Film, Technology, and Ratings

Jason Cowles Jeffrey Farnworth Pendie Garrett A Brief Introduction to Film

inema may not have always shared the space inside your movie cabinet, but it shares a special place in history of the last centuries. It might seem odd that film is more of a recent invention and until the 1890s; theater had always been confined to actors on a stage. movie business failed. The independents companies, especially the founders of Universal, Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox studios, moved away from the East coast to California, where the distance from the Edison Company allowed feature film expansion. Also, the dominance of European films ended abruptly with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Finally, the US Justice Dept. joined the independent producers in a lawsuit in 1915, contending that the MPCC was now illegal under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. In the landmark of United States v. Motion Picture Patents Company, 1915, the Supreme Court put a final end to the attempted monopoly. With sound and color film at their disposal, Hollywood studios were able to pursue new directions in creativity in the 1930s. Each studio had its stars and rising stars of the screen, and Americans flocked to the theaters to see them. It was glorious entertainment but often curbed by the Motion Picture Production Code or other pressures in the industry. Meanwhile in Europe, filmmakers like Jean Renoir and Alfred Hitchcock were pushing back the envelopes of the Hollywood style. The World War II era was considered the golden age of propaganda films. Triumph of the Will was a propaganda film about the 1934 Nazi party rally at Nuremburg. This film attempts to be a patriotic glorification of the Nazis, and considering their control of all German media at the time, more or less the only image German people had of the Nazi party. The film greatly helped in Hitlers consolidation of power in the years before World War II. Movies from the 1960s forward both

is The very first films shot at studio showed people doing rather m o r e o f ordinary things: sneezing, dancing, a r ec e n t and talking. The Lumiere brothers were the first to take the camera in v e n t i o n
outside a studio, shooting film of everyday life in Paris and, soon, around the world. Originally these short films were shown in parlors with individual projectors, which would give a single person one minutes worth of film for a nickel. Nickelodeon halls quickly spread in Europe and the US, much like video game parlors in the 1980s. But the great profit in movies was quickly seen as showing long feature films to theater audiences. By 1900, projectors had been introduced commercially, and films were being shown in theaters around the world. Movies that told a story began to appear in the early 1900s. Thomas Edison controlled most of the patents for movies, and he attempted to control both the business and its cultural impacts. In 1908, Edison formed the Motion Picture Patents Company. MPPC standardized a chaotic industry with copyright, licensing and patent pools, but as a monopoly, they were also able to keep independent film makers from exhibiting in their theaters or using their equipment. Edisons attempt to control the

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reflected and led a major shift in world culture, away from patriotism and heroics and towards tolerance, introspection and personal growth. Heroes were more seen as merely mortal. The choices between values were typically depicted in gritty shades of gray instead of in black and white. War movies, for example, explored personal tragedy and human values more than heroics or the glory of combat. Another factor in the new approach to film was the breakup of the studio lot to movie theater ownership following the 1948 anti-trust case, US vs. Paramount, which led to more openings for independent film makers and directors. This led to the demise of the Hollywood studio system and the rise of independent film makers in the New Hollywood.With more independence and better cinema effects technology, cutting edge films with more blockbuster potential emerged. The best example is Star Wars, which started as a back-lot experiment with new modeling and special effects techniques to bring viewers in closer to the action. It grossed $4.3 billion in the 30 years since the first film was made in 1977.

Technology

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inema has gone through some of the most exciting and greatest leaps in not only ratings and content, but in technology. There are so many different pieces of technology that are used in the making of a film that it is hard to narrow it down to the scope of this article. The film industry is usually at the forefront of the technological frontier. Many of the biggest advances in computers and photography were seen on the big screen first. The biggest advance that will be concentrated on here are evolution of film mediums for home and big theater entertainment.

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The first motion pictures were presented on 35mm film, the same kind of film that we found in picture cameras not too long ago. The difference is that this film was perforated and linked together in a series. These images were then passed through a device at high speed and it presents the illusion of a moving picture. The Kinetoscope is the perfect example of this kind of device. It is used for the individual viewing of motion pictures, and was publically demonstrated at Edison laboratories in 1889 (Saettler, 2004). These first moving pictures were used strictly in as education scope when they were introduced. Films in the classrooms of school became more and more popular as this technology advanced. The next big advancement came in 1910 when multi-reel movies were introduced. This was a big change from the single motion pictures that were being viewed (Dirks). I remember from my time of working as a projectionist in Carmike Cinemas of having to splice together 6-7 reels of film to make one movie. This would create a film about 6 feet in diameter and would only last about 2 hours. This advancement in technology started to give Hollywood and other big film makers the ability to make longer and more entertaining movies. It was no longer just for educational purposes. This technology is still used today in big movie theaters, but there is a new wave coming. We know that home viewing is available in digital format DVDs, but what is next for the big screen? The multi-reel movies are currently being phased out and being replaced by smaller and superior digital copies. In 2005, The popularity of the new DVD format (and the start of a new optical disc format called Blu-Ray) doomed the once-ubiquitous VHS videotape cassette format. By the end of 2005, DVD sales were more than $22 billion and VHS was slumping badly but still able to pull in $1.5 billion. At the same

