(Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in the classic 1950 film noir, Sunset Boulevard.)
My daughter has been taking acting lessons at the L.A. Acting Studios in North Hollywood, California. She tells me it has been a fun experience and well worth her time and money.
The L.A. Acting Studios teaches on-camera acting using six fully functioning, professionally-designed sets. All teachers are Hollywood professionals who actively work in the industry. Students act out scenes in front of multiple cameras, directed by Director David Rountree. During the course of the classes, students play both leading and supportive roles, giving them a well-rounded experience. Students can download their filmed scenes for their own evaluation and use. If desired, the studio can make demo reels for students at an additional cost to send to agents, casting managers, and production companies.
Classes are kept affordable and small. Acting classes are offered for children and teens. Actor David Banks teaches the Commercial Acting Class.
How did Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 become a staple among Halloween favorites? After all, Bach lived 300 years ago and wrote high brow classical music during the high Baroque Period — not exactly popular music for pranksters and merry-makers. And yet, this organ masterpiece has become associated with Halloween as surely as dark, haunted mansions and creepy carved pumpkins.
Bach wrote it in two parts. The first part, the Toccata (from the Italian toccare, meaning “to touch”), was meant to show off the performer’s skill as a virtuoso organist, so it is characterized by many arpeggios (broken chords) and light-fingered gymnastics up and down the keyboard. The second part, the Fugue, uses repetition in various keys (“voices”) to highlight a central musical theme. A minor scale was used to give the piece a dark, ominous, foreboding, and dramatic tone. Organs have a deep, rich, and powerful quality, so writing such a magnificent piece for the organ (especially a large, full-bodied organ with pipes) was sheer genius.
Movie audiences were introduced to Bach’s piece in the opening scenes of the 1940 animated Disney classic, Fantasia. Instead of using the organ, however, conductor Leopold Stokowski arranged the piece into an orchestral number. But the music became associated with horror films when it was used in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), Gremlins2 (1990), and The Babadook (2014). And, truthfully, if you ask music lovers what images come into their minds while listening to Bach’s organ piece, many will tell you that they envision ghostly encounters in haunted houses, mist-covered cemeteries, scary pumpkins, mad organists in Gothic churches, and vampires and other creatures of the night.
But experience it for yourself!
(Organ version performed by Hannes Kastner)
(Orchestral version from the 1940 animated film, Fantasia, arranged and conducted by Leopold Stokowski)
Have a spooky day!
Dawn Pisturino
October 19, 2022
Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Before he became indelibly inked with the image of Dracula, Bela Lugosi worked as a theater actor in Hungary. He performed with various repertory companies from 1902 until 1913, when he was accepted into the National Theater in Budapest. He stayed with the company until 1919.
According to Lugosi, one of his most memorable and important roles was portraying Jesus Christ in the 1916 production of The Passion Play in Debrecen, Hungary. He was so taken with his resemblance to the traditional image of Christ that he had several photographs taken which still survive today.
In 1927, Lugosi appeared as Count Dracula in the Broadway production of Dracula. His performance and interpretation of the character were so captivating that he was hired to reprise the role in the 1931 Universal movie a few years later. The movie made him a star, and he was forever typecast as a horror icon, even though he would have preferred to move on to other roles.
Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 in Los Angeles, California and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. His iconic portrayal of Count Dracula lives on in the minds and hearts of all of his fans. Visit his official website: http://www.belalugosi.com.
Dawn Pisturino
April 11, 2022
Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Not only did John Ford film the 1956 movie, The Searchers, in brilliant Technicolor, but he filmed it in VistaVision, providing the audience with an enhanced widescreen visual experience.
Movies made in VistaVision were intended to be viewed in theaters with large screens, both in height and width. VistaVision technology created an “optical reduction from a large negative image to the standard release print image . . . [that improved] the front and side seat viewing” (American WideScreen Museum) in widescreen formats.
John Ford’s spectacular landscape shots of Monument Valley (cinematographer Winton C. Hoch) were perfect for both Technicolor and widescreen viewing. Here are some examples:
In this wide angle long shot, the audience sees the renegade Comanches attacking the search party from two sides and chasing them through the valley. The landscape is open and wide, giving the impression of an unlimited environment with no place to hide. Will the search party survive this attack?
In this long shot, the searchers forge ahead with the search for the lost child, Debbie, in spite of a desolate desert landscape, storms, and few provisions. It is a dramatic scene which highlights the grim determination of the men involved.
In the final long shot, John Wayne walks away, after reuniting Debbie with her adopted brother, in order to avoid being arrested for murder. He is framed in black, indicating that this is the end of the story, and he will probably never return. He is a loner who got his revenge, found personal redemption, and saved his family. He is the hero of the story— but he is also a broken man who does not fit into civilized society. He has not necessarily overcome his bitterness and racism. He merely decided that saving one of the last members of his family was more important than killing her.
If John Ford’s intention was to highlight spectacular landscapes and provide the audience with an incredible widescreen experience, Technicolor and VistaVision were the right film stock and technology to use.
