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Wikipedia

Independent film

April 29, 2023

An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in some cases, distributed by major companies). Independent films are sometimes distinguishable by their content and style and the way in which the filmmakers' personal artistic vision is realized. Usually, but not always, independent films are made with considerably lower budgets than major studio films.[1]

Filmmakers Stéphane Brizé (second from the right) and Rodrigo Moreno (second from the left) at a screening of The Measure of a Man in Buenos Aires in 2019.

It is not unusual for well-known actors who are cast in independent features to take substantial pay cuts for a variety of reasons: if they truly believe in the message of the film; they feel indebted to filmmaker for a career break; their career is otherwise stalled or they feel unable to manage a larger commitment to a studio film; the film offers an opportunity to showcase a talent that hasn't gained traction in the studio system; or simply because they want to work with a particular director that they admire. There are many examples of the latter, such as John Travolta and Bruce Willis taking less pay to work with Quentin Tarantino on Pulp Fiction.[2]

Generally, the marketing of independent films is characterized by limited release, often at independent movie theaters, but they can also have major marketing campaigns and a wide release. Independent films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals before distribution (theatrical or retail release). An independent film production can rival a mainstream film production if it has the necessary funding and distribution.

History

Edison Trust

Main article: Edison Trust

In 1908, the Motion Picture Patents Company or "Edison Trust" was formed as a trust. The Trust was a cartel that held a monopoly on film production and distribution comprising all the major film companies of the time (Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph, Essanay, Selig, Lubin, Kalem, American Star, American Pathé), the leading distributor (George Kleine) and the biggest supplier of raw film, Eastman Kodak. A number of filmmakers declined or were refused membership to the trust and came to be described as "independent".

At the time of the formation of the MPPC, Thomas Edison owned most of the major patents relating to motion pictures, including that for raw film. The MPPC vigorously enforced its patents, constantly bringing suits and receiving injunctions against independent filmmakers. Because of this, a number of filmmakers responded by building their own cameras and moving their operations to Hollywood, California, where the distance from Edison's home base of New Jersey made it more difficult for the MPPC to enforce its patents.[3]

The Edison Trust was soon ended by two decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States: one in 1912, which canceled the patent on raw film, and a second in 1915, which cancelled all MPPC patents. Though these decisions succeeded at legalizing independent film, they would do little to remedy the de facto ban on small productions; the independent filmmakers who had fled to Southern California during the enforcement of the trust had already laid the groundwork for the studio system of classical Hollywood cinema.

Studio system

In early 1910, director D.W. Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast with his acting troupe, consisting of performers Blanche Sweet, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and others. They began filming on a vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles. While there, the company decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood, a little village that was friendly and positive about the movie company filming there. Griffith then filmed the first movie ever shot in Hollywood, In Old California, a Biograph melodrama about California in the 1800s, while it belonged to Mexico. Griffith stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York.

During the Edison era of the early 1900s, many Jewish immigrants had found jobs in the U.S. film industry. Under the Edison Trust, they were able to make their mark in a brand-new business: the exhibition of films in storefront theaters called nickelodeons. Within a few years, ambitious men like Samuel Goldwyn, Carl Laemmle, Adolph Zukor, Louis B. Mayer, and the Warner Brothers (Harry, Albert, Samuel, and Jack) had switched to the production side of the business. After hearing about Biograph's success in Hollywood, in 1913 many such would-be movie-makers headed west to avoid the fees imposed by Edison. Soon they were the heads of a new kind of enterprise: the movie studio.

By establishing a new system of production, distribution, and exhibition which was independent of The Edison Trust in New York, these studios opened up new horizons for cinema in the United States. The Hollywood oligopoly replaced the Edison monopoly. Within this new system, a pecking order was soon established which left little room for any newcomers. By the mid-1930s, at the top were the five major studios, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, RKO Pictures, and Warner Bros. Then came three smaller companies, Columbia Pictures, United Artists, and Universal Studios. Finally there was "Poverty Row", a catch all term used to encompass any other smaller studio that managed to fight their way up into the increasingly exclusive movie business.

While the small studios that made up Poverty Row could be characterized as existing "independently" of any major studio, they utilized the same kind of vertically and horizontally integrated systems of business as the larger players in the game. Though the eventual breakup of the studio system and its restrictive chain-theater distribution network would leave independent movie houses eager for the kind of populist, seat-filling product of the Poverty Row studios, that same paradigm shift would also lead to the decline and ultimate disappearance of "Poverty Row" as a Hollywood phenomenon. While the kinds of films produced by Poverty Row studios only grew in popularity, they would eventually become increasingly available both from major production companies and from independent producers who no longer needed to rely on a studio's ability to package and release their work.

This table lists the companies active in late 1935 illustrates the categories commonly used to characterize the Hollywood system.

Lincoln Motion Picture Company, United Artists and resistance to the studio system

Main articles: Lincoln Motion Picture Company and United Artists

The studio system quickly became so powerful that some filmmakers once again sought independence. On May 24, 1916, the Lincoln Motion Picture Company was formed, the first movie studio owned and controlled by independent filmmakers. [4] In 1919, four of the leading figures in American silent cinema (Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith) formed United Artists. Each held a 20% stake, with the remaining 20% held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo.[5] The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford, and cowboy star William S. Hart a year earlier as they were traveling around the U.S. selling Liberty bonds to help the World War I effort. Already veterans of Hollywood, the four film stars began to talk of forming their own company to better control their own work as well as their futures. They were spurred on by the actions of established Hollywood producers and distributors, who were making moves to tighten their control over their stars' salaries and creative license. With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before things had formalized. When he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, is said to have observed, "The inmates are taking over the asylum."

The four partners, with advice from McAdoo (son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary of then-President Woodrow Wilson), formed their distribution company, with Hiram Abrams as its first managing director. The original terms called for Pickford, Fairbanks, Griffith, and Chaplin to independently produce five pictures each year, but by the time the company got underway in 1920–1921, feature films were becoming more expensive and more polished, and running times had settled at around ninety minutes (or eight reels). It was believed that no one, no matter how popular, could produce and star in five quality feature films a year. By 1924, Griffith had dropped out and the company was facing a crisis: either bring in others to help support a costly distribution system or concede defeat. The veteran producer Joseph Schenck was hired as president. Not only had he been producing pictures for a decade, but he brought along commitments for films starring his wife, Norma Talmadge, his sister-in-law, Constance Talmadge, and his brother-in-law, Buster Keaton. Contracts were signed with a number of independent producers, especially Samuel Goldwyn, Howard Hughes and later Alexander Korda. Schenck also formed a separate partnership with Pickford and Chaplin to buy and build theaters under the United Artists name.

Still, even with a broadening of the company, UA struggled. The coming of sound ended the careers of Pickford and Fairbanks. Chaplin, rich enough to do what he pleased, worked only occasionally. Schenck resigned in 1933 to organize a new company with Darryl F. Zanuck, Twentieth Century Pictures, which soon provided four pictures a year to UA's schedule. He was replaced as president by sales manager Al Lichtman who himself resigned after only a few months. Pickford produced a few films, and at various times Goldwyn, Korda, Walt Disney, Walter Wanger, and David O. Selznick were made "producing partners" (i.e., sharing in the profits), but ownership still rested with the founders. As the years passed and the dynamics of the business changed, these "producing partners" drifted away. Goldwyn and Disney left for RKO, Wanger for Universal Pictures, Selznick and Korda for retirement. By the late 1940s, United Artists had virtually ceased to exist as either a producer or distributor.

Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers

Main article: Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers

In 1941, Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Walt Disney, Orson Welles, Samuel Goldwyn, David O. Selznick, Alexander Korda, and Walter Wanger—many of the same people who were members of United Artists—founded the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers. Later members included William Cagney, Sol Lesser, and Hal Roach. The Society aimed to preserve the rights of independent producers in an industry overwhelmingly controlled by the studio system. SIMPP fought to end monopolistic practices by the five major Hollywood studios which controlled the production, distribution, and exhibition of films. In 1942, the SIMPP filed an antitrust suit against Paramount's United Detroit Theatres. The complaint accused Paramount of conspiracy to control first-run and subsequent-run theaters in Detroit. It was the first antitrust suit brought by producers against exhibitors alleging monopoly and restraint of trade. In 1948, the United States Supreme Court Paramount Decision ordered the Hollywood movie studios to sell their theater chains and to eliminate certain anti-competitive practices. This effectively brought an end to the studio system of Hollywood's Golden Age. By 1958, many of the reasons for creating the SIMPP had been corrected and SIMPP closed its offices.

Low-budget films

Main article: Low-budget film

The efforts of the SIMPP and the advent of inexpensive portable cameras during World War II effectively made it possible for any person in America with an interest in making films to write, produce, and direct one without the aid of any major film studio. These circumstances soon resulted in a number of critically acclaimed and highly influential works, including Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon in 1943, Kenneth Anger's Fireworks in 1947, and Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin and Ray Abrashkin's Little Fugitive in 1953. Filmmakers such as Ken Jacobs with little or no formal training began to experiment with new ways of making and shooting films.

Little Fugitive became the first independent film to be nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the American Academy Awards.[6] It also received Silver Lion at Venice. Both Engel and Anger's films won acclaim overseas from the burgeoning French New Wave, with Fireworks inspiring praise and an invitation to study under him in Europe from Jean Cocteau, and François Truffaut citing Little Fugitive as an essential inspiration to his seminal work, The 400 Blows. As the 1950s progressed, the new low-budget paradigm of filmmaking gained increased recognition internationally, with films such as Satyajit Ray's critically acclaimed[7][8][9][10] Apu Trilogy (1955–1959).

