Lawless may refer to:

People[link]

• Alex Lawless (b. 1983), footballer
• Blackie Lawless (b. 1954), musician
• Emily Lawless (1845 – 1913), author
• Jack Lawless (b.1987), musician
• Lucy Lawless (b.1968), actress
• Tom Lawless (b.1956), baseballer
• Valentine Lawless (1773 – 1853), politician
• Gerard Richard Lawless, IRA member, participant of Lawless v Ireland case
• John P. Lawless (b.1967), police officer
• Tracy Lawless, a main character in the comic book series Criminal (comics)

Films[link]

• Lawless, an upcoming American film directed by Terrence Malick
• Lawless (2012 film), a 2012 American film directed by John Hillcoat

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

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This 16 mm spring-wound Bolex "H16" Reflex camera is a popular entry level camera used in film schools.

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry.

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating – or indoctrinating – citizens. The visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue into the language of the viewer.

Films are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.

The origin of the name "film" comes from the fact that photographic film (also called film stock) has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photo-play and flick. A common name for film in the United States is movie, while in Europe the term film is preferred. Additional terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the cinema and the movies.

History[link]

A clip from the Charlie Chaplin silent film The Bond (1918)

Preceding film in origin by thousands of years, early plays and dances had elements common to film: scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, and scores. Much terminology later used in film theory and criticism apply, such as mise en scene (roughly, the entire visual picture at any one time). Owing to an absence of technology for doing so, moving visual and aural images were not recorded for replaying as in film.

In the 1860s, mechanisms for producing two-dimensional drawings in motion were demonstrated with devices such as the zoetrope, mutoscope and praxinoscope. These machines were outgrowths of simple optical devices (such as magic lanterns) and would display sequences of still pictures at sufficient speed for the images on the pictures to appear to be moving, a phenomenon called persistence of vision. Naturally the images needed to be carefully designed to achieve the desired effect, and the underlying principle became the basis for the development of film animation.

With the development of celluloid film for still photography, it became possible to directly capture objects in motion in real time. An 1878 experiment by English photographer Eadweard Muybridge in the United States using 24 cameras produced a series of stereoscopic images of a galloping horse, is arguably the first "motion picture", though it was not called by this name.^[1] This technology required a person to look into a viewing machine to see the pictures which were separate paper prints attached to a drum turned by a handcrank. The pictures were shown at a variable speed of about 5 to 10 pictures per second, depending on how rapidly the crank was turned. Commercial versions of these machines were coin operated.

A frame from Roundhay Garden Scene, the world's earliest film produced using a motion picture camera, by Louis Le Prince, 1888

By the 1880s the development of the motion picture camera allowed the individual component images to be captured and stored on a single reel, and led quickly to the development of a motion picture projector to shine light through the processed and printed film and magnify these "moving picture shows" onto a screen for an entire audience. These reels, so exhibited, came to be known as "motion pictures". Early motion pictures were static shots that showed an event or action with no editing or other cinematic techniques. The first public exhibition of projected motion pictures in America was shown at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City on the 23rd of April 1896.

Ignoring W. K. L. Dickson's early sound experiments (1894), commercial motion pictures were purely visual art through the late 19th century, but these innovative silent films had gained a hold on the public imagination. Around the turn of the 20th century, films began developing a narrative structure by stringing scenes together to tell a story. The scenes were later broken up into multiple shots of varying sizes and angles. Other techniques such as camera movement were realized as effective ways to portray a story on film. Rather than leave the audience with noise of early cinema projectors, theater owners would hire a pianist or organist or a full orchestra to play music that would cover noises of projector. Eventually, musicians would start to fit the mood of the film at any given moment. By the early 1920s, most films came with a prepared list of sheet music for this purpose, with complete film scores being composed for major productions.

A shot from Georges Méliès Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902), an early narrative film.

The rise of European cinema was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I when the film industry in United States flourished with the rise of Hollywood, typified most prominently by the great innovative work of D. W. Griffith in The Birth of a Nation (1914) and Intolerance (1916). However in the 1920s, European filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, F. W. Murnau, and Fritz Lang, in many ways inspired by the meteoric war-time progress of film through Griffith, along with the contributions of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and others, quickly caught up with American film-making and continued to further advance the medium. In the 1920s, new technology allowed filmmakers to attach to each film a soundtrack of speech, music and sound effects synchronized with the action on the screen. These sound films were initially distinguished by calling them "talking pictures", or talkies.

The next major step in the development of cinema was the introduction of so-called "natural color", which meant color that was photographically recorded from nature rather than being added to black-and-white prints by hand-coloring, stencil-coloring or other arbitrary procedures, although the earliest processes typically yielded colors which were far from "natural" in appearance. While the addition of sound quickly eclipsed silent film and theater musicians, color replaced black-and-white much more gradually. The pivotal innovation was the introduction of the three-strip version of the Technicolor process, which was first used for short subjects and for isolated sequences in a few feature films released in 1934, then for an entire feature film, Becky Sharp, in 1935. The expense of the process was daunting, but continued favorable public response and enhanced box-office receipts increasingly justified the added cost. The number of films made in color slowly increased year after year.

In the early 1950s, as the proliferation of black-and-white television started seriously depressing theater attendance in the US, the use of color was seen as one way of winning back audiences. It soon became the rule rather than the exception. Some important mainstream Hollywood films were still being made in black-and-white as late as the mid-1960s, but they marked the end of an era. Color television receivers had been available in the US since the mid-1950s, but at first they were very expensive and few broadcasts were in color. During the 1960s, prices gradually came down, color broadcasts became common, and the sale of color television sets boomed. The strong preference of the general public for color was obvious. After the final flurry of black-and-white film releases in mid-decade, all major Hollywood studio film production was exclusively in color, with rare exceptions reluctantly made only at the insistence of "star" directors such as Peter Bogdanovich and Martin Scorsese.

Since the decline of the studio system in the 1960s, the succeeding decades saw changes in the production and style of film. Various New Wave movements (including the French New Wave, Indian New Wave, Japanese New Wave and New Hollywood) and the rise of film school educated independent filmmakers were all part of the changes the medium experienced in the latter half of the 20th century. Digital technology has been the driving force in change throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. 3D technology increased in usage and has become more popular since the early 2010s.

Theory[link]

Film theory seeks to develop concise and systematic concepts that apply to the study of film as art. It was started by Ricciotto Canudo's The Birth of the Sixth Art. Formalist film theory, led by Rudolf Arnheim, Béla Balázs, and Siegfried Kracauer, emphasized how film differed from reality, and thus could be considered a valid fine art. André Bazin reacted against this theory by arguing that film's artistic essence lay in its ability to mechanically reproduce reality not in its differences from reality, and this gave rise to realist theory. More recent analysis spurred by Jacques Lacan's psychoanalysis and Ferdinand de Saussure's semiotics among other things has given rise to psychoanalytical film theory, structuralist film theory, feminist film theory and others. On the other hand, critics from the analytical philosophy tradition, influenced by Wittgenstein, try to clarify misconceptions used in theoretical studies and produce analysis of a film's vocabulary and its link to a form of life.

