Networks of entertainment : early film distribution 1895-1915 / edited by Frank Kessler and Nanna Verhoeff.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kessler, Frank, 1957-

Verhoeff, Nanna.

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Motion pictures--Distribution.

Motion pictures.

Physical Description:

viii, 344 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Eastleigh : J. Libbey Pub., [2007]

Language Note:

Essays in English and French.

Summary:

This collection of essays explores the complex issue of film distribution from the invention of cinema into the 1910s. From regional distribution networks to international marketing strategies, from the analysis of distribution catalogues to case studies on individual distributors these essays written by well-known specialists in the field discuss the intriguing question of how films came to meet their audiences.

As these essays show, distribution is in fact a major force structuring the field in which cinema emerges in the late 19th and early 20th century, a phenomenon with many facets and many dimensions having an impact on production and exhibition, on offer and demand, on film form as well as on film viewing. A phenomenon that continues to play a central role for early films even today, as digital media, the dvd as well as the internet, are but the latest channels of distribution through which they come to us. Among the authors are Richard Abel, Andre Gaudreault, Viva Paci, Gregory Waller, Wanda Strauven, Martin Loiperdinger, Joseph Garncarz, Charlie Keil, Marta Braun, and Francois Jost.

Contents:

Introduction: Distribution - preliminary notes / Frank Kessler 1

Part I Networks: Distribution across borders 5

Chapter 1 Rethinking Boundaries. The first moving images between Spain and Portugal / Begona Soto 7

Chapter 2 What imports may not be able to tell us about the emergence of the last-minute rescue narrative in the American cinema / David Levy 16

Chapter 3 'Avoid giving wine to children': George Kleine's correspondence with Cines and the discourse of uplift / John P. Welle 21

Chapter 4 Film colour and national cinema before WWI: Pathecolor in the United States and Great Britain / Charles O'Brien 30

Part II Networks: Regional distribution and the problem of the national 39

Chapter 5 La distribution dans la region Lyonnaise: entre specificites locales et strategies nationales (1908-1914) / Renaud Chaplain 41

Chapter 6 Une diffusion "nationale"? De la circulation d'images locales ou nationales a Lausanne 1896-1914 / Pierre-Emmanuel Jaques 47

Chapter 7 De l'independance a l'absorption: le cas quebecois / Pierre Veronneau 57

Chapter 8 Araignees et mouches: la formation du "systeme cinema" et les debuts de la distribution cinematographique en Espagne, 1906-1921 / Luis Alonso Garcia 68

Chapter 9 Censorship and film distribution in Russia: 1908-1914 / Rashit M. Yangirov 77

Chapter 10 The "backbone" of the business: Scanning signs of US film distribution in the newspapers, 1911-1914 / Richard Abel 85

Chapter 11 Mapping the moving picture world: distribution in the United States circa 1915 / Gregory A. Waller 94

Part III Networks: Local actors 103

Chapter 12 'Mr. Elliot Books Chaplins Direct': Essanay's Exclusive's Strategy in Southampton 1915 / Michael Hammond 105

Chapter 13 "Zeppelin uber Berlin" - on the distribution of an early media event / Pelle Snickars 113

Chapter 14 "The Audience Feels rather at Home ...": Peter Marzen's 'Localisation' of Film Exhibition in Trier / Martin Loiperdinger 123

Chapter 15 Local distribution: The case of Jens Christian Gundersen in Norway / Gunnar Iversen 131

Chapter 16 Infrastructure, open system and the take-off phase. Jean Desmet as a case for early distribution in the Netherlands / Ivo Blom 137

Part IV Practices: Distribution strategies 145

Chapter 17 Politics, steam and scopes; marketing the Biograph / Paul C. Spehr 147

Chapter 18 The price of independence: The Rolin Film Company's quest for distribution / Richard Ward 157

Chapter 19 Distribution serielle et synchronisation du spectateur aux premiers temps du cinema / Nicolas Dulac 167

Chapter 20 Monopolizing episodic adventures: series and seriality in Germany, 1914-20 / Rudmer Canjels 180

Part V Practices: Distribution paratexts 191

Chapter 21 Les consignes de l'[double left angle bracket]editeur[double right angle bracket] pour l'assemblage des vues dans les catalogues de distribution / Pierre Chemartin, Andre Gaudreault 193

Chapter 22 Cataloging contingency / Jonathan Auerbach 203

Chapter 23 Comparing catalogues / Ian Christie 209

Chapter 24 "As pleasing as it is incomprehensible": film catalogues as paratext / Marta Braun, Charlie Keil 218

Chapter 25 "Liste fur gebrauchte Films zum Verkauf": Used Films for Sale in Germany and Austro-Hungary (1911-13) / Janelle Blankenship 223

Part VI Practices: Non-theatrical distribution 233

Chapter 26 Sunday and Holy Days / Tony Fletcher 235

Chapter 27 Local entertainment and national patriotism: the distribution of colonial films in Early German cinema / Wolfgang Fuhrmann 246

Chapter 28 Early forms of film distribution in Germany, 1896-1905 / Joseph Garncarz 255

Chapter 29 'Just like a Public Library maintained for public welfare': 28mm as a comprehensive service strategy for non-theatrical clientele, 1912-23 / Anke Mebold 260

Chapter 30 Bringing movies into the home: distribution strategies for 17.5 mm film (1903-08) / Martina Roepke 275

Part VII Practices: Distribution into the future 283

Chapter 31 'Avant-guerre' and the international avant-garde. Circulation and programming of early films in the European avant-garde programs in the 1920s and 1930s / Ansje van Beusekom 285

Chapter 32 The imagination of wireless distribution / Wanda Strauven 295

Chapter 33 Les films impossibles ou les possibilites du cinema / Viva Paci 304

Chapter 34 Any ID? Building a database out of the Jean Desmet archive / Rixt Jonkman 312

Chapter 35 Des fragments des premiers temps a l'esthetique de la ruine / Andre Habib 320

Conclusion: Distribuer les films ou distribuer les roles? / Francois Jost 327

Afterthoughts: Beyond distribution: some thoughts on the future of archival films / Giovanna Fossati, Nanna Verhoeff 331.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780861966813

0861966813

OCLC:

123114132