Classic Hollywood Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Classic Hollywood Cinema - Essay Example It is not only an entertainment zone of human stories, but it is also a source of investigating identities of individuals. Thus, along with holding the art of self-expression, films are a means of communicating social and developmental messages that combines film, culture, and technology (Adams 2001). With a huge economic potential working toward its advantage, the interest in films is growing at every level. Since the beginning of times, film industry has been constantly dominated by only a few countries. Where at one end American and European companies have held the dominant side, the developing countries have mostly revolved around the edges. Thus, the picture has been quite imbalanced. However, with the changes in the distribution, production, and exhibition in the technological arena, the picture seems to be changing. Statistics state that a figure of approximately US$75 billion makes up the global value of the film industry where the production and sale of DVDs bring in a total of US$55 billion along with spending on theatrical tickets amounting to $9 million. Statistics also state that globally, 4000 movies are made each year of which only 700 are created in the US. Apart from the production in the earlier mentioned country, India also stands as a major producer of films. In 2001, India produced a total of 1000 films whose motion picture industry is also known as Bollywood (U.K. Film Council 2002). With revenue of over 45 billion Rupees in its bucket, its sales are increasingly being aided by countries like the United Kingdom that sometimes add one third in the revenue. This allows for the industry to use more money in the production phase with high production budgets. Other than the Bollywood, Hollywood also is a major player that is leading the local films of countries like France and Italy (European Audiovisual Observatory 2003). The technological effect on the production, distribution, and exhibition phase of films can be better understood with a val ue chain for motion pictures. (Eliashberg, Leenders & Elberse, 2005) Over the years, there has been such major technological advancements that the scope of exhibition and distribution have expanded to a great extent (Sobol & Firmin, 2009). After the decade of 1950s, one of the most apparent advancements in technology gave way to increased use of television in the fields of both, production as well as exhibition. With the advancement of 1980s, the advent of cable, home videos, and satellites gave the life of theater a chance to breathe. After analyzing the current data, it can be confidently stated that intentionally or unintentionally, the movie makers aimed for the ‘shot for the box’ approach at that time (Bordwell, Ledoux & Dale). According to Derks, the era of 1980s was the era of high concept films that started as an extension of the previous decade. Cinematographers in this era belonged to such a school of thought that favored speed cutting and close ups as it was believed that it would keep the eyes of the audience glued to the screen (Bordwell, Ledoux & Dale). The concept of these films could be easily understood in a few words and thus were easy to understand as well as promote in the market. This concept was first originated by the producer Don Simpson, who, after exploiting the MTV concept with the film Flashdance from