Language[link]

Film is considered to have its own language. James Monaco wrote a classic text on film theory titled "How to Read a Film". Director Ingmar Bergman famously said, "[Andrei] Tarkovsky for me is the greatest [director], the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream." Examples of the language are a sequence of back and forth images of one actor's left profile speaking, followed by another actor's right profile speaking, then a repetition of this, which is a language understood by the audience to indicate a conversation. Another example is zooming in on the forehead of an actor with an expression of silent reflection, then changing to a scene of a younger actor who vaguely resembles the first actor, indicating the first actor is having a memory of their own past.

Montage[link]

Parallels to musical counterpoint have been developed into a theory of montage, extended from the complex superimposition of images in early silent film^{[citation needed]} to even more complex incorporation of musical counterpoint together with visual counterpoint through mise en scene and editing, as in a ballet or opera; e.g., as illustrated in the gang fight scene of director Francis Ford Coppola’s film, Rumble Fish.

Criticism[link]

Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films. In general, these works can be divided into two categories: academic criticism by film scholars and journalistic film criticism that appears regularly in newspapers and other media.

Film critics working for newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media mainly review new releases. Normally they only see any given film once and have only a day or two to formulate opinions. Despite this, critics have an important impact on films, especially those of certain genres. Mass marketed action, horror, and comedy films tend not to be greatly affected by a critic's overall judgment of a film. The plot summary and description of a film that makes up the majority of any film review can still have an important impact on whether people decide to see a film. For prestige films such as most dramas, the influence of reviews is extremely important. Poor reviews will often doom a film to obscurity and financial loss.

The impact of a reviewer on a given film's box office performance is a matter of debate. Some claim that movie marketing is now so intense and well financed that reviewers cannot make an impact against it. However, the cataclysmic failure of some heavily promoted movies which were harshly reviewed, as well as the unexpected success of critically praised independent movies indicates that extreme critical reactions can have considerable influence. Others note that positive film reviews have been shown to spark interest in little-known films. Conversely, there have been several films in which film companies have so little confidence that they refuse to give reviewers an advanced viewing to avoid widespread panning of the film. However, this usually backfires as reviewers are wise to the tactic and warn the public that the film may not be worth seeing and the films often do poorly as a result.

It is argued that journalist film critics should only be known as film reviewers, and true film critics are those who take a more academic approach to films. This line of work is more often known as film theory or film studies. These film critics attempt to come to understand how film and filming techniques work, and what effect they have on people. Rather than having their works published in newspapers or appear on television, their articles are published in scholarly journals, or sometimes in up-market magazines. They also tend to be affiliated with colleges or universities.

Industry[link]

Cate Blanchett at the Berlin International Film Festival. Around 20,000 professionals from over 130 countries attend the event in Berlin.

The making and showing of motion pictures became a source of profit almost as soon as the process was invented. Upon seeing how successful their new invention, and its product, was in their native France, the Lumières quickly set about touring the Continent to exhibit the first films privately to royalty and publicly to the masses. In each country, they would normally add new, local scenes to their catalogue and, quickly enough, found local entrepreneurs in the various countries of Europe to buy their equipment and photograph, export, import and screen additional product commercially. The Oberammergau Passion Play of 1898^{[citation needed]} was the first commercial motion picture ever produced. Other pictures soon followed, and motion pictures became a separate industry that overshadowed the vaudeville world. Dedicated theaters and companies formed specifically to produce and distribute films, while motion picture actors became major celebrities and commanded huge fees for their performances. By 1917 Charlie Chaplin had a contract that called for an annual salary of one million dollars.

From 1931 to 1956, film was also the only image storage and playback system for television programming until the introduction of videotape recorders.

In the United States today, much of the film industry is centered around Hollywood. Other regional centers exist in many parts of the world, such as Mumbai-centered Bollywood, the Indian film industry's Hindi cinema which produces the largest number of films in the world.^[2] Whether the ten thousand-plus feature length films a year produced by the Valley pornographic film industry should qualify for this title is the source of some debate.^{[citation needed]} Though the expense involved in making movies has led cinema production to concentrate under the auspices of movie studios, recent advances in affordable film making equipment have allowed independent film productions to flourish.

Profit is a key force in the industry, due to the costly and risky nature of filmmaking; many films have large cost overruns, a notorious example being Kevin Costner's Waterworld. Yet many filmmakers strive to create works of lasting social significance. The Academy Awards (also known as "the Oscars") are the most prominent film awards in the United States, providing recognition each year to films, ostensibly based on their artistic merits.

There is also a large industry for educational and instructional films made in lieu of or in addition to lectures and texts.

Associated fields[link]

Derivative academic Fields of study may both interact with and develop independently of filmmaking, as in film theory and analysis. Fields of academic study have been created that are derivative or dependent on the existence of film, such as film criticism, film history, divisions of film propaganda in authoritarian governments, or psychological on subliminal effects of a flashing soda can during a screening. These fields may further create derivative fields, such as a movie review section in a newspaper or a television guide. Sub-industries can spin off from film, such as popcorn makers, and toys. Sub- industries of pre-existing industries may deal specifically with film, such as product placement in advertising.

Terminology used[link]

Although the words "film" and "movie" are sometimes used interchangeably, "film" is more often used when considering artistic, theoretical, or technical aspects, as studies in a university class and "movies" more often refers to entertainment or commercial aspects, as where to go for fun on a date. For example, a book titled "How to Read a Film" would be about the aesthetics or theory of film, while "Lets Go to the Movies" would be about the history of entertaining movies. "Motion pictures" or "Moving pictures" are films and movies. A "DVD" is a digital format which may be used to reproduce an analog film, while "videotape" ("video") was for many decades a solely analog medium onto which moving images could be recorded and electronically (rather than optically) reproduced. Strictly speaking, "Film" refers to the media onto which a visual image is shot, and to this end it may seem improper for work in other "moving image" media to be referred to as a "film" and the action of shooting as "filming", though these terms are still in general use. "Silent films" need not be silent, but are films and movies without an audible dialogue, though they may have a musical soundtrack. "Talkies" refers to early movies or films having audible dialogue or analog sound, not just a musical accompaniment. "Cinema" either broadly encompasses both films and movies, or is roughly synonymous with "Film", both capitalized when referring to a category of art. The "silver screen" refers to classic black-and-white films before color, not to contemporary films without color.