Unlike the films made within the studio system, these new low-budget films could afford to take risks and explore new artistic territory outside the classical Hollywood narrative. Maya Deren was soon joined in New York by a crowd of like-minded avant-garde filmmakers who were interested in creating films as works of art rather than entertainment. Based upon a common belief that the "official cinema" was "running out of breath" and had become "morally corrupt, aesthetically obsolete, thematically superficial, [and] temperamentally boring",[11] this new crop of independents formed The Film-Makers' Cooperative, an artist-run, non-profit organization which they would use to distribute their films through a centralized archive. Founded in 1962 by Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage, Shirley Clarke, Gregory Markopoulos, and others, the Cooperative provided an important outlet for many of cinema's creative luminaries in the 1960s, including Jack Smith and Andy Warhol. When he returned to America, Ken Anger would debut many of his most important works there. Mekas and Brakhage would go on to found the Anthology Film Archives in 1970, which would likewise prove essential to the development and preservation of independent films, even to this day.

Exploitation boom and the MPAA rating system

Main article: B movies (The exploitation boom)

Not all low-budget films existed as non-commercial art ventures. The success of films like Little Fugitive, which had been made with low (or sometimes non-existent) budgets encouraged a huge boom in popularity for non-studio films. Low-budget film making promised exponentially greater returns (in terms of percentages) if the film could have a successful run in the theaters. During this time, independent producer/director Roger Corman began a sweeping body of work that would become legendary for its frugality and grueling shooting schedule. Until his so-called "retirement" as a director in 1971 (he continued to produce films even after this date) he would produce up to seven movies a year, matching and often exceeding the five-per-year schedule that the executives at United Artists had once thought impossible.

Like those of the avant-garde, the films of Roger Corman took advantage of the fact that unlike the studio system, independent films had never been bound by its self-imposed production code. Corman's example (and that of others like him) would help start a boom in independent B-movies in the 1960s, the principal aim of which was to bring in the youth market which the major studios had lost touch with. By promising sex, wanton violence, drug use, and nudity, these films hoped to draw audiences to independent theaters by offering to show them what the major studios could not. Horror and science fiction films experienced a period of tremendous growth during this time. As these tiny producers, theaters, and distributors continued to attempt to undercut one another, the B-grade shlock film soon fell to the level of the Z movie, a niche category of films with production values so low that they became a spectacle in their own right. The cult audiences these pictures attracted soon made them ideal candidates for midnight movie screenings revolving around audience participation and cosplay.

In 1968, a young filmmaker named George A. Romero shocked audiences with Night of the Living Dead, a new kind of intense and unforgiving independent horror film. This film was released just after the abandonment of the production code, but before the adoption of the MPAA rating system. As such, it was the first and last film of its kind to enjoy a completely unrestricted screening, in which young children were able to witness Romero's new brand of highly realistic gore. This film would help to set the climate of independent horror for decades to come, as films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980) continued to push the envelope.

With the production code abandoned and violent and disturbing films like Romero's gaining popularity, Hollywood opted to placate the uneasy filmgoing public with the MPAA ratings system, which would place restrictions on ticket sales to young people. Unlike the production code, this rating system posed a threat to independent films in that it would affect the number of tickets they could sell and cut into the grindhouse cinema's share of the youth market. This change would further widen the divide between commercial and non-commercial films.

However, having a film audience-classified is strictly voluntary for independents and there's no legal impediment to releasing movies on an unrated basis. However, unrated movies face obstacles in marketing because media outlets such as TV channels, newspapers and websites often place their own restrictions on movies that don't come with a built-in national rating in order to avoid presenting movies to inappropriately young audiences.[12]

New Hollywood and independent filmmaking

Main article: New Hollywood

Following the advent of television and the Paramount Case, the major studios attempted to lure audiences with spectacle. Widescreen processes and technical improvements, such as Cinemascope, stereo sound, 3-D and others, were developed in an attempt to retain the dwindling audience by giving them a larger-than-life experience. The 1950s and early 1960s saw a Hollywood dominated by musicals, historical epics, and other films which benefited from these advances. This proved commercially viable during most of the 1950s. However, by the late 1960s, audience share was dwindling at an alarming rate. Several costly flops, including Cleopatra (1963) and Hello, Dolly! (1969) put severe strain on the studios. Meanwhile, in 1951, lawyers-turned-producers Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin had made a deal with the remaining stockholders of United Artists which would allow them to make an attempt to revive the company and, if the attempt was successful, buy it after five years.

The attempt was a success, and in 1955 United Artists became the first "studio" without an actual studio. UA leased space at the Pickford/Fairbanks Studio, but did not own a studio lot as such. Because of this, many of their films would be shot on location. Primarily acting as bankers, they offered money to independent producers. Thus UA did not have the overhead, the maintenance or the expensive production staff which ran up costs at other studios. UA went public in 1956, and as the other mainstream studios fell into decline, UA prospered, adding relationships with the Mirisch brothers, Billy Wilder, Joseph E. Levine and others.

By the late 1950s, RKO had ceased film production, and the remaining four of the big five had recognized that they did not know how to reach the youth audience. In an attempt to capture this audience, the Studios hired a host of young filmmakers (many of whom were mentored by Roger Corman) and allowed them to make their films with relatively little studio control. Warner Brothers offered first-time producer Warren Beatty 40% of the gross on his film Bonnie and Clyde (1967) instead of a minimal fee. The movie had grossed over $70 million worldwide by 1973. These initial successes paved the way for the studio to relinquish almost complete control to the film school generation and began what the media dubbed "New Hollywood."

Dennis Hopper, the American actor, made his writing and directing debut with Easy Rider (1969). Along with his producer/co-star/co-writer Peter Fonda, Hopper was responsible for one of the first completely independent films of New Hollywood. Easy Rider debuted at Cannes and garnered the "First Film Award" (French: Prix de la premiere oeuvre) after which it received two Oscar nominations, one for best original screenplay and one for Corman-alum Jack Nicholson's breakthrough performance in the supporting role of George Hanson, an alcoholic lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.[13] Following on the heels of Easy Rider shortly afterward was the revived United Artists' Midnight Cowboy (also 1969), which, like Easy Rider, took numerous cues from Kenneth Anger and his influences in the French New Wave. It became the first and only X rated film to win the Academy Award for best picture. Midnight Cowboy also held the distinction of featuring cameo roles by many of the top Warhol superstars, who had already become symbols of the militantly anti-Hollywood climate of NYC's independent film community.

Within a month, another young Corman trainee, Francis Ford Coppola, made his debut in Spain at the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival with The Rain People (1969), a film he had produced through his own company, American Zoetrope. Though The Rain People was largely overlooked by American audiences, Zoetrope would become a powerful force in New Hollywood. Through Zoetrope, Coppola formed a distribution agreement with studio giant Warner Bros., which he would exploit to achieve wide releases for his films without making himself subject to their control. These three films provided the major Hollywood studios with both an example to follow and a new crop of talent to draw from. Zoetrope co-founder George Lucas made his feature film debut with THX 1138 (1971), also released by Zoetrope through their deal with Warner Bros., announcing himself as another major talent of New Hollywood. By the following year, two New Hollywood directors had become sufficiently established for Coppola to be offered oversight of Paramount's The Godfather (1972) and Lucas had obtained studio funding for American Graffiti (1973) from Universal. In the mid-1970s, the major Hollywood studios continued to tap these new filmmakers for both ideas and personnel, producing films such as Paper Moon (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976), all of which met with critical and commercial success. These successes by the members of New Hollywood led each of them, in turn, to make more and more extravagant demands, both on the studio and eventually on the audience.

While most members of the New Hollywood generation were, or started out as, independent filmmakers, a number of their projects were produced and released by major studios. The New Hollywood generation soon became firmly entrenched in a revived incarnation of the studio system, which financed the development, production and distribution of their films. Very few of these filmmakers ever independently financed or independently released a film of their own, or ever worked on an independently financed production during the height of the generation's influence. Seemingly independent films such as Taxi Driver, The Last Picture Show and others were studio films: the scripts were based on studio pitches and subsequently paid for by the studios, the production financing was from the studio, and the marketing and distribution of the films were designed and controlled by the studio's advertising agency. Though Coppola made considerable efforts to resist the influence of the studios, opting to finance his risky 1979 film Apocalypse Now himself rather than compromise with skeptical studio executives, he, and filmmakers like him, had saved the old studios from financial ruin by providing them with a new formula for success.

Indeed, it was during this period that the very definition of an independent film became blurred. Though Midnight Cowboy was financed by United Artists, the company was certainly a studio. Likewise, Zoetrope was another "independent studio" which worked within the system to make a space for independent directors who needed funding. George Lucas would leave Zoetrope in 1971 to create his own independent studio, Lucasfilm, which would produce the blockbuster Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. In fact, the only two movies of the movement which can be described as uncompromisingly independent are Easy Rider at the beginning, and Peter Bogdanovich's They All Laughed, at the end. Peter Bogdanovich bought back the rights from the studio to his 1980 film and paid for its distribution out of his own pocket, convinced that the picture was better than what the studio believed — he eventually went bankrupt because of this.

In retrospect, it can be seen that Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) and George Lucas's Star Wars (1977) marked the beginning of the end for the New Hollywood. With their unprecedented box-office successes, these movies jump-started Hollywood's blockbuster mentality, giving studios a new paradigm as to how to make money in this changing commercial landscape. The focus on high-concept premises, with greater concentration on tie-in merchandise (such as toys), spin-offs into other media (such as soundtracks), and the use of sequels (which had been made more respectable by Coppola's The Godfather Part II), all showed the studios how to make money in the new environment.

