Lecture 2: The Nuts and Bolts of Getting a Movie Before an Audience

1. Lecture 2: The Nuts and Bolts of Getting a Movie Before an Audience Professor Michael Green

2. Previous Lesson • How to succeed in an online course • How this course is organized • What we study in an introductory film course • Form • Content • Do the Right Thing

3. This Lecture • Film as Art • Film Production • Preparation • Shooting • Assembling • Film Distribution • Film Exhibition • Case Study: Jaws (1975) directed by Steven Spielberg

4. Film as Art Letters from Iwo Jima(2006), directed by Clint Eastwood Lesson 2: Part I

5. How do We Classify Film? • Is it Art? • Is it Entertainment? • Is it Business? • Can it be all three at once?

6. According to the Text • The authors of your textbook, Bordwell and Thompson, argue that film is at the intersection of art, entertainment and business. • They remind us that art often comes from popular traditions that were at one time not considered art, such as jazz and even Shakespeare's plays, but that such forms can foster art of high quality.

7. Cinema Bordwell and Thompson consider film an art because it offers filmmakers ways to design experiences for viewers, and those experiences can be valuable regardless of their pedigree (whether a film is considered highbrow or lowbrow, made for commercial purposes, etc). Films for audiences both large and small belong to that very inclusive art called cinema.

8. Form and Style • Art in film, as it is in music or literature, is the result of the application of form and style. • All films have subjects and themes that contribute to the artistic effect, but in themselves these are just raw material. • For example, there are many movies about serial killers, but the application of form and style makes each one distinctive. • Because of form and style, The Silence of the Lambs is a much different kind of movie than Friday the 13th, and arguably a much more complex and interesting one.

9. Bordwell and Thompson “It’s through form and style that a movie draws us into a moment by moment engagement. As a film unfolds in time, it offers a developing pattern that encourages us to ask why things are happening and to wonder what will happen next. The film engages our vision and hearing, our knowledge of the world, our ideas and our feelings. The filmmaker can create a structured experience that will involve us keenly and sometimes change the way we think and feel about our lives.” 9

10. Patterns in Film • A director repeats story information in the form of dialogue, sounds or images, that helps the audience keep up with the story. • These patterns in a film are often conventions borrowed from other movies that help viewers interpret the language of film, even if only unconsciously. • The knives in The Shining • Butterflies/moths in The Silence of the Lambs • The color red in The Sixth Sense 10

11. Film Production Lesson 2: Part II

12. Four Phases of Production • Scriptwriting and funding • Preparation for filming • Shooting • Assembly

13. Scriptwriting and Funding • Two roles are central in this phase: • Screenwriter • Producer • Tasks of the producer are: • Financial • Organizational • The chief task of the screenwriter is to prepare the screenplay or script.

14. The Tasks of the Producer • Nurses the project through the scriptwriting process • Obtains financial support • Arranges to hire the personnel who will work on the film

15. Tasks of the Producer (continued) • During shooting, he or she acts as the liaison between the writer or director and the company that is financing the film • Arranges distribution, promotion and marketing • Monitor the payback of money invested in the production

16. Independent vs. Studio • An independent producer unearths film projects and tries to convince production companies or distributors to finance the film. • A producer may work for a distribution company and generate ideas for films. • A studio may hire a producer to put together a particular package.

17. Kinds of Producers • Executive Producer • Arranges financing/obtains literary property • Line Producer • Oversees day to day filmmaking • Associate Producer • Acts as a liaison with labs and technical personnel

18. The Screenwriter Writes the script, which goes through several stages: • The Treatment • A synopsis of the work • Drafts of the script • Revisions • The Shooting Script • The Final Version

19. Preparation for Filming Director Christopher Nolan rehearsing Memento(2000) with Guy Pierce

20. Preproduction • Producer and director set up a production office, hire a crew and cast the roles • They prepare a daily schedule based on continuity, which is the most convenient order of production • Screenplay revisions • Storyboards

21. Preproduction (continued) • Production designer designs the film’s settings • Set decorator/set dresser • Costume designer • Previsualization with computer graphics • Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

