2. What is Hollywood?
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles,
California. It is known as the home of the entertainment history
because of many of its studios as they hold a great significance.
Hollywood was a small community in 1870 and was incorporated as a
municipality in 1903. It officially merged with the city of Los Angeles in
1910 and soon thereafter a prominent film industry began to emerge
becoming eventually the most dominant and recognizable in the
world.
3. How did Hollywood get its name?
Legend states that Daeida Wilcox is said to have met a woman on a train who told her
about her lovely ranch in Hollywood, Illinois. She liked the sound of the name and thus
decided to name her property Hollywood that she and her husband were planning to
buy. The name is basically a reference to the Toyon, a native plant with bright red
winter berries that resemble holly.
4. The emergence of Motion Picture Industries
• The first studio in Hollywood, the Nestor Motion Picture Company shot its first film
in 1911. By 1912, major motion picture companies had set up production in Los
Angeles. Director D. W. Griffith was the first to make a motion picture in
Hollywood. Soon, many studios began to emerge by different companies including
Paramount, Warner Bros, RKO and Columbia. By 1920s Hollywood was the fifth
largest industry in the nation.
5. • The start of the Golden Age of Hollywood was when The Jazz Singer was
released in 1927 which marked the end to the silent era and increased box-
office profits for films as sound was introduced to feature films. Then in 1928,
Walt Disney produced the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, including
character sounds and a musical score. Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon
to feature a fully post-produced soundtrack which distinguished it from
earlier sound cartoons.
6. What makes
Hollywood so
successful?
• All of Hollywood’s top movies
have one quality in common,
they avoid real life. For
viewers, this means escape.
When people watched movies
like Star Wars and The Matrix
Reloaded they were basically
looking for the same thing: a
fantasy, a space opera, a work
of science fiction that was a
vacation from real life. All of
the Harry Potter movies, the
Lord of the Rings trilogy, the
comic book megahits
Spiderman and Batman, the
last three installments of
Shrek, all of these rank with
the top 50 Hollywood movies
because they have that x-
factor that helps us get away
from our everyday lives.
7. • Now, when I say that
Hollywood's top movies avoid
reality, I don’t mean entirely.
The Ice Age and Titanic are
loosely based on a time and
events that actually occurred.
And Forrest Gump is a
remarkable story that does not
rely on magic or make-believe
worlds to get us out of our
lives. That said, none of these
films deal with everyday
experience. In a similar way,
Jurassic Park and Inception
both bring us into a scenario
where we find technology that
our world has yet to create. In
other words, even the most
realistic of Hollywood's top
movies are about life as we do
not know it.
8. Genres in Hollywood
Hollywood movies are based on one of these genres:
• Action
• Adventure
• Animation
• Biography
• Comedy
• Crime
• Culture and Society
• Dance
• Documentary
• Drama
• Fantasy
• Historical
• Horror
• Musical
• Mystery
• Romantic
• Science Fiction
• Sports and Recreation
• Suspense / Thriller
9. The Major Six Picture Industries
• Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries is an American film production and distribution studio of the Sony
Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the
Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film studios in the world, a member of the
so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of
Hollywood's Golden Age. The studio, originally founded in 1918 as "Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales"
by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jack's best friend Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in
August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later.
Some of the famous movies by them are 21 Jump Street, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Stuart
Little and The Shawshank Redemption.
10. • Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. is an
American entertainment company that produces film,
television and music entertainment. As one of the major
film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its
headquarters in Burbank, California. Warner Bros. has
several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros.
Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive
Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros.
Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line
Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment, DC Entertainment,
and the former The WB Television Network and Kids'
WB. Warner Bros. owns half of The CW Television
Network. The company's name originates from the four
founding Warner brothers Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack.
They opened the Warner Bros. studio on Sunset
Boulevard in Hollywood in 1918. Some of the famous
movies by them are The Departed, The Dark Knight
Trilogy, American Sniper, Man of Steel and The Lego
Movie.
11. • Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation formerly
known as Famous Players-Lasky Corporation is
a film studio, television production
company and motion picture distributor,
consistently ranked as one of the "Big Six" film
studios of Hollywood. It is a subsidiary of
U.S. media conglomerate Viacom. Paramount
is a member of the Motion Picture Association
of America. In 2014, Paramount Pictures
became the first major Hollywood studio to
distribute all of its films in digital-form only.
Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving film
studio in the world and America's oldest
running studio, founded in 1912 by a
Hungarian named Adolph Zukor. Some of the
famous movies by them are Interstellar, The
Wolf of Wall Street, How to Train Your Dragon,
World War Z and Mission Impossible.