time, JVC, the company that introduced the Video Home System (VHS) format to the US in 1977, announced that it would no longer make stand-alone videocassette recorders, further making it a dead technology. (Dirks). This applies not only for VHS tapes at home, but for the 35mm perforated multi-reel films as well. Many big theaters today use digital projectors with digital copies of the movies. Any time that you have gone and seen a 3D movie or seen an IMAX film, you are watching a digital projection. These digital projectors allowed for the shows to be shown in a 2k pixel format (2, 048 pixels horizontally across the screen/TV). Since there is such a huge resolution available here, it has opened the doors to HDTVs (High Definition Televisions) and the giant IMAX films that so many enjoy watching today.

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h as This process was governed by what became known as had i ts fa i r the Hays Code, name shar e o f after the first Motion Picture of cont r ov e r s i es AssociationWill America President, Hays.

communication, it is considered to be a powerful art form, and a powerful engine for communication and change. However, this has historically meant that film has had its fair share of controversies, which led to the development and creation of a set of standards in the United States. These standards, which evolved into our current day ratings system, came about as a result of placing boundaries on what film was appropriate to view and create. Beginning in the 1900s, filmmakers were required to accede to the standards of up to 40 local boards across the country or risk being forbidden from that market (Motion Picture Association).

I personally love movies and film. It is a source of great enjoyment and fun for me. I have worked at movie theaters and Best Buy, mostly because I loved the movie technology that was evolving so fast. I remember seeing the transition between the big multi-reels and the digital projectors. This technology doesnt just stop in the home or theater either. Businesses and schools use digital projectors and other digital mediums to teach, communicate, and further their influence all across the world. The evolution of film medium is one of the greatest technological breakthroughs of this century because it lends itself to more than just entertainment.

However, in the 1900s, this process was considerably different than the ratings system of today. Only correct standards of life (MPAA) could be depicted on screen, which essentially meant that there were no depictions of childbirth[,] [n]o criticisms of religion [and] forget about lustful kissing or suggestive dancing (MPAA). These strict censorship codes were very black or white and judged a movie by its morality. Films were approved or disapproved solely on the basis of morality and if a film was deemed immoral it did not receive approval (MPAA). Censorship is a topic that stirs a lot of discussion and passion from many parties and this remains true in the world of cinema. The question of whether or not artists should be creatively restricted proved troublesome for the film industry and the Hays Code was abandoned in favor of a new method of deeming subject matter appropriate by audience age. This new system was the product of MPAA President Jack Valenti in 1968. Valenti felt that there

Ratings
he creation of film involves many different aspects and requires the talents of many individuals, which is one of the reasons that it has become such a powerful industry across the world. Because film is such an effective form of

was about this stern, forbidding catalogue of dos and donts [Hays Code] the odious smell of censorship (MPAA). The modern rating system is based on the assumption that there is a correlation with the maturity of an audience with its age and that children should not be exposed to mature themes in cinema. These ratings begin with G, which stands for General Audiences, and suggests that the film connected to it is appropriate for all ages and contains no content that will be objectionable for children. The next rating is PG, which stands for Parental Guidance, and suggests that the film may require a parent to decide if the film in question is appropriate for a child, whether due to mild profanity or violence. The next rating is PG-13 which has the warning parents strongly cautioned some material may be inappropriate for children under 13 . This rating is geared towards movies that contain more mature themes. For example, if a movie contains any drug use, the minimum rating that it can attain is PG13 and a movie that contains sexuality will also get at least a PG-13 rating. The next rating is R for restricted and suggests that the film contains adult themes and content. Excessive swearing, sexual nudity, extensive drug use, and excessive violence can all earn a film an R rating. The final rating is NC-17 means that no one under the age of 17 is admitted inside the theater. This rating is often thought to suggest pornography, but in reality the rating only means that the content was deemed appropriate only for mature audiences. These ratings are based solely on the views of the Rating Board, which tries to fairly and evenly judge what content is appropriate based on the ages of its intended audiences and are intended to educate audiences, especially parents, on the content that they will be viewing. For the last century and beyond, film has captured the collective imagination of the world. It provides a medium with which to

tell stories and communicate messages. It provides lifestyles and entertainment. It has advanced far from its humble beginnings and it has been picked apart and analyzed as an art. The world of film will continue on to evolve and grow as our society evolves and grows. It will continue to spark controversy and expand the minds of audiences for years to come.

Works Cited
Dirks, Tim. Film History Milestones. amc filmsite. amc, 2010. Web. 13 Jun 2011. <http://www.filmsite.org/1910-filmhistory. html>. Ratings History. Motion Picture Association of America. Web. 14 June 2011. <http:// www.mpaa.org/ratings/ratings-history>. Saettler, P. (2004). The evolution of American educational technology. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. What Each Rating Means. Motion Picture Association of America. Web. 14 June 2011.<http://www.mpaa.org/ratings/ what-each-rating-means>.