First Movie Studio to Award-Winning Modern Studios
By | July 9, 2019
Films. Source: (Library of Congress)
What goes into the production of a movie? It all starts with some kind of a studio and a cameraman or producer. Six major studios referred to as the “Big Six” include Warner Brothers, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Buena Vista, and Sony/Columbia and are much more elaborate than the very first studio. The three most popular movie studios in the world are Sony Pictures Entertainment, Time Warner, and The Walt Disney Company.
The Black Maria. Source: (wired.com)
The Black Maria
The very first movie studio was built by Thomas Edison in the United States back in 1893. Called the Black Maria, the studio began operations in New Jersey and proceeded to New York City and Chicago. Edison used this studio to make film strips for the Kinetoscope similar to the virtual reality devices of today. The cost of creating this studio came to $637.67 which took a year to complete.
Kinetoscope. Source: (wired.com)
One of the first films made at this first movie studio was part of a series of short films like “The Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze” (January 1894). Some of these first films included vaudeville performers, acts from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and boxing matches. The first Kinetoscope Parlor was opened in New York City where people would pay 25 cents to view films in various machines. A total of 1,200 motion pictures were produced in Edison’s studio with 54 of them being considered feature-length films.
Movie Crewman. Source: (pixabay.com)
Steps For A Successful Studio
It takes considerably more money than it did in 1893 to create a movie studio that can compete and succeed these days. First of all, a studio owner has to have a considerable amount of land for the studio and all of its related buildings. There have to be a lot of various sets that can keep up with the genre of the times. Not only is it necessary to hire a required number of actors and actresses (including extras and stuntmen) but they have to fit into the genre of movies that best suits them. Then housing, such as on-site trailers, is needed - at least for many of them. Crewmen need to be hired as well as maintenance men and janitors to keep the place up and running. On-site buildings are needed for such things as casting, make-up and wardrobe, production, publicity and promoting, administration, and restaurants throughout the place as well as people to run the various different operations. These are just the necessary expenditures for basic studio operation. In order to compete with other studios, much more goes into the process. To become one of the most popular and prestigious studios, quality movies have to be made which require hiring the best actors and actresses. These come with hefty price tags and they can be demanding as well as the directors that also have to be hired.
Paramount Pictures. Source: (pexels.com)
Paramount Studio
Paramount studio located at 5515 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood has produced a lot of popular movies over the years. Among them include The Ten Commandments from 1956, The Winds of War, Forest Gump, The Godfather, Transformers, and many Star Trek movies. Tours are given that take visitors through the studio showing them the props and backgrounds used in these movies as well as the back lot that show streets representing different cities such as Chicago and Manhattan. There is also a beautiful cinema theatre that is used as a movie set and for screenings.
Movie Reel. Source: (maxpixel.net)
Studios have come a long way from the days of Thomas Edison with a lot more competition. With the stress of hiring the right people, drawing up the right contracts for those people, and trying to make sure the movies they produce win big at the Academy Awards and other awards ceremonies, to become a winning popular studio is quite a challenge.
