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OverviewEngineering Hollywood tells the story of the formation of the Hollywood studio system not as the product of a genius producer, but as an industry that brought together creative practices and myriad cutting-edge technologies in ways that had never been seen before. Using extensive archival research, this book examines the role of technicians, engineers, and trade organizations in creating a stable technological infrastructure on which the studio system rested for decades. Here, the studio system is seen as a technology-dependent business with connections to the larger American industrial world. By focusing on the role played by technology, we see a new map of the studio system beyond the backlots of Los Angeles and the front offices in New York. In this study, Hollywood includes the labs of industrial manufacturers, the sales routes of independent firms, the garages of tinkerers, and the clubhouses of technicians' societies. Rather than focusing on the technical improvements in any particular motion picture tool, this book centers on the larger systems and infrastructures for dealing with technology in this creative industry. Engineering Hollywood argues that the American industry was stabilized and able to dominate the motion picture field for decades through collaboration over technologies of everyday use. Hollywood's relationship to its essential technology was fundamentally one of interdependence and cooperation-with manufacturers, trade organizations, and the competing studios. As such, Hollywood could be defined as an industry by participation in a closed system of cooperation that allowed a select group of producers and manufacturers to dominate the motion picture business for decades. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Luci Marzola (Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Department of Cinema and Media Studies, University of Southern California)Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc Dimensions: Width: 15.50cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 23.10cm Weight: 0.386kg ISBN: 9780190885595ISBN 10: 0190885599 Pages: 272 Publication Date: 04 August 2021 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: To order  Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us. Table of Contents"Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction PART I: Engineering an Industry 1: A Community of Engineers: Cooperation and Competition Among East Coast Motion Picture Technology Manufacturers 2: ""Maintained Solely for Your Benefit"": Technological Service Firms and the Hollywood Industrial Cluster 3: Between the Lines: Engineers in the Movie Studio PART II: The Science of the Studio System 4: Inventing the Mazda Tests: Trade Collaboration and the First Scientific Endeavor in Hollywood 5: The Fundamentals: Technical Education in the Chaos of Sound 6: The Academy Technical Bureau, Cooperative Research, and the Building of the Studio System Conclusion: Epilogue Appendix A: Acronyms Appendix B: Biographical Index Bibliography Notes Index"ReviewsOne would have thought by now that Hollywood's industrial history has been well documented, but Luci Marzola's remarkable intervention shows that the predominant focus on the studio system has overlooked a major part of the picture. Engineering Hollywood examines instead the trade associations and technical and bureaucratic infrastructures that established the shared operational protocols and quality standards vital for Hollywood's global success. This brilliant account provides not only new insights into our historical understanding of the industry, but also of the workings of creative industries in the age of corporate capitalism. * Joshua Yumibe, Michigan State University * We know about the star system. We know about the studio system. But we know virtually nothing about the dynamic technological systems that made Hollywood possible in the first place. This essential book closes that gap, telling a crucial story about America's first creative industry to integrate and spectacularize technological change. Silicon Valley take note. Marzola provides a breathtaking view to another hub of American innovation, one that fuelled the global rise of another uniquely American industry. * Haidee Wasson, Concordia University * We know about the star system. We know about the studio system. But we know virtually nothing about the dynamic technological systems that made Hollywood possible in the first place. This essential book closes that gap, telling a crucial story about America's first creative industry to integrate and spectacularize technological change. Silicon Valley take note. Marzola provides a breathtaking view to another hub of American innovation, one that fuelled the global rise of another uniquely American industry. * Haidee Wasson, Concordia University * One would have thought by now that Hollywood's industrial history has been well documented, but Luci Marzola's remarkable intervention shows that the predominant focus on the studio system has overlooked a major part of the picture. Engineering Hollywood examines instead the trade associations and technical and bureaucratic infrastructures that established the shared operational protocols and quality standards vital for Hollywood's global success. This brilliant account provides not only new insights into our historical understanding of the industry, but also of the workings of creative industries in the age of corporate capitalism. * Joshua Yumibe, Michigan State University * One would have thought by now that Hollywood's industrial history has been well documented, but Luci Marzola's remarkable intervention shows that the predominant focus on the studio system has overlooked a major part of the picture. Engineering Hollywood examines instead the trade associations and technical and bureaucratic infrastructures that established the shared operational protocols and quality standards vital for Hollywood's global success. This brilliant account provides not only new insights into our historical understanding of the industry, but also of the workings of creative industries in the age of corporate capitalism. -- Joshua Yumibe, Michigan State University We know about the star system. We know about the studio system. But we know virtually nothing about the dynamic technological systems that made Hollywood possible in the first place. This essential book closes that gap, telling a crucial story about America's first creative industry to integrate and spectacularize technological change. Silicon Valley take note. Marzola provides a breathtaking view to another hub of American innovation, one that fuelled the global rise of another uniquely American industry. -- Haidee Wasson, Concordia University Author InformationLuci Marzola is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at University of California Irvine. She was the recipient of a 2010-2020 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. Her work on early Hollywood technology and infrastructure has been published in Film History, The Velvet Light Trap, and American Cinematographer and is forthcoming in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television and the Oxford Handbook to Silent Cinema. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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