The expression "Sight and Sound", as in the film journal of the same name, means "film". The following icons mean film: a "candle and bell", as in the films Tarkovsky, of a segment of film stock, or a two faced Janus image, and an image of a movie camera in profile.

"Widescreen" and "Cinemascope" refers to a larger width to height in the frame, compared to an earlier historic aspect ratios.^[3] A "feature length film", or "feature film", is of a conventional full length, usually 60 minutes or more, and can commercially stand by itself without other films in a ticketed screening.^[4] A "short" is a film that is not as long as a feature length film, usually screened with other shorts, or preceding a feature length film. An "independent" is a film made outside of the conventional film industry.

A "screening" or "projection" is the projection of a film or video on a screen at a public or private theater, usually but not always of a film, but of a video or DVD when of sufficient projection quality. A "double feature" is a screening of two independent, stand-alone, feature films. A "viewing" is a watching of a film. A "showing" is a screening or viewing on an electronic monitor. "Sales" refers to tickets sold at a theater, or more currently, rights sold for individual showings. A "release" is the distribution and often simultaneous screening of a film. A "preview" is a screening in advance of the main release.

"Hollywood" may be used either as a pejorative adjective, shorthand for asserting an overly commercial rather than artistic intent or outcome, as in "too Hollywood", or as a descriptive adjective to refer to a film originating with people who ordinarily work near Los Angeles.

Expressions for Genres of film are sometimes used interchangeably for "film" in a specific context, such as a "porn" for a film with explicit sexual content, or "cheese" for films that are light, entertaining and not highbrow.

Any film may also have a "sequel", which portrays events following those in the film. Bride of Frankenstein is an early example. When there are a number of films with the same characters, we have a "series", such as the James Bond series. A film which portrays events that occur earlier than those in another film, but is released after that film, is sometimes called a "prequel", an example being Butch and Sundance: The Early Days.

Credits is a list of the people involved in making the film. Before the 1970s, credits were usually at the beginning of a film. Since then, the credits roll at the end of most films.

A Post-credits scene is a scene shown after the end of the credits. Ferris Bueller's Day Off has a post-credit scene in which Ferris tells the audience that the movie is over and they should go home.

Preview[link]

A preview performance refers to a showing of a movie to a select audience, usually for the purposes of corporate promotions, before the public film premiere itself. Previews are sometimes used to judge audience reaction, which if unexpectedly negative, may result in recutting or even refilming certain sections (Audience response).

Trailer[link]

Trailers or previews are film advertisements for films that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema, on whose screen they are shown. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a film programme. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the theater after the films ended, but the name has stuck. Trailers are now shown before the film (or the A movie in a double feature program) begins.

Film, or other art form?[link]

Film may be combined with performance art and still be considered or referred to as a "film", for instance, when there is a live musical accompaniment to a silent film. Another example is audience participation films, as at a midnight movies screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, where the audience dresses up in costume from the film and loudly does a karaoke-like reenactment along with the film. Performance art where film is incorporated as a component is usually not called film, but a film, which could stand-alone but is accompanied by a performance may still be referred to as a film.

The act of making a film can, in and of itself, be considered a work of art, on a different level from the film itself, as in the films of Werner Herzog.

Similarly, the playing of a film can be considered to fall within the realm of political protest art, as in the subtleties within the films of Tarkovsky. A "road movie" can refer to a film put together from footage from a long road trip or vacation.

Education and propaganda[link]

Film is used for education and propaganda. When the purpose is primarily educational, a film is called an "educational film". Examples are recordings of lectures and experiments, or more marginally, a film based on a classic novel.

Film may be propaganda, in whole or in part, such as the films made by Leni Riefenstahl in Nazi Germany, US war film trailers during World War II, or artistic films made under Stalin by Eisenstein. They may also be works of political protest, as in the films of Wajda, or more subtly, the films of Andrei Tarkovsky.

The same film may be considered educational by some, and propaganda by others, such as some of the films of Michael Moore.

Production[link]

At its core, the means to produce a film depend on the content the filmmaker wishes to show, and the apparatus for displaying it: the zoetrope merely requires a series of images on a strip of paper. Film production can therefore take as little as one person with a camera (or without it, such as Stan Brakhage's 1963 film Mothlight), or thousands of actors, extras and crewmembers for a live-action, feature-length epic.

The necessary steps for almost any film can be boiled down to conception, planning, execution, revision, and distribution. The more involved the production, the more significant each of the steps becomes. In a typical production cycle of a Hollywood-style film, these main stages are defined as:

1. Development
2. Pre-production
3. Production
4. Post-production
5. Distribution

This production cycle usually takes three years. The first year is taken up with development. The second year comprises preproduction and production. The third year, post-production and distribution.

The bigger the production, the more resources it takes, and the more important financing becomes; most feature films are not only artistic works, but for-profit business entities.

Crew[link]

A film crew is a group of people hired by a film company, employed during the "production" or "photography" phase, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. Crew are distinguished from cast, the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. The crew interacts with but is also distinct from the production staff, consisting of producers, managers, company representatives, their assistants, and those whose primary responsibility falls in pre-production or post-production phases, such as writers and editors. Communication between production and crew generally passes through the director and his/her staff of assistants. Medium-to-large crews are generally divided into departments with well defined hierarchies and standards for interaction and cooperation between the departments. Other than acting, the crew handles everything in the photography phase: props and costumes, shooting, sound, electrics (i.e., lights), sets, and production special effects. Caterers (known in the film industry as "craft services") are usually not considered part of the crew.

Technology[link]

Film stock consists of transparent celluloid, acetate, or polyester base coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive chemicals. Cellulose nitrate was the first type of film base used to record motion pictures, but due to its flammability was eventually replaced by safer materials. Stock widths and the film format for images on the reel have had a rich history, though most large commercial films are still shot on (and distributed to theaters) as 35 mm prints.

Originally moving picture film was shot and projected at various speeds using hand-cranked cameras and projectors; though 1000 frames per minute (16⅔ frame/s) is generally cited as a standard silent speed, research indicates most films were shot between 16 frame/s and 23 frame/s and projected from 18 frame/s on up (often reels included instructions on how fast each scene should be shown).^[5] When sound film was introduced in the late 1920s, a constant speed was required for the sound head. 24 frames per second was chosen because it was the slowest (and thus cheapest) speed which allowed for sufficient sound quality. Improvements since the late 19th century include the mechanization of cameras – allowing them to record at a consistent speed, quiet camera design – allowing sound recorded on-set to be usable without requiring large "blimps" to encase the camera, the invention of more sophisticated filmstocks and lenses, allowing directors to film in increasingly dim conditions, and the development of synchronized sound, allowing sound to be recorded at exactly the same speed as its corresponding action. The soundtrack can be recorded separately from shooting the film, but for live-action pictures many parts of the soundtrack are usually recorded simultaneously.

