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Film Study and Filmmakers

1985; University of Texas Press; Volume: 24; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1224897

1527-2087

David H. Shepard,

Art History and Market Analysis

In the world of film (which I take to include structured audio-visual images, fixed by any technology), modes of production, distribution, and exhibition are changing rapidly, and continued technological and market developments promise more of the same. Within the past year or two, films made far from traditional production centers, inexpensive films, non-linear films, and films directed by those who only a few years ago would have been doing 16mm documentaries, have been achieving mainstream distribution. Even as the network market share declines, broadcast groups such as Taft, Gannett, Post-Newsweek, and Metromedia join with regional children's theaters, contract with independent filmmakers, and otherwise use emerging talent to generate ambitious programming for barter and syndication. HBO, Showtime, and The Disney Channel are likewise commissioning new products. Videocassettes are becoming a primary (rather than merely a supplementary) market for theatrical movies and other film products, making it much easier for members of the creative community to gain relatively direct access to audiences, with special-interest projects. At the same time, accomplished craftspeople who look to traditional patterns for future employment see their skills becoming less important, even irrelevant, in a period of rapid technological shift from film to videotape. At the Directors Guild, several hundred members have enrolled in our own film school, devoted to retraining and broadening working professionals for the evolving marketplace. In this volatile period, the best preparation film educators can offer students is the training to adjust to a future which may look very little like the past. I think this should be anchored in an interdisciplinary liberal arts approach to western culture, using film and its components as the central frame of reference.