Although technologies in the 1950s made independent movie-making feasible for ordinary people, the technology available today allows everyone to be filmmakers. Cameras have become so cheap, but retain amazing quality, and young filmmakers have caught on. We're in the midst of a new kind of film making. From YouTube to film shorts to full-length films, the style and mise-en-scene of independent films is changing. The following short film is a good example of this, and it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year.
Films with this style of lightly scripted acting, and documentary feel are becoming increasingly popular and are finding their way into mainstream media. Shows, for instance, like "Workaholics" and "Broad City" are evidence of this shift. More evidence of this can be found on YouTube where ordinary people are finding themselves becoming famous. YouTube stars include:
Justin Bieber
Jessica Rose
Stuart Edge
Grumpy Cat
With it being so easy now to create good-quality films, and with free platforms for viewing these films, I predict that not too far in the future we will begin to see a dramatic rise in movies released solely online and large Hollywood studios trying to tap into that market.
United Artists, which was formed by four major Hollywood stars in 1920-1921, was the first American independent studio. Becoming independent of the major Hollywood studios of the time allowed the stars to create films as they wanted to and with much more freedom than the studios of that time allowed.
Unfortunately, by 1924 the United Artists studio was facing a financial crisis. Without the backing of major Hollywood studios, and with the cost of making films on the rise, it appeared to be the end of a dream for these artists. Although they were able to hang on for several more years, the changing technologies and business dynamics eventually overcame the company and by the late 1940s it ceased to exist.
Still unwilling to be controlled by major Hollywood studios, however, Mary Pickford along with many of the same people who were members of United Artists created the Society of Independent Picture Producers. This society filed the first antitrust lawsuit, against Paramount's United Detroit Theatres, in 1942. In 1948, in another suit, courts ordered studios to stop many of the practices that had created their controlling monopoly. By 1958 many of the complaints SIMPP had were corrected and they closed their doors.
During the second World War a new, portable camera was invented. This new camera, and the efforts of SIMPP allowed most anyone with an interest in film to write, direct and produce their own films. In 1953 Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, and Ruth Orkin's film "Little Fugitive" was nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay. Its theatrical trailer is below.
Because films were becoming more easy to make and produce, low-budget and independent films were able to take risks that Hollywood studios were unable to take. By the late 1950s, Hollywood studios were turning out films like this:
New York was exploding with artists wanting to use film as an art form. These artists were turning out films that looked more like this:
In 1962 Jonas Mekas, Stan Brekhage, Shirley Clarke, Gregory Markopoulos and others founded the an artist-run non-profit organization called The Filmmaker's Cooperative which they would use to distribute their films. For filmmakers such as Andy Warhol and Jack Smith, the Cooperative proved to be an important outlet. In 1970 Mekas and Brekhage founded the Anthology Film Archives, which to this day has proven essential to the preservation and development of independent films.
In 1951, with major Hollywood studios struggling to compete with television, Arthur Kim and Robert Benjamin made a deal with the remaining stockholders of United Artists. The deal consisted of Kim and Robert attempting to revive the company. If they were successful at this they would be able to buy the company in five years. The attempt was successful and United Artists broke new ground again by becoming the first studio without an actual studio. Rather than paying the overhead necessary for running a studio, studio space was either rented or films were shot on location. After going public in 1956 United Artists began to flourish as other studios started declining.
Unable to reach younger audiences many studios began hiring young filmmakers and allowing them to create their films with little control. This idea led to Warner Bros offering first-time producer Warren Beatty 40% of the film's gross earnings rather than a minimal fee in 1967. By 1973 the film, "Bonnie and Clyde" would bring in 70 million dollars worldwide. The success of this film helped usher in a new era for Hollywood as well as pave the way for major studios to give up most control to the film school generation.
One of the first completely independent films of the "New Hollywood" era was "Easy Rider", which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes the film received the "First Film Award", and later received two Oscar nominations, one for best original screenplay and one for best supporting actor. Its theatrical trailer is below:
Around this same time, the now revived United Artists studio released their film, "Midnight Cowboy" which is still the only X-rated film to win the Academy Award for best picture.