But if it was his intention to tell a dramatic and tension-filled story, he might have done better to use black and white film stock. The bright colors and wide angle screen shots detract from the story. It is easy to get caught up in the visual spectacle and miss what’s happening in the story. Barsam and Monahan describe The Searchers as “a psychological western that is concerned less with the traditional western’s struggle between good and evil than with the lead character’s struggle against personal demons” (Barsam and Monahan 216). They conclude that the movie “might have been even more powerful shot in black and white instead of color. Doing so might have produced a visual mood, as in film noir, that complemented the darkness at the heart of the movie’s narrative” (Barsam and Monahan 216).
John Ford was not striving for accuracy and authenticity in The Searchers, and the use of color highlights the movie’s many flaws. Viewers in the 1950s were not as familiar with the Southwest as they are today. In 2017, John Ford could not get away with filming a western in Monument Valley (which is located in Northern Arizona and Utah), and slapping on an intertitle identifying the location as Texas. The viewers would not accept it. Neither would they accept a white actor with gray or hazel eyes masquerading as a full-blooded Comanche wearing all-too-bright red and yellow war paint. The women in Scar’s tribe of renegade Comanches are attired in traditional Navajo clothing – including John Wayne’s lost niece, Debbie (Natalie Wood). Today’s Navajos watch movies and would eagerly point out this historical inaccuracy. (Monument Valley is Navajo country, and it is obvious from the movie that Ford employed local natives to masquerade as Comanches. As part of my job, I worked with members of the Navajo, Hopi, and Apache tribes. I found the inaccuracies in The Searchers to be jarring, even though I first saw the movie on TV many years ago as a child.) Black and white film might have minimized the obvious flaws.
Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies, 5th ed. New York: Norton, 2016.
Ford, John, Dir. The Searchers. Perf. John Wayne. Warner Bros., 1956.
Ryder, Loren L. “The Story of VistaVision.” The American WideScreen Museum. 2006.
After World War II, Hollywood struggled to re-define itself. Box office revenues stagnated, and Hollywood needed new markets to keep going. The teenage market was an obvious choice.
Post-war prosperity in the 1950s made it possible for the middle-class to own houses, cars, and the latest work-saving appliances on a widespread scale. After the fear and deprivation of the war years, Americans wanted to enjoy their new-found prosperity. Television invaded American homes, bringing new entertainment and exposure to the latest products. The consumer economy had begun.
Teenagers had unprecedented pocket money and leisure time. While their parents climbed the social ladder and hung out with friends at the country club, teenagers necked in the back seats of cars and danced to the latest rock and roll tunes. Hollywood targeted teens to become the new movie-going generation (Lewis, 250, 255).
The upbeat world of the 1950s cringed under the shadow of nuclear war and an increasingly aggressive Soviet Union. Beatniks mourned the impending death of humanity in coffee houses and cafes. The McCarthy years dragged on, and the fear of Communism ran rampant throughout the country. At the same time, a new kind of socially-conscious movie was being made to highlight problems in American society (Lewis, 228). Juvenile delinquency became a hot topic.
Nicholas Ray’s 1955 movie, Rebel Without a Cause, explores the alienation and delinquency of “upper-middle-class white suburban teenagers” (Lewis, 253). The movie was filmed using Cinemascope widescreen technology and Warnercolor. Starring James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood, this tense melodrama was meant to serve as a wake-up call to parents: take care of your children, or they will go down the wrong path (Lewis, 253).
When the movie opens, it is Easter in Los Angeles, California, 1955. Jim Stark (James Dean) is lying on the pavement, drunk, playing with a mechanical monkey. It is a poignant scene that shows a lost character who is torn between childhood and adulthood.
Jim Stark is hauled off to jail and becomes aware of John/Plato (Sal Mineo) and Judy (Natalie Wood). The three troubled teens are required to speak to the juvenile officer, who tries to understand them.
Judy cries about her father, who pushed her away when she reached puberty, and complains that she feels unloved by him. She craves his attention, runs out of the house, and wanders around alone after dark when they get into a conflict over wearing make-up and grown up clothes. Judy is trying to grow up, but growing up means losing closeness with her father (fear of incest). She cannot understand why he is pushing her away because nobody has talked to her about it. Her anger and despair lead her to hang out with the tough high school gang, The Wheels, and the gang’s leader, Buzz.
John/Plato is an abandoned and neglected rich boy whose black maid is paid to raise him. It is his birthday, and he is angry because his parents are divorced, his father is not involved in his life, and his mother stays away on vacation. He has been picked up for shooting some puppies, a deviant behavior that is considered nowadays to be a precursor for sociopathic/psychopathic serial killers (Siegel, 353). Although his black maid appears to sincerely care for him, calling him “her boy,” she is powerless to help him. John/Plato appears to be emotionally unstable, starved for love, rejected by his peers, vulnerable and gullible, and physically and emotionally immature.
