Film Industries

The first audiences watched the motion picture flicker on the the big screen in 1895. As a business, technology and aesthetic, the history of motion pictures is only 100 years young. This course will serve as an overview of the economic and business structure of the motion picture art and entertainment industry phenomenon from its beginnings to present day, stressing methods of operation and the influence of social, technological, political and economic factors on changing artistic, financial, distribution and exhibition practices, both nationally and internationally. The creative, organizational and commercial hallmarks of American film production, distribution and exhibition - studio, independent, alternative and avante-garde will be studied in depth..