Deck 1: A Brief History of the Film Industry

Question 1

What is the core function and activity of the film business?

Answer 1

Producing and distributing films for profit.

Question 2

Where is the film business?

Answer 2

Based in Los Angeles and globally

Question 3

When did the film business start?

Answer 3

In the 1890s

Question 4

Describe how the industry operates?

Question 5

Describe how the industry is changing?

Question 6

How important are the global markets to the movie industry?

Question 7

What is the definition of convergence?

Question 8

What is one example of disruption in the movie industry?

Question 9

The process of transforming a film from a script to a commercial movie, goes through five steps in sequential order. Fill in the missing step

A) Development: an idea transformed into a script, the attachment of key players (producer, director, stars), creation of a budget; in order to seek-
B) Financing: securing the funds necessary to make the film,
C) Production: making the film so it's ready to be seen and sold.
D) Distribution & Marketing: creating the maximum availability (distribution) of the movie for sale; generating awareness (marketing)
E) Exhibition: the point of purchase where people buy and consume a movie

Question 10

What are 2 of the 6 Themes of the movie industry?

A) A Global Business
B) Film is Both A Business And An Art Form
C) Profit-Driven
D) Film Is Collaborative
E) Film Is Technologically Driven
F) Capital-Intensive

Question 11

Which of the following describe why film is a Global Business?

A) American films generate the highest box office, dominating worldwide
B) The shrinking entertainment industry in China is impacting U.S. development and production, financing and distribution
C) U.S. population makes up only 95% of the world population
D) U.S. is 3^rd largest film in # tickets sold, behind China and India
E) The international market is increasingly important to U.S. film companies, with over 70% coming from abroad

Question 12

Of those listed here, the first major technological advance in film was:

A) Sound
B) Television
C) CGI
D) Home video
E) Internet

Question 13

Which reasons are mobile smartphones now becoming popular to watch movies?

A) Sufficient storage capacity to download and stream films
B) Internet access
C) Small screen size
D) Portability

Question 14

Which major studios are owned by giant public media companies which own a combination of film, broadcasting, music and publishing?

A) Disney
B) Fox
C) Warner Bros.
D) Universal
E) Paramount
F) Sony Pictures

Question 15

Film is Both A Business And An Art Form

Question 16

The theatrical exhibition business began a shift from single-screen theaters to multiple-screen locations-the multiplex.

Question 17

The movie industry in the United States was artistically driven from the beginning, box office wasn't important.

Question 18

Film Is Collaborative and Technologically Driven

Question 19

Both Edison in NJ and the Lumiere brothers in France, created the technology for home video around the same time in the 1970s.

Question 20

In the U.S. the need for large amounts of money to produce and distribute commercially viable movies has not shaped the industry. In America, money doesn't influence the kinds of films that were made.

Question 21

Netflix and Amazon do not exert pressure on the industry, in fact, these companies are making things much easier for the studios.

Question 22

Studios now increasingly rely on the franchise model of big-budget "tent-pole" movies.

Question 23

Describe how corporate consolidation encourages aversion to risk?

Question 24

What are four key technological developments in the film industry?
a. Creation of the technology by Edison and Lumiere in the 1890s
b. Sound
c. Color
d. TV
e. Video
f. DVD
g. Internet
h. Mobile

Question 25

Describe the 5 step process from a script to a movie

A) Development: an idea transformed into a script, the attachment of key players (producer, director, stars), creation of a budget; in order to seek-
B) Financing: securing the funds necessary to make the film,
C) Production: making the film so it's ready to be seen and sold.
D) Distribution & Marketing: creating the maximum availability (distribution) of the movie for sale in as many media and places as possible; while generating awareness (marketing) so people want to see the movie, which is called -
E) Exhibition: the point of purchase where people buy and consume a movie - in movie theaters, online or DVD, through PPV and VOD systems, on Cable or television.

Question 26

What was Thomas Edison's Monopoly?

Question 27

During The Birth Of The Studio System (1908-1920s), the star system developed where stars were used to sell pictures. Has this changed?

Question 28

Television was both good and bad for the movie industry, describe one way it was bad and one way it was good?

Question 29

The rapid growth of wealth in China has created a buying spree of Chinese companies purchasing Hollywood production, finance and distribution companies.

Question 30

Convergence and Disruption. The definition of convergence is moving toward a union, or coming together. There are many examples of convergence in the movie industry, typically caused by developments in technology and access to capital. Disruption is a radical change in an industry or strategy, involving the introduction of a new product or service that creates a new market. What is the relationship between convergence and disruption?

Question 31

Are pressure from increasing global audiences as a revenue source, the popularity of special effects films with star salaries and technological advances like CGI contribution to a polarity of film budgets?

Question 32

DVDs were once a critical revenue source for movies. What is replacing that?

Question 33

What do theaters use large and enhanced formats like 3D and Imax for?

Question 34

What is your favorite movie and why? What is one aspect of that film that reflects one theme of the film industry?