While waiting to see the juvenile officer, Jim Stark annoys the other police officers by wailing like a police siren, making obnoxious comments, and exhibiting a negative, sarcastic attitude. In one scene, a deep-focus camera shot captures the three troubled teens through windows: Judy sitting in the office with the juvenile officer; John/Plato waiting in the office next door; and Jim sitting on a chair in the background. The viewer understands that these three troubled teens will eventually get together, connected by their common suffering and antisocial behavior.
Jim’s mother and father show up at the police station wearing a mink coat and a tuxedo. They have been at a party at the country club. Jim’s father laughs and minimizes his son’s drinking. After all, the family has just moved to Los Angeles, and Jim has not made any friends yet. The parents bicker, blaming one another; and Jim’s father says to him, “Don’t I buy you everything you want?” Jim covers his ears and cries at his parents, “You’re tearing me apart!”
Jim loses control, punches the juvenile officer, and bangs on the desk. He is in danger of going to juvenile hall. His parents admit that they have been moving frequently because of Jim’s behavior in order to protect him and their own reputations. It becomes clear that Jim’s father is weak and cowardly. His mother is a nag.
On the first day of school, Jim is bullied for being the new kid. He tries to befriend Judy, but she smokes cigarettes and hangs out with the tough crowd. John/Plato looks up to Jim and tags along behind him, calling him “my best friend.” During the field trip at the Griffith Observatory, the teens are exposed to a presentation about the universe and a nihilistic commentary about the insignificance of earth and human beings. Jim and John/Plato can both identify with this.
Jim gets into a knife fight with Buzz, the leader of The Wheels. At the end of the fight, they agree to compete in a “chickie run.” Jim doesn’t know what this is, but he agrees to do it as a matter of honor. When he consults his father, his father cannot give him any worthwhile advice. Later that night, Buzz is killed when his jacket gets caught on the door, and he is unable to escape from the car. His car goes over a cliff, and all the members of the gang take off. Jim confesses to his parents what happened. His mother wants to move. His father tells him to keep quiet.
Jim wants to do the right thing and confess to the police. The police ignore him and tell him to go home. Gang members think he has squealed and go after him. A live chicken is hung up over the door of Jim’s house, scaring his parents. Jim and Judy hide out in an abandoned mansion. Parallel to this, the gang attacks John/Plato, and his black maid chases them off. In his mother’s room, he finds a child support check from his father, gets angry, grabs his mother’s gun, and takes off for the abandoned mansion.
At the mansion, the three teens pretend that they are a nuclear family, bemoan the presence of troublesome children (they should be drowned), and isolate themselves from reality. After John/Plato falls asleep, Judy and Jim go off by themselves. The gang shows up, and John/Plato goes nuts when he finds out that Jim and Judy have left him alone. He shoots one of the gang members. The police show up. John/Plato runs off to the nearby Griffith Observatory, and he shoots at the police. Jim and Judy get into the Observatory, take the bullets out of the gun, and escort John/Plato out of the Observatory. John/Plato does not realize the gun is empty and points it at the police. The police shoot and kill him.
At the end, Jim breaks down and cries “Help me!” His father finds renewed strength and courage and promises to be there for him, no matter what happens. Jim’s mother finds new respect for her husband. The family is saved.
The importance of a strong family and good communication are highlighted throughout the movie. No matter how much wealth a family has, wealth cannot give a child what it needs to be happy, secure, and well-grounded. Parents are responsible for raising good citizens who contribute to society. Nicholas Ray sent this message loud and clear when he made Rebel Without a Cause.
Dawn Pisturino
Thomas Edison State University
February 13, 2018
Copyright 2018-2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Works Cited
Lewis, Jon. American Cinema: A History. New York: Norton, 2008.
Ray, Nicholas, Dir. Rebel Without a Cause. Perf. James Dean. Warner Bros., 1955.
Siegel, Larry J. Criminology. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2012.
John Huston’s 1941 movie, The Maltese Falcon, is a film noir that borders on dark comedy. The opening music is melodramatic, dark, and foreboding. The story takes place in San Francisco, a romantic city with a wild and shady past. The movie is appropriately filmed in black and white, using chiaroscuro contrasts of deep shadows and bright light.
An attractive and distraught woman, Miss Wanderly (Mary Astor), seeks the help of hard-boiled and pessimistic Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) and his partner, Miles Archer, in finding her sister. This sister allegedly ran away from New York with a sinister man named Floyd Thursby.
Spade and Archer agree to help, and not long after, Archer is gunned down in the fog and the dark.
(Archer gets gunned down)
Two detectives visit Spade and question him. In this scene, the lighting causes the brims of their hats to cast shadows over their eyes, making the detectives appear dark, tough, suspicious, and corrupt. They imply that Spade (his name reflects darkness and corruption) has a shady past and they want to put him away. (“Spade” could also symbolize digging up the truth.) Spade’s face is in bright light as he defends his innocence.
(Spade and the two detectives)
Spade does not show any emotion over his partner’s death, and this makes him appear unfeeling, cold, and possibly, guilty. Soon after, Thursby is also shot down. This reinforces the detectives’ suspicions that Spade has something to do with the two murders. It would be natural for him to avenge his partner’s death, and the two detectives empathize with him.
