Welcome to HOLLYWOOD!

Welcome to HOLLYWOOD!

What is Hollywood? 

Perhaps no other place on earth evokes the same air of show-business, magic and glamour...

When did the legend begin? 
Hollywood’s legend began in the early 20th century as symbol of modern American society…

The invention of “motion toys" (late 1800's) was the origin of movies and motion pictures. The Spirograph was used to trick the eye from a display of frames in quick succession. George Eastman and William H. Walker invented the first film for motion photography. Later, the brothers Lumiere created a hand-cranked machine called the cinematographe (1895), which capture pictures and project still frames in quick succession.                                                                    

During the 20th century, movie industry lived a great amount of changes. Exploration into editing, backdrops, visual flow and others advancements inspired filmmakers to create. For example, Edwin S. Porter created one of the most famous movies by this time: The Great Train Robbery (1903).

People of the industry tend to say that the first movie made in Hollywood was The Squaw Man. By 1919, Hollywood became the face of American cinema and glamour.

The boom of the industry began in 1920: with the birth of “movie star” and hundreds of movies being made each year. Definitely, Hollywood became a cultural icon full of luxury and leisure, apart from the rest of Los Angeles.

Movie studios: most of film companies decided to set up their studios. The earliest and most affluent film companies were Warner Brothers Pictures, Paramount, RKO, Metro Goldwin Meyer, and 20th Century Fox, each of whom owned their own film production sets and studios.

Golden Age of Hollywood (1930): the introduction of sound into film was the beginning of a new era in film history. New genres such as action, musicals, documentaries, social statement films, comedies, westerns, and horror movies were created. During the following years the advances in technology such as special effects, better sound recording quality, and the beginning of color film use made films more modern.

World War II: the film industry increased productivity, due to a wave of wartime pictures. During the war Hollywood produced propaganda of American patriotism (documentaries, educational pictures…).

There was an immense change in American culture and around the world. After de war, there were advances in music, it raised pop culture and the television was set.

By 1950 filmmakers began to create material aimed at American youth such as tales of rebellion and rock n’ roll. This era saw the rise of stars like James Dean, Ava Gadner and Marylin Monroe.

The decline in movie theater attendance was caused by the convenience of television, owing to that many Hollywood studios lost money. In order to make money, they decided to produce films for TV, which meant the entrance of Hollywood into the television industry.

In 1960 movies were focused on fun, fashion, rock n’ roll, societal shifts and transitions in cultural values. Also, the world’s perception of America and its culture changed because of the Vietnam War and shifts in governmental power. In 1963, only 120 movies were released, which meant the slowest year in film production caused by the lower profits due to the pull of television.

In 1970 there was a depression in the film industry because of the films tickets price, which normally cost only a dollar. By this time, the Golden Age of Hollywood was over. Hollywood rebirth was based on making oriented pictures with new and dazzling special effects technology. Jaws and Star Wars had a shocking success and became the most popular movies in film history at that time.

By the end of 1980, films were seen as entertainment. The ticket prices were dropping and the production costs of films increased. Because of that, the future of film looked precarious. However, there were some films which had a lot of success like Batman, Terminator and Return of the Jedi. The budget of film production increased thanks to the use of special effects and multi-national industry conglomerates bought out many studios (Columbia and 20th Century Fox).

In the early 1990’s there was a decrease in box office due to the economic decline. Movies were becoming too expensive to do in Hollywood because of the advertising campaigns, agency fees, rising production costs, etc.

At this time, it was popular the VCR’s. CD-ROM’s were created in 1992; however, in 1997 DVD’s became a hit because they gave a much better image quality. Rapidly, there were a lot of remarkable advances in technology. In 2000’s it was created the Blu-Ray disc and IMAX theaters. Right now, we can see movies, TV shows, etc. on our smartphones, tablets, computers or any other personal device with streaming services.

To conclude, it is important to say that the 2000’s has been the era in which immense changes have been made in the movie and technology industries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

History Cooperative: <http://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-the-hollywood-movie-industry/> [Access 05/02/2015]

The Bioscope: <http://thebioscope.net/2010/09/04/spinning-the-spirograph/> [Access 05/02/2015]