The Hollywood Studio System, Swedish Cinema & German Cinema

Jaakko Seppälä The Hollywood Studio System, Swedish Cinema & German Cinema The Great War • The First World War began in August 1914 • European (espeCially FrenCh, Italian and Danish) films dominated world film markets before the war • The war halted/deCreased film produCKon in many Countries • Film produCKon ConKnued (but on a smaller sCale) when it beCame evident that the war would drag on for years • Hollywood studios took over the world film market – A great demand for entertainment in war-weary Europe • AmeriCan produCKon values were high and the films were sold Cheaply The Hollywood ProduCKon System • AmeriCan films made profit on their home markets – What Came from export was extra • In the mid-1910s the Independents beCame the system • Feature film was the main produCt – Stars made each film an unmissable aracKon • SpeCialists were trained to assist the direCtor to make movies faster • Studios resembled factories • The shooKng sCript as a blueprint for making a film • The produCKon system evolved to make regular profit Hollywood: DistribuKon and Markets • Adolph Zukor showed Hollywood how to fully exploit factory-like produCKon • Zukor merged a number produCKon Companies and distribuKon Company Paramount • Zukor bought hundreds of film theatres • He was backed up by Wall Street • His studio began to bloCk book films • In the 1920s a small number of vercally integrated Companies Came to dominate and define Hollywood Adolph Zukor (1873-1976) The Studio System Before the 1930s Paramount Loew’s/MGM Fox Warner Bros. RKO Universal, Columbia and United ArKsts The ClassiCal Hollywood Cinema • Cinema had beCome inCreasingly oriented towards storytelling • By the late 1910s filmmakers had worked out a system of formal prinCiples – the ClassiCal Hollywood style • A film should guide the speCtator’s aenKon making all aspeCts of the story as Clear as possible • Film style was to enhanCe narrave Clarity • Films freed themselves from dependenCe upon other media and Could now tell stories CinemaCally • The ClassiCal Hollywood style has Changed very liQle The Golden Age of Swedish Cinema • Svenska Biograeatern was founded in 1907 • In 1912 George af KlerCker, Mauritz SKller and ViCtor Sjöström beCame film direCtors • Sweden’s neutrality in the First World War gave gave this naonal Cinema a boost • In the late 1910s Sweden was a film empire • Swedish style: northern landsCapes and use of loCal literature, Costumes and Customs • A Major alternave to ClassiCal Hollywood Cinema • ViCtor Sjöström: restrained acKng, sCenes staged in depth, nature refleCts psyChologiCal states, grim ConsequenCes of acKons Greta Garbo (1905-1990) German Cinema before Expressionism • German film industry began to grow in 1913 • Outstanding genres: the suspense drama and the deteCKve film (modern teChnology, Chase sCenes) • Autorenfilm was German equivalent of Film d’Art • The Student of Prague (1913) – Autoren film with fantasy elements (later to be important) • In 1916 Germany banned all film imports • This ban sKmulated domesKC film industry • German Cinema prospered in arKfiCial isolaon from 1916 to late 1920 Harry Piel (1892-1963) .

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