We soon discover that Spade has been having an affair with Archer’s wife. She is far more glamorous than Miss Wanderly. Spade rejects her, especially when she accuses him of murdering her husband. This puts even more doubt in the mind of the viewer. Did Spade do it?
(Photo of Spade and Mrs. Archer)
Spade forces Miss Wanderly (Mary Astor) to confess her real name – which is Bridget – and the real story. (Who knows what’s real and not real or who’s lying and not lying?) She uses her sex appeal and plays the helpless victim, saying, “Can’t you shield me so I don’t have to answer their questions?”
(Spade and Bridget Wanderly)
Throughout the movie, Sam Spade keeps his back to the wall, implying paranoia and danger. He stays alert and pays attention. He is familiar with crooks and the underworld of crime. He expects people to lie and cheat.
Mr. Cairo (Peter Lorre), a short, well-dressed dandy with an exotic accent, approaches Spade and asks for his help in recovering a statuette of a black bird. He claims to know about Archer and Thursby and offers Spade $5,000.00. Spade knocks him out and searches him after Cairo pulls a gun on him. Cairo gets back his gun and holds Spade at gunpoint while he searches his office.
Spade laughs at Cairo (as he does at everyone throughout the movie). When he is free again, he discovers that he is being followed by “the boy.” He dodges him and goes to Bridget’s apartment. There, he tells her to knock off “the school girl manner.” She admits that she’s a very bad girl who’s done a lot of very bad things. Spade kisses her, playing along with her, and finds out that she knows Cairo. But she claims to be afraid of him and needs Spade’s help. They go to Spade’s apartment, and Archer’s wife sees them outside. They wait for Cairo, knowing that “the boy” is watching the apartment. The tension builds.
Throughout the movie, Spade laughs at all of them and tries to stay one step ahead of everybody. He is always bluffing, like an expert poker player, and taking chances. He plays one side against the other in order to dig up the truth and protect himself. Everybody is guilty of something, and nobody can be trusted. Every character – including Spade – is shady, pessimistic, comical, and greedy.
When Cairo comes to Spade’s apartment, it comes out that Floyd Thursby was working for the “Fat Man” (Sydney Greenstreet). A fight ensues. Bridget slaps Cairo (exerting her dominance) and Cairo pulls out his gun. Spade intervenes, saying, “When you’re slapped, you’ll take it and like it.” (Cairo looks weak and defenseless in comparison to Bridget and Spade). The detectives show up and accuse Spade of killing Archer over his wife.
(Bridget slaps Mr. Cairo)
Bridget and Cairo continue to fight, and Cairo cries for help (the emasculated man). Bridget kicks him in front of the cops, and they get hauled off for questioning.
Throughout the movie, Bridget flirts with Spade, trying to manipulate and distract him. He plays along with her, even letting her tell him she loves him. He finds out that Bridget and Floyd were paid to help Cairo and the “Fat Man,” but Floyd betrayed her. Spade later discovers that “the boy” is also working for the “Fat Man.”
When Spade finally meets the “Fat Man,” he discovers the history behind the black bird (stirring up greed and fantasies of great wealth). The “Fat Man” knows what it is (the Maltese Falcon), and Spade claims to know where it is. It is a cat-and-mouse game. The “Fat Man” and Cairo are not professional criminals, but they are driven by greed. The “Fat Man” slips Spade a Mickey Finn (to knock him out). Cairo searches Spade’s apartment. When Spade wakes up, he searches the “Fat Man’s” apartment.
Later on, Spade tells his loyal and adoring secretary about the black bird. A man stumbles into his office with a package and drops dead. He is Captain Jacoby, Master of the ship, La Paloma, which has just arrived from Hong Kong (in keeping with San Francisco history and the romantic history of the bird). Spade hides the bird and drives down to Burlingame after dark. (I used to live in Burlingame, which is on the San Francisco Peninsula, so I always get tickled by this part of the movie). He meets with the “Fat Man,” Cairo, Bridget, and “the boy.”
Spade’s secretary brings him the bird. Spade laughs maniacally and watches, transfixed, as the bird is unwrapped and the “Fat Man” tries to scrape off the black coating from the statue. The bird is a fake. Cairo turns on the “Fat Man”, but the “Fat Man” laughs like a little boy and persuades him to go to Istanbul with him.
(Spade, Mr. Cairo, Bridget Wanderly, the Fat Man)
Spade calls the police about the crooks and confronts Bridget. She is the one who shot Archer. Spade gives her up to the police, saying, “You’re taking the fall.” She cries and accuses him of not caring for her. He tells her that when your partner is killed, you’re supposed to do something about it. With a maniacal look on his face, he says, “I’m as crooked as I’m supposed to be.”
Spade kisses Bridget and turns her over to the cops. They get onto the elevator with her. When the elevator gate closes, it looks just like prison bars.
(Bridget Wanderly going to jail)
In the end, Spade picks up the Maltese Falcon, calling it “the stuff that dreams are made of.” He got his revenge for his partner’s death, who died over a lead bird—a stupid, worthless piece of junk.