On realizing how much money could potentially be made in films, major corporations started buying up the remaining Hollywood studios, saving them from the oblivion which befell RKO in the 50s. Eventually, even RKO was revived, the corporate mentality these companies brought to the filmmaking business would slowly squeeze out the more idiosyncratic of these young filmmakers, while ensconcing the more malleable and commercially successful of them.[14]

Film critic Manohla Dargis described this era as the "halcyon age" of the decade's filmmaking that "was less revolution than business as usual, with rebel hype".[15] She also pointed out in her New York Times article that enthusiasts insisted this era was "when American movies grew up (or at least starred underdressed actresses); when directors did what they wanted (or at least were transformed into brands); when creativity ruled (or at least ran gloriously amok, albeit often on the studio's dime)."[16]

Outside Hollywood

During the 1970s, shifts in thematic depictions of sexuality and violence occurred in American cinema, prominently featuring heightened depictions of realistic sex and violence. Directors who wished to reach mainstream audiences of Old Hollywood quickly learned to stylize these themes to make their films appealing and attractive rather than repulsive or obscene. However, at the same time that the maverick film students of the American New Wave were developing the skills they would use to take over Hollywood, many of their peers had begun to develop their style of filmmaking in a different direction. Influenced by foreign and art house directors such as Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini, exploitation shockers (i.e. Joseph P. Mawra, Michael Findlay, and Henri Pachard) and avant-garde cinema, (Kenneth Anger, Maya Deren and Bruce Conner[17][18]) a number of young film makers began to experiment with transgression not as a box-office draw, but as an artistic act. Directors such as John Waters and David Lynch would make a name for themselves by the early 1970s for the bizarre and often disturbing imagery which characterized their films.

When Lynch's first feature film, Eraserhead (1977), brought Lynch to the attention of producer Mel Brooks, he soon found himself in charge of the $5 million film The Elephant Man (1980) for Paramount. Though Eraserhead was strictly an out-of-pocket, low-budget, independent film, Lynch made the transition with unprecedented grace. The film was a huge commercial success, and earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nods for Lynch.[19] It also established his place as a commercially viable, if somewhat dark and unconventional, Hollywood director. Seeing Lynch as a fellow studio convert, George Lucas, a fan of Eraserhead and now the darling of the studios, offered Lynch the opportunity to direct his next Star Wars sequel, Return of the Jedi (1983). However, Lynch had seen what had happened to Lucas and his comrades in arms after their failed attempt to do away with the studio system. He refused the opportunity, stating that he would rather work on his own projects.[20]

Lynch instead chose to direct a big budget adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune for Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis's De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, on the condition that the company release a second Lynch project, over which the director would have complete creative control. Although De Laurentiis hoped it would be the next Star Wars, Lynch's Dune (1984) was a critical and commercial flop, grossing a mere $27.4 million domestically against a $45 million budget. De Laurentiis, furious that the film had been a commercial disaster, was then forced to produce any film Lynch desired. He offered Lynch only $6 million in order to minimize the risk if the film had failed to recoup its costs; however, the film, Blue Velvet (1986), was a resounding success, earning him another Academy Award for Best Director nod.[21] Lynch subsequently returned to independent filmmaking, and did not work with another major studio for over a decade.

Unlike the former, John Waters released most of his films during his early life through his own production company, Dreamland Productions. In the early 1980s, New Line Cinema agreed to work with him on Polyester (1981). During the 1980s, Waters would become a pillar of the New York–based independent film movement known as the "Cinema of Transgression", a term coined by Nick Zedd in 1985 to describe a loose-knit group of like-minded New York artists using shock value and humor in their Super 8 mm films and video art. Other key players in this movement included Kembra Pfahler, Casandra Stark, Beth B, Tommy Turner, Richard Kern and Lydia Lunch. Rallying around such institutions as the Film-Makers' Cooperative and Anthology Film Archives, this new generation of independents devoted themselves to the defiance of the now-establishment New Hollywood, proposing that "all film schools be blown up and all boring films never be made again."[22]

Independent Cinema movement

Further information: Sundance Institute

In 1978, Sterling Van Wagenen and Charles Gary Allison, with Chairperson Robert Redford, (veteran of New Hollywood and star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) founded the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah and showcase what the potential of independent film could be. At the time, the main focus of the event was to present a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions; however it also included a small program of new independent films. The jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison, and included Verna Fields, Linwood Gale Dunn, Katherine Ross, Charles E. Sellier Jr., Mark Rydell, and Anthea Sylbert. In 1981, the same year that United Artists, bought out by MGM after the financial failure of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980),[23] ceased to exist as a venue for independent filmmakers, Sterling Van Wagenen left the film festival to help found the Sundance Institute with Robert Redford. In 1985, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival, which was experiencing financial difficulties. Gary Beer and Sterling Van Wagenen spearheaded production of the inaugural Sundance Film Festival which included Program Director Tony Safford and Administrative Director Jenny Walz Selby.

In 1991, the festival was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival, after Redford's famous role as The Sundance Kid.[24] Through this festival the Independent Cinema movement was launched. Such notable figures as Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, David O. Russell, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Soderbergh, James Wan, Hal Hartley, Joel and Ethan Coen and Jim Jarmusch garnered resounding critical acclaim and unprecedented box office sales. In 2005, about 15% of the U.S. domestic box office revenue was from independent studios.[25]

 
Wes Anderson, a widely renowned indie film auteur.

Co-optation

The 1990s saw the rise and success of independent films not only through the film festival circuit but at the box office as well while established actors, such as Bruce Willis, John Travolta, and Tim Robbins, found success themselves both in independent films and Hollywood studio films.[26] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990 from New Line Cinema grossed over $100 million in the United States making it the most successful indie film in box-office history to that point.[27] Miramax Films had a string of hits with Sex, Lies, and Videotape, My Left Foot, and Clerks, putting Miramax and New Line Cinema in the sights of big companies looking to cash in on the success of independent studios. In 1993, Disney bought Miramax for $60 million. Turner Broadcasting, in a billion-dollar deal, acquired New Line Cinema, Fine Line Features, and Castle Rock Entertainment in 1994. The acquisitions proved to be a good move for Turner Broadcasting as New Line released The Mask and Dumb & Dumber, Castle Rock released The Shawshank Redemption, and Miramax released Pulp Fiction, all in 1994.[27]

The acquisitions of the smaller studios by conglomerate Hollywood was a plan in part to take over the independent film industry and at the same time start "independent" studios of their own. The following are all "indie" studios owned by conglomerate Hollywood:

By the early 2000s, Hollywood was producing three different classes of films: 1) big-budget blockbusters, 2) art films, specialty films and niche-market films produced by the conglomerate-owned "indies" and 3) genre and specialty films coming from true indie studios and producers. The third category comprised over half the features released in the United States and usually cost between $5 and $10 million to produce.[29]

Hollywood was producing these three different classes of feature films by means of three different types of producers. The superior products were the large, budget blockbusters and high-cost star vehicles marketed by the six major studio producer-distributors. Budgets on the major studios' pictures averaged $100 million, with approximately one-third of it spent on marketing because of the large release campaigns. Another class of Hollywood feature film included art films, specialty films, and other niche-market fare controlled by the conglomerates' indie subsidiaries. Budgets on these indie films averaged $40 million per release in the early 2000s, with $10 million to $15 million spent on marketing (MPA, 2006:12). The final class of film consisted of genre and specialty films whose release campaigns were administered by independent producer-distributors with only a few dozen or possibly a few hundred screens in select urban markets. Films like these usually cost less than $10 million, but frequently less than $5 million, with small marketing budgets that escalate if and when a particular film performs.[30]

Internationally

The independent film industry exists globally. Many of the most prestigious film festivals are hosted in various cities around the world.[31] The Berlin International Film Festival attracts over 130 countries, making it the largest film festival in the world.[32] Other large events include the Toronto International Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Panafrican Film and TV Festival of Ouagadougou.[31]

The European Union, specifically through the European Cinema and VOD Initiative (ECVI), has established programs that attempt to adapt the film industry to an increasing digital demand for film on video on demand services, outside of theatrical screenings. With this program, VOD offerings are paired with traditional movie screenings.[33] There is also more of a push from EU National governments to fund all aspects of the arts, including film.[34] The European Commission for Culture has an Audiovisual sector, for example, whose role is most notably to help distribute and promote films and festivals across Europe. Additionally, the Commission organizes policymaking, research, and reporting on "media literacy" and "digital distribution."[34]

Technology and democratization

As with other media, the availability of new technologies has fueled the democratization of filmmaking and the growth of independent film. In the late forties and fifties, new inexpensive portable cameras made it easier for independent filmmakers to produce content without studio backing. The emergence of camcorders in the eighties broadened the pool of filmmakers experimenting with the newly available technology. More recently, the switch from film to digital cameras, inexpensive non-linear editing and the move to distribution via the internet have led to more people being able to make and exhibit movies of their own, including young people and individuals from marginalized communities. These people may have little to no formal technical or academic training, but instead are autodidactic filmmakers, using online sources to learn the craft. Aspiring filmmakers can range from those simply with access to a smartphone or digital camera, to those who write "spec" scripts (to pitch to studios), actively network, and use crowdsourcing and other financing to get their films professionally produced. Oftentimes, aspiring filmmakers have other day-jobs to support themselves financially while they pitch their scripts and ideas to independent film production companies, talent agents, and wealthy investors. This recent technology-fueled renaissance has helped fuel other supporting industries such as the "prosumer" camera segment and film schools for those who are less autodidactic. Film programs in universities such as NYU in New York and USC in Los Angeles have benefited from this transitional growth.[35]

Crowdsourced funding

The economic side of filmmaking is also less of an obstacle than before, because the backing of a major studio is no longer needed to access necessary movie funding. Crowdfunding services like Kickstarter, Pozible, and Tubestart have helped people raise thousands of dollars; enough to fund their own, low-budget productions.[36] As a result of the falling cost of technology to make, edit and digitally distribute films, filmmaking is more widely accessible than ever before.

Full-length films are often showcased at film festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival, Slamdance Film Festival, South by Southwest Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Palm Springs Film Festival.[37] Award winners from these exhibitions are more likely to get picked up for distribution by major film distributors. Film festivals and screenings like these are just one of the options in which movies can be independently produced/released.

