World Influences

We have all gone to Hastings, Block Buster, or our local Red Box at one point in time having no idea what we want to watch. All we know is that it better be good, and worth the money we spend, even if it is only a single dollar. When searching for these movies, most people don’t look for films with cultural significance, especially a significance that is held by a foreign country that they may possibly never understand or connect with. I have never found myself wandering down the foreign films aisle looking for a movie with a deeper meaning, even though I probably should from time to time. I want to be entertained, and if that requires me to sit in front of a screen and use little to no brainpower, and to not leave the movie thinking what if, then so be it. I feel that this mindset separates American audiences from others around the world, thus leading to different films entirely. 

American Cinema has always been known for its flashy appeal and big on screen explosions. These flashy films have always caught the attention of audiences around the world. Though most foreign films do incorporate flashy appeal, they tend to lean more towards the artistic side. However, no matter how hard they try to avoid it, America will always have some sort of influence on world cinema. One example is the typical American motto, “BIGGER IS BETTER”, without that belief huge wide-screens may have never caught on, or would have many years later. World Cinema was also influenced by the simplicity of some western films, there was no need for every single film to reflect on the military past or national pride. America’s physical presence alone had influence on foreign films, as describe in A Short History in Film, when explaining Japan’s movement from an Emperor ran government to an industrialized government.

World cinema also had its own influence on American films. Neo-realism, which became a dominant genre in war torn European countries began showing its face in American films more and more. Neo-realism was developed originally to show the devastation of World War 2, and what life was like after. Films after the war reflected the spirit of the times; in Europe it was sad and depressing. In America films reflected “repression and liberation, of spectacle and gritty realism.” Billy Wilder incorporated neo-realism in his film The Lost Weekend where is was partially shot on the streets of New York.

I do believe film is an international language, but it can only be translated so much, and at some points loses its meaning in translation. There are always those films or genres that become known worldwide, such as Westerns, which have always been known as American films, but have been reflected in many films around the world. This one genre shows only a miniscule amount of the influence that American cinema has had on the rest of the world. Many films that we Americans enjoy today may not be as appealing to people from other countries from around the world. Although the interpretations of films may be taken differently between cultures, every film is taken a certain way, depending on who is watching. There are also many films developed in other countries that we would not find entertaining, or even more so not understand the meaning of the film because our ideology is completely different from that of other countries.

No matter whether a film as cultural significance or not, usually it seems to appeal more to one country than another. Culture plays a large role in this appeal, but without different cultures we wouldn’t have nearly as many genres in film as we do.

Innovation of Widescreen

There were many innovations made in the film industry between 1930 and 1960, most of which occurring in the 1950’s. After World War 2 many people filled there leisure time with out door activities instead of sitting around at the movies. This lead production companies to invest and develop new styles of filming that would draw large crowds back into the movie theaters. Each production company had its own new style to film or bring sound to the theater, which they thought would bring in more post-war audiences. Introduction of the big-screen was the most prominent change in movie theaters across the country. It wasn’t until 1950’s when color was used in by the entire film industry. Some of the other innovations that production companies tried to use to appeal crowds was 3-D film and deep focus cinematography.

Widescreen was used to make audiences feel like they were more apart of the movie they were watching. 3-D also tried this approach by making audiences believe they were just as much in the film as the actors were by “putting the movie in their laps”, but was short-lived, lasting only eighteen months. Widescreen movies helped to exaggerate climatic moments in films by allowing large images to be projected for audiences, making them feel closer.

Paramount experimented with their version of widescreen films by using a technique called Magnascope. Magnascope required special wide-angled projection lens, which would magnify the image to a tremendous 30 by 40 foot screen, from a mere 15 by 20 foot image previously used.

Cinerama was the next technique that was used to try to take over the widescreen sensation, though it was developed outside the film industry. This technique appealed to the audiences’ peripheral vision, using three inter-locked 35 mm cameras, equipped with 27mm wide-angled lenses, angled 48 degrees to one another. Three inter-locked projectors in three separate booths were used to project three separate images onto one, deeply curved screen. These theaters also required a sound control engineer to playback six microphones to seven speakers in the theater. The first Cinerama film grossed over $32 million, even though it played in a small number of theaters due to its high requirements needed to play. Three-strip Cinerama lasted until 1963, when Ultra Panavision replaced it. Ultra Panavision, a 70mm. process that condensed Cinerama’s view to a single strip.

The most accomplished technique for widescreen films was developed my 20^th Century Fox. Cinemascope used a similar approach to that of Cinerama, but on a single 35mm. strip. Cinemascope used magnetic oxide striping to place four tracks on a single 35mm. strip. All this information for condensed and compressed by Fox engineers. In order to fit the information one strip, the frame area was redesigned and the size of perforations on both sides of the strip were reduced. With Cinemascope allowing sound and image on the same strip eliminated the need for a sound control engineer in the theater. By the end of 1954 Cinemascope quickly became the industry standard, every studio, except for Paramount who developed their own version of Cinemascope (VistaVision), had implemented the Cinemascope format. By 1967 Fox retired Cinemascope in favor of Panavision due to the development of Paramount’s high-quality anamorphic lens.

Widescreen films shown in color overwhelmed audiences right from the get-go, with their large curved screens and magnetic sound that was played along with the film. Audiences still appeal to the larger than life movie being played in front of them. If it weren’t for wide movie screens most people would not have been drawn back to the movie theaters after World War 2, which could have brought a sudden halt to the American film industry. Innovations such as widescreens are still used today in most movie theaters around the world, along with the re-introduction of 3-D technology. If not for widescreen movies most of the public would be perfectly content watching films and television from the comfort of the their home.