Making A Movie Essays - Film, Actor, Toy, , Term Papers

Making A Movie Making A Movie Imagine a young child, eye level with a floor full of miniature toys, concentrating intently on building a make-believe world. To the child, the toys are not miniature figures made of plastic or wood. They are real characters with real adventures. The child frames the action, crafting scenes that unfold in a world of imagination. Looking through the lens of a camera as actors bring to life a writer's story, the filmmaker is also peering into a world of imagination. The director, producer, actors, screenwriter, and film editor are all essential players in the journey from concept to finished film. In this remarkable process, thousands of small details-and often hundreds of people-come together to create a Hollywood film. In the Beginning The year is 1890. Directors, editors, and cameramen are making silent films with the help of a "scenarist," usually an ex-vaudeville actor who invents humorous situations. But where are the screenwriters? These early films don't need them. Without sound, there is no need for dialogue. ( Motion Picture Association of America [MPAA], 1999) The Storytellers All of that changed with the advent of sound for film in the 1920s. Suddenly, actors needed something to say. Writers flocked to Hollywood in droves from Broadway and from the worlds of literature and journalism. For a brief time in the 1930s, some of the world's most famous writers wrote Hollywood scripts: William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bertolt, and Thomas Mann. In 1932, William Faulkner earned $6,000 in salary and rights for a story, a substantial of money at the time. Just five years later, F. Scott Fitzgerald earned $1,250 per week, more money than he had ever earned in his life (Brady, 1981, 26) , and enough to get him out of the serious debt he had fallen into. Despite generous pay, the conditions under which these world-renowned writers labored were anything but ideal. Hollywood was a factory system, churning out movies at a furious pace. Screenwriters found themselves at the bottom rung of the studio ladder. By the end of World War II, screenwriters were complaining about their place in the Hollywood machine. Leonard Spigelgass, editor of Who Wrote the Movie and What Else Did He Write (Brady 1981, 50), summed up the situation: "Over the years we have been called hacks, high-priced secretaries, creatures of the director or producer, pulp writers, craftsmen, sell-outs, cop-outs, mechanical robots.No Pulitzer Prizes for us, no Noble's, no mention of our names...." (Brady, 1981, 51) Screenwriters continued to earn little prestige for their hard work, until the filmmaking system experienced some important shifts. The status of movie stars began to increase, and writers often found to be powerful allies. Occasionally, stars would request a script by particular writer, as happened with Katherine Hepburn and the movie of the Year. Hepburn brought the script to the attention of studio head Louis B. Mayer, and the script's writers, Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin, received $100,000 for its use (indieWire, 1999). A few writers also managed to obtain creative control over their work. John Huston, a well-known filmmaker who began as a writer, demanded a clause in his contract with the studio that would give him the opportunity to direct. A screenwriter gained more respect if he demonstrated a real talent for directing. Increasingly, writers became more important players within the studio system. Even so, some left the security and good pay of the studio to freelance for whoever held the reins-studios, stars, or other players. By the late 1940s, screenwriting was a lucrative occupation. Screenwriters today are important and often powerful players in the filmmaking process. They are paid as well as directors and producers are, and their work is considered an art. Screenplays are often published and sold to the general public in bookstores just like novels and plays. (Malkiewicz, 1992, 33). Chernin 3 Though rare in the 1930s and 1940s, many screenwriters today are asking to direct in order to guide their script through the filmmaking process. The number of writers who turn to directing steadily increases year after year. Even if they do not direct, screenwriters often have a say in the project from script through production, collaborating closely with actors and directors to advance their ideas through to finished film. The Director's Vision The director's vision shapes the look and feel of a film. He or she is the creative force that pulls a film together, responsible for turning the words of a script into images on the screen. Actors, cinematographers, writers, and editors orbit around the director like planets around the Sun. Despite the director's pivotal role, most Hollywood movies are designed to pull you into the story without being