How Hollywood Began
In this article, we’re going to take a look at how the movie industry is connected to our daily lives. More than just a way to entertain us, movies have been an important part of society for more than 100 years.
They play a significant role in shaping people’s beliefs about certain topics (think The Wizard of Oz or Schindler's List), they help perpetuate social structures through things like acting classes (Olivia Pope!), and they provide us with valuable lessons about life (Look into the eyes of your opponent! Never compromise!)
While there are lots of ways that movies influence different cultures and societies, one aspect of the film industry has received a lot of attention recently- their use of strong storytelling.
We can link this strong narrative structure to other areas of human culture where stories are well known to be powerful. For example, academic disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology all make heavy use of narratives to explain complex concepts to students.
In this article, we’ll discuss some examples of how filmmakers used storytelling to bring audiences new experiences, inform them about various issues, and/or inspire them to keep making positive changes in their own lives. Let’s get started!
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The birth of the movie industry
As we know, the term “movie” is actually rather modern. Before there were movies, there was theater. People would gather in groups to watch performances that lasted for several hours, often involving storytelling or dialogue.
These events took place indoors, where you could not easily see what was happening onstage. There were no screens back then, so people had to be completely focused on the performance in order to feel like they knew something important was happening.
In his book The Birth of the Movie Industry, film historian Eric Pace writes about how these stories were influenced by Ancient Greece. Many classic tales come from this time period, including those of Aesop, Homer, and Plato.
Aristotle even made his own clever story set in Athens, which he called The Tale of Two Pawns. This tale tells the story of two men who agree to make a wager with each other on whether one can cause the other to laugh first.
After making their bets, the men go off together while the rest of the world has been disappearing for some time now.
The invention of the movie camera
Before there were movies, people made pictures or drawings and then they wrote down what they had for others to see. This is how we have paintings, sculptures, and diagrams that show things and stories!
Many early artists used materials such as clay, wax, or charcoal to create their work. They would draw inspiration from something they saw and use it as a source material.
Writers make up stories in their heads and write them down so that other people can read them. And now you have a film maker who takes those stories and puts them onto the screen for us to watch!
The first person to do this was someone no one ever heard of before - an Egyptian priest named Anaximander. He filmed his life out of a box called a kinematograph which he invented around 612 BC.
This device was designed to be attached to a wall and projected light through a lens onto a sheet of paper or cloth. It could also run silent motion picture sound, but nobody knows if he actually did.
The growth of the movie industry
In this article, we’ll take a look at how the film industry grew from its initial stages up until now.
The first people to make films were actually in China 2,000 years ago! At that time, filmmakers used stories, songs, chants, and dances to entertain audiences. These early movies focused mostly on entertaining spectators with spectacle and mythological tales.
It wasn't until around 400 AD when movable paper was invented that things started to get more interesting. People began recording actual events, such as battles, speeches, or everyday happenings.
These recordings are what we refer to as documentary footage today. Since then, documentaries have become one of the most popular genres in filmmaking.
Famous movie studios
Early film production companies were not run by professional businessmen, they were very entrepreneurial! This is clear from how some of these companies began- as someone’s personal project or even just because one person wanted to make a movie.
In fact, many early filmmakers would produce their own movies; there was no official studio system at this stage in history. Some people refer to these self-produced films as “independent productions” since they are produced without financial backing from an outside source.
This is different than what we have today, where major corporations fund large projects that are then distributed by other companies. Back in the era before sound, most films were silent. So many of us take for granted all of the work that goes into producing and distributing a movie, but it took years for this to come about.
The next important step in the development of cinema was when inventors realized that they could use photographic equipment to record light onto a surface (a plate) so that you can play the recorded image back using another piece of technology, a beam of light called a projector.
By recording both shadows and lights onto a plate at various angles, you get the effect of darkness around an object and overall depth. These effects create interest and emphasize certain parts of the picture, making it look more realistic.
These recordings are done under controlled conditions, so scientists had a standard by which to compare newly made images.
Famous actors and actresses
While not every person who has ever lived or will live have made an impact beyond their area of field, we can be certain that many have. There are quite a few people out there whose lives have been touched by theirs - to make a difference in the way they live their life and inspire others to do likewise.
It is very common these days to refer to a group of individuals as ‘famous’. This seems rather shallow however, when you take a look at some of the greats across all fields - from artists to politicians to athletes to business tycoons. All of them had a defining moment in their life where everything changed, most often due to a story that was told about them.
This is how it starts; someone hears about something incredible that you do, and then they tell another person, and so on until one day everyone knows what you're known for!
With this, stories spread quickly. People talk about you, praise you, criticize you, but always with the same theme: how you improved your own set of skills by studying what was done well by those before you. You learned from them, and now you do things more efficiently than they did back then.
Your reputation grows along with yourself.
Oscar nominations
While not every movie made it to the Oscars, there are some key milestones that helped solidify Hollywood as an industry worth investing in. One of these is having your film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
This isn’t something easily gained though, it takes years of hard work to get here! It’s extremely difficult to achieve even more than a nomination now, but back when it was first done people truly thought they were never going to see this movie finished.
That doesn’t mean it wasn’t well-made or successful, it just took far longer than expected to be seen by most. But all those delays gave its creators enough time to hone their craft, win over audience members, and prove themselves as professionals.
With all due respect to any non-professional filmmakers out there, if you can’t handle yourself like a professional then don’t risk putting your own money into your project.
Oscar wins
One of the most well-known stories about how Hollywood was born is that of William Selig, an aspiring filmmaker. He spent years trying to get his production company off the ground, investing all of his money into it. In 1912, he finally succeeded!
He gave up on other projects to make The Passing of Harry Lane, a short film he wrote, produced, and directed himself. It won the first ever Academy Award for Best Short Film in 1934.
This story has been repeated many times since then, but it’s not true. There are several major problems with this narrative, not the least of which is that there is no proof that William Selig even made the movie.
Another problem is that almost every source claims that The Passing of Harry Lane was meant to be shown before feature length films, which isn’t what we know to be fact.
What we do know is that a few months after The Passing of Harry Lane premiered at the Empire Cinema in New York City, another man named George Katterbee filmed his own short film, titled You Can't Take It With You. This movie would go onto win the second award given out by the Oscars, for best short animated film.
So, clearly, someone was already making movies back in 1914, and they were winning awards for it.
Popular movie genres
Many people associate popular film genres with big studio productions, but not all of them are made by large corporations. Some major studios may contribute to these types of films, but there are also independent filmmakers creating interesting stories that fit into this genre.
Many people associate popular movie genres with big studio productions, but not all of them are made by large corporations. Some major studios may contribute to these types of films, but there are also independent filmmakers creating interesting stories that fit into this genre.
One such genre is the horror movie. Since the beginning of cinema, filmmakers have been telling scary stories to get audiences spooked. This has ranged from vampires to psycho killers to demons or even aliens!
Another common theme in many horror movies is death. Death can be due to anything from zombies attacking you, to an infected individual coming after you, to humans killing each other for resources. These themes combine very well within the context of the movie, making for intense suspense.
Movie genres like action and thriller rely heavily on quick cuts and fluid camera movements to keep up momentum. Suspenseful scenes often include a lot of buildup so that when the fast movement comes together, it’s extra impressive.
These concepts should give you some ideas for how to write your own story! If you want to learn more about writing fiction, check out our article here: Tips For Writers Novel Introduction.