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Sunday 1 February 2015

Film Studio

Thomas Edison is credited for building the first film production studio nearby his home and lab in West Orange, New Jersey. Construction was completed on February 1, 1893. It was called Black Maria, or the “Doghouse” by Edison himself.

The Black Maria building was essentially a large wooden shed covered with tar paper, was small enough that it was mounted on circular tracks so it could be turned to accommodate sunlight through an opening in the roof.

Edison's Black Maria Studio


In 1902 White Lodge on Ealing Green in London was brought as a base for film making.Films have been made on the site ever since and Ealing Studios is the oldest continuously working studio facility for film production in the world.

The Babelsberg Studio near Berlin was the first large-scale film studio in the world. It began producing films since 1912 and today covers an area of about 270,000 square feet and thus is Europe's largest film studio.

The first movie studio in the Hollywood area was Nestor Studios. Opened in 1911, it was owned and operated by David Horsley and his brother, William Horsley.

Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith launched United Artists on February 5, 1919.  Each held a 20% stake, with the remaining 20% held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo. UA's first film, His Majesty, the American, starring Fairbanks, was released on September 1, 1919.

Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith in 1919

The British film production and distribution company, The Rank Organisation,  had its origins in 1933 when J. Arthur Rank, a prosperous flour-miller and Methodist with no great interest in cinema, thought of showing religious films at his regular Sunday school lessons. Finding few that were any good, he resolved to try making them himself. By 1942 he found himself heading the largest film combine in Britain.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Walt Disney Studios was taken over and converted by the U.S. Army into an anti-aircraft base in fears that Japanese bombers would soon reach Los Angeles. It remained the only time a Hollywood studio came under military occupation in history.

In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that film studios can't own movie theaters, thus breaking up their oligopoly. Before its ruling, Hollywood studios owned movie theaters to hold exclusive rights of showing their films, angering independent producers including Walt Disney and Charlie Chaplin.

Comedienne Lucille Ball was the first woman to own her own film studio as the head of Desilu Productions.

Producer Jeffrey Katzenberg revived Walt Disney Studios by many of their biggest hits including: The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and Aladdin. After these he requested a promotion, and was then abruptly fired by them. He then swore revenge against Disney and founded Dreamworks.

The world's largest film studio is Hengdian Studios, in China. Basically a city of permanent full-scale replicas of palaces, fortresses, and towns from various periods of China's history. Whole populations of nearby towns are often employed to be extras for period dramas and fantasy movies.

Green screens are green because it doesn’t match any natural skin tone of the actor so no part of them will be accidentally edited out.

Source Encarta Encyclopedia

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