Dawn Pisturino
Thomas Edison State University
January 15, 2018
Copyright 2018-2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Works Cited
Huston, John, Dir. The Maltese Falcon. Perf. Humphrey Bogart. Warner Bros., 1941.
Lewis, Jon. American Cinema: A History. New York: Norton, 2008.
How Sound Focuses Attention on Spatial and Temporal Relationships
Sound affects the movie audience on the physical, emotional, and psychological levels. This is true even if the audience is not aware of the effects. Sound can contribute to the suspense or romance of the story. It can help to establish the time period and genre. Sound colors audience perceptions and expectations. It contributes to the meaning of the movie.
Sound is part of the total world (diegesis) of a movie (Barsam and Monahan, 136, 371). Footsteps, doorbells, bird songs, gunfire, brakes screeching, crickets creaking, etc., add to the realism of the movie. Without real-world sounds, modern audiences would perceive that something is missing.
Diegetic sounds originate from within the world of the movie. Both the audience and the characters hear the sounds, even though the sounds are not usually added to the movie until later (Barsam and Monahan, 371).
Nondiegetic sounds, which originate from outside the world of the movie, can be heard only by the audience. They play on the audiences’ senses, but they do not affect the characters in the movie (Barsam and Monahan, 371).
The sound most often heard in movies is diegetic sound. It can be “internal or external, on-screen or off-screen, and recorded during the production or constructed during postproduction” Barsam and Monahan, 372). Diegetic sound gives the audience “an awareness of both the spatial and the temporal dimensions of the shot from which the sound emanates” (Barsam and Monahan, 371).
If a character knocks on a door, the diegetic on-screen sound of knocking “occurs simultaneously with the image” (Barsam and Monahan, 372). If a narrator explains why the character is knocking on the door, only the audience hears the narration. This is nondiegetic off-screen sound. If the character starts thinking about why he is knocking on the door, this is internal sound. If an unseen bird starts singing in the background, the character can hear it, and this is considered external sound (Barsam and Monahan, 372-374).
In Dennis Hopper’s 1969 movie, Easy Rider, the nondiegetic soundtrack sets the time period as the 1960s. The music is consistent with the costumes, the action, and the story. The loud shotgun blasts which kill the two protagonists are diegetic sounds heard by both the characters and the audience. The suddenness of the sounds simultaneously occurring with the action, shocks and disturbs the audience.
Orson Welles pioneered the use of multiple layers of sound in Citizen Kane. The party scene at the Inquirer’s offices uses “deep-focus sound that functions much like deep-focus cinematography” (Barsam and Monahan, 397). The characters in the scene include musicians, dancers, waiters, journalists, and the main protagonists. While the band plays, the dancers dance, and Charles Kane (Orson Welles) sings, Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane) and Jed Leland (Joseph Cotton) talk to each other in a corner. Deep-focus cinematography keeps the camera focused on Charles Kane as the main subject, but a microphone makes the voices of Jed and Bernstein stand out from the rest of the sounds at the party (Barsam and Monahan, 397-398).
The spatial and temporal relationships of the characters within the setting are established through Welles’ use of sound. Jed and Bernstein’s conversation is distinctly heard by the audience because the camera is closer to these two characters (Barsam and Monahan, 399). Jed and Bernstein are free to discuss their impressions of Charles Kane while Kane celebrates his own success. Kane dominates the room while everyone else is shown celebrating his celebrity and worshipping at his feet. Money and power talk louder here than anything else, and the scene clearly depicts Kane’s megalomania and domination of his employees. At the same time, Jed Leland’s conversation reveals his disappointment and disillusionment with Kane. The sound mix allows for a realistic portrayal of the scene.
Consciously or unconsciously, the audience is affected by sound and how it is manipulated and incorporated into a movie. As technology progresses, sound engineering will become a bigger component in movies.
Dawn Pisturino
Thomas Edison State University
February 6, 2018
Copyright 2018-2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Works Cited
Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies, 5th ed. New York: Norton, 2016.
As Hollywood evolved from small production companies into large corporations, so did the financing of motion pictures. Large corporations could sell stock and borrow money from well-heeled investors. But this depended on the reliability of the investment. Investor fears of risky ventures forced Hollywood corporations to incorporate traditional business practices: “efficient management, timely production practices, and profitable results” (Lewis 477). Hollywood developed standardized practices that still survive today.
The Hollywood studios held a virtual monopoly over the production, distribution, and exhibition of motion pictures until 1948. With the Paramount decision, this monopoly came to an end. Suddenly, the studios lost much of the real estate they had used as collateral to borrow money. Following the example of independent filmmakers, such as David O. Selznick, the studios replaced the studio system with the independent system (Lewis 477).
Today, filmmakers have many options for obtaining financing. “Money may come from the studio, the producer, the investment community, or (most probably) a combination of these” (Lewis 477). Financing may be procured in stages as the production progresses. Controlling costs is a major concern, especially when it is difficult to accurately predict them (Lewis 479).
