73
votes
Accepted
How do streaming services earn money?
The cash influx is pretty obvious, as these services have a subscription fee.
Both services are releasing original movies and shows which are exclusively available in their platform. But what's ...
71
votes
Accepted
How is secrecy maintained in movie production?
There's a very simple structure that works very well.
It's called a career.
If you want a career in the film/TV business, it is not in your best interests to leak information.
Sure, the further down ...
60
votes
Accepted
Does Disney no longer produce hand-drawn cartoon films?
Yes, Disney moved away from hand-drawn animation
In a 2013 interview with the Guardian, chief executive Bob Iger said that none of its animation companies are working in the traditional 2D format, and ...
54
votes
Was film actually “better” than digital media?
I'm going to start an answer but this is by no means complete.
Whether you're talking about film as a recording medium or as a presentation format, there are people who prefer both. You can do a lot ...
54
votes
Accepted
How do they get very young child actors to cooperate?
It's part timing, part cajoling and part luck.
I don't know the specific laws for other countries, but in the UK, children under 5 can only be "at work" for a maximum of 5 hours a day, ...
52
votes
What format do movie theaters now use?
Former projectionist here, let me weigh in on what's happened in the last 7 to 8 years.
A bit of background: I started working projectors for my local theater in February 2007, and my last night was ...
49
votes
How were Opening Titles and End Credits created before Computers?
Usually, if we talk about credits without any movie scene in the background, it was done by using a long sheet of paper or plastic or other material they want with credits written on it. Artists used ...

A J♦
- 57.3k
44
votes
Accepted
Why are trailers called "trailers"?
As it happens, Priceonomics has already investigated this:
Built in the early 1900s, the United States’ first permanent movie
theaters featured only one screen. Things worked a bit differently
back ...
44
votes
Accepted
Who will say "start camera action" when the director casts himself in the main role?
No one says the phrase "Lights, Camera, Action" any more. But, to answer your question, the First Assistant Director (1st AD) is in charge of the set when the Director is otherwise occupied and, in ...
38
votes
Accepted
What format do movie theaters now use?
Whilst there are some cinemas that still retain use of 35mm projectors, it's fair to say that these are only used for special events. Modern cinema, by which I mean the industry that distributes and ...
38
votes
Accepted
Why do so many cinema industries have "wood" in their name?
1) Hollywood: 1, 2
The name Hollywood was coined by H. J. Whitley, the “Father of
Hollywood.” Whitely bought 500 acres from E. C. Hurd; Hurd’s wife’s
friend (stay with me here), Daeida Wilcox, ...
36
votes
Accepted
Are actors contractually obligated to certain things like going nude/ Sensual Scenes/ Gory Scenes?
For example an actor does not like to go nude or shoot a sensual scene.But if it is a part of a script, can they choose to not do it? or do they HAVE to shoot because of the contract despite not ...
34
votes
What exactly is 70mm print and why does anyone care?
The difference is that 70mm film is, from a simple mathematical perspective, twice as big as 35mm film.
70mm film is shot horizontally in the frame where as 35mm is shot vertically. This gives ...
27
votes
Accepted
Why are some scenes of a movie shot in public places?
I'm not really sure I should be answering this one as well ;)
I can, of course, in any answer of this type, only mention things which are "already known"
Late addition
I just spotted the ...
25
votes
How do they get very young child actors to cooperate?
As WC Fields would say, “Never work with children or animals”. They are unpredictable and the steal the scene.
A photographer friend of mine once said that timing is everything. You can direct adults ...
24
votes
Accepted
What exactly is 70mm print and why does anyone care?
There are several orthogonal issues here:
The physical size of the film the movie was shot on (the negative).
The physical size of the film the movie is projected from (the print).
How the frame is ...
24
votes
How do streaming services earn money?
How do streaming services earn money?
The one you mentioned Netflix and Amazon Prime don't have ad revenue. So they are dependent on subscription fees.
Is it based exclusively on user memberships or ...
23
votes
Are actors contractually obligated to certain things like going nude/ Sensual Scenes/ Gory Scenes?
The SAG-AFTRA union provides specific protections for actors for nudity and sex scenes. What You Should Know About Nudity Riders:
If your performance in a film will include nudity, partial nudity or ...
22
votes
How does Hallmark guarantee such consistency between their Christmas movies?
I'm going to drop this into the answer space as a temporary space-filler rather than as a final product. I don't have the time to fully flesh it at the moment, so it's open season for anyone who wants ...
21
votes
Why do film studios buy domains of fictitious companies?
Just a theory, but being able to buy a domain this way is a pretty clear indication that a legitimate company cannot come after the film company to sue for being libelled or defamed for a less than ...
21
votes
How do they get very young child actors to cooperate?
My memory is that a number of play scenes in Kindergarten Cop (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger were filmed unstructured, simply with the kids left to be kids and the actors given 5 guidelines:
(...
20
votes
Does AMC have some kind of linkage/negotiation with the British entertainment industry?
Possibly it's coincidence... but good actors are good actors. :)
Gale Ann Hurd was asked about the prevalance of English/British actors in the Walking Dead and other shows:
We asked Hurd why she ...
18
votes
Does Disney no longer produce hand-drawn cartoon films?
No, Disney does not produce nor is making any traditional hand drawn animation.
There is probably a good reason for this in Disney's eyes.
Traditional hand animation is a lot of work. It's very time ...
17
votes
Why doesn't Hollywood make movies related to epic stories like Mahabharata or Ramayana?
Sadly, as an American, I've heard little to nothing about these epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana), not that I wouldn't like to see the movies.
There are still no big-budget epics based on works like ...
17
votes
How do movie makers and movie theaters make money based off of a movie?
The Movie's producers are charged simply with making the product: the movie itself. At some point during the movie's production (or often, nowadays, before work has even commenced), the producers will ...
15
votes
Does Disney no longer produce hand-drawn cartoon films?
Although other people have answered the question on full hand drawn films very well, a notable recent relevant fact is that Maui's tattoos in Moana were, in fact, hand drawn animation superimposed on ...
14
votes
Accepted
Why fake (relatively) easy scenes?
There can be multiple reason for such idea like :
If they have a miniature ready from other project, it would be fast, cost effective and time saving.
Shooting in real location is time bound as per ...
13
votes
Why is child acting legal?
I would assume that the most important reason is that there isn't an alternative to child actors in movies, TV-series etc., whereas in most/all other cases the job can be executed by an adult.
...
13
votes
Accepted
How are digital movies sent to a movie theater?
Some snippets of a slightly older (2012) but still accurate article at the Film Journal International:
First and foremost, the DCP [Digital Cinema Package] is a file format and collection of digital ...
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