As a medium, film is not limited to motion pictures, since the technology developed as the basis for photography. It can be used to present a progressive sequence of still images in the form of a slideshow. Film has also been incorporated into multimedia presentations, and often has importance as primary historical documentation. However, historic films have problems in terms of preservation and storage, and the motion picture industry is exploring many alternatives. Most movies on cellulose nitrate base have been copied onto modern safety films. Some studios save color films through the use of separation masters: three B&W negatives each exposed through red, green, or blue filters (essentially a reverse of the Technicolor process). Digital methods have also been used to restore films, although their continued obsolescence cycle makes them (as of 2006) a poor choice for long-term preservation. Film preservation of decaying film stock is a matter of concern to both film historians and archivists, and to companies interested in preserving their existing products in order to make them available to future generations (and thereby increase revenue). Preservation is generally a higher concern for nitrate and single-strip color films, due to their high decay rates; black-and-white films on safety bases and color films preserved on Technicolor imbibition prints tend to keep up much better, assuming proper handling and storage.

Some films in recent decades have been recorded using analog video technology similar to that used in television production. Modern digital video cameras and digital projectors are gaining ground as well. These approaches are preferred by some moviemakers, especially because footage shot with digital cinema can be evaluated and edited with non-linear editing systems (NLE) without waiting for the film stock to be processed. Yet the migration is gradual, and as of 2005 most major motion pictures are still shot on film.

Independent[link]

Independent filmmaking often takes place outside of Hollywood, or other major studio systems. An independent film (or indie film) is a film initially produced without financing or distribution from a major movie studio. Creative, business, and technological reasons have all contributed to the growth of the indie film scene in the late 20th and early 21st century.

The Lumière Brothers

On the business side, the costs of big-budget studio films also leads to conservative choices in cast and crew. There is a trend in Hollywood towards co-financing (over two-thirds of the films put out by Warner Bros. in 2000 were joint ventures, up from 10% in 1987).^[6] A hopeful director is almost never given the opportunity to get a job on a big-budget studio film unless he or she has significant industry experience in film or television. Also, the studios rarely produce films with unknown actors, particularly in lead roles.

Before the advent of digital alternatives, the cost of professional film equipment and stock was also a hurdle to being able to produce, direct, or star in a traditional studio film.

But the advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more importantly, the arrival of high-resolution digital video in the early 1990s, have lowered the technology barrier to movie production significantly. Both production and post-production costs have been significantly lowered; today, the hardware and software for post-production can be installed in a commodity-based personal computer. Technologies such as DVDs, FireWire connections and non-linear editing system pro-level software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas and Apple's Final Cut Pro, and consumer level software such as Apple's Final Cut Express and iMovie, and Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker make movie-making relatively inexpensive.

Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more democratized. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit a movie, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be democratized, financing, distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system. Most independent filmmakers rely on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold for distribution. The arrival of internet-based video outlets such as YouTube and Veoh has further changed the film making landscape in ways that are still to be determined.

Open content film[link]

An open content film is much like an independent film, but it is produced through open collaborations; its source material is available under a license which is permissive enough to allow other parties to create fan fiction or derivative works, than a traditional copyright. Like independent filmmaking, open source filmmaking takes place outside of Hollywood, or other major studio systems.

Fan film[link]

A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book or a similar source, created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more notable films have actually been produced by professional filmmakers as film school class projects or as demonstration reels. Fan films vary tremendously in length, from short faux-teaser trailers for non-existent motion pictures to rarer full-length motion pictures.

Distribution[link]

When it is initially produced, a feature film is often shown to audiences in a movie theater or cinema. The identity of the first theater designed specifically for cinema is a matter of debate; candidates include Tally's Electric Theatre, established 1902 in Los Angeles,^[7] and Pittsburgh's Nickelodeon, established 1905.^[8] Thousands of such theaters were built or converted from existing facilities within a few years.^[9] In the United States, these theaters came to be known as nickelodeons, because admission typically cost a nickel (five cents).

Typically, one film is the featured presentation (or feature film). Before the 1970s, there were "double features"; typically, a high quality "A picture" rented by an independent theater for a lump sum, and a "B picture" of lower quality rented for a percentage of the gross receipts. Today, the bulk of the material shown before the feature film consists of previews for upcoming movies and paid advertisements (also known as trailers or "The Twenty").

Historically, all mass marketed feature films were made to be shown in movie theaters. The development of television has allowed films to be broadcast to larger audiences, usually after the film is no longer being shown in theaters.^{[citation needed]} In 1967, videocassettes of movies became available to consumers to watch in their own homes.^[10] Recording technology has since enabled consumers to rent or buy copies of films on VHS or DVD (and the older formats of laserdisc, VCD and SelectaVision – see also videodisc), and Internet downloads may be available and have started to become revenue sources for the film companies. Some films are now made specifically for these other venues, being released as a television movie or direct-to-video movies. The production values on these films are often considered to be of inferior quality compared to theatrical releases in similar genres, and indeed, some films that are rejected by their own movie studios upon completion are distributed through these markets.

The movie theater pays an average of about 50-55% of its ticket sales to the movie studio, as film rental fees.^[11] The actual percentage starts with a number higher than that, and decreases as the duration of a film's showing continues, as an incentive to theaters to keep movies in the theater longer. However, today's barrage of highly marketed movies ensures that most movies are shown in first-run theaters for less than 8 weeks. There are a few movies every year that defy this rule, often limited-release movies that start in only a few theaters and actually grow their theater count through good word-of-mouth and reviews. According to a 2000 study by ABN AMRO, about 26% of Hollywood movie studios' worldwide income came from box office ticket sales; 46% came from VHS and DVD sales to consumers; and 28% came from television (broadcast, cable, and pay-per-view).^[11]

This section requires expansion with: optical disc distribution.

Animation[link]

Animation is the technique in which each frame of a film is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result with a special animation camera. When the frames are strung together and the resulting film is viewed at a speed of 16 or more frames per second, there is an illusion of continuous movement (due to the persistence of vision). Generating such a film is very labor intensive and tedious, though the development of computer animation has greatly sped up the process.

Because animation is very time-consuming and often very expensive to produce, the majority of animation for TV and movies comes from professional animation studios. However, the field of independent animation has existed at least since the 1950s, with animation being produced by independent studios (and sometimes by a single person). Several independent animation producers have gone on to enter the professional animation industry.

Limited animation is a way of increasing production and decreasing costs of animation by using "short cuts" in the animation process. This method was pioneered by UPA and popularized by Hanna-Barbera, and adapted by other studios as cartoons moved from movie theaters to television.^[12]

Although most animation studios are now using digital technologies in their productions, there is a specific style of animation that depends on film. Cameraless animation, made famous by moviemakers like Norman McLaren, Len Lye and Stan Brakhage, is painted and drawn directly onto pieces of film, and then run through a projector.