Under the studio system, the budget was based on direct and indirect costs. “Direct costs included everything from art direction and cinematography to insurance. Indirect costs, usually 20 percent of the direct costs, covered the studio’s overall contribution to ‘overhead’” (Lewis 479). The independent system calculates costs according to a 30/70 configuration.
Costs can become inflated by the use of union labor (Lewis 476), special effects technology, personnel with special expert skills, and the high salaries commanded by superstar actors, producers, and directors. Sometimes, it is possible to negotiate contracts that reduce upfront costs and benefit all parties involved.
Marketing, distributing, and exhibiting motion pictures depend on the product produced. Exclusive and limited releases assess audiences’ initial response; key-city releases assess audience reaction on a second-run basis; and “wide and saturated releases on hundreds or thousands of screens in the major markets . . . [test audience reaction] as good reviews and word of mouth build public awareness and demand” (Lewis 482). While studios have established methods for bringing their films to market, independents use various methods. They can rent their films to a studio or producing organization with the means to market, distribute, and exhibit them (Lewis 482).
Experts determine release dates, arrange tie-ins with toys, books, and other merchandise, decide screening locations, form contracts with DVD and streaming companies, work on advertising and publicity, and complete negotiations on domestic and foreign rights. Others calculate rental and download costs, ticket prices, and length of runs (Lewis 482). Movies are an expensive commodity!
Today, Hollywood comprises a combination of a modernized studio system and independent production companies that may or may not be part of a studio company. In total, this collection of Hollywood filmmakers grossed $10.9 billion in revenue in 2013 (Lewis 483). As Hollywood continues to evolve, it will discover new avenues of financing and generating revenue.
Dawn Pisturino
Thomas Edison State University
January 23, 2018
Copyright 2018-2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Works Cited
Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies, 5th ed. New York: Norton, 2016.
Lewis, Jon. American Cinema: A History. New York: Norton, 2008.
Postwar social changes and technological advances in America profoundly influenced Hollywood filmmaking. The invention of television produced direct competition. Audience expectations demanded more complex characters and more mature themes. Hollywood adapted by incorporating technology into filmmaking that would fascinate audiences and draw them back into the movie theaters. Experiments in defying the Production Code led to the screening of more mature films and changes in the code.
“By 1960 there were 50 million TV sets in homes across the United States, and lots of people were watching a lot of television: in 1960 the average daily viewing time for U.S. households with a TV set was over 5 hours a day” (Lewis 233). Television was a new toy that people could enjoy, and it was free. Families could gather around the TV set after dinner and enjoy watching it together. The advertisements exposed viewers to new products.
The Hollywood studios adapted by creating new business relationships with the television studios. “Disney led the way, making a deal with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) that included the production of a Disney TV show that aired weekly on the network” (Lewis 234).
These synergies were so successful that multinational conglomerates began buying up Hollywood studios and formulating new ways to produce and distribute films. For example, “Gulf and Western Industries bought Paramount in 1966” (Lewis 237). Hollywood studios contracted with TV studios to run their movies as a second run. Walt Disney negotiated a deal with ABC to create Disneyland, an amusement park. These deals brought in much-needed revenue to the studios.
The conglomerates abandoned production in favor of distribution. They began using market research and tie-ins with books and other merchandise. Technological gimmicks such as 3-D and widescreen were tried (Lewis 234). But what finally brought audiences back to the movie theaters was the distribution of foreign-made films and defiance of the Production Code (Lewis 238-247).
While American audiences enjoyed foreign-made films, these movies were produced by European standards and often came into conflict with the standards of the PCA. Otto Preminger completed his controversial film The Moon is Blue, in 1953. When United Artists submitted it to the PCA, it was rejected. As a result, United Artists gave up its membership in the MPAA to avoid a fine (Lewis 239).
Theater owners, however, were more than willing to screen an adult-themed film that did not have the PCA seal, and “The Moon is Blue grossed over $4 million in its initial release” (Lewis 239). Preminger used the same strategy with his second movie, The Man with the Golden Arm. As more and more controversial films were released, the PCA was forced to relax some of its codes.
Jack Valenti, who was named the president of MPAA in 1966, agreed to an exception for the release of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Warner Bros. labeled it For Mature Audiences and left it to the theater owners to decide whether to screen it or not. Pretty soon, Welcome to HardTimes was released with the label NO PERSON UNDER 18 ADMITTED UNLESS ACCOMPANIED BY A PARENT (Lewis 244-245). Finally, in 1968, the MPAA came up with a new voluntary rating system: G (General Audiences), M (Mature Audiences and parental discretion), R (Restricted and no one under age sixteen unless accompanied by a parent or adult guardian), and X (no one under sixteen admitted). Films with an X rating could not receive a PCA seal (Lewis 283).
