Production companies through time which have particular styles

My area of investigation I will be talking about production companies through time and how
they have their own style which has made them recognisable and influenced how they tell
stories. From what I have researched I hope I can use this in in my final major project to
make my film stand out as being a recognisable style of film that people of a certain
audience will like.
I have chosen this area of investigation as not everyone knows these production companies
and I have an interest in them as I have watched a handful of these films from the 3
production companies I have looked at. All these companies have influenced the way they
tell stories which has made them recognisable among the film lovers.

The first Production Company I'm going to talk about is Star

Film Company which was founded in 1896 by Geroge Melies.
(2022) George attended the first demonstration of the
Lumiere Brothers cinema show which made him see that
cinema gives many opportunities. George tried to buy a
camera off them, but it wasn't for sale. George bought a
similar camera from England. From here George created his
own films which he experimented with and created the many
recognisable things such as fade out, freeze frame, time
lapse, dissolve and high speed which is seen in practically
every film today. In 1897 he built the first film studio which
he made multiple films on set in his studio which became
very popular over time. In 1902 he created the first sci-fi film
A trip to the moon which was different and new to show to audiences. As film developed
and grew, other filmmakers found new techniques and filmed outside which was something
George had never really done before which people didn't really like any more. His career
slowly declined between 1911 and 1913 and due to him trying to make money by selling his
films in America he didn't make any money from it and had to shut down his studio forever.
That was a brief history of Star film company and how he changed the way films are made
and how the stories are perceived and told. From everything that George had created, it
goes to show that without his new techniques at the time practically all films wouldn't be
made today.
After watching A trip to the moon, I have
analysed how its story telling methods has
shined through this silent film. This has
showcased the fantasy elements of
storytelling and special effects and is very
impressive to watch at such an early time in
cinema. A review I had seen recently which
sums up some of my thoughts on this film
“Wonderfully imaginative and innovative.
Directed by Georges Melies, a pioneer in
the art and technology of filmmaking. Shot in 1902, when cinema was in its infancy, the
movie shows cinema's theatrical roots, as well as the resourcefulness and ingenuity a
pioneer like Melies possessed and needed to possess. This review which is on IMDB
perfectly sums how George and star film company really paved the way for filmmaking and
storytelling through his imagination and creative works that all took place in his studio. A
trip to the moon can be considered as the first movie to have a narrative and a story to tell
which is very easy to follow as a silent film. A group of men travel to the moon in a ship and
discover the secrets of the moon land. Simple but effective and very impressive. A Blog from
Jim Carrol(2019) A trip to the Moon Move fast and make things it is implied that in his words
“Although it’s cheerful and comic in tone, one can’t help noticing the destructive impact
that our heroic scientists have during their adventures.” On rewatching the film, again you
don’t come to notice it at first but when they arrive on the moon the explorers take to
slaying the fragile locals and go on to kill their king and at the end of the film the humans
parade their captive Selenite in a somewhat colonial fashion. Why do explorers and
pioneers consistently seem so wilful in their destruction of the new environments and
societies that they discover? Why are they always out to conquer and tame, exploit and
gain, shackle and own? A few interesting points that were noted in his blog about the film.
This heavily influences its storyline and the reason for why they are going to the moon.

Out of all the George Melies short movies I had

seen “A trip to the Moon” seems to be the only
one that has had a deep impactful story line
which has changed the way we watch films and
understand the storytelling techniques that star
film company has presented to us all those
years ago.
(ND)The next Production I'm going to talk
about is Mosfilms which is the leading
Russian film company producing almost all
the film- TV- and video products in the
country. The studio's production capacity is
more than a hundred films a year. Mosfilm
produces, distributes and sells film-, TV- and
video products. It also provides services
relating to all phases of filmmaking. Most
films are made at studios that are located at
Mosfilm. There are many famous directors in
Russia that work with mosfilms such as Andrei Tarkovsky, Elem Klimov and Sergei Eisenstein.
In recent years Mosfilm has been actively involved in the modernisation of its production
and technical capabilities. A great deal of work has been done on the reconstruction of
stages and studios and on equipping them with the equipment and cameras that meet the
highest modern-day standards. Mosfilm provides all kinds of work on the editing of films
and video films, telecopying and computer graphics, and this work is carried out using most
advanced equipment. Mosfilm is actively involved in Russian film festivals in many countries
and runs retrospective shows and screenings in Russia, as well as in other countries. Having
overcome the crisis of the 90s, the studio has not only preserved its traditions and
professions in the sphere of cinematography but became a highly profitable enterprise. In
the past nine years, it has increased its profitability by more than 10 times.
That was a short history of Mosfilm but the main part
of mosfilm I want to mention is how they have
influenced different storytelling through their war film
collection. Art therefore imitates life as storytellers
draw inspiration from historical events, but then life
imitates art as propagandists exploit half-realized
mythos for their political purposes. Consequently, the
Mosfilm war movies collection greatly enhances
understanding of the political psychology of contemporary Russian external aggression.
(2022) A film from the Mosfilm war
collection which I have seen that has
a deep impact on the way wars are
shown is Elem Klimov’s 1985 film
Come and See which is based off the
book Out of the fire which was
about the nazis first reign in Belarus
in WW2. A review from Roger Ebert
I saw on its story is that the film
depicts brutality and is occasionally
very realistic, but there's an overlay
of muted nightmarish exaggeration.
The swamp that Florya and Glasha
wade through, for example, has a thick gelatinous top layer that seems like a living,
malevolent skin. There's a sequence in which Florya becomes involved with some cows who
will become food for starving troops. He and the cow are in a field obscured by a thick fog
when machine-gun fire breaks out — from where, he cannot tell. The eventual death of the
beast is told in a series of images that mirror the inexorable shutting down of life. The cow's
life was doomed one way or another, but these suggest how utterly incomprehensible
death is to the cow. The nightmare intensifies after Florya is too near an artillery
bombardment and is deafened. The sound becomes muted, and there is a faint ringing,
which makes the reality of sound frustratingly out of reach for him. This has made the films
storyline not just truthful but also traumatising to see how they want to show the truth
about wars in Russia.