With a new crop of talent emerging through independent films, major Hollywood studios began to offer deals to these young filmmakers. This new generation include names like George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. Although they came from an independent background, these filmmakers soon found themselves entrenched in a new version of the studio system.
With the once independent filmmakers going mainstream, the line between "New Hollywood" and independent became incredibly blurry. While the films created by these directors flourished, a small group of filmmakers remained in New York creating art films and rebelling against the rise of the "New Hollywood" system.
In 1978 the Utah/US Film Festival was founded by Sterling Van Wagenen and Charles Gary Allison, with chairperson Robert Redford. The initial goal of the festival was to attract filmmakers to Utah and showcase the potential of independent films. Four years later, in 1981, United Artists was bought out by MGM and was no longer an avenue for independent filmmakers. That same year Van Wagenen left the film festival to found the Sundance Institute with Redford. In 1985, with the film festival facing financial troubles, Van Wagenen took over its management responsibilities, which led to the creation of the Sundance Film Festival.
The 1990s saw a new wave of independent films. In 1990 the release of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" by New Line Cinema grossed 100 million dollars at the box office making it the most successful independent film in box-office history. Noting the success of independent films, major Hollywood studios bought out the smaller indie studios. Sony Pictures Classics, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Focus Features, and Warner Independent Pictures are all indie studios that are now owned by Hollywood conglomerates.
Some of the most successful independent films to come from these conglomerates include:
With film makers finding their groove in Hollywood the motion picture industry was beginning to boom. Five studios emerged as the major film makers of the time: MGM , Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO, and Fox, with three smaller companies: Universal, Columbia, United Artists. Most of these companies are familiar to movie-goers to this day.
The studios were able to control everything they produced from the screenplay to the actors and directors, to the way the film was processed and even distributed. Each studio was able to ensure that every film that came out of their studio would be a money-maker through this control. The studios also "owned" their actors, which became known as the star system.
The antitrust case United States vs. Paramount Pictures, Inc. outlawed the practice of block booking (forcing theaters to buy several movies at once as a unit, rather than buying them one at a time), and also forced the studios to sell their theater chains. This verdict began the decline of the studio system and the decline of the then booming star system.
A STAR IS BORN
In addition to controlling the films in which an actor or actress could appear, studios also created the public images of their stars. Household names such as
Marilyn Monroe
Marlon Brando
Rock Hudson
and Elizabeth Taylor
were all products of this system. While it did lead to successful careers for the stars borne of this system, it was incredibly frustrating for many artists. Not only did they not have any control over the films in which they would star, many of them had false personas created for them which they were to uphold in real life.
The formula used to build stars begins with creating an archetype for them to fill. Marilyn Monroe, for example, was made to be the "blonde bombshell, and Marlon Brando was to be the "mysterious rebel". Once the archetype is in place that image is to be implanted in the imagination of the public.
Next, is to make the archetype believable for the person; that in their real lives, outside of a movie set, they are the same as the characters they portray. Reports that Marlon Brando was out late drinking and causing trouble, for example, might boost his star power, while the same report would likely do grave damage to the career of Rock Hudson.
To really be sure that a star's power is solidified, the next step is to continually cast an actor or actress in roles that perpetuate the archetype. By type-casting their talent studios were able to control this aspect of the star formula, ensuring their return on investment.
Although they are no longer controlled by studios, many stars use this same formula to create their fame today.
To resist the control studios had over the films they produced, four big movie stars created their own studio, United Artists. Those stars were D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks.
By starting their own studio these artists were able to maintain control over their own creative pursuits.
The frustration of many stars, however, began to be too much and caused a lot of hostility and conflict between the studios and the film makers. Several actors and actresses left their studios and were only willing to come back on their own terms. Others sued their studios to be freed from their contracts. By the 1960s the star and studio systems were no longer in place.
