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Performing and Visual Arts II
The Movie Industry
First section: Film Industry System
Motion pictures are so much part of our life: films communicate information and ideas, they show
up places and ways of life we might not otherwise know. Films take us through experiences, they
are designed to create such experiences.
Sometimes cinema is art, but it’s always an industry. This means that cinema is both a language and
an art form but also a business model.
Cinema as a language
Film industry can be divided in four phases: the early cinema (1895-1910), the classic cinema (1920-
1950), the modern cinema where the traditions of classic cinema were overcome (1960-1980), the
postmodern and contemporary cinema (1980-today).
When we speak of film language through the ages, we notice that:
- Early cinema: movies were very short, especially for technical reasons. They were composed
of one or few shots at first and then became longer. There was much experimentation in
editing and narrative form (for example how characters should exit the scene)
- Classic cinema: in this case, the spectator is always at the center of the film. The film is very
clear, its language is basic because it must be understood very quickly and clearly. This is also
why there is a clear distinction between good and evil. Psychology of the characters is not
important. The film language is “invisible”.
- Modern cinema: the characters are complex, the artifice of the film language becomes
evident. The spectator has to reconstruct the sense of the movie. There are a lot of
quotations from the cinema of the past/homages. There are usually very ambiguous and in-
depth stories and characters.
- Postmodern and contemporary cinema: film language displays its possibilities, citation of
past cinema is used but it’s seen as a “game”, like in Tarantino where high-culture and pop-
culture quotations are juxtaposed. Then there is the concept of anti-narration or a-narration
(like Pulp Fiction which starts with the characters dying and at the end of the movie the
characters still alive – edited in a strange way which was impossible in the classic cinema).
Cinema as industry
There are three main phases: production, distribution and exhibition. Still, the scenario is actually
more complex: around these three main phases we also have film festivals, television, digital
platforms, merchandising, marketing, etc.
• Film production: during the production, there are different steps. First we need scriptwriting
and funding. Then we need to make preparation for filming (finding the director, editor,
casting, venue). Third step is the shooting. Then the post-production (the editing). These four
phases can overlap and involve many jobs.
Production can be in 3 modes: large-scale production (up to $100 million), the exploitation
and independent ($2-$80 million) and small-scale production (under $2 million). Large-scale
productions are mainly made in the US and recently in China rather that in Europe. This leads
to a difference between American and European filmmakers.