The new rating system gave Hollywood the latitude to create a greater variety of films. With social change rapidly advancing, the studios began targeting the youth audience and the social issues which were important to them (Lewis 285). For a short time, studios began promoting “topical movies with a political edge” (Lewis 286) produced by new, young directors (auteurs) who could tap into young audiences’ interests. The most famous and most profitable movie produced was The Godfather in 1972, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. But as iconic as many of these films are today, studios wanted more formulaic films whose success could be easily reproduced, and the “auteur renaissance” (Lewis 282) ended. Action blockbusters formed the new wave of Hollywood films by the 1980s.
Hollywood has been resilient over the decades and found ways to adapt to new technologies, changes in audience interests, and restrictions placed on them by the Supreme Court. Always alert to new avenues of revenue, Hollywood has survived by its willingness to negotiate new (and more profitable) deals.
Dawn Pisturino
Thomas Edison State University
January 17, 2018
Copyright 2018-2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Works Cited
Lewis, Jon. American Cinema: A History. New York: Norton, 2008.
Mise-en-scene is a French phrase meaning production. In theatrical terms, this means “staging or putting on an action or scene” (Barsam 165). The two largest components of mise-en-scene are design and composition, which include settings, props, lighting, actors, makeup, hairstyles, costumes, overall organization, presentation, and integration. The finished product must look and feel cohesive and balanced, fully supporting the story and theme of the movie, as well as the genre, in every respect.
The 1948 movie, 3 Godfathers, directed by John Ford and Merian C. Cooper, stars John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, Harry Carey, Jr., and Ward Bond. The story is John Ford’s version (and vision) of the New Testament story of the Three Wise Men, incorporated into the western genre. Above all, it is a story about sin and redemption, supported by Biblical symbolism and themes of Old West justice.
The movie setting is open because the characters have to be able to move around. Most of the movie was filmed on location in Death Valley, California (not Arizona.) Rousing western music, composed of themes from well-known cowboy songs, supports the title scenes. The major underlying musical theme is from the song “Streets of Laredo.” The movie is filmed in Technicolor, which adds vibrancy to the spectacular natural scenery, costumes, and characters.
While the titles play, we see a train chugging along from the right of the scene, crossing the open desert. The camera cuts to three horsemen riding through the desert. They are dressed in typical cowboy clothing. The Mexican cowboy is appropriately dressed in Mexican clothing. The next cut shows John Wayne sitting on a horse at twilight, framed by two saguaro cactuses. He is clearly the main character. A quotation appears in white letters: “Bright star of the early western sky . . .” These scenes confirm that viewers are watching a western set some time in the 1880s-1890s. The quote reminds viewers of the star of Bethlehem. At the end of the titles, the viewers see a wide shot of the western landscape and the three horsemen riding toward the camera.
At a water hole, John Wayne (Robert Hightower) orders the other two men to fill up all canteens and water bags because they won’t find another water hole for at least 60 miles. The camera zooms in on Robert smoking and looking out over the landscape. He is clearly the leader. He joins Pedro, the Mexican, in a tight close-up, and they plan robbing the bank in the nearby town of Welcome, Arizona. Next, Robert crouches down at the third man’s level in a close-up shot of him and William. William is the youngest member of this gang.
The gang rides into the town. It is obviously a well-established town because of the grown trees and flower gardens. John Ford introduces a joke here. The first man the gang meets is B. Sweet (Ward Bond), who is tending his oleander bushes. The men laugh and joke about his name. His wife comes out of the house, dressed in a traditional western gown and hairstyle. She calls her husband “Pearly.” The laughs get even louder over this. Sweet redeems his manhood by clarifying that his name is actually Buck. He swats his wife on the behind with an oleander branch, telling the gang that his wife is a former dancer (presumably in a saloon.) He slips on his leather sheriff’s vest and star, and the gang is caught off guard. The implication is clear: B. Sweet is no tenderfoot from the East but a hardened westerner and experienced lawman. He and his wife offer hospitality to the men, believing they are cowboys from a cattle drive passing through town, and mention that their niece and her never-do-well husband are traveling to Welcome along the Mormon Trail.
Asking for the location of the bank does not rouse much suspicion. But William forgets himself, reveling in the motherly attention he is receiving from the sheriff’s wife, and mentions that people also call him The Abilene Kid. The Sheriff immediately becomes suspicious. When the men leave for the bank, he looks through a book of wanted posters and finds one of The Abilene Kid.
On the way to the bank, a stage pulls into town. A well-dressed young lady greets the gang, happy to leave civilization in Denver and return to her less-civilized town. She reveals that she is the bank president’s daughter and overwhelms the gang with sweetness and perfect manners. (As a minor character, she represents civilized manners and social status.) Two young dandies greet her with bouquets of oleanders (a desert-thriving plant), and it’s clear that she is a popular young lady. Her homecoming provides a distraction for the town while the gang robs the bank.
The typical western scene ensues. Shots are fired, and the sheriff and his deputies rush to capture the men. There are wonderful scenes of a man trying to calm a bucking horse and a scared horse running through the street, pulling an empty covered wagon. As the sheriff and his men chase the gang in a buckboard wagon, William is shot and rescued by Robert. The posse chases the gang into the desert wilderness and quits after the sheriff shoots a hole in Robert’s water bag. Although the sheriff says, “They aren’t paying me to kill folks,” he knows that the gang will die without water.