12. • 20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is an American film studio, distributor and
one of the six major American film studios. Located in the Century City area of Los
Angeles, just west of Beverly Hills, the studio used to be a subsidiary of News
Corporation, but is now a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. 20th Century Fox is also a
member of the Motion Picture Association of America. It was founded by Joseph
Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck when they left United Artists over a stock dispute,
and began merger talks with the management of financially struggling Fox Film,
under president Sidney Kent. Some of the famous movies by them are Star Wars,
Life of Pi, Home Alone, Gone Girl and Cast Away.
13. • Universal Studios
Universal Studios Inc. is an American film
studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly
owned subsidiary NBC Universal, and is one
of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. Its
production studios are at 100 Universal City
Plaza Drive in Universal City, California.
Distribution and other corporate offices are in
New York City. Universal Studios is a member
of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Universal was founded in 1912 by the
German Carl Laemmle, Mark
Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam
Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David
Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules
Brulatour. It is the world's fourth oldest major
film studio. Some of the famous movies by
them are Jurassic World, Furious 7, E.T,
Despicable Me and Back to the Future.
14. • Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures, Inc. is an American film
production company and division of The Walt
Disney Studios, owned by The Walt Disney
Company. The division is based at the Walt Disney
Studios and is the main producer of live-action
feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit. It
took on its current name in 1983. Today, in
conjunction with the other units of The Walt Disney
Studios, Walt Disney Pictures is classified as one of
Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. Nearly all of Walt
Disney Pictures' releases are distributed theatrically
by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, through
home media platforms via Walt Disney Studios
Home Entertainment and through television
syndication by Disney–ABC Domestic Television. The
studio was originally founded as the Disney
Brothers Cartoon Studio, by filmmaker Walt
Disney and his business partner and brother Roy in
1923. Some of the famous movies by them are The
Lion King, Frozen, Tangled, The Little Mermaid and
Beauty and the Beast.
15. Some Notable Directors and their Successful Movies
• James Cameron
Born in 1954 in Ontario, Canada, James Francis
Cameron is the popular director of science
fiction movies and movie series. His works
include titles like The Terminator Series,
Titanic, Avatar, True Lies, and Aliens, among
many others. Avatar is the first film to gross
more than $2 Billion (the record was
previously held by Titanic which is now the
second most grossed film.)
Cameron won three Oscar awards for Titanic
in 1998 and also won many other prestigious
awards like The Golden Globe and The Emmys.
He has also received nominations for
numerous other critics’ and People’s Choice
Awards.
16. • Christopher Nolan
Nolan was born in 1970 in London,
England. In just 15 years of his film making
career, Nolan has graduated from making
small-time, low budget films to some of
the biggest blockbusters Hollywood has
seen. His first feature was a relatively less
known film The Following. He then made
Memento in the year 2000 which brought
him many honors and award nominations
including an Oscar nomination. From
there, Nolan went on to make movies like
Insomnia, The Prestige, Inception, and of
course The Batman series: Batman Begins,
The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
His movies have one of the best
screenplays in the history of Hollywood
and his ideas are unmatched by any other
film maker.
17. • Steven Spielberg
Unarguably one of the most influential
personalities in the history of Hollywood,
Steven Spielberg is probably the most
popular film directors of the West. Also,
his work has made him one of the
wealthiest in the film industry. The 68
year old film director has created some
of the most critically acclaimed and high-
earning films of all time. Some of his best
works include the likes of Jurassic Park
series, Indiana Jones series, Minority
Report, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s
List and Jaws. However, there are many
more to add to that list. Spielberg has
won three Academy Awards and nine of
the films he directed were up for
the Best Picture Oscar (Schindler's
List won). The unadjusted gross of all of
his directed films exceeds $8.5 billion
worldwide.
18. • Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in
Leytonstone, Essex, London in 1899. Apart
from being one of the best film makers the
world has ever seen, Hitchcock was also a
very skilled artist. He was famous for
making suspense-based thrillers and
mystery films. Some of his works include
Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Mr. and
Mrs. Smith, Psycho, Vertigo and the
famous TV series: Alfred Hitchcock
Presents. He made numerous other short
films and features apart from these.
Hitchcock was a multiple nominee and
winner of a number of prestigious awards,
receiving two Golden Globes, eight Laurel
Awards, and five lifetime achievement
awards. He died in 1980.
19. • Martin Scorsese
Scorsese was born in 1942 in an
Italian-American household in New
York City. He is one of the most
innovative and creative directors of
Hollywood. Scorsese’s well known
trademarks are that he usually starts
his films from the middle or the end,
uses slow-motions, freezes frames
and does cameos. His works include
films like Taxi Driver, The Departed,
The Wolf of Wall Street, Hugo,
Shutter Island, The Aviator, Casino
and Goodfellas among numerous
others. Basically, most of the movies
featuring Leonardo Di Caprio that we
love are made by Scorsese. He has
received and won many award
nominations including the Academy
Awards and the Golden Globes.