Analog to digital

The development of independent film in the 1990s and 21st century has been stimulated by a range of technical innovations, including the development of affordable digital cinematography cameras that can exceed the quality of film and easy-to-use computer editing software. Until digital alternatives became available, the cost of professional film equipment and stock was a major obstacle to independent filmmakers who wanted to make their own films. Successful films such as the Blair Witch Project (which grossed over US$248.6 million while only spending US$60,000) have emerged from this new accessibility to filmmaking tools. In 2002, the cost of 35 mm film stock went up 23%, according to Variety.[38] The advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more importantly, the arrival of digital video in the early 1990s, lowered the technology barrier to movie production. The personal computer and non-linear editing system have taken away the use of editing stands such as the KEM, dramatically reducing the costs of post-production, while technologies such as DVD, Blu-ray Disc and online video services have simplified distribution; video streaming services have made it possible to distribute a digital version of a film to an entire country or even the world, without involving shipping or warehousing of physical DVDs or film reels. 3-D technology is available to low-budget, independent filmmakers. By the second decade of the 21st century high-quality cellphone cameras allowed people to make, edit and distribute films on a single inexpensive device.

One of the examples of such a new indie approach to filmmaking is the 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary film Genghis Blues that was shot by the Belic brothers on two Hi8 consumer camcorders and won that year's Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for a Documentary.[39] At the time, distribution was still film-based so the movie had to be "filmed out" from interlaced digital video format to film running at traditional 24-frame per second rate, so interlacing artefacts are noticeable at times. In 2004 Panasonic released the DVX100 camcorder, which featured film-like 24-frame per second shooting rate. This gave independent filmmakers the ability to shoot video at a frame rate considered standard for movies at the time[40] and opened the possibility of clean digital frame to film frame conversion. Several acclaimed films were made with this camera, for example Iraq in Fragments.[41] More recent devices allow "filming" at very high frame rates to facilitate distribution into a number of frame rates without artifacts.

Even though new cinema cameras such as the Arri Alexa, RED Epic, and the many new DSLRs cost thousands of dollars to purchase, independent films are still cheaper than ever, creating footage that looks like 35 mm film without the same high cost. These cameras also perform better than traditional film because of its ability to perform in extremely dark/low light situations relative to film. In 2008 Nikon released the first DSLR camera that could also shoot video, the Nikon D90. With the sensor larger than on a traditional camcorder, these DSLRs allow for a greater control over depth of field, great low-light capabilities, and a large variety of exchangeable lenses, including lenses from old film cameras – things which independent filmmakers have been longing for years. With the creation of new, light-weight and accessible cinema cameras, documentaries have also benefitted greatly. It was previously impossible to capture the extreme wild of mother nature because of the lack of maneuverability with film cameras; however, with the creation of DSLRs, documentary filmmakers were able to reach hard-to-get places in order to capture what they couldn't have with film cameras.[42] Cameras have even been attached to animals to allow them to help film never-before-seen scenes.

New technologies have also allowed the development of new cinematic techniques originating in independent films, such as the development of the zoom lens in the early 20th century. The use of the (controversial) hand-held shot made popular in the ground-breaking The Blair Witch Project also lead to an entirely new subgenre: the found-footage film.

Independent filmmaking has also benefited from the new editing software. Instead of needing a post-house to do the editing, independent film makers use a personal computer or even just a cellphone with editing software to edit their films. Editing software available include Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, (Color Grading Software) DaVinci Resolve, and many more. There are also many free tutorials and courses available online to teach different post production skills needed to use these programs. These new technologies allow independent film makers to create films that are comparable to high-budget films. Computer-generated imaging (CGI) has also become more accessible, transitioning from a highly specialized process done by post-production companies into a task that can be performed by independent artists.

Francis Ford Coppola, long an advocate of new technologies like non-linear editing and digital cameras, said in 2007 that "cinema is escaping being controlled by the financier, and that's a wonderful thing. You don't have to go hat-in-hand to some film distributor and say, 'Please will you let me make a movie?'"[43]

See also

References

  1. ^ Callahan, Peter (January 8, 2001). "Don't Lose It At The Movies The Brothers McMullen and Blair Witch--yes. Waterworld II--no. A primer on indie-film investing". CNN. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
  2. ^ "How 'Pulp Fiction' Destroyed Indie Cinema". Decider. October 14, 2014.
  3. ^ Edidin, Peter (August 21, 2005). "La-La Land: The Origins". The New York Times. Los Angeles's distance from New York was also comforting to independent film producers, making it easier for them to avoid being harassed or sued by the Motion Picture Patents Company, AKA the Trust, which Thomas Edison helped create in 1909.
  4. ^ "The Lincoln Motion Picture Company is Formed".
  5. ^ Siklos, Richard (March 4, 2007). "Mission Improbable: Tom Cruise as Mogul". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "The 26th Academy Awards | 1954". Oscars.org. from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  7. ^ . Sight & Sound. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  8. ^ . The Village Voice. 1999. Archived from the original on August 26, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2006.
  9. ^ . The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 29, 2005.
  10. ^ . Time. February 12, 2005. Archived from the original on March 14, 2007. Retrieved May 19, 2008.
  11. ^ . Archived from the original on April 27, 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2008., The Film-Makers' Cooperative
  12. ^ Marich 2013, p. 350.
  13. ^ "The 42nd Academy Awards | 1970". Oscars.org.
  14. ^ "What Is Independent Film? – Raindance". Raindance. January 19, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  15. ^ Dargis, Manohla (August 17, 2003). "The '70s: Get over it". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  16. ^ Dargis, Manohla (November 12, 2010). "'60s Hollywood, the Rebels and the Studios: Power Shifted (or Did It?)". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  17. ^ Dargis, Manohla (July 12, 2008). "An Artist of the Cutting-Room Floor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  18. ^ "Bruce Conner: The Artist Who Shaped Our World". DangerousMinds. June 25, 2011.
  19. ^ "The 53rd Academy Awards | 1981". Oscars.org.
  20. ^ . Davidlynch.de. Archived from the original on October 11, 2010. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
  21. ^ "The 59th Academy Awards | 1987". Oscars.org.
  22. ^ "UbuWeb Film & Video: The Cinema of Transgression". Ubu.com. from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
  23. ^ Rabin, Nathan (November 1, 2007). "My Year Of Flops Case File #81 Heaven's Gate". The A.V. Club.
  24. ^ Peden, Lauren David (December 2005). . Coast Magazine. Freedom Communications. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved November 11, 2007.
  25. ^ MPAA data from January to March 2005[better source needed]
  26. ^ Levy 1999, p. 13-14.
  27. ^ a b McDonald & Wasko 2008, p. 29.
  28. ^ McDonald & Wasko 2008, p. 29-30.
  29. ^ McDonald & Wasko 2008, p. 30-31.
  30. ^ McDonald & Wasko 2008, p. 31.
  31. ^ a b "What Are the World's Most Prestigious Film Festivals?". Mental Floss. November 26, 2013. from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2017.
  32. ^ "The Berlinale: A Constantly Evolving Festival". berlinale.de.
  33. ^ Caranicas, Peter (July 4, 2017). "European Digital Initiatives Offer New Paths for Distributing Indie Films". Variety. from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2017.
  34. ^ a b "Culture and Creativity — Audiovisual". European Commission. Retrieved October 27, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  35. ^ "New York University – The Top 25 American Film Schools 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  36. ^ . insights.wired.com. January 19, 2015. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  37. ^ Clemons, Audra. "10 US Film Festivals You Should Know About". Culture Trip. from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  38. ^ Amdur, Meredith (November 16, 2003). . Variety. Archived from the original on September 15, 2007. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
  39. ^ "Elijah Wald • Film Writing Archive". elijahwald.com.
  40. ^ "Internet Filmmaker's FAQ". filmmaking.net. from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
  41. ^ Thomson, Patricia (April 2006). "Sundance 2006: Frozen Moments". American Cinematographer.
  42. ^ Eric Escobar from NAB, We Are All Geeks Now[better source needed]
  43. ^ Kirsner 2008, p. 199.

Bibliography

  • Marich, Robert (2013). Marketing To Moviegoers: A Handbook of Strategies and Tactics (3rd ed.). Southern Illinois University Press. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-80-933196-3.
  • Levy, Emanuel (1999). Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-5124-4.
  • McDonald, Paul; Wasko, Janet, eds. (2008). The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1-40-513388-3.
  • Kirsner, Scott (2008). Inventing the Movies: Hollywood's Epic Battle Between Innovation and the Status Quo, from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs. Boston: CinemaTech Books. ISBN 978-1-4382-0999-9.

Further reading

  • Biskind, Peter (2004). Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-86259-X.
  • Hall, Phil (2009). The History of Independent Cinema. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-335-7.
  • "indies are dead. long live the indies!". The Monster That Ate Hollywood. Season 20. Episode 8. November 22, 2001. PBS.
  • King, Geoff (2005). American Independent Cinema. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253218261.
  • Lyons, Donald (1994). Independent Visions: A Critical Introduction to Recent Independent American Film. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-38249-8.
  • Maccann, Richard Dyer (Summer 1962). "Independence, with a Vengeance". Film Quarterly. University of California Press. 15 (4): 14–21. doi:10.1525/fq.1962.15.4.04a00060. JSTOR 1211185.
  • Merritt, Greg (2000). Celluloid Mavericks: The History of American Independent Film. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-232-4.
  • Pierson, John (2004). Spike Mike Reloaded. Miramax Books. ISBN 1-4013-5950-7.
  • Redding, Judith; Brownworth, Victoria (1997). Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors. Seal Press. ISBN 1-878067-97-4.
  • Vachon, Christine (2006). A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-5630-1.

