The Academy Technical Bureau, Cooperative Research, and the Building of the Studio System

2021 ◽  
pp. 164-194
Author(s):  
Luci Marzola
Keyword(s):  
Motion Picture ◽  
Motion Picture Industry ◽  
Technical Knowledge ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Technical Research ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Arts And Sciences ◽  
System P ◽  
Transition To Sound ◽  
Basic Standards

At the end of the 1920s, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) harnessed its role in the transition to sound to shift leadership of technical research to Hollywood. At the same time that it began the Sound School, the Academy established a Producers-Technicians Committee designed to pool knowledge of universal production practices. This chapter argues that AMPAS was able to establish itself as the authority over everyday technology in Hollywood through this committee and by absorbing the AMPP’s Technical Bureau. Through their collective scientific activities, the studios were able to take advantage of the knowledge and skills of their workers to solidify Hollywood’s dominance over the motion picture industry. At the same time, several new journals and publications for the dissemination of technical knowledge were established, including the International Photographer, Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, and the Academy Technical Digest, determining who disseminated knowledge, generated definitions, and created standards. The institutional structure established by the start of 1930 would remain stable throughout the golden age of Hollywood, making AMPAS both the clearinghouse and the gatekeeper that determined what the basic standards for technology would be and who would have access to this knowledge.

Inventing the Mazda Tests

2021 ◽  
pp. 105-135
Author(s):  
Luci Marzola
Keyword(s):  
Motion Picture ◽  
Motion Picture Industry ◽  
Arts And Sciences ◽  
East And West ◽  
Scientific Endeavor ◽  
Key Events ◽  
Technological Management

The second part of the book begins with chapter 4, which explores the key events of 1927–1928, in which the motion picture industry began to bring together companies and workers from the East and West around strategic technological shifts. While the shift to sound was in process, it was not sound but lights and film stock that served as the vehicles for these early collaborative endeavors. With the formation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 1927, the studios united behind a single organization designed to standardize both labor and technology practices across all the major producers. In order to gain the cooperation and favor of the studio technicians, AMPAS focused many of its early activities on collaborative technical projects. In the spring of 1928, the Mazda tests united the studio technicians, manufacturers, independent labs, and trade organizations to standardize lighting and film stock technology across the industry. This first “scientific endeavor” of Hollywood, followed immediately by the first Society of Motion Picture Engineers (SMPE) convention in the area, created a model for the institutionalization of technological management and innovation in the industry.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Cohan
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Motion Picture ◽  
Motion Picture Industry ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Silent Era

The introduction provides the theoretical argument of the book. It explains why the backstudio picture is not a cycle but a genre in its own right, and how the genre depicts Hollywood as a geographic place in Los Angeles, as an industry, and as a symbol. It goes on to show how the backstudio picture has historically served to brand the motion picture industry as “Hollywood,” working in much the same way as consumer brands do today. Additionally, the introduction provides a historical overview of the genre, focusing on its four major cycles of production, from the silent era to the present day. Finally, it briefly describes the content of the seven chapters.

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