22. Storyboards Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

23. Shooting the Film Clint Eastwood directing Blood Work(2002)

24. Shooting Also known as principle photography

25. Director’s Crew • Script Supervisor • Continuity • First Assistant Director • Plans shooting schedule, sets up shots • Second Assistant Director • Liaison among the first AD, the camera crew and the electrician’s crew • Third Assistant Director • Messenger for director and staff

26. Director’s Crew (continued) • Dialogue Coach • Feeds performers their lines • Second Unit Director • Films stunts, location footage, action scenes

27. Other Aspects of Shooting • Cast/Acting • Director shapes performances • Visual Effects Unit • Stunts • Animal Wranglers • Camera Operator

28. Other Aspects of Shooting (continued) • Key Grip • Supervises grips who carry and arrange equipment and props • Gaffer • Head Electrician • Boom Operator • Microphones

29. Assembling the Film Thelma Schoonmaker, who has edited many of Martin Scorsese’s movies

30. Postproduction • Editor • Works with the director to make creative decisions about how the film footage can best be cut together to tell a story • The editor’s job can be a huge one

31. Post Production Terms • Rough Cut • The shots loosely strung in sequence, without sound effects or music • Final Cut • The finished film, still without sound • Outtakes • Unused shots

32. Sound • The Sound Editor builds the soundtrack, which is made up of: • Dialogue • Sound effects • Music

33. Modes of Production • Large Scale Production • Studio Filmmaking • Warner Brothers, Paramount, Disney • Exploitation and Independent Production • Small Companies • Miramax, Focus Films • Small Scale Production • Personal Filmmaking

34. Distribution Lesson 2: Part III

35. What is Distribution? • Bordwell and Thompson refer to distribution as the “center of power” • Distribution companies form the core of economic power in the film industry • They provide mainstream entertainment to theaters around the world

36. Distributors Six Hollywood firm’s remain the world’s largest distributors: • Warner Brother’s • Paramount • Walt Disney/Buena Vista • Sony/Columbia • Twentieth Century Fox • Universal

37. Large vs Small Distribution • The major distributors have won such power because large companies can best endure the risks of theatrical moviemaking, which is very expensive • They also stand to recoup the most profits • Smaller distributors usually distribute specialty films

38. Ancillary Markets • Home video/DVD • Cable and Broadcast television • Airlines and hotels • Cyberspace/Video on Demand

39. Profit • Ancillary markets are where films make most of their money, sometimes recouping the losses from a film that did poorly in theatrical release. • Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery did moderate box office in the theater, but really found its audience on video, paving the way for theatrical sequels, which now had a built in audience.

40. Marketing • Trailer • Television commercials • Web • Newspapers • Soundtracks • Video games • Merchandising

41. Exhibition Lesson 2: Part IV

42. Kinds of Exhibition • Theatrical • Commercial movie houses • City art centers • Museums • Film Festivals • Non-theatrical • Home video • Cable • Schools

43. Television • Television keeps the theatrical market going. • In 2004 distributors earned about ten billion dollars worldwide from theatrical distribution and about 23 billion from home video.

44. Jaws Lesson 2: Part V

45. Why Jaws? • Jaws is a famous production that highlights both the problems that arise during the creative process of filmmaking as well as the innovation necessary to overcome those problems. • Jaws was a watershed moment in the history of film. Along with Star Wars, it is credited with ushering in the era of the blockbuster (which we are still in). It changed the way that films are distributed and exhibited.

46. The Production of Jaws • Based on a bestseller by Peter Benchley • Rights acquired by producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown • Spielberg tapped as director • His second feature film after The Sugarland Express and the TV film Duel

47. Problems • The film was pushed into production early • It was a technical nightmare • The shark almost never worked • Slow production with a lot of pressure from the studios

48. Results • Jaws became the highest grossing film ever at that time • Proved the success of “repeater” business • One of the first films to open “wide” on many screens at once as opposed to being slowly “rolled out.

49. End of Lecture 2 Next Lecture: Narrative Structure and Say Anything.