The Cathedral Of The Motion Picture After reading this section, you should be able to:
cite the average size of movie-going audiences in the period from 1929 to 1949.
discuss the American institution of movie-going as a supplement to or replacement for other social institutions.
Developing Systems: Society and Technology After reading this section, you should be able to:
distinguish between film as a medium and film as an institution (whether social, psychological, or technological).
name some of the technologies upon which film depends, and which were developed alongside film.
Edison and the Kinetoscope After reading this section, you should be able to:
name several of the technological communications and media devices that led up to the invention of cinema technology.
discuss the impact of film on modern ways of experiencing time.
discuss the relationships of advertising and marketing between film and consumer culture.
contrast the Kinetoscope device to the cinema projector in terms of both physical makeup and economic forces driving their adoption.
Mass Production, Mass Consumption After reading this section, you should be able to:
name some of the theatrical amusements against which early film competed.
identify the difference between mass-produced spectacle and live performances in terms of an audience's relationship to the image.
explain the cultural and psychological transition from viewing a Kinetoscope to watching a film image.
describe the economic class that made up the majority of audiences in the early 20th century, whether for variety shows or films.
contrast an "exhibitionist" cinema to a "narrative" cinema.
discuss the social effects of joining an audience of mass-produced films.
describe the Motion Picture Patents Company's attempt to change the class make-up of film audiences and filmgoing as a cultural practice.
Spectacle and Storytelling: From Porter to Griffith After reading this section, you should be able to:
describe both the original version and the edited version of Edwin S. Porter's The Life Of An American Fireman (1903), and each of their implications to the question of "exhibitionist" vs. narrative cinema.
contrast cinematic styles of description and active narration.
discuss D. W. Griffith's parallel editing ("cross-cutting") as a generator of both suspense and psychological development.
examine The Birth Of A Nation as an originary moment of classical Hollywood cinema, whether in terms of length, technique, or content.
Presenting… The Movie Palace After reading this section, you should be able to:
name several of the showmen behind the openings of the great Movie Palaces of the 1910s and 1920s, as well as several of their most famous theaters.
identify features of the construction and entertainment program of the Movie Palaces that distinguished them from smaller theaters.
An Evolving Institution After reading this section, you should be able to:
briefly outline the emergence of the classical Hollywood cinema as a cultural institution.
