This book offers an industrial, economic and aesthetic history of the early years of the British film industry from 1899–1911, through a case study of one of the most celebrated pioneer film makers, Cecil Hepworth.
Presenting a picture of daily life in his film studio, an analysis of Hepworth’s films is offered including the development of their content, production methods and marketing in this formative period.
The early twentieth century saw British film production develop from a cottage industry of artisans to a multi-modal complex economic system with a global reach. Changes in the nature of exhibition and distribution caused a major crisis in the years 1908–1911, whereby Britain lost its status as a world leader in film making. Existing histories of this period lay this crisis at the feet of pioneers like Hepworth, whose perceived inability to improve the quality of film production led to stagnation.
Brown attempts to challenge this assumption by analysing Hepworth’s development of production methods as well as his strategies towards sales in the market to demonstrate the impact on the modernisation of the film industry.
Spis treści
Introduction
List of Illustrations and Tables
Film Production and the Hepworth Manufacturing Company Ltd (HMC)
Hepworth, Film Sales and the Rise of the Renter
The HMC, the Rental Sector and Market Strategies
HMC and Patterns of Exhibition
Conclusion: The Producers’ Response to the Crisis
Appendix One: Filmography of Hepworth and Co and the HMC 1899–1911
Appendix Two: HMC Titles Listed in ‘Around the Shows’ Released 1 October 1908–31 August 1909
Appendix Three: List of London Based Rental Firms (1905–1911) and Foreign Film Sales Representatives (1907–1911)
Bibliography
Index
O autorze
Simon Brown is Associate Professor in Film and Television at Kingston University. His main areas of research are early cinema, British cinema, colour cinematography and contemporary American television. He joined Kingston University in 2004 after spending a decade at the BFI National Film and Television Archive, sourcing and restoring old films.In 2004, in addition to teaching at Kingston, he was Senior Research Fellow for The London Project, a year-long AHRB funded project researching the history of the British Film Industry in London from its inception to 1914.He has written about and taught a range of Film, TV and Media related subjects such as Film History and Technology, National Cinemas including Britain, China and Hong Kong, Cult Film and Television, Horror, Censorship, Documentary and the History of Non-Fiction Film, Archiving and the Media Industry as well as Contemporary American Film and Television.
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