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77 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
How has the role of the director changed since the Hollywood studio system days (1920s-1950s)?
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Films used to have small casts and crews and then, director wasn’t the star all of the sudden the director becomes functionary when the studios ruled the roost. They were hired by the studio. Everything was planned out for them. But as the studio system went away and directors had more power. The director is the only one in contact with every aspect of the film and you can only have one vision.
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What was the first film that “Alan Smithee” directed? Explain what happened on that film.
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Death of a gunfighter. Starred Richard Totten who fumed at the betrayal and Segal didn’t think that he deserved that he had enough time on the film. They went to directors guild of America to deal with the credits whom wanted to find the solution for the publicity of a movie, the money spent from a studio and the directors.
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Who determines whether a film gets an “Alan Smithee” credit?
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Directors guild of America.
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What does a director need to prove in order to get an “Alan Smithee” credit?
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The film has to have been changed enough to the point that it’s really become not the directors vision
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Why was the secrecy of Alan Smithee so important?
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Because if people find out it’s just a joke then they won’t take the film seriously. It won’t get publicity.
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Explain the conflict between the director, John Singleton, and his producer in the remake of Shaft.
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wasn’t about to make an “uncool movie.” The producer wanted to tone down the action in the remake
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What happened on National Lampoon’s “Joy of Sex” that would have made an Alan Smithee credit appropriate?
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In post they made her put certain girls in the picture. Struggling between story and exploitation. She delivered her cut, they excluded her and brought in another editor.
Studios often hire directors for their name but not the artistic vision |
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What trend does Michael Moore’s “Canadian Bacon” and Robert Altman’s “Gingerbread Man” illustrate?
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Studios want these actors to create a vision completely different from what they represent in their directing
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What do the first and second “Mission Impossible” films tell us about Hollywood today?
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Whenever you have differences you put on a happy face so that you can work in Hollywood even if things blow up in the background of a movie.
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Explain the role that Tony Kaye has in the “Alan Smithee” saga….
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He had an extreme reaction to the problems on his film. Rejected ed Norton for the American history x. normally the studio or the producer has final cut. It’s a badge, you earn it. Edward was cut out a little more by the director and he told the studio and then he went in to the editing booth which is really disrespectful. Tony shared this with Hollywood and tried to get sympathy. His agent told him to locke the film. He wanted the smithee credit but it was rejected because he had publicized it before. When he joked to put humpty dumpty on the film then they definitely did not want to take his name off the film
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The movie Evolution will do “fine” at the box office as long as it can stay in theaters for how long?
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2 weeks
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2. What company bought Columbia Pictures in the 1980s?
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Sony bought Columbia and paid Guber a lot of money
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According to the film, what impact has conglomerate ownership had on who runs the movie studios in Hollywood?
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Aol/ time warner/ vivendi are all nation states basically. You used to all know the people you worked with. People will all interdependent. The head studios are divisional management, they are not in the same business.
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What “Monster” drew these huge conglomerates to buy film studios in the first place?
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JAWS. It was distributed and marketed differently
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What strategy did JAWS introduce to movie distribution?
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Bob Levin, it was sold WIDE. 1,000 screen release. Advertising, momentum.
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Two years later, what profit-making strategy did Star Wars introduce to the movie business?
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Ansillary profits, toys and games. Then there was a siquel
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What do Yoda and Rocky having in common?
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They both have sequels
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Why did Blockbuster video make film studios look like even better acquisitions to large conglomerates?
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VCRS, movies could go home now. Libraries for videos were
Resell every movie that could ever be made |
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How did conglomerates start organizing movies like other businesses?
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They organized their movie business to look like all their other businesses. Cut out as many of the middle men as possible. Vertical integration. Paramount can play on any one of its windows on a Viacom property. Rides, games; franchising. Investing in movies is like investing in broadway plays; you never know when you’re gonna invest in the next big thing
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The dual edge of this profitability-sword, however, is that a movie MUST do well at the box office (on opening weekend) or it will suffer in the rest of those markets. And to get big box office, a studio MUST DO WHAT 2 THINGS?
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Marketing and wide distribution
You have to make sure you open very big. You have to fill those theaters. Marketing: creating not word of mouth but BUZZ. Each week they get reports about their movie and the other movies, their competition. “maybe we gotta spend more if we’re falling behind.” Make sure that its opening in a lot of different theaters just opening weekend. 15 percent profit increase every year is what the corps are looking for. Studios want less risk so that its easy. |
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Today, movies are so expensive to make and market, that they often don’t even break even at the box office. So movie studios try to avoid financial risk in several ways. Explain how they do this next to each of the following terms
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the following:
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GREEN-LIGHT MEETING
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Approving a movie project. When they meet, 3-4 people, 2-3 read the script (used to be) Now 30-40 people to discuss advertising, merchandising, co-financiers. Business aspect, its not really about the script and the cast.
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SOUND & SPECTACLE
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Digital effects, computer graphics.. to embrace a bigger audience. There are a lot of risks
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FOREIGN MARKETS
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Movies need to be a success in the us so that they are successful in other countries too but the theaters are shrinking. Armageddon can do 2x as much overseas than in the US. Requires more action because less people can read. 3 million in the US, 5 billion internationally.
