CAMS 310: Moviegoing and Film Exhibition in America
Instructor: Carol Donelan
Cinema and Media Studies
Fall 2009
Course Description
How have the sites where movies are screened, the sorts of entertainment programs offered, and the experience of movie going varied over time and in different locations and communities? In this course, we will familiarize ourselves with the various methodologies for doing film history while researching and writing (or producing in media form) the history of movie culture at the local level, making use of primary sources such as newspapers, interviews, and photographs.
For your final assignment, develop a research topic (in consultation with me) on some aspect of Northfield movie culture during the pre-Code or immediate post-Code era (early 1930s).
Ground rules:
- You are expected to make use of primary documents and link your local findings to larger currents in the culture and/or film industry
- You are expected to integrate relevant images and data into your paper as in-text pictures or charts. Include only those materials to which you directly refer in your discussion.
- You are expected to document your sources carefully (Chicago Style).
Deadlines:
PowerPoint class presentations are on Tuesday, Nov 10 and Thursday, Nov 12 Research paper (10-12 pages) is due in class on Tuesday, November 17.
Possible Topics:
- Sunday movie issue
- Ownership/management of small town theater (Everett L. Dilley, Sam Katz, Publix chain)
- Promotion and advertising: of films, of a studio, of the theater; ballyhoo publicity techniques; special stunts and tie-ins; Reel Facts
- Impact of studio business practices on small town theater (block booking, blind bidding, etc.)
- Diffusion of sound/projection/screen technology at the local level
- Theater architecture, zoning, remodeling
- Moviegoing experience
- an evening's entertainment at the Grand (advent of short subjects)
- programming in the Grand other than movies (live presentations, etc.)
- changes in programming during the depression
- theater seasons, openings and closings
- matinees, midnight screenings, gift nights
- special screening events: F&R Guaranteed Week, National Motion Picture Week
- status or event pictures
- Forgotten Hollywood stars (from a particular studio; Colleen Moore in small-town stories)
- Pre-Code genres in Northfield: gangster films, sex films, racial adventure films
- Film screenings in non-theater spaces (churches, colleges, community centers)
- City/state censorship, local/national reformers or pressure groups
- Children and the movies
- Moviegoing as one aspect of a larger culture of leisure activity in Northfield
- Distribution exchanges: how are films getting from the studios to Northfield?
Resources:
- Check the Gould library website for general and subject pages related to film history/theory/criticism
- NHS archives
- Carleton and St Olaf College Archives
- Northfield Public Library (Northfield News on microfilm; books about Northfield)
- City Council Minutes (City Hall, 801 Washington Street)
- Local church records (see me to discuss)
- Gould library microfilm: Production Code files, Film Daily, Cinema Pressbooks
- Historical Film Reviews: Proquest Historical Newspapers, Reader's Guide Retrospective, Film and Television Literature Index, New York Times Film Reviews
- Popular magazines (Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Cosmopolitan); specialized magazines (Scientific American)