Future state[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

While motion picture films have been around for more than a century, film is still a relative newcomer in the pantheon^{[clarification needed]} of fine arts. In the 1950s, when television became widely available, industry analysts^[who?] predicted the demise of local movie theaters.^{[citation needed]} Despite competition from television's increasing technological sophistication over the 1960s and 1970s^{[citation needed]} such as the development of color television and large screens, motion picture cinemas continued. In fact with the rise of television's predominance, film began to become more respected as an artistic medium by contrast due the low general opinion of the quality of average television content.^{[citation needed]} In the 1980s, when the widespread availability of inexpensive videocassette recorders enabled people to select films for home viewing, industry analysts again wrongly predicted the death of the local cinemas.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1990s and 2000s, the development of DVD players, home theater amplification systems with surround sound and subwoofers, and large LCD or plasma screens enabled people to select and view films at home with greatly improved audio and visual reproduction.^{[citation needed]} These new technologies provided audio and visual that in the past only local cinemas had been able to provide: a large, clear widescreen presentation of a film with a full-range, high-quality multi-speaker sound system. Once again industry analysts predicted the demise of the local cinema. Local cinemas will be changing in the 21st century and moving towards digital screens, a new approach which will allow for easier and quicker distribution of films (via satellite or hard disks), a development which may give local theaters a reprieve from their predicted demise.^{[citation needed]} The cinema now faces a new challenge from home video by the likes of a new high definition (HD) format, Blu-ray, which can provide full HD 1080p video playback at near cinema quality.^{[citation needed]} Video formats are gradually catching up with the resolutions and quality that film offers; 1080p in Blu-ray offers a pixel resolution of 1920×1080, a leap from the DVD offering of 720×480 and the 330×480 offered by the first home video standard, VHS.^{[citation needed]} Ultra HD, a future digital video format, will offer a resolution of 7680×4320. However, the nature and structure of film prevents an apples-to-apples comparison with regard to resolution.^[13] The resolving power of film, and its ability to capture an image which can later be scanned to a digital format, will ensure that film remains a viable medium for some time to come.^{[citation needed]} Currently the super-16 format is seeing use as a capture medium, with digital scanning and post-production providing good results.^[14][15] Despite advances in digital capture, film still offers unsurpassed ability to capture fine detail beyond what is possible with digital image sensors. A 35 mm film frame, with proper exposure and processing, still offers an equivalent resolution in the range of 500 mega pixels.^[13]

Despite the rise of all-new technologies, the development of the home video market and a surge of online copyright infringement, 2007 was a record year in film that showed the highest ever box-office grosses. Many^[who?] expected film to suffer as a result of the effects listed above but it has flourished, strengthening film studio expectations for the future.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• Genre
• Fiction film basic genre
• Documentary basic genre
• Docufiction hybrid genre

• Lists

Film portal

• List of film awards
• List of film festivals
• List of film journals and magazines
• List of film topics
• List of video-related topics
• List of years in film
• Lists of films

Related topics

• Cinematic techniques
• Digital cinema
• Lost film
• Web film

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Film on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

	Wikinews has related Film news:
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• Allmovie – Information on films: actors, directors, biographies, reviews, cast and production credits, box office sales, and other movie data.
• Film Site – Reviews of classic films
• Movies at the Open Directory Project
• Rottentomatoes.com – Movie reviews, previews, forums, photos, cast info, and more.
• The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) – Information on current and historical films and cast listings.

Shia LaBeouf
LaBeouf promoting Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, June 2009
Born	Shia Saide LaBeouf (1986-06-11) June 11, 1986 (age 26) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1996–present

Shia Saide LaBeouf^[1] ( /ˈʃaɪ.ə ləˈbʌf/; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor who became known among younger audiences for his part in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens and for his film debut in Holes (2003), based on the novel of the same title by Louis Sachar. In 2004, he made his directorial debut with the short film Let's Love Hate and later directed and shot the music video for "I Never Knew You" by rapper Cage. In 2007, LaBeouf starred as the lead in the commercially successful films, Disturbia and Transformers. His other films include Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011).

Early life[link]

LaBeouf was born in Los Angeles, the only child of Shayna (née Saide) and Jeffrey Craig LaBeouf.^[2] His mother is a dancer and ballerina turned visual artist and clothing jewelry designer.^[3] His father is a Vietnam War veteran who had numerous jobs.^[4][5][6][7] LaBeouf's mother is Jewish, and LaBeouf's father, who is of Cajun (French) descent, is Christian. LaBeouf was raised in his mother's Jewish religion and had a Bar Mitzvah; he was also baptized in the Angelus church.^{[8][9][10][11]}

LaBeouf has described his parents as "hippies", his father as "tough as nails and a different breed of man", and his upbringing as similar to a "hippy lifestyle", stating that his parents were "pretty weird people, but they loved me and I loved them."^{[5][7][7][12]} The actor also accompanied his father to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous.^[4] LaBeouf has also said he was subjected to verbal and mental abuse by his father, who once pointed a gun at his son during a Vietnam War flashback.^[7] LaBeouf says his father was "on drugs" during his childhood and was placed in drug rehabilitation for heroin addiction while LaBeouf's mother was "trying to hold down the fort."^[5] His parents eventually divorced, mainly due to financial problems,^[13] and LaBeouf had what he has described as a "good childhood", growing up poor in Echo Park with his mother, who worked selling fabrics and brooches.^[14][15] LaBeouf's uncle was going to adopt him at one stage because his parents could not afford to have him anymore and "they had too much pride to go on welfare or food stamps."^[16] As a way of dealing with his parents' divorce, he would perform for his family, mimicking his father.^[17] LaBeouf remains close to and financially supports both of his parents.^[4][5][18]

He attended 32nd Street Visual and Performing Arts Magnet in Los Angeles (LAUSD)^[7] and Alexander Hamilton High School, although he received most of his education from tutors.^[15] In an interview, LaBeouf said that, looking back on his childhood, he feels grateful and considers some of those memories scars.^[13]

When LaBeouf was 19, after a neighbor in his Studio City apartment complex had allegedly insulted his mother and rear-ended her car, LaBeouf brought a knife, and a friend for backup, to the neighbor's apartment, which resulted in LaBeouf being assaulted by the neighbor and six of the neighbor's friends.^[19]

Career[link]

1996–2006: Disney career[link]

LaBeouf in November 2006, promoting Bobby.