(2022) There is also a film by Andrei

Tarkovsky which I still can't get my head
around called Stalker (1979) which is about
3 men who venture into a mysterious zone
which holds a point which grants peoples
most desire. This film is the definition of an
arthouse film which to this day people try
to decipher what Tarkovsky wanted to say
with this film. From anti-communist and
industrialist insights to religious
interpretations, people seem to believe
that Stalker holds a powerful understanding of the meaning of life. As Tarkovsky says on
what is art? “Like a declaration of love: the consciousness of our dependence on each
other. A confession. An unconscious act that none the less reflects the true meaning of
life” A blog from Jakob Zaaiman I had come across which tells his thoughts on its story as
not even I can understand fully what this film truly wants to show. In his words he says,
“Stalker becomes an extremely difficult film to account for and ‘explain’, if you take
director Tarkovsky at his word, and avoid treating it either as an allegory for a very
specific Soviet predicament, or as philosophically and religiously metaphorical. Tarkovsky
supposedly wants us to view it primarily as a straightforward story that unfolds in
cinematic time and form, and not to allow ourselves to get side-lined into interpreting
everything as representing other than what it appears to be. But approaching the
narrative ‘directly’ doesn’t make the film any easier to parse, and in many ways succeeds
only in elevating it from the ordinarily complex into the almost impenetrable. This may be
exactly what Tarkovsky had in mind; whether consciously or distantly.”

From everything that Mosfilms has given to us I can see how they want to tell these stories.
They want to tell it as an art form whether it’s fictional or not. I have seen a broad range of
Mosfilms which I can say are all slightly different from each other but something they have
in common is telling a strong meaningful story.

(ND)The last production I would like to

talk about is a modern production
Company called A24 which was founded
2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkell and
John Hodges. Prior to A24, all had worked
extensively in film and production before
leaving their current positions to co
found the company, originally A24 films
which specialized in film distribution.
Starting off moderately in 2013 with A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, the
company's growth started with the release of Spring Breakers later that year. They became
better known after picking up the U.S. rights to Ex Machina and Room, and worldwide
rights to The Witch, growing substantially since then. They entered deals with DirecTV
Cinema and Amazon Prime in late 2013, with some films distributed through them, and the
name was changed to A24 in 2016. In building a relationship with the A24 team for many
years, we have been amazed by the impact of their iconic storytelling globally. (ND) A24 is
synonymous with incredible content, and their commitment to supporting creative talent is
unmatched. In 2022, Stripes was chosen to lead A24’s first institutional financing since
inception because of our experience in scaling global brands. A24 I would consider my
favourite and most inspirational and unique company working today. (2019) They are not
just described as one genre but several genres which are very different to some of the many
films that aren't A24. A24 gives freedom to the creators/directors and give the opportunity
for them to make the story they want to tell.
That was a short history on what A24 stands for and why they are considered one of the
best studios working today. They cater the audience to the film using social media meaning
that there can be an a24 film for everyone.

