Amateur Cinema: The Rise of North American Moviemaking, 1923-1960From the very beginning of cinema, there have been amateur filmmakers at work. It wasn’t until Kodak introduced 16mm film in 1923, however, that amateur moviemaking became a widespread reality, and by the 1950s, over a million Americans had amateur movie cameras. In Amateur Cinema, Charles Tepperman explores the meaning of the “amateur” in film history and modern visual culture. In the middle decades of the twentieth century—the period that saw Hollywood’s rise to dominance in the global film industry—a movement of amateur filmmakers created an alternative world of small-scale movie production and circulation. Organized amateur moviemaking was a significant phenomenon that gave rise to dozens of clubs and thousands of participants producing experimental, nonfiction, or short-subject narratives. Rooted in an examination of surviving films, this book traces the contexts of “advanced” amateur cinema and articulates the broad aesthetic and stylistic tendencies of amateur films. |
Contents
CONTEXTS OF AMATEUR CINEMA | 15 |
The First Wave of Amateur Film Culture | 44 |
Amateurs and Current Events | 79 |
Machine Art for a Machine Age | 98 |
Postwar Amateur Film Culture | 133 |
MODES OF AMATEUR CINEMA | 167 |
Amateur Film | 193 |
Amateurs Making | 217 |
Amateur Fiction Films | 241 |
Conclusion | 271 |
A Preliminary Directory of Movie Clubs | 285 |
| 339 | |
Other editions - View all
Amateur Cinema: The Rise of North American Moviemaking, 1923-1960 Charles Tepperman Limited preview - 2014 |
Amateur Cinema: The Rise of North American Moviemaking, 1923-1960 Charles Tepperman Limited preview - 2014 |
Amateur Cinema: The Rise of North American Moviemaking, 1923-1960 Charles Tepperman Limited preview - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
16mm film ACL member ACL's activities advanced amateurs Amateur Cinema League Amateur Clubs amateur film amateur film culture amateur filmmaking amateur movie clubs Amateur Movie Makers amateur moviemaking American Cinematographer appeared artistic avant-garde award camera Chicago chronicle Cinema Club color commercial film creative December documentary Documentary Film Duck Soup early editing editorial educational equipment experience film aesthetics Film History film production film's filmers format Hansen Harmon Foundation Hiram Percy Maxim Hollywood Home Movies images included industrial interest kind Kodachrome Kodacolor magazine Margaret Conneely modern motion picture movie contests narrative nontheatrical noted organization photographic Photoplay practical films pragmatic presented professional PSAJ record relationship role Roy Winton screen Self-Taught Art shots significant silent film social sound suggests technical technique Ten Best list teur theatre tion travel films travelogue University Press visual widescreen William Stull winners York