Jaakko Seppälä The 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 producon in many countries • producon connued (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 producon values were high and the films were sold cheaply The Hollywood Producon 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 aracon • Specialists were trained to assist the director to make movies faster • Studios resembled factories • The shoong script as a blueprint for making a film • The producon system evolved to make regular profit Hollywood: Distribuon and Markets

• showed Hollywood how to fully exploit factory-like producon • Zukor merged a number producon companies and distribuon 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 Arsts 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 aenon making all aspects of the story as clear as possible • Film style was to enhance narrave clarity • freed themselves from dependence upon other media and could now tell stories cinemacally • The classical Hollywood style has changed very lile The Golden Age of Swedish Cinema

• Svenska Biograeatern was founded in 1907 • In 1912 George af Klercker, Mauritz Sller 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 acng, scenes staged in depth, nature reflects psychological states, grim consequences of acons Greta Garbo (1905-1990) German Cinema before Expressionism

• German film industry began to grow in 1913 • Outstanding genres: the suspense drama and the detecve 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 smulated domesc film industry • German cinema prospered in arficial isolaon from 1916 to late 1920 Harry Piel (1892-1963)