(2021) A film that I really like is Mid90s

directed by Jonah Hill. This film is very
compelling and shows the relationships
between the characters. An article on
the “The storytelling in Mid90s”. It goes
to explain how the film depicts growing
up so well, even if you’re circumstances
are not the same as Stevie’s. At one
time or another we’ve all had friends
that make us feel like we belong, or
we’ve had that one thing that didn’t
just feel like a hobby, it felt like a way of life. Most times when skateboarding is depicted in
films it’s in a cheesy way, which is insulting to the culture and subculture that surround it.
Skateboarding isn’t just a hobby for these kids, it’s an outlet and a haven from all the shit in
their lives. Growing up sucks. You feel like no one understands what you’re going through
except you. You have so many people telling you what to do and the kind of person you
should be. I think adults often think when you’re young you don’t know how to run your
own life or make your own decisions, but a lot of kids are forced to grow up a lot faster than
others. (2018) From A24 giving the director Jonah Hill freedom to tell the story he wants to,
in a Podcast on Breakfast Club Power Jonah Hill mentions how he let his actors who never
really had any acting experience prior to the film to add any parts to the story that they find
necessary that they have uncounted in the real world as they are skateboarders themselves.
Moonlight (2016) only deals with
traditional narrative in a very vague
sense. This “coming of age” story
does have a three-act structure, but
only in the most limited sense. We
see our protagonist’s life separated
into three chapters based on his
various names – “Little” for his
childhood, “Chiron” for his teenage
years & “Black” for his manhood – to
indicate some structural necessity.
From there, the film goes off on
more of a stream of consciousness
style during each section that boils down to our hero’s state of mind. Our hero’s search for
identity in a world that pushes him to the side or presents him with potential that’s crushed
by the society he’s born into, the people who he was raised by, and his own mind set
because of all those factors. Moonlight elects to give us all this through introspective insight
rather than outward narrative structure. This isn’t a film heavily dependent on dramatic
reveals as much as it is moments. Moments that live in the brain and stay with us, through
wonderful and extremely harsh points that resonate brutally. Even if one doesn’t relate to
the specific struggles of Chiron, the moments we see in Moonlight of him simply living give
us an extremely close and unflinching look at very primal human moments of discovery and
rejection are universal. (2016) In an interview with Director Barry Jenkins on stereotypes
and storytelling he explains how the characters you see in moonlight aren't the usual or
stereotypical characters you would usually see in this film which makes it why people relate
and identify with these characters.

In conclusion after looking and researching about these different production companies
through time I have found that each of them are individual and unique in some way. Star
film company bringing new storytelling methods and techniques into early cinema to
Mosfilms giving the soviet filmmakers opportunities to tell a story in an art form and A24
giving freedom to the directors/creators to make films you wouldn’t usually see which
combines and tell stories which are unique. They have improved over time as each of them
have influenced new opportunities and styles which all wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for Star
film Company. Each Company does seem to have their own target audience and immersive
themselves in great storytelling whether it being early cinema classics, arthouse films or
independent stories. This will help me in my final major project to understand the type of
film I want to make. It has slightly influenced my decision of what I may want to do for the
final. Possibly something unique that people haven't seen shown in an arthouse form that
captivates the audience. I also might use different editing techniques to tell a story without
shoving a load of information at them at once.

Harvard References
Star film
(2019)A Trip to the Moon: Move Fast and Make Things — Jim Carroll's Blog. [ONLINE]
Available at: https://www.jimcarrollsblog.com/blog/2019/5/2/a-trip-to-the-moon-move-
fast-and-make-things. [Accessed 23 January 2023].

(2022)YouTube. 2023. Georges Mielies | Short History - YouTube. [ONLINE]

Available at: https://youtu.be/PgSs4Cg_OQM. [Accessed 27 January 2023].

Mosfilm

(ND)Wikipedia. 2023. Mosfilm - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosfilm. [Accessed 19 January 2023].
(2022)Providence. 2023. The War through Mosfilm’s Eyes. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://providencemag.com/2022/05/war-mosfilm-eyes-russia-ukraine/. [Accessed 25
January 2023].
(2022)
https://jakob-zaaiman.medium.com/andrei-tarkovsky-stalker-1979-4632bc74a640
A24

(ND)A24 Investor - Stripes. 2023. A24 Investor - Stripes. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://www.stripes.co/investments/a24#:~:text=A24%20was%20founded%20in%202012
,content%20through%20a%20unique%20lens.. [Accessed 26 January 2023].
(ND)Wikipedia. 2023. A24 - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A24. [Accessed 27 January 2023].
(2019)YouTube. 2023. What Makes A24 Such a Great Movie Studio? - YouTube.
[ONLINE] Available at: https://youtu.be/mc5IRuREUxU. [Accessed 27 January
2023].
(2019)YouTube. 2023. A24: Why They're A Success - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available
at: https://youtu.be/T9kgN-q6HoQ. [Accessed 27 January 2023].
(2016)YouTube. 2023. Moonlight Director Barry Jenkins on Stereotypes and
Storytelling - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://youtu.be/skl6FtB20Ss.
[Accessed 27 January 2023].
(2018)YouTube. 2023. Jonah Hill Talks New Film Mid90s, Hip-Hop, Skateboarding &
Repping The Era Unapologetically - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://youtu.be/nFj7PCuQj7E. [Accessed 27 January 2023].
(2021) The Storytelling in “Mid90s” – Madison North – Creative Writing:Fiction Blog .
2023. The Storytelling in “Mid90s” – Madison North – Creative Writing:Fiction Blog .
[ONLINE] Available at:
https://sites.temple.edu/spring21creativewritingblog/2021/04/30/the-storytelling-in-
mid90s/. [Accessed 27 January 2023].
(2016)Marianiment. 2023. “Moonlight” (2016): Limited Narrative, Unlimited Emotional
Power | Marianiment. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://marianithomas.wordpress.com/2016/11/22/moonlight-2016-limited-narrative-
unlimited-emotional-power/. [Accessed 27 January 2023].