External links

  • The Edge of Hollywood - Annenberg Learner

April 29, 2023
independent, film, independent, film, independent, movie, indie, film, indie, movie, feature, film, short, film, that, produced, outside, major, film, studio, system, addition, being, produced, distributed, independent, entertainment, companies, some, cases, d. An independent film independent movie indie film or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies or in some cases distributed by major companies Independent films are sometimes distinguishable by their content and style and the way in which the filmmakers personal artistic vision is realized Usually but not always independent films are made with considerably lower budgets than major studio films 1 Filmmakers Stephane Brize second from the right and Rodrigo Moreno second from the left at a screening of The Measure of a Man in Buenos Aires in 2019 It is not unusual for well known actors who are cast in independent features to take substantial pay cuts for a variety of reasons if they truly believe in the message of the film they feel indebted to filmmaker for a career break their career is otherwise stalled or they feel unable to manage a larger commitment to a studio film the film offers an opportunity to showcase a talent that hasn t gained traction in the studio system or simply because they want to work with a particular director that they admire There are many examples of the latter such as John Travolta and Bruce Willis taking less pay to work with Quentin Tarantino on Pulp Fiction 2 Generally the marketing of independent films is characterized by limited release often at independent movie theaters but they can also have major marketing campaigns and a wide release Independent films are often screened at local national or international film festivals before distribution theatrical or retail release An independent film production can rival a mainstream film production if it has the necessary funding and distribution Contents 1 History 1 1 Edison Trust 1 2 Studio system 1 3 Lincoln Motion Picture Company United Artists and resistance to the studio system 1 4 Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers 1 5 Low budget films 1 6 Exploitation boom and the MPAA rating system 1 7 New Hollywood and independent filmmaking 1 8 Outside Hollywood 1 9 Independent Cinema movement 1 9 1 Co optation 2 Internationally 3 Technology and democratization 3 1 Crowdsourced funding 3 2 Analog to digital 4 See also 5 References 5 1 Bibliography 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory EditEdison Trust Edit Main article Edison Trust In 1908 the Motion Picture Patents Company or Edison Trust was formed as a trust The Trust was a cartel that held a monopoly on film production and distribution comprising all the major film companies of the time Edison Biograph Vitagraph Essanay Selig Lubin Kalem American Star American Pathe the leading distributor George Kleine and the biggest supplier of raw film Eastman Kodak A number of filmmakers declined or were refused membership to the trust and came to be described as independent At the time of the formation of the MPPC Thomas Edison owned most of the major patents relating to motion pictures including that for raw film The MPPC vigorously enforced its patents constantly bringing suits and receiving injunctions against independent filmmakers Because of this a number of filmmakers responded by building their own cameras and moving their operations to Hollywood California where the distance from Edison s home base of New Jersey made it more difficult for the MPPC to enforce its patents 3 The Edison Trust was soon ended by two decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States one in 1912 which canceled the patent on raw film and a second in 1915 which cancelled all MPPC patents Though these decisions succeeded at legalizing independent film they would do little to remedy the de facto ban on small productions the independent filmmakers who had fled to Southern California during the enforcement of the trust had already laid the groundwork for the studio system of classical Hollywood cinema Studio system Edit In early 1910 director D W Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast with his acting troupe consisting of performers Blanche Sweet Lillian Gish Mary Pickford Lionel Barrymore and others They began filming on a vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles While there the company decided to explore new territories traveling several miles north to Hollywood a little village that was friendly and positive about the movie company filming there Griffith then filmed the first movie ever shot in Hollywood In Old California a Biograph melodrama about California in the 1800s while it belonged to Mexico Griffith stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York During the Edison era of the early 1900s many Jewish immigrants had found jobs in the U S film industry Under the Edison Trust they were able to make their mark in a brand new business the exhibition of films in storefront theaters called nickelodeons Within a few years ambitious men like Samuel Goldwyn Carl Laemmle Adolph Zukor Louis B Mayer and the Warner Brothers Harry Albert Samuel and Jack had switched to the production side of the business After hearing about Biograph s success in Hollywood in 1913 many such would be movie makers headed west to avoid the fees imposed by Edison Soon they were the heads of a new kind of enterprise the movie studio By establishing a new system of production distribution and exhibition which was independent of The Edison Trust in New York these studios opened up new horizons for cinema in the United States The Hollywood oligopoly replaced the Edison monopoly Within this new system a pecking order was soon established which left little room for any newcomers By the mid 1930s at the top were the five major studios 20th Century Fox Metro Goldwyn Mayer Paramount Pictures RKO Pictures and Warner Bros Then came three smaller companies Columbia Pictures United Artists and Universal Studios Finally there was Poverty Row a catch all term used to encompass any other smaller studio that managed to fight their way up into the increasingly exclusive movie business While the small studios that made up Poverty Row could be characterized as existing independently of any major studio they utilized the same kind of vertically and horizontally integrated systems of business as the larger players in the game Though the eventual breakup of the studio system and its restrictive chain theater distribution network would leave independent movie houses eager for the kind of populist seat filling product of the Poverty Row studios that same paradigm shift would also lead to the decline and ultimate disappearance of Poverty Row as a Hollywood phenomenon While the kinds of films produced by Poverty Row studios only grew in popularity they would eventually become increasingly available both from major production companies and from independent producers who no longer needed to rely on a studio s ability to package and release their work This table lists the companies active in late 1935 illustrates the categories commonly used to characterize the Hollywood system Big Five majors Little Three majors Poverty Row top four of many Metro Goldwyn Mayer United Artists Grand NationalParamount Pictures Columbia Pictures Republic Pictures20th Century Fox Universal Studios Monogram PicturesWarner Bros Producers Releasing Corporation a k a PRC RKO PicturesLincoln Motion Picture Company United Artists and resistance to the studio system Edit Main articles Lincoln Motion Picture Company and United Artists The studio system quickly became so powerful that some filmmakers once again sought independence On May 24 1916 the Lincoln Motion Picture Company was formed the first movie studio owned and controlled by independent filmmakers 4 In 1919 four of the leading figures in American silent cinema Mary Pickford Charles Chaplin Douglas Fairbanks and D W Griffith formed United Artists Each held a 20 stake with the remaining 20 held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo 5 The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks Chaplin Pickford and cowboy star William S Hart a year earlier as they were traveling around the U S selling Liberty bonds to help the World War I effort Already veterans of Hollywood the four film stars began to talk of forming their own company to better control their own work as well as their futures They were spurred on by the actions of established Hollywood producers and distributors who were making moves to tighten their control over their stars salaries and creative license With the addition of Griffith planning began but Hart bowed out before things had formalized When he heard about their scheme Richard A Rowland head of Metro Pictures is said to have observed The inmates are taking over the asylum The four partners with advice from McAdoo son in law and former Treasury Secretary of then President Woodrow Wilson formed their distribution company with Hiram Abrams as its first managing director The original terms called for Pickford Fairbanks Griffith and Chaplin to independently produce five pictures each year but by the time the company got underway in 1920 1921 feature films were becoming more expensive and more polished and running times had settled at around ninety minutes or eight reels It was believed that no one no matter how popular could produce and star in five quality feature films a year By 1924 Griffith had dropped out and the company was facing a crisis either bring in others to help support a costly distribution system or concede defeat The veteran producer Joseph Schenck was hired as president Not only had he been producing pictures for a decade but he brought along commitments for films starring his wife Norma Talmadge his sister in law Constance Talmadge and his brother in law Buster Keaton Contracts were signed with a number of independent producers especially Samuel Goldwyn Howard Hughes and later Alexander Korda Schenck also formed a separate partnership with Pickford and Chaplin to buy and build theaters under the United Artists name Still even with a broadening of the company UA struggled The coming of sound ended the careers of Pickford and Fairbanks Chaplin rich enough to do what he pleased worked only occasionally Schenck resigned in 1933 to organize a new company with Darryl F Zanuck Twentieth Century Pictures which soon provided four pictures a year to UA s schedule He was replaced as president by sales manager Al Lichtman who himself resigned after only a few months Pickford produced a few films and at various times Goldwyn Korda Walt Disney Walter Wanger and David O Selznick were made producing partners i e sharing in the profits but ownership still rested with the founders As the years passed and the dynamics of the business changed these producing partners drifted away Goldwyn and Disney left for RKO Wanger for Universal Pictures Selznick and Korda for retirement By the late 1940s United Artists had virtually ceased to exist as either a producer or distributor Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers Edit Main article Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers In 1941 Mary Pickford Charles Chaplin Walt Disney Orson Welles Samuel Goldwyn David O Selznick Alexander Korda and Walter Wanger many of the same people who were members of United Artists founded the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers Later members included William Cagney Sol Lesser and Hal Roach The Society aimed to preserve the rights of independent producers in an industry overwhelmingly controlled by the studio system SIMPP fought to end monopolistic practices by the five major Hollywood studios which controlled the production distribution and exhibition of films In 1942 the SIMPP filed an antitrust suit against Paramount s United Detroit Theatres The complaint accused Paramount of conspiracy to control first run and subsequent run theaters in Detroit It was the first antitrust suit brought by producers against exhibitors alleging monopoly and restraint of trade In 1948 the United States Supreme Court Paramount Decision ordered the Hollywood movie studios to sell their theater chains and to eliminate certain anti competitive practices This effectively brought an end to the studio system of Hollywood s Golden Age By 1958 many of the reasons for creating the SIMPP had been corrected and SIMPP closed its offices Low budget films Edit Main article Low budget film The efforts of the SIMPP and the advent of inexpensive portable cameras during World War II effectively made it possible for any person in America with an interest in making films to write produce and direct one without the aid of any major film studio These circumstances soon resulted in a number of critically acclaimed and highly influential works including Maya Deren s Meshes of the Afternoon in 