films during this Golden Age were distinguished by their stagnant styles. The styles of these films had to do with the story lines, themes and directing substance. The plot of these film consisted of a beginning, middle and end. And the storyline always had the main character undergo a series of struggles or obstacles that they had to overcome to achieve a certain goal. The main genres of the films were dramas.

The directors of this time in film had limited opportunities to explore different styles of directing. Films were usually shot with many medium and close ups shots. Which lets the audience see some of the scene’s background but its primary focus are the characters.

Hollywood became inhabited by major movie studios. The Big Five, as they are notably referred to as, were the top guns in the distributing of films. They consisted of: Warner Brothers, 20^th Century Fox, RKO Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). These studios had distinguished styles as well as actors who would only appear in their films. Clarke Gable one of the most famous actors of all time was MGM’s golden boy actor. These studios were nicknamed “The Big Five” for a reason for they were the studios making the most money. They owned most of the theaters, which left the other studios not in “The Big Five” not as successful. “The Big Five” also used tactics like block booking to up their revenue. Block booking was when these major studios made theaters play only the group of movies they wanted them to play. This tactic however was outlawed in 1948.

As I mentioned earlier, many directors were not very artsy with their directing and editing because of the certain style films at this time held. However, there were some directors in the classical Hollywood era that did stray from specific style of filmmaking. Alfred Hitchcock, for example, is most noted for some of his artsy scenes shown in his films like Pyscho. Hitchcock also drifted away from the a normal plot line by killing a main character in the middle of the film.

This time in cinema was a remarkable era. Many of the films made during The Golden Age Of Hollywood are now know as classics in American film. Not only that but they are referenced in other realms of pop culture endlessly.

Some films that I recommend you should watch if you're interested in seeing these works for yourself are:

• Casablanca (1942)
• Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Citizen Kane (1941)
• Psycho (1960)

“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.” – Marilyn Monroe