Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The New Hollywood and Independent Filmmaking


There was a time that the Hollywood industry struggled so much to the point that even the expensive studio projects failed to gain profits. American movie attendance flattened out at around 1 billion tickets per year and by 1969, the hollywood companies were already losing over $200 million annually. This created a huge impact because as we all know the Hollywood industry is one of the centers and main pillars in the whole film industry worldwide.

But then of course, the producers can't just sit around and watch the industry go down. They fought back and their strategy was to produce counterculture-flavored films aimed at young people. This is where the so called "movie brats" became significant. The young directors that changed the Hollywood industry. George Lucas, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg and Francis Coppola are just some of those genius directors that were able to lift the industry's fortune.

Most of the films of the New Hollywood were based on the Old Hollywood because the young directors were also admirers of the classical Hollywood tradition. Well not only that but some directors admired the European tradition too. During the 1980s, the fresh directors were able to win recognition as well that created a "New Hollywood". Many of the biggest movie hits came from George Lucas (Star Wars) and Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park). Directors from independent film managed to shift into the mainstream world with widely known celebrities making medium-budget pictures.

George Lucas (Star Wars)

Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park)


And at the start of the new century, many of the most thrilling Hollywood films were being created by a heavy-armed new generation from the 1960s and 1970s and brought up on videotape, video games and of course The Internet.

Source: Film Art by David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson (p. 463-468)

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