1943 Kenneth Anger s Fireworks in 1947 and Morris Engel Ruth Orkin and Ray Abrashkin s Little Fugitive in 1953 Filmmakers such as Ken Jacobs with little or no formal training began to experiment with new ways of making and shooting films Little Fugitive became the first independent film to be nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the American Academy Awards 6 It also received Silver Lion at Venice Both Engel and Anger s films won acclaim overseas from the burgeoning French New Wave with Fireworks inspiring praise and an invitation to study under him in Europe from Jean Cocteau and Francois Truffaut citing Little Fugitive as an essential inspiration to his seminal work The 400 Blows As the 1950s progressed the new low budget paradigm of filmmaking gained increased recognition internationally with films such as Satyajit Ray s critically acclaimed 7 8 9 10 Apu Trilogy 1955 1959 Unlike the films made within the studio system these new low budget films could afford to take risks and explore new artistic territory outside the classical Hollywood narrative Maya Deren was soon joined in New York by a crowd of like minded avant garde filmmakers who were interested in creating films as works of art rather than entertainment Based upon a common belief that the official cinema was running out of breath and had become morally corrupt aesthetically obsolete thematically superficial and temperamentally boring 11 this new crop of independents formed The Film Makers Cooperative an artist run non profit organization which they would use to distribute their films through a centralized archive Founded in 1962 by Jonas Mekas Stan Brakhage Shirley Clarke Gregory Markopoulos and others the Cooperative provided an important outlet for many of cinema s creative luminaries in the 1960s including Jack Smith and Andy Warhol When he returned to America Ken Anger would debut many of his most important works there Mekas and Brakhage would go on to found the Anthology Film Archives in 1970 which would likewise prove essential to the development and preservation of independent films even to this day Exploitation boom and the MPAA rating system Edit Main article B movies The exploitation boom Not all low budget films existed as non commercial art ventures The success of films like Little Fugitive which had been made with low or sometimes non existent budgets encouraged a huge boom in popularity for non studio films Low budget film making promised exponentially greater returns in terms of percentages if the film could have a successful run in the theaters During this time independent producer director Roger Corman began a sweeping body of work that would become legendary for its frugality and grueling shooting schedule Until his so called retirement as a director in 1971 he continued to produce films even after this date he would produce up to seven movies a year matching and often exceeding the five per year schedule that the executives at United Artists had once thought impossible Like those of the avant garde the films of Roger Corman took advantage of the fact that unlike the studio system independent films had never been bound by its self imposed production code Corman s example and that of others like him would help start a boom in independent B movies in the 1960s the principal aim of which was to bring in the youth market which the major studios had lost touch with By promising sex wanton violence drug use and nudity these films hoped to draw audiences to independent theaters by offering to show them what the major studios could not Horror and science fiction films experienced a period of tremendous growth during this time As these tiny producers theaters and distributors continued to attempt to undercut one another the B grade shlock film soon fell to the level of the Z movie a niche category of films with production values so low that they became a spectacle in their own right The cult audiences these pictures attracted soon made them ideal candidates for midnight movie screenings revolving around audience participation and cosplay In 1968 a young filmmaker named George A Romero shocked audiences with Night of the Living Dead a new kind of intense and unforgiving independent horror film This film was released just after the abandonment of the production code but before the adoption of the MPAA rating system As such it was the first and last film of its kind to enjoy a completely unrestricted screening in which young children were able to witness Romero s new brand of highly realistic gore This film would help to set the climate of independent horror for decades to come as films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 and Cannibal Holocaust 1980 continued to push the envelope With the production code abandoned and violent and disturbing films like Romero s gaining popularity Hollywood opted to placate the uneasy filmgoing public with the MPAA ratings system which would place restrictions on ticket sales to young people Unlike the production code this rating system posed a threat to independent films in that it would affect the number of tickets they could sell and cut into the grindhouse cinema s share of the youth market This change would further widen the divide between commercial and non commercial films However having a film audience classified is strictly voluntary for independents and there s no legal impediment to releasing movies on an unrated basis However unrated movies face obstacles in marketing because media outlets such as TV channels newspapers and websites often place their own restrictions on movies that don t come with a built in national rating in order to avoid presenting movies to inappropriately young audiences 12 New Hollywood and independent filmmaking Edit Main article New Hollywood Following the advent of television and the Paramount Case the major studios attempted to lure audiences with spectacle Widescreen processes and technical improvements such as Cinemascope stereo sound 3 D and others were developed in an attempt to retain the dwindling audience by giving them a larger than life experience The 1950s and early 1960s saw a Hollywood dominated by musicals historical epics and other films which benefited from these advances This proved commercially viable during most of the 1950s However by the late 1960s audience share was dwindling at an alarming rate Several costly flops including Cleopatra 1963 and Hello Dolly 1969 put severe strain on the studios Meanwhile in 1951 lawyers turned producers Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin had made a deal with the remaining stockholders of United Artists which would allow them to make an attempt to revive the company and if the attempt was successful buy it after five years The attempt was a success and in 1955 United Artists became the first studio without an actual studio UA leased space at the Pickford Fairbanks Studio but did not own a studio lot as such Because of this many of their films would be shot on location Primarily acting as bankers they offered money to independent producers Thus UA did not have the overhead the maintenance or the expensive production staff which ran up costs at other studios UA went public in 1956 and as the other mainstream studios fell into decline UA prospered adding relationships with the Mirisch brothers Billy Wilder Joseph E Levine and others By the late 1950s RKO had ceased film production and the remaining four of the big five had recognized that they did not know how to reach the youth audience In an attempt to capture this audience the Studios hired a host of young filmmakers many of whom were mentored by Roger Corman and allowed them to make their films with relatively little studio control Warner Brothers offered first time producer Warren Beatty 40 of the gross on his film Bonnie and Clyde 1967 instead of a minimal fee The movie had grossed over 70 million worldwide by 1973 These initial successes paved the way for the studio to relinquish almost complete control to the film school generation and began what the media dubbed New Hollywood Dennis Hopper the American actor made his writing and directing debut with Easy Rider 1969 Along with his producer co star co writer Peter Fonda Hopper was responsible for one of the first completely independent films of New Hollywood Easy Rider debuted at Cannes and garnered the First Film Award French Prix de la premiere oeuvre after which it received two Oscar nominations one for best original screenplay and one for Corman alum Jack Nicholson s breakthrough performance in the supporting role of George Hanson an alcoholic lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union 13 Following on the heels of Easy Rider shortly afterward was the revived United Artists Midnight Cowboy also 1969 which like Easy Rider took numerous cues from Kenneth Anger and his influences in the French New Wave It became the first and only X rated film to win the Academy Award for best picture Midnight Cowboy also held the distinction of featuring cameo roles by many of the top Warhol superstars who had already become symbols of the militantly anti Hollywood climate of NYC s independent film community Within a month another young Corman trainee Francis Ford Coppola made his debut in Spain at the Donostia San Sebastian International Film Festival with The Rain People 1969 a film he had produced through his own company American Zoetrope Though The Rain People was largely overlooked by American audiences Zoetrope would become a powerful force in New Hollywood Through Zoetrope Coppola formed a distribution agreement with studio giant Warner Bros which he would exploit to achieve wide releases for his films without making himself subject to their control These three films provided the major Hollywood studios with both an example to follow and a new crop of talent to draw from Zoetrope co founder George Lucas made his feature film debut with THX 1138 1971 also released by Zoetrope through their deal with Warner Bros announcing himself as another major talent of New Hollywood By the following year two New Hollywood directors had become sufficiently established for Coppola to be offered oversight of Paramount s The Godfather 1972 and Lucas had obtained studio funding for American Graffiti 1973 from Universal In the mid 1970s the major Hollywood studios continued to tap these new filmmakers for both ideas and personnel producing films such as Paper Moon 1973 and Taxi Driver 1976 all of which met with critical and commercial success These successes by the members of New Hollywood led each of them in turn to make more and more extravagant demands both on the studio and eventually on the audience While most members of the New Hollywood generation were or started out as independent filmmakers a number of their projects were produced and released by major studios The New Hollywood generation soon became firmly entrenched in a revived incarnation of the studio system which financed the development production and distribution of their films Very few of these filmmakers ever independently financed or independently released a film of their own or ever worked on an independently financed production during the height of the generation s influence Seemingly independent films such as Taxi Driver The Last Picture Show and others were studio films the scripts were based on studio pitches and subsequently paid for by the studios the production financing was from the studio and the marketing and distribution of the films were designed and controlled by the studio s advertising agency Though Coppola made considerable efforts to resist the influence of the studios opting to finance his risky 1979 film Apocalypse Now himself rather than compromise with skeptical studio executives he and filmmakers like him had saved the old studios from financial ruin by providing them with a new formula for success Indeed it was during this period that the very definition of an independent film became blurred Though Midnight Cowboy was financed by United Artists the company was certainly a studio Likewise Zoetrope was another independent studio which worked within the system to make a space for independent directors who needed funding George Lucas would leave Zoetrope in 1971 to create his own independent studio Lucasfilm which would produce the blockbuster Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises In fact the only two movies of the movement which can be described as uncompromisingly independent are Easy Rider at the beginning and Peter Bogdanovich s They All Laughed at the end Peter Bogdanovich bought back the rights from the studio to his 1980 film and paid for its distribution out of his own pocket convinced that the picture was better than what the studio believed he eventually went bankrupt because of this In retrospect it can be seen that Steven Spielberg s Jaws 1975 and George Lucas s Star Wars 1977 marked the beginning of the end for the New Hollywood With their unprecedented box