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STAR POWER
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The material is basically nothing now. What really drives the business is attachment, star power. In order to convince people in other countries to invest in a movie they went to depend on a star. You want to anchor an event around a large personality. 5-10 stars who were very big back in the day and even today there aren’t that many.
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TARGET AUDIENCE
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Throwing out the adult audience. Ebert’s thumb is the most important piece of anatomy in the industry as a critic. Used to be 12-24 now its 12-19. They call it night of the living dumb. They’re basing it on a the lowest possible audience. They want the money. The shareholders want to know what the profits are.
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In 1967, how did “Bonnie & Clyde” find its audience? Why is this notable today?
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Warren bailey, kept putting out news ads and pushing to have bonnie and clyde shown here and there. After 6 months of play time it was ready for an Oscar.
It doesn’t happen anymore. If a movie is not a big hit the first weekend then its normally a flop. |
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NC 17 can be considered a form of ...
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censorship
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universal cut scenes from bruno to get a __ _____
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R rating
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MPAAs decision on blue valentine unmasks a _____ in our culture that....
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taboo
an honest portrayal of a relationship is more threatening than a sensationalized one. |
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G, PG, PG 13, R, NC 17
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nc 17, children are not admitted and general is for everyone, pg/ 13 similar, R most guidance
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3 stages of making a movie
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exhibition, distribution, production
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Miller v. California
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SCOTUS handed down a definitive for how to define obscenity.
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to be obscene the work as a whole must have:
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appeals to the prurient interest (thinks it would turn people on in a sick way)
is patently offensive (depicts sex in a offensive manner) fails the SLAP test (no scientific, literary, artistic of political merit) |
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patently offensive must be defined by ____ and be more than ___
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law, nudity
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SCOTUS applied the miller test to ____ _____ first
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carnal knowledge
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6 studios
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paramount- viacom
warner bros- time warner universal- nbc universal 20th century fox- newscorp disney- disney sony (columbia)- sony |
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the golden age of hollywood
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AKA the studio system. before you used to get contracts with studios, now its all freelance
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studio system ended because of 2 things
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oligopoly: handful of industries that dominated
vertical integration |
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paramount decision
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ban on studios owning theater but they took over production and distribution
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DIY is possible because of ____
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digital distribution. allows a movie to find its audience
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studios have the money to _____. indie films send their stuff to ____ ______
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distribute
film festivals |
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___ ___ for a film, shop it around until the studio wants to ____ ____ it. people ___ ___ certain old movies comparing your movie. ________ is a film outline (characters, plot twists, turns)
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pitch idea, green light, name drop, treatment
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producer
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anyone who has a role in getting a movie made
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executive producer
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financing for movie but for tv its more like the author of the show
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director can be a ____. hes also the ____ ____
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author
creative work |
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line producer
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stage manager
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3 parts to making a movie
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pre production
production shooting post production |
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above the line
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stars, producer, director, script
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below the line
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equipment, catoring, costumes, makeup
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directors always part of
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directors guild of america which says that director makes creative decisions. if the director shoots more than 90 PERCENT than he can't be cut out of post-production
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its only the superstar directors that get _____ ____
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final cut
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deal memo
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who designates final cut
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eat in clause
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if a director goes over budget past schedule production under contract it comes out of the directors pocket. "eat in to your money"
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PAY or PLAY
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all about ATTACHMENTS to the special director/star. once i sign onto this movie, if it doesnt get made, i still get paid. but everyone needs to be INSURABLE (no duis, death, etc.)
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actors belong to ___ or ____ but they have to have something on resume to be sag
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SAG or AFTRA
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writers are part of
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writers guild of america
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WGA suggests the following
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optioning scripts, step deal, backend points
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optioning scripts
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reserving script. you'e paid to hold on to the script. if you sell for directing later they can cut out 50 percent and its not yours anymore
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step deal
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they hire you as work for hire and they can drop you at any step below
1. treatment 2. 1-50 drafts 3. polish |
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work for hire
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you are given a salary but all rights are to the studio
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___ in ___ movies actually make money
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1 in 4
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backend points
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you get paid once the movie makes money but never rely on this.. you want to get paid in ADVANCE
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you have to get registered with the ____________ so that you can have a ________. dont only trust _______
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us copyright office
attorney WGA |
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greenlight meeting
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franchise, merch, copyright the character?, christmas week
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feb is for
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romance, cute indie
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dec is for
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serious drama
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wide release makes a movie look good even if
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its crap. international theasters will show it
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vast majority of money comes from
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DVD, netflix. (home viewing market)
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most people in the world are not huge on ____. they are more about _____
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dialogue, action
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in a studio stay away from the word _____
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RISK. they want you to do what they're used to.
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a good way to pitch
a good way to offset production costs |
movie trailers
product placement |
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patently offensive
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lude exhibition of genitalia, sex acts, masterbation
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lenny roose
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comedian thrown in jail for just mentioning obscene, visual acts
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movies success factors
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creative sphere
schedule and release pattern marketing |
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today we spend 80 percent of the time ____ ____ and 20 percent ___ ____
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making deals
making pictures |
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TV distributino
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pay per view
premium cable cable and broadcast networks |