Film & Video(2)

Question 1

What was the significance of, A Trip to the Moon?

Answer 1

It was one of the first films to incorporate editing and camera tricks

Question 2

What are blockbusters?

Answer 2

the type of big-budget special effects film that typically has a summer or holiday release date, heavy promotion, and lucrative merchandising tie-ins

Question 3

What are newsreels and why are they important?

Answer 3

pioneered in France and England in the late 1890s, newsreels consisted of weekly ten-minute magazine-style compilations of filmed news events from around the world
–important because it led to the documentary film genre

Question 4

What is Vertical Integration?

Answer 4

in media economics, the phenomenon of controlling a mass media industry at its 3 essential levels: production, distribution, and exhibition
-the term is frequently used in reference to the film industry during the studio system era

Question 5

What are the 8 major studios?

Answer 5

Columbia, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, Disney(Bueno Vista), Sony(Tristar)

Question 6

What are independent films?

Answer 6

independent music and film production houses that are outside industry oligopolies/are produced outside the traditional Hollywood system

Question 7

What are the 3 major roles of the movie making process?

Answer 7

directors, producers, screenwriters

Question 8

What is the job of the director?

Answer 8

guides the actors, stages action, supervises shooting

Question 9

What is the job of a producer? What is the job of an executive producer?

Answer 9

producers are organizers of a film, raise money for filming, select creative team, can be a studio executive
-executive producers mostly help in money-making, while producers are the organizers of films

Question 10

What is the job of a screenwriter?

Answer 10

-authors of the script
-determine the narrative of the film

Question 11

What is the distribution cycle(4 steps)?

Answer 11

1. theatrical release
2. pay cable(ex. HBO), digital downloads, On Demand, rental
3. network and cable exhibition
4. syndication

Question 12

What is microcinema?

Answer 12

movement of low-budget video, production & distribution made possible by digital video and editing technology

Question 13

What is blockbuster mentality and what kind of movies can it lead to?

Answer 13

the practice by large studios to produce high budget/high earning movies that choke out smaller movies at theaters
–can lead to movies that are formulaic by nature

Question 14

What are the two theories of Cinema and self?

Answer 14

1. Psychoanalysis
2. Media Identification

Question 15

What is the psychoanalysis theory?

Answer 15

-Metz
-film as a mirror
-doesn’t reflect the spectator
-viewer identifies with the camera over the image, becoming one with the other

Question 16

What is the Media Identification theory?

Answer 16

-Cohen
-Identification is a mechanism through which we experience and interpret content as if it is happening to us

Question 17

What are the 5 main ways that Youtube helps creators facilitate audience reach and engagement?

Answer 17

1. Live events(ex. meet-ups)
2. paid promotion connects the film to new audiences(by paying to promote your YouTube video/channel on other peoples content)
3. analytics help producers understand viewers
4. can leverage with social media
5. interactivity fosters community building through parasocial relationships

Question 18

Identification vs parasocial interactions

Answer 18

a parasocial interaction is a way of psychoanalyzing the film, and identification is where we experience and interpret the content as if it is happening to us

Question 19

What are the 3 characteristics of viral video?

Answer 19

1. communities of participation
2. unexpectedness
3. peacemakers

Question 20

What do the 3 characteristics of viral video mean for our media and culture?

Answer 20

the audience defines the popularity, which means we have the power to change media and culture