Movies and popular culture, Pt. 1

movies

• Movies have been a very large part of popular culture for many years
• Why do you think this is so?

movies

• In the late 1800s, some French brothers discovered that with placing enough photographs along a celluloid piece of film they could approximate physical movement
• Thus, motion pictures (movies) were born and took off quickly
• 24 frames (or pictures) per second=standard rate

movies

• The first films were without sound (silent) but still amazed and entertained viewers
• In the late 1920s-early 1930s, synchronized sound became possible and we have used that dynamic ever since

movies

• Most early films were what they called "one-reelers"--that is, a film that lasted as long as the film stock contained on a single reel of film
• Then, directors realized they could tell longer stories with multi-reel films but needed a way to do it so they developed a multi-projector set up such as shown here which was the preferred method into the late 1980s

movies

• The multiplex theater system changed all this (not feasible for two projectors each for twenty theaters)
• So this platter form was adopted in the 1990s-2000s
• Now most theaters are digital with portable storage drives, whether still projected on screen or directly routed to screen

critical thinking question

• How important is seeing a new film in a theater or streaming at home?

critical thinking question

• Do you feel there is too much realism or violence in film content?
• Why/why not?

questions? Movies and popular culture, Pt. 1