office successes these movies jump started Hollywood s blockbuster mentality giving studios a new paradigm as to how to make money in this changing commercial landscape The focus on high concept premises with greater concentration on tie in merchandise such as toys spin offs into other media such as soundtracks and the use of sequels which had been made more respectable by Coppola s The Godfather Part II all showed the studios how to make money in the new environment On realizing how much money could potentially be made in films major corporations started buying up the remaining Hollywood studios saving them from the oblivion which befell RKO in the 50s Eventually even RKO was revived the corporate mentality these companies brought to the filmmaking business would slowly squeeze out the more idiosyncratic of these young filmmakers while ensconcing the more malleable and commercially successful of them 14 Film critic Manohla Dargis described this era as the halcyon age of the decade s filmmaking that was less revolution than business as usual with rebel hype 15 She also pointed out in her New York Times article that enthusiasts insisted this era was when American movies grew up or at least starred underdressed actresses when directors did what they wanted or at least were transformed into brands when creativity ruled or at least ran gloriously amok albeit often on the studio s dime 16 Outside Hollywood Edit During the 1970s shifts in thematic depictions of sexuality and violence occurred in American cinema prominently featuring heightened depictions of realistic sex and violence Directors who wished to reach mainstream audiences of Old Hollywood quickly learned to stylize these themes to make their films appealing and attractive rather than repulsive or obscene However at the same time that the maverick film students of the American New Wave were developing the skills they would use to take over Hollywood many of their peers had begun to develop their style of filmmaking in a different direction Influenced by foreign and art house directors such as Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini exploitation shockers i e Joseph P Mawra Michael Findlay and Henri Pachard and avant garde cinema Kenneth Anger Maya Deren and Bruce Conner 17 18 a number of young film makers began to experiment with transgression not as a box office draw but as an artistic act Directors such as John Waters and David Lynch would make a name for themselves by the early 1970s for the bizarre and often disturbing imagery which characterized their films When Lynch s first feature film Eraserhead 1977 brought Lynch to the attention of producer Mel Brooks he soon found himself in charge of the 5 million film The Elephant Man 1980 for Paramount Though Eraserhead was strictly an out of pocket low budget independent film Lynch made the transition with unprecedented grace The film was a huge commercial success and earned eight Academy Award nominations including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nods for Lynch 19 It also established his place as a commercially viable if somewhat dark and unconventional Hollywood director Seeing Lynch as a fellow studio convert George Lucas a fan of Eraserhead and now the darling of the studios offered Lynch the opportunity to direct his next Star Wars sequel Return of the Jedi 1983 However Lynch had seen what had happened to Lucas and his comrades in arms after their failed attempt to do away with the studio system He refused the opportunity stating that he would rather work on his own projects 20 Lynch instead chose to direct a big budget adaptation of Frank Herbert s science fiction novel Dune for Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis s De Laurentiis Entertainment Group on the condition that the company release a second Lynch project over which the director would have complete creative control Although De Laurentiis hoped it would be the next Star Wars Lynch s Dune 1984 was a critical and commercial flop grossing a mere 27 4 million domestically against a 45 million budget De Laurentiis furious that the film had been a commercial disaster was then forced to produce any film Lynch desired He offered Lynch only 6 million in order to minimize the risk if the film had failed to recoup its costs however the film Blue Velvet 1986 was a resounding success earning him another Academy Award for Best Director nod 21 Lynch subsequently returned to independent filmmaking and did not work with another major studio for over a decade Unlike the former John Waters released most of his films during his early life through his own production company Dreamland Productions In the early 1980s New Line Cinema agreed to work with him on Polyester 1981 During the 1980s Waters would become a pillar of the New York based independent film movement known as the Cinema of Transgression a term coined by Nick Zedd in 1985 to describe a loose knit group of like minded New York artists using shock value and humor in their Super 8 mm films and video art Other key players in this movement included Kembra Pfahler Casandra Stark Beth B Tommy Turner Richard Kern and Lydia Lunch Rallying around such institutions as the Film Makers Cooperative and Anthology Film Archives this new generation of independents devoted themselves to the defiance of the now establishment New Hollywood proposing that all film schools be blown up and all boring films never be made again 22 Independent Cinema movement Edit Further information Sundance Institute In 1978 Sterling Van Wagenen and Charles Gary Allison with Chairperson Robert Redford veteran of New Hollywood and star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid founded the Utah US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah and showcase what the potential of independent film could be At the time the main focus of the event was to present a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions however it also included a small program of new independent films The jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison and included Verna Fields Linwood Gale Dunn Katherine Ross Charles E Sellier Jr Mark Rydell and Anthea Sylbert In 1981 the same year that United Artists bought out by MGM after the financial failure of Michael Cimino s Heaven s Gate 1980 23 ceased to exist as a venue for independent filmmakers Sterling Van Wagenen left the film festival to help found the Sundance Institute with Robert Redford In 1985 the now well established Sundance Institute headed by Sterling Van Wagenen took over management of the US Film Festival which was experiencing financial difficulties Gary Beer and Sterling Van Wagenen spearheaded production of the inaugural Sundance Film Festival which included Program Director Tony Safford and Administrative Director Jenny Walz Selby In 1991 the festival was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival after Redford s famous role as The Sundance Kid 24 Through this festival the Independent Cinema movement was launched Such notable figures as Kevin Smith Robert Rodriguez Quentin Tarantino David O Russell Paul Thomas Anderson Steven Soderbergh James Wan Hal Hartley Joel and Ethan Coen and Jim Jarmusch garnered resounding critical acclaim and unprecedented box office sales In 2005 about 15 of the U S domestic box office revenue was from independent studios 25 Wes Anderson a widely renowned indie film auteur Co optation Edit The 1990s saw the rise and success of independent films not only through the film festival circuit but at the box office as well while established actors such as Bruce Willis John Travolta and Tim Robbins found success themselves both in independent films and Hollywood studio films 26 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990 from New Line Cinema grossed over 100 million in the United States making it the most successful indie film in box office history to that point 27 Miramax Films had a string of hits with Sex Lies and Videotape My Left Foot and Clerks putting Miramax and New Line Cinema in the sights of big companies looking to cash in on the success of independent studios In 1993 Disney bought Miramax for 60 million Turner Broadcasting in a billion dollar deal acquired New Line Cinema Fine Line Features and Castle Rock Entertainment in 1994 The acquisitions proved to be a good move for Turner Broadcasting as New Line released The Mask and Dumb amp Dumber Castle Rock released The Shawshank Redemption and Miramax released Pulp Fiction all in 1994 27 The acquisitions of the smaller studios by conglomerate Hollywood was a plan in part to take over the independent film industry and at the same time start independent studios of their own The following are all indie studios owned by conglomerate Hollywood Sony Pictures Classics 1992 present Searchlight Pictures 1994 present Paramount Vantage 1998 2013 Focus Features 2002 present Warner Independent Pictures 2003 2008 28 Castle Rock Entertainment 1987 present By the early 2000s Hollywood was producing three different classes of films 1 big budget blockbusters 2 art films specialty films and niche market films produced by the conglomerate owned indies and 3 genre and specialty films coming from true indie studios and producers The third category comprised over half the features released in the United States and usually cost between 5 and 10 million to produce 29 Hollywood was producing these three different classes of feature films by means of three different types of producers The superior products were the large budget blockbusters and high cost star vehicles marketed by the six major studio producer distributors Budgets on the major studios pictures averaged 100 million with approximately one third of it spent on marketing because of the large release campaigns Another class of Hollywood feature film included art films specialty films and other niche market fare controlled by the conglomerates indie subsidiaries Budgets on these indie films averaged 40 million per release in the early 2000s with 10 million to 15 million spent on marketing MPA 2006 12 The final class of film consisted of genre and specialty films whose release campaigns were administered by independent producer distributors with only a few dozen or possibly a few hundred screens in select urban markets Films like these usually cost less than 10 million but frequently less than 5 million with small marketing budgets that escalate if and when a particular film performs 30 Internationally EditThe independent film industry exists globally Many of the most prestigious film festivals are hosted in various cities around the world 31 The Berlin International Film Festival attracts over 130 countries making it the largest film festival in the world 32 Other large events include the Toronto International Film Festival Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Panafrican Film and TV Festival of Ouagadougou 31 The European Union specifically through the European Cinema and VOD Initiative ECVI has established programs that attempt to adapt the film industry to an increasing digital demand for film on video on demand services outside of theatrical screenings With this program VOD offerings are paired with traditional movie screenings 33 There is also more of a push from EU National governments to fund all aspects of the arts including film 34 The European Commission for Culture has an Audiovisual sector for example whose role is most notably to help distribute and promote films and festivals across Europe Additionally the Commission organizes policymaking research and reporting on media literacy and digital distribution 34 Technology and democratization EditAs with other media the availability of new technologies has fueled the democratization of filmmaking and the growth of independent film In the late forties and fifties new inexpensive portable cameras made it easier for independent filmmakers to produce content without studio backing The emergence of camcorders in the eighties broadened the pool of filmmakers experimenting with the newly available technology More recently the switch from film to digital cameras inexpensive non linear editing and the move to distribution via the internet have led to more people being able to make and exhibit movies of their own including young people and individuals from marginalized communities These people may have little to no formal technical or academic training but instead are autodidactic filmmakers using online sources to learn the craft Aspiring filmmakers can range from those simply with access to a smartphone or digital camera to those who write spec scripts to pitch to studios actively network and use crowdsourcing and other financing to get their films professionally produced Oftentimes aspiring filmmakers have other day jobs to support themselves financially while they pitch their scripts and ideas to independent film production companies talent agents and wealthy investors This recent technology fueled renaissance