When Robert discovers the ruined water bag, he laments, “You know, he busted that on purpose,” understanding that the sheriff has condemned the men to death in the desert (Old West justice.) Robert observes that they are playing a game of chess with the sheriff and changes their flight plan.
At this point, the gang is forced to leave all vestiges of civilization and head into the barren desert. (Biblically, this represents the Hebrews going into the desert during the Exodus and undergoing cleansing and purification in order to learn obedience and faith in God.) They immediately plunge into a world of sand dunes, sandstorms, salt flats, and rocks. It’s man against nature.
In many scenes, Ford has the characters walking into the sun, the wind, the sand storms, making their journey even more arduous. He uses tight close-up shots to convey the tight bond between the men. He uses wide screen shots to convey the barrenness and openness of the environment. The landscape is beautiful, yes, but dangerous and deadly.
The men lose their horses after a sandstorm and have to walk. Pedro swears that “the devils came in the middle of the night.” The sheriff arrives at Apache Wells with his men (some locations are named after Arizona Indian tribes.) It is here that we learn it is Christmas time. Snow-capped mountains rise up in the background.
The gang arrives at Terrapin Tanks, and this is where the story changes from a typical western to a morality play. The men plan to get water to fill their canteens but discover a wagon containing a pregnant woman instead. Her husband, out of a greenhorn’s ignorance, has blown up the water hole with dynamite, believing he could retrieve more water. Instead, he has permanently lost access to the water supply. Since he is not around, the gang assumes that he is dead. But they celebrate his death. His actions have ensured the deaths of future travelers looking for water. Old West justice demands that the man die.
Pedro demonstrates great compassion and tenderness when he helps the woman give birth to a son (the Christ Child.) The other two men squeeze water out of barrel head cactuses and give it to the mother. It’s night, and the mother asks the three men to be godfathers to her son and keep him alive. They agree. She names the child Robert William Pedro Hightower, after the three men. Finally, the mother says, “We must be moving on,” and dies. The camera focuses on a dead tree and a lighted lantern, framed in the back opening of the wagon’s canvas cover. The lantern dies out, and the dead tree forms a foreboding and forbidding vision of death.
The men give the mother a proper Christian burial. Robert stands by as a skeptic. But the baby brings the men joy, wonder, and hope. They argue over how to care for the baby, demonstrate their love, compassion, and tenderness for the new life, and overcome some of their roughness. The baby also brings some much-needed comic relief. At the same time, in parallel shots, the sheriff at Apache Wells is viewing Robert as a good chess player and figures out that the gang has gone to Terrapin Tanks. The chase is on.
As the men become more desperate for water, they argue and draw guns on each other. William uses the Bible for guidance and decides that they were not brought into the desert by accident. Like the Three Wise Men in the Bible, they were meant to find the baby (the Christ Child) and save him (from the elements instead of King Herod.) After throwing out the names of nearby towns (all Biblical), they decide to head East to New Jerusalem (representing redemption and salvation.) The camera cuts to a beautifully-photographed scene showing a bright star in the eastern sky, shining down on sand dunes rippled with shadowy contrasts. The three men trudge across the scene, traveling West to East, receiving hope and strength from the star.
The sheriff finds the abandoned wagon and figures out that it belonged to his niece and her worthless husband. He blames the gang for blowing up the water hole with dynamite, even though they are innocent. He curses them as murderers of future travelers and swears to hunt them down.
William and Pedro both die while crossing a cracked, parched salt flat after asking for forgiveness from God. Robert saves William’s Bible and moves on. It is Christmas. He must climb over the mountain. (Biblically, going up into the mountain represents searching for God.) He takes shelter in a rock-walled passage, which resembles a cave. He falls down, hopeless. He gives the last water to the baby and starts throwing away unnecessary items. In a last desperate act, he opens up the Bible and reads the passage. The passage tells him to take the donkey and its colt. Angrily, Robert throws away the Bible, considering the passage a cruel joke.
Crazed by thirst, Robert hears William and Pedro talking and singing and egging him on. The camera shows them as ghosts walking behind him. Suddenly, framed by the rock walls, Robert sees a donkey and its colt. He cannot believe it, but they are real, and he looks up to the sky, hardly believing that the New Testament passage has come true.
Robert makes it to town and bursts into a saloon, where the people are somberly singing Christmas carols. The people are overjoyed to see the baby, and the piano player plays “Silent Night.” The sheriff confronts Robert here, and he collapses to the floor.
An obvious fade out/fade in pushes the story forward into the future. The whole town treats Robert like a King for saving the baby. The judge sentences him to only one year and one day in prison and grants him custody. As Robert is leaving on the train for prison, the banker’s daughter asks him if she can write, and it is obvious that she will wait for him. When Robert returns, he has a chance of becoming a civilized man.
Dawn Pisturino
Thomas Edison State University
December 18, 2017; December 15, 2021
Copyright 2017-2021 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Works Cited:
Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies, 5th ed. New York: Norton, 2016.
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