Prior to acting, LaBeouf practiced comedy around his neighborhood as an "escape" from a hostile environment.^[14] At age 10, he began performing stand-up at comedy clubs, describing his appeal as having "disgustingly dirty" material and a "50-year-old mouth on the 10-year-old kid."^[15][18][20] He subsequently found an agent through the Yellow Pages and was taken on after pretending to be his own manager.^[21] LaBeouf has said that he initially became an actor because his family was broke, not because he wanted to pursue an acting career,^[20][22] having originally gotten the idea from a child actor he met who had things he wanted.^[4] In the early 2000s, LaBeouf became known among young audiences after playing Louis Stevens on the Disney Channel weekly program Even Stevens,^[23] a role that later earned him a Daytime Emmy Award.^[7] He has said that "[he] grew up on that show" and being cast was the "best thing" that happened to him.^[5] In the next several years, he appeared in the well-received^[24][25] film adaption Holes (2003). In 2005 he co-starred in Constantine, playing the role of Chas Kramer, with Keanu Reeves in the starring role. LaBeouf made his directorial debut with the short film Let's Love Hate with Lorenzo Eduardo.^[26] He has played real-life people, including golfer Francis Ouimet^[4][27] and the younger version of Dito Montiel in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006).^[28]

2007–08: Career breakthrough[link]

LaBeouf starred in Disturbia, a thriller released on April 13, as a teenager under house arrest who suspects that his neighbor is a serial killer, which he considered a "character-driven" role.^[14] He received positive reviews for the role, with The Buffalo News saying, he "is able to simultaneously pull off [the character's] anger, remorse and intelligence".^[29] He hosted Saturday Night Live on April 14,^[30] and on May 10, 2008.^[31] He next played Sam Witwicky, who becomes involved in the Autobot-Decepticon war on Earth, in Transformers.^[32]

In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) he was Indiana Jones' greaser son Mutt Williams. His performance was met with mixed reviews with Todd Gilchrist of IGN commenting "one can't quite help but wonder what Spielberg saw in the young actor that inspired him to cast LaBeouf".^[33] LaBeouf told the L.A. Times that he felt he as an actor "dropped the ball" on Jones' legacy, and "there was a reason" the film wasn't universally accepted.^[34] His next film was Eagle Eye, released on September 26. His performance received mixed reviews, with Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly saying he "makes a credible bid for action-hero status, although his occasional stabs at emotional depth don’t really go anywhere."^[35]

[edit] 2009–present: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and beyond

In February, he directed the music video for "I Never Knew You", a single off rapper Cage's third album, Depart From Me. It was shot in LA and features cameos by other Definitive Jux artists.^[36] The two will also team up to make a biopic about the rapper's life, starring LaBeouf.^[37] Of making the video, LaBeouf said, "I'm 22 and I'm directing my favorite rapper's music video. This shit is better than riding unicorns." In addition to directing the short film, MANIAC for Kid Cudi and Cage's collaborative track he also directed and filmed Kid Cudi's music video for "Marijuana" at the 2010 Cannabis Cup.^[36]

In June 2009 with co-star Megan Fox at the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen press conference in Paris.

LaBeouf reprised the role of Sam Witwicky in the 2009 sequel to Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.^[38] Filming for the movie began in May 2008 and ended in late 2008.^[39] Due to LaBeouf's injury from his car accident, Bay and screen writer Roberto Orci had to rewrite the script to protect his hand throughout filming.^[40] LaBeouf said production was only delayed two days after his accident because Bay made up for it by filming second unit scenes, and LaBeouf recovered a few weeks earlier than expected, allowing him to return to the set.^[41] Near the end of filming, LaBeouf injured his eye when he hit a prop; the injury required seven stitches. He resumed filming two hours later.^[42] The movie grossed $800 million,^[43] but received mostly negative review by critics,^[25] with LaBeouf sharing a nomination for the "Worst Screen Couple of 2009" Razzie Award with "either Megan Fox or any Transformer."^[44]

His only 2010 movie was the Oliver Stone-directed film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the sequel to Wall Street (1987), playing an ambitious Wall Street trader.^[45] It became another mixed critical success for him.^[25] He reprised his role in the third Transformers film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which was released on June 28, 2011.^[46] He will play a bootlegger in John Hillcoat's Lawless.^[47]

LaBeouf has created three short graphic novels Stale N Mate, Cyclical, and Let’s Fucking Party, and a webcomic series, Cheek Up's through the publishing company, The Campaign Book. In April 2012, he promoted them at Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo.^[48][49]

Personal life[link]

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At 18, he bought his own home.^[50] He has stated that he has a "personal relationship with God that happens to work within the confines of Judaism",^[51] and has described himself as Jewish.^[52] He has also detailed that religion "never made sense" to him.^[8]

LaBeouf has three tattoos, which are: 1986–2004 on his inner right wrist, a dog paw tattoo on his upper left arm, and a hand with a shackle on it on his left upper side torso.^[53][54] He got the tattoo on his wrist as a "precautionary" to not forget his childhood.^[53] LaBeouf described the upper side torso tattoo as "an artist drawing his own prison. Just life. That’s where I’m at".^[53] He completed the 2010 LA Marathon on March 21, 2010 with a time of 4 hours, 35 minutes and 31 seconds.^[55]

Relationships[link]

From 2004 to 2007, LaBeouf dated China Brezner, whom he met on the set of The Greatest Game Ever Played.^[56] They broke up because he became too busy with his work to put any time into the relationship,^[57] and he described the break-up as being like "rebuilding after a tornado."^[57] He dated English actress and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps co-star Carey Mulligan from August 2009 to October 2010;^[58] they were introduced by the film's director, Oliver Stone, prior to filming and began dating shortly after.^[59] Of that relationship he said: "I still love her. I think she's a fucking awesome person and an incredible actress. We're still pals. I wouldn't take any of it back, and I don't think she would either. It just ran its course."^[60]

In the August 2011 issue of Details magazine, he also admitted to having been in a relationship with Isabel Lucas while she was still dating Adrian Grenier and Megan Fox while she was still seeing her now husband Brian Austin Green.^[60]

Legal troubles[link]

Early in the morning of November 4, 2007, a security guard asked LaBeouf to leave a Chicago Walgreens; after refusing to do so, LaBeouf was arrested for misdemeanor criminal trespassing.^[61] The criminal charges were dropped on December 12, 2007.^[62]

In March 2008, an arrest warrant was issued for LaBeouf, after he failed to make a court appearance. The hearing was in relation to a ticket he had received for unlawful smoking in Burbank, California, in February 2008. When neither LaBeouf nor a lawyer appeared at the court, at 8:30 a.m., a $1000 bench warrant was issued for his arrest.^[63] However, the court commissioner in California recalled this warrant on March 19, 2008, after the actor’s attorney arrived a day late to plead not guilty on LaBeouf's behalf, and a pre-trial hearing was set for April 24, 2008.^[64] The charge was dismissed, after the actor paid a $500 fine.^[65]