has helped fuel other supporting industries such as the prosumer camera segment and film schools for those who are less autodidactic Film programs in universities such as NYU in New York and USC in Los Angeles have benefited from this transitional growth 35 Crowdsourced funding Edit The economic side of filmmaking is also less of an obstacle than before because the backing of a major studio is no longer needed to access necessary movie funding Crowdfunding services like Kickstarter Pozible and Tubestart have helped people raise thousands of dollars enough to fund their own low budget productions 36 As a result of the falling cost of technology to make edit and digitally distribute films filmmaking is more widely accessible than ever before Full length films are often showcased at film festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival Slamdance Film Festival South by Southwest Festival Raindance Film Festival Telluride Film Festival and Palm Springs Film Festival 37 Award winners from these exhibitions are more likely to get picked up for distribution by major film distributors Film festivals and screenings like these are just one of the options in which movies can be independently produced released Analog to digital Edit The development of independent film in the 1990s and 21st century has been stimulated by a range of technical innovations including the development of affordable digital cinematography cameras that can exceed the quality of film and easy to use computer editing software Until digital alternatives became available the cost of professional film equipment and stock was a major obstacle to independent filmmakers who wanted to make their own films Successful films such as the Blair Witch Project which grossed over US 248 6 million while only spending US 60 000 have emerged from this new accessibility to filmmaking tools In 2002 the cost of 35 mm film stock went up 23 according to Variety 38 The advent of consumer camcorders in 1985 and more importantly the arrival of digital video in the early 1990s lowered the technology barrier to movie production The personal computer and non linear editing system have taken away the use of editing stands such as the KEM dramatically reducing the costs of post production while technologies such as DVD Blu ray Disc and online video services have simplified distribution video streaming services have made it possible to distribute a digital version of a film to an entire country or even the world without involving shipping or warehousing of physical DVDs or film reels 3 D technology is available to low budget independent filmmakers By the second decade of the 21st century high quality cellphone cameras allowed people to make edit and distribute films on a single inexpensive device One of the examples of such a new indie approach to filmmaking is the 1999 Oscar nominated documentary film Genghis Blues that was shot by the Belic brothers on two Hi8 consumer camcorders and won that year s Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for a Documentary 39 At the time distribution was still film based so the movie had to be filmed out from interlaced digital video format to film running at traditional 24 frame per second rate so interlacing artefacts are noticeable at times In 2004 Panasonic released the DVX100 camcorder which featured film like 24 frame per second shooting rate This gave independent filmmakers the ability to shoot video at a frame rate considered standard for movies at the time 40 and opened the possibility of clean digital frame to film frame conversion Several acclaimed films were made with this camera for example Iraq in Fragments 41 More recent devices allow filming at very high frame rates to facilitate distribution into a number of frame rates without artifacts Even though new cinema cameras such as the Arri Alexa RED Epic and the many new DSLRs cost thousands of dollars to purchase independent films are still cheaper than ever creating footage that looks like 35 mm film without the same high cost These cameras also perform better than traditional film because of its ability to perform in extremely dark low light situations relative to film In 2008 Nikon released the first DSLR camera that could also shoot video the Nikon D90 With the sensor larger than on a traditional camcorder these DSLRs allow for a greater control over depth of field great low light capabilities and a large variety of exchangeable lenses including lenses from old film cameras things which independent filmmakers have been longing for years With the creation of new light weight and accessible cinema cameras documentaries have also benefitted greatly It was previously impossible to capture the extreme wild of mother nature because of the lack of maneuverability with film cameras however with the creation of DSLRs documentary filmmakers were able to reach hard to get places in order to capture what they couldn t have with film cameras 42 Cameras have even been attached to animals to allow them to help film never before seen scenes New technologies have also allowed the development of new cinematic techniques originating in independent films such as the development of the zoom lens in the early 20th century The use of the controversial hand held shot made popular in the ground breaking The Blair Witch Project also lead to an entirely new subgenre the found footage film Independent filmmaking has also benefited from the new editing software Instead of needing a post house to do the editing independent film makers use a personal computer or even just a cellphone with editing software to edit their films Editing software available include Avid Media Composer Adobe Premiere Pro Final Cut Pro Color Grading Software DaVinci Resolve and many more There are also many free tutorials and courses available online to teach different post production skills needed to use these programs These new technologies allow independent film makers to create films that are comparable to high budget films Computer generated imaging CGI has also become more accessible transitioning from a highly specialized process done by post production companies into a task that can be performed by independent artists Francis Ford Coppola long an advocate of new technologies like non linear editing and digital cameras said in 2007 that cinema is escaping being controlled by the financier and that s a wonderful thing You don t have to go hat in hand to some film distributor and say Please will you let me make a movie 43 See also Edit Film portalBritish Independent Film Awards Independent Spirit Awards List of film festivals Outline of film Independent animation American Eccentric CinemaReferences Edit Callahan Peter January 8 2001 Don t Lose It At The Movies The Brothers McMullen and Blair Witch yes Waterworld II no A primer on indie film investing CNN Retrieved December 10 2012 How Pulp Fiction Destroyed Indie Cinema Decider October 14 2014 Edidin Peter August 21 2005 La La Land The Origins The New York Times Los Angeles s distance from New York was also comforting to independent film producers making it easier for them to avoid being harassed or sued by the Motion Picture Patents Company AKA the Trust which Thomas Edison helped create in 1909 The Lincoln Motion Picture Company is Formed Siklos Richard March 4 2007 Mission Improbable Tom Cruise as Mogul The New York Times The 26th Academy Awards 1954 Oscars org Archived from the original on May 2 2019 Retrieved April 15 2020 The Sight amp Sound Top Ten Poll 1992 Sight amp Sound British Film Institute Archived from the original on March 9 2012 Retrieved May 20 2008 Take One The First Annual Village Voice Film Critics Poll The Village Voice 1999 Archived from the original on August 26 2007 Retrieved July 27 2006 The Best 1 000 Movies Ever Made The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on March 29 2005 All time 100 Movies Time February 12 2005 Archived from the original on March 14 2007 Retrieved May 19 2008 The Film Maker s Cooperative A Brief History Archived from the original on April 27 2011 Retrieved May 2 2008 The Film Makers Cooperative Marich 2013 p 350 The 42nd Academy Awards 1970 Oscars org What Is Independent Film Raindance Raindance January 19 2014 Retrieved August 18 2017 Dargis Manohla August 17 2003 The 70s Get over it Los Angeles Times Retrieved March 12 2018 Dargis Manohla November 12 2010 60s Hollywood the Rebels and the Studios Power Shifted or Did It The New York Times Retrieved July 19 2018 Dargis Manohla July 12 2008 An Artist of the Cutting Room Floor The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Bruce Conner The Artist Who Shaped Our World DangerousMinds June 25 2011 The 53rd Academy Awards 1981 Oscars org David Lynch interview 1985 Davidlynch de Archived from the original on October 11 2010 Retrieved September 29 2013 The 59th Academy Awards 1987 Oscars org UbuWeb Film amp Video The Cinema of Transgression Ubu com Archived from the original on July 3 2018 Retrieved September 29 2013 Rabin Nathan November 1 2007 My Year Of Flops Case File 81 Heaven s Gate The A V Club Peden Lauren David December 2005 Sundance Subdued Coast Magazine Freedom Communications Archived from the original on September 27 2007 Retrieved November 11 2007 MPAA data from January to March 2005 better source needed Levy 1999 p 13 14 a b McDonald amp Wasko 2008 p 29 McDonald amp Wasko 2008 p 29 30 McDonald amp Wasko 2008 p 30 31 McDonald amp Wasko 2008 p 31 a b What Are the World s Most Prestigious Film Festivals Mental Floss November 26 2013 Archived from the original on March 20 2021 Retrieved October 27 2017 The Berlinale A Constantly Evolving Festival berlinale de Caranicas Peter July 4 2017 European Digital Initiatives Offer New Paths for Distributing Indie Films Variety Archived from the original on March 20 2021 Retrieved October 27 2017 a b Culture and Creativity Audiovisual European Commission Retrieved October 27 2022 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link New York University The Top 25 American Film Schools 2017 The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on March 20 2021 Retrieved November 8 2017 Crowdfunding Statistics and Analytics for Film and Video in 2014 insights wired com January 19 2015 Archived from the original on January 22 2015 Retrieved November 8 2017 Clemons Audra 10 US Film Festivals You Should Know About Culture Trip Archived from the original on March 20 2021 Retrieved November 8 2017 Amdur Meredith November 16 2003 Sharing pix is risky business Variety Archived from the original on September 15 2007 Retrieved June 23 2007 Elijah Wald Film Writing Archive elijahwald com Internet Filmmaker s FAQ filmmaking net Archived from the original on March 20 2021 Retrieved September 29 2013 Thomson Patricia April 2006 Sundance 2006 Frozen Moments American Cinematographer Eric Escobar from NAB We Are All Geeks Now better source needed Kirsner 2008 p 199 Bibliography Edit Marich Robert 2013 Marketing To Moviegoers A Handbook of Strategies and Tactics 3rd ed Southern Illinois University Press p 350 ISBN 978 0 80 933196 3 Levy Emanuel 1999 Cinema of Outsiders The Rise of American Independent Film NYU Press ISBN 978 0 8147 5124 4 McDonald Paul Wasko Janet eds 2008 The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry Malden MA Blackwell Publishing ISBN 978 1 40 513388 3 Kirsner Scott 2008 Inventing the Movies Hollywood s Epic Battle Between Innovation and the Status Quo from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs Boston CinemaTech Books ISBN 978 1 4382 0999 9 Further reading EditBiskind Peter 2004 Down and Dirty Pictures Miramax Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film Simon amp Schuster ISBN 0 684 86259 X Hall Phil 2009 The History of Independent Cinema BearManor Media ISBN 978 1 59393 335 7 indies are dead long live the indies The Monster That Ate Hollywood Season 20 Episode 8 November 22 2001 PBS King Geoff 2005 American Independent Cinema Indiana University Press ISBN 9780253218261 Lyons Donald 1994 Independent Visions A Critical Introduction to Recent Independent American Film Ballantine Books ISBN 0 345 38249 8 Maccann Richard Dyer Summer 1962 Independence with a Vengeance Film Quarterly University of California Press 15 4 14 21 doi 10 1525 fq 1962 15 4 04a00060 JSTOR 1211185 Merritt Greg 2000 Celluloid Mavericks The History of American Independent Film Thunder s Mouth Press ISBN 1 56025 232 4 Pierson John 2004 Spike Mike Reloaded Miramax Books ISBN 1 4013 5950 7 Redding Judith Brownworth Victoria 1997 Film Fatales Independent Women Directors Seal Press ISBN 1 878067 97 4 Vachon Christine 2006 A Killer Life How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond Simon amp Schuster ISBN 0 7432 5630 1 External links EditThe Edge of Hollywood Annenberg Learner Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Independent film amp oldid 1151091452, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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