Another basic approach to studying film technique is to analyze changes in the uses of technique from an historical perspective, focusing on the ways in which innovations in film, video, and digital technology resulted in new types of techniques over the past one-hundred years. Each new technology break-through resulted in a experimentation and acceptance of new uses of techniques.

Click here for the history of the development of the movie camera from the National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television.

One of the central developments in film history was the “silent movie” era featuring major figures such as D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Cecil B. De Mille.

The fact that the story and character development needed to be conveyed through non-verbal means required a high-quality of acting and uses of black-and-white images. The early silent Charlie Chaplin films, for example, relied on Chaplin’s physical dexterity and nonverbal skills. However, it is also important to recognize the Chaplin was conveying certain important political and ideological perspectives related to the importance of valuing the democratic ideal of the power of the ordinary person against the impersonal forces of business/bureaucracy. In his later films, Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940), he more explicitly addressed political issues of government control and Nazism. In his later years, as he grew more critical of certain aspects of American capitalism, he was barred from re-entering America during the McCarthy era of the 1950s.

Charlie Chaplin: A World Wide Web Celebration
BuZu’s unofficial Charlie Chaplin www page
PBS American Masters: Charlie Chaplin

One of the most important episodes in film history was the introduction of sound in the 1920s. The addition of sound resulted in a major shift in films that focused more on drama (often highly staged and the musical genre). This led to the rise of the Hollywood studio production system in the 1930s in which drama films could be readily produced quickly in an assembly-line manner for showing at the increasing number of local movie theaters. The studio system also resulted in the rise of certain directors who established their own unique styles despite the assembly-line process: John Ford, Frank Capra, Michael Curtiz, and later, Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock. It also resulted in the rise of the “movie star” around whom films were often developed. This was particularly important for actresses such as Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Claudetter Clobert, Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, and Katharine Hepburn, who represented the image of the new outspoken, “independent” female in American culture.

After World War II, the rise of television had a negative impact on the film industry, as audiences no longer went to the movie theaters as they did in the 1930s and 1940s. During the 1960s and early 1970s the industry reacted by creating films with innovative, novel, highly realistic material that would not be suitable for network television, leading to what is referred to as the “golden age” of American films epitomized by Godfather I and II. However, as studio profits began to decline, they were purchased by large conglomerates who were more concerned with profits for their companies. This led to the increasing focus in the 1980s to producing safe, predictable genre blockbuster films that would lead to large profits for the studio’s owners.

At the same time, European, Japanese, Chinese, Iranian, and Austrialian films were becoming increasingly more important in terms of their artistic quality and innovation. However, many of the films received only limited distribution through “art” movie theaters, so they were less accessible than Hollywood films. The French “New Wave” filmmakers Godard, Chabrol, and Truffaut, as well as Federico Fellini in Italy in La Strada, La Dolce Vita, Juliet of the Spirits, Satyricon, and Amarcord, and Luis Buñuel in Spain in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Milky Way, Belle De Jour, Diary of a Chambermaid, and The Exterminating Angel, were experimenting with alternative ways of portraying characters’ subjectivity and critical perspectives on a conformist society. [For more on Buñuel, see “The Majestic Surreal Cinema of Luis Buñuel.”]

The development of VHS and Beta video tapes in the 1970s resulted in a major shift in viewing habits in that films that may not have been successful in theaters or that audiences missed could now be viewed at a later date. Moreover, film teachers could now easily focus on specific clips or review parts of a film in classrooms. The rise of DVD productions in the 1990s only further enhanced film study in that additional materials, out-takes, director interviews, historical background, etc., included on DVDs could be examined.

The 1990s also ushered in the increasing use of special effects and digital technology, with feature films being made increasingly using digital cameras. This allows for easier use of editing in the computer as well as instant distribution on the Internet. Once movie theaters have invested in digital projectors, the costs of distribution will be reduced from having to ship bulky 35mm films. And, as the quality of home viewing on HDTV improves and becomes more affordable, the distinctions between movie and home theaters will blur.

However, the 1990s also witnessed increased control of media conglomerates over the content, promotion, and distribution of films, resulting in the creation of an increasingly important independent film industry outside of the Hollywood studio system.

Tim Dirks: Film History [organized by each year since 1902]

Robert E. Yahnke, Cinema History [one chapter for each decade]

Paul Burns: The Complete History of the Discovery of Cinematography

Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture

The History Channel: summary of film history, with links to directors
motion picture photography
motion pictures

Orson Welles

For further reading:

Cook, D.A. (1996). A history of narrative film . New York: W.W. Norton.

Giannetti, L, & Eyman, S. (2000). Flashback: A brief history of film, 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Gomery, D. (1991). Movie history: A survey. New York: Wadsworth.

Mast, G., & Kawin, B. F. (2002). A short history of the movies. New York: Pearson Longman.

Thompson, K, & Bordwell, D. (2002). Film history: An introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Sklar, R. (2002). A world history of film. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Sklar, R. (1994). Movie-made America: A cultural history of American movies. New York: Vintage.

Module 3: Word document

Visual Literacy: Starting with the Image

Studying Images through Still Photography

Comics and Film Technique

Film Techniques

Lighting

Editing

Sound

Using Film Techniques to Convey Cinematic Meanings

Defining Purposes for Editing Decisions: Creating Storyboards

Analysis/Evaluation of Film Technique

Film History

Television History

Accessing On-line Films / Film Reviews / Ratings / Information

Animation and Special Effects

Film Study Methods

Writing about Films

Film Study Resources

Film Journals/Magazines

References

Teaching Activities