At approximately 3 A.M. on July 27, 2008, LaBeouf was involved in a car crash, at the intersection of La Brea Avenue and Fountain Avenue in Los Angeles. His Ford F-150 was hit from the side by a vehicle running a red light.^[66] LaBeouf had been gripping the top of the windowsill as he drove and, upon impact, the truck rolled onto his exposed left hand, crushing it.^[67] While responding to the accident, police officers smelled alcohol on LaBeouf's breath.^[68] Because he refused a breathalyzer examination, authorities arrested LaBeouf at the scene for misdemeanor drunk driving, and his driver's license was suspended for one year.^[69][70][71] Michael Bay stated that LaBeouf had been drinking hours before the car accident and he had felt that, by the time the accident had occurred, the alcohol had worn off.^[41] LaBeouf had to undergo one of many hand surgeries immediately after the accident.^[66] His passenger, Isabel Lucas, and the driver and passenger in the other car suffered only minor injuries.^[70][72][73] Due to severe damages from the accident, LaBeouf's truck was totaled; his father keeps the vehicle at his home as a memento.^[68] Two days later, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman announced that LaBeouf was not at fault in the accident as the other driver had run a red light.^[69][74] LaBeouf returned to the set of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, at this time, and shooting resumed.^[75] In September of that year, LaBeouf described the car accident as being "eye-opening and terrifying."^[76] He said that, as a result of the injuries, he had screws and plates put in his left hand; there is also scarring.^[67] A screw was placed in one of his knuckles, and he had a shaved piece of bone from his hip made into a bone for his finger.^[67] In April 2009, he stated he had undergone three hand surgeries. He said that he would regain "probably about 80-something percent" use of his hand and, while he would be able to make a fist again, "there’s a knuckle [I will] never be able to move again."^[67] In May 2010, he said that he has "completely" regained movement in his fingers.^[77] In June 2011, in an interview in Details magazine, he claimed that he and Isabel Lucas were "philandering around" before the accident occurred.^[78]

In the early morning of February 5, 2011, he was involved in an altercation with another patron at the Mad Bull's Tavern bar in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, which resulted in the actor getting punched in the face.^[79] Both LaBeouf and the unnamed patron were placed in handcuffs and questioned by a Los Angeles Police Department officer but later released with no arrest being made.^[80]

In October 2011, LaBeouf and another patron were thrown out of a bar called Cinema Public House in Vancouver, BC after they engaged in an alcohol fueled fight that continued outside.^[81]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shia LaBeouf

• Shia LaBeouf at the Internet Movie Database
• Shia LaBeouf at AllRovi

Jessica Chastain
Chastain at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Northern California, U.S.[1][2]
Education	Juilliard School (B.F.A. 2003)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2004–present

Jessica Chastain is an American theater, film, and television actress. She is known for her roles in the films The Help, The Debt, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, and The Tree of Life. She broke out in 2011 with seven films premiering. She won over 35 critics awards and was widely named as breakout star. For her role in the film The Help she received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. In 2012, she was named to the list of Time 100 most influential people of the world.^[3]

Early life and education[link]

Chastain was born and raised in Northern California.^[1][2][4] She is one of five children.^[5] Her mother is a vegan chef, and her father (one source says stepfather)^[6] is a firefighter.^[7][8][9] Chastain is also vegan herself.^[10] She grew up as Jessica Howard,^[11] and later took her mother's maiden name as her stage name.^[5] Chastain had a "blue collar" upbringing around San Francisco.^[12]

She graduated from El Camino High School in Sacramento in 1995^[13] and attended Sacramento City College, where she was a member of the debate team (1996–1997).^[14] In 1998, she appeared as Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet staged by TheatreWorks,^[15] a professional theater company in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Chastain then attended the Juilliard School in New York City as a member of the Drama Division's Group 32 (1999–2003), which also included Michael Urie.^[16] At Juilliard, she was a recipient of a scholarship made available by Robin Williams. She was an active participant in the drama department and starred in several theatrical productions and student film projects. She graduated from Juilliard with a B.F.A. degree in 2003.^[17]

Career[link]

Chastain at the Berlin Film Festival 2011

Chastain's first professional role came in 2004 for a TV movie adaptation of Dark Shadows. She later appeared in such television series as ER, Veronica Mars, Close to Home, and Law & Order: Trial By Jury.

In 2008, she made her film debut as the title role in Jolene, for which she received the Seattle International Film Festival Award for Best Actress. The movie was based on the short story, Jolene: A Life by E. L. Doctorow, itself inspired by Dolly Parton's song, Jolene.^[18] It was later released in the United States on October 29, 2010.

In 2011, Chastain showed a wide variety in her roles, including: Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and the crime thriller Texas Killing Fields.^[19][20] Chastain starred as Celia Foote in The Help, which was based on Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name. The movie received positive reviews from critics and became an immediate box office hit grossing $169,620,611 in North America, and $35,700,000 in other territories, as of February 2, 2012, for a worldwide total of $205,320,611. Chastain continued to receive rave reviews for her performance in the 2011 film Take Shelter playing the wife of a small town man plagued by apocalyptic visions.^[21] In her next film role Chastain portrayed a young Mossad agent in John Madden's The Debt, which premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010. The movie was released on August 31, 2011 and Chastain received positive reviews from critics and viewers for her portrayal of a young Helen Mirren. The movie went on to become a moderate box office hit.

On November 29, 2011, Chastain was announced as New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performances in The Help, Take Shelter and The Tree of Life as well as gaining an Independent Spirit Award nomination the same day for her performance in Take Shelter. On December 1, 2011, she received a Satellite Award nomination as best supporting actress for her performance as Mrs. O'Brien in The Tree of Life, she went on to win the award and many other honors from critics including the: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress. In April 2012, Chastain entered the list of Time 100 most influential people of the world.^[3]

Chastain has also completed a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Salome alongside Al Pacino and has filmed supporting roles for other adaptations such as Coriolanus. Her most recently announced project is John Hillcoat's prohibition era drama, Lawless.^[22]

Personal life[link]

Chastain has not revealed her age to the media, which has led to contradictory accounts of her age by various newspapers and periodicals. In an April 30, 1998, article about a stage production in which Chastain was starring, Metroactive magazine identified her as a 21-year-old.^[15] In a September 26, 2011, article, The Daily Telegraph stated that she was 30 years old: "'I don’t like revealing how old I am,' the 30-year-old tells me..."^[23] Other sources that state she was 30 years old at the time are a June 13, 2011, article in People magazine,^[11] and an article by Gary Oldman in a Time Magazine article published on April 18, 2012.^[3] The Associated Press and California birth records give her birthdate as March 24, 1977.^[24][25] A November 21, 2011, article in Mail Online referred to her as a 30-year-old,^[26] but a May 17, 2012 article in the same newspaper referred to her as 35.^[27]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

Theater[link]

Awards[link]

• Academy Awards
  • 2012 – NOMINATED Oscar Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (The Help)
• Austin Film Critics Association
  • 2011 – WON Austin Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (Take Shelter)
  • 2011 – WON Breakthrough Artist Award for (Take Shelter), (The Help), (Texas Killing Fields), (The Debt), (Coriolanus) and (The Tree of Life)
• BAFTA Awards
  • 2012 – NOMINATED BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Help)
• Black Reel Awards
  • 2012 – WON Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble (The Help)
• British Film Bloggers Circle
  • 2012 – WON BFBC Award for Best Breakthrough (Take Shelter), (The Help), (Texas Killing Fields), (The Debt), (Coriolanus) and (The Tree of Life)
• Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2012 – WON Critics Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble (The Help)
  • 2012 – NOMINATED Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Help)
• Central Ohio Film Critics Association
  • 2012 – WON COFCA Award for Actress of the Year (Take Shelter), (The Help), (Texas Killing Fields), (The Debt), (Coriolanus) and (The Tree of Life)
  • 2012 – 2nd PLACE COFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Tree of Life)
  • 2012 – 2nd PLACE COFCA Award for Breakthrough Film Artist (Take Shelter), (The Help), (Texas Killing Fields), (The Debt), (Coriolanus) and (The Tree of Life)
  • 2012 – NOMINATED COFCA Award for Best Ensemble (The Help)
  • 2012 – NOMINATED COFCA Award for Best Ensemble (The Tree of Life)
  • 2012 – NOMINATED COFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Help)
• Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2011 – WON CFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Tree of Life)
• Deauville American Film Festival
  • 2011 – WON Deauville Acting Award for New Hollywood
• Denver Film Critics Society
  • 2012 – WON DFCS Award for Best Breakout Star
• Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards
  • 2011 – WON DFCC Award for Best Actress (The Tree of Life)
  • 2011 – WON DFCC Award for International Breakthrough (Take Shelter), (The Help) and (The Tree of Life)
• Detroit Film Critics Society
  • 2011 – WON DFCS Award for Best Breakthrough Performance (Take Shelter), (The Help), and (The Tree of Life)
  • 2011 – NOMINATED DFCS Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Help)
  • 2011 – NOMINATED DFCS Award for Best Ensemble (The Help)
• Elle Annual Women in Hollywood Tribute
  • 2010 – WON Elle Women in Hollywood Award for Calvin Klein Collection Emerging Star Spotlight Award
• Elle Style Awards
  • 2012 – WON Elle Style Award for Next Future Icon
• Georgia Film Critics Association
  • 2011 – WON GFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Tree of Life)
  • 2011 – WON GFCA Award for Breakthrough Award (Take Shelter), (The Help), (Texas Killing Fields), (The Debt), (Coriolanus) and (The Tree of Life)
• USA Golden Globes
  • 2012 – NOMINATED Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (The Help)
• Gotham Awards
  • 2011 – NOMINATED Best Ensemble Cast (Take Shelter)
• Gucci Award for Women in Cinema
  • 2011 – WON Women in Cinema Award (The Tree of Life)
• Hollywood Film Festival
  • 2011 – WON Hollywood Breakthrough Award (Take Shelter), (The Help), (The Debt), (Coriolanus) and (The Tree of Life)
  • 2011 – WON Hollywood Film Award for Ensemble of the Year (The Help)
• Independent Spirit Awards
  • 2012 – NOMINATED Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female (Take Shelter)
• Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
  • 2012 – WON KCFCC Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Tree of Life)
• London Critics Circle Film Awards
  • 2012 – NOMINATED ALFS Award for Supporting Actress of the Year (The Help)
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2011 – WON LAFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress (Take Shelter), (The Help), (Texas Killing Fields), (The Debt), (Coriolanus) and (The Tree of Life)
• National Board of Review
  • 2011 – WON NBR Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble (The Help)
• National Society of Film Critics Awards
  • 2012 – WON NSFC Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Help), (The Tree of Life) and (Take Shelter)
• New York Film Critics Circle Awards
  • 2011 – WON NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Help), (The Tree of Life) and (Take Shelter)
• New York Film Critics Online
  • 2011 – WON NYFCO Award for Breakthrough Performer (Take Shelter), (The Help), (Texas Killing Fields), (The Debt), (Coriolanus) and (The Tree of Life)
• Nevada Film Critics Society Awards
  • 2012 – WON NFCS Award for Best Actress (The Help), (The Tree of Life) and (The Debt)
  • 2012 – WON NFCS Award for Best Ensemble Cast (The Help)
• Online Film Critics Society Awards
  • 2011 – WON OFCS Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Tree of Life)
  • 2011 – WON OFCS Award for Breakthrough Performer (The Help), (The Tree of Life) and (The Debt)
• Palm Springs International Film Festival
  • 2012 – WON Spotlight Award for (The Help), (The Tree of Life), (The Debt), (Coriolanus) and (Take Shelter)
• Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
  • 2011 – NOMINATED PFCS Award for Best Actress in Supporting Role (The Help)
• San Diego Film Critics Society Awards
  • 2011 – WON Special Award for (The Help), (The Tree of Life), (The Debt), (Texas Killing Fields), (Coriolanus) and (Take Shelter)
  • 2011 – NOMINATED SDFCS Award for Best Ensemble (The Help)
  • 2011 – NOMINATED SDFCS Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Help)
• Sant Jordi Awards
  • 2012 – 2nd PLACE Sant Jordi for Best Foreign Actress (The Tree of Life)
• Satellite Awards
  • 2011 – WON Satellite Award for Best Actress in Supporting Role (The Tree of Life)
  • 2011 – WON Special Achievement Award for Best Ensemble (The Help)
• Screen Actors Guild Awards
  • 2012 – WON Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (The Help)
  • 2012 – NOMINATED Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (The Help)
• Saturn Award
  • 2012 – PENDING^[a] Saturn Award for Best Actress (Take Shelter)^[28]
• Seattle International Film Festival
  • 2008 – WON Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actress Jolene
• Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2011 – WON SEFCA Award for Best Ensemble (The Help)
• Toronto Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2011 – WON TFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress (Take Shelter)
  • 2011 – NOMINATED TFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Tree of Life)
• Vancouver Film Critics Circle
  • 2012 – WON VFCC Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Help), (Take Shelter) and (The Tree of Life)
• Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2011 – NOMINATED WAFCA Award for Best Acting Ensemble (The Help)
• Women Film Critics Circle Awards
  • 2011 – WON WFCC Award for Best Ensemble (The Help)
  • 2011 – NOMINATED WFCC Award for Best Actress (The Help) and (The Debt)

Lists[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jessica Chastain

• Jessica Chastain at the Internet Movie Database