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Rent is a 2005 American musical drama film directed by Chris Columbus. It is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, in turn based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. The film depicts the lives of several Bohemians and their struggles with sexuality, cross-dressing, drugs, paying their rent, and life under the shadow of AIDS. It takes place in the East Village of New York City from 1989 to 1990. The film features six of the original Broadway cast members reprising their roles.

Plot[link]

On Christmas Eve, 1989, aspiring filmmaker Mark Cohen, and his roommate, Roger Davis, learn that the rent previously waived by their former friend and landlord, Benjamin “Benny” Coffin III, is due. At the same time, their former roommate Tom Collins shows up and gets mugged in an alleyway. Meanwhile, Mark and Roger meet with Benny, who tells them he plans to evict the homeless from the nearby lot and build a cyber studio in its place. He offers them free rent if they can get Maureen, Mark's ex-girlfriend, to cancel her protest against his plans, but they refuse.

A street drummer and drag queen, Angel, finds Collins in the alleyway and helps him up. They bond once they find out they are both HIV-positive. Later that night, Roger, who is also HIV-positive, tries to compose his one last great song. He's then visited by his downstairs neighbour, Mimi, an exotic dancer and heroin addict, who flirts with him.

The next day, Mark and Roger are visited by Collins and Angel, who arrive bearing gifts. They invite Mark and Roger to attend Life Support, a local HIV support group meeting. Roger turns them down, while Mark heads off to help fix Maureen's sound equipment for the protest. He runs into Joanne, Maureen's new girlfriend, who bonds with him as they discuss Maureen's promiscuity. Afterwards, Mark arrives, slightly late, at the Life Support meeting.

That night, after Mimi finishes dancing, she returns home and flirts with Roger. Roger, who lost his ex-girlfriend to AIDS, rebukes her advances and throws her out. The next day, he arrives at another Life Support meeting, much to the joy of his friends. Later, they attend Maureen's protest, while Benny has the police on standby. A riot ensues, which Mark films and sells the footage to Buzzline, a local news program. At the Life Cafe after the show, Benny criticizes the groups' Bohemian lifestyle, which they respond with a joyous celebration of it. During the commotion, Mimi and Roger both learn that the other is HIV-positive. Roger and Mimi express their interest in each other outside the cafe.

On New Years Day, the group finds that Benny has had them padlocked from their apartment, which Angel solves by breaking it with a garbage can. To support himself, Mark takes a job at Buzzline. After another fight, Maureen proposes to Joanne; the relationship quickly ends when Maureen flirts with another woman at the commitment ceremony. After being persuaded by Mimi, his ex-girlfriend, Benny gives the group back their apartment. Roger quickly grows distrustful of Mimi, and their relationship ends. Meanwhile, Angel's condition gets worse and he dies in Collins' arms. At Angel's funeral, the group goes their separate ways after a bitter argument.

Roger sells his guitar, buys a car, and moves to Santa Fe. He returns once he realizes he still loves Mimi. Meanwhile, Mark quits his job at Buzzline to pursue his own film. On Christmas Eve, 1990, Mark and Roger reunite with Collins, who reveals he has reprogrammed an ATM to dispense cash when someone inputs A-N-G-E-L. However, Joanne and Maureen find Mimi on the streets, near death. Mimi and Roger reconcile and he sings the song he has written over the past year. Mimi appears to die, but suddenly awakens. She tells them that she was heading to the light, but Angel told her to go back. As Mark's documentary is shown for the first time, the friends all reaffirm that there is "no day but today".

Cast[link]

All but two principal members of the original Broadway cast reprised their roles on film. Director Columbus got the idea to give the original cast first dibs on the roles when he talked to Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, and Idina Menzel about the musical and felt that they all still looked the same as when they premiered the show in 1996. Only Daphne Rubin-Vega and Fredi Walker, the original Mimi and Joanne, were not cast in the film. Rubin-Vega was seven months pregnant at the time of filming and was not able to reprise her role as Mimi. Fredi Walker was offered the role, but said that she felt too old for it; however, she insisted that a woman of African-American descent should play the part of Joanne.

• Anthony Rapp as Mark Cohen, a struggling Jewish filmmaker and Roger's roommate. He was dumped by Maureen for Joanne.
• Adam Pascal as Roger Davis, an HIV-positive ex-junkie rock musician; Mimi's love interest.
• Rosario Dawson as Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive heroin junkie and nightclub dancer; Roger's love interest.
• Jesse L. Martin as Tom Collins, a gay anarchist and philosophy professor suffering from AIDS; former roommate of Maureen, Roger, Mark, and Benny; Angel's love interest.
• Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Angel Dumott Schunard, a gay drag queen street musician who is suffering from AIDS; Collins' love interest.
• Idina Menzel as Maureen Johnson, a bisexual performance artist and Joanne's girlfriend; Mark's ex-girlfriend.
• Tracie Thoms as Joanne Jefferson, a lesbian Harvard-graduate lawyer and Maureen's love interest.
• Taye Diggs as Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III, Mark, Roger, and Mimi's apartment building landlord and ex-roommate of Collins, Roger, Maureen, and Mark.

Supporting characters

• Mackenzie Firgens as April Ericsson, Roger's late girlfriend
• Sarah Silverman as Alexi Darling, head of Buzzline
• Jennifer Siebel as Alexi Darling's receptionist
• Aaron Lohr and Wayne Wilcox as Steve and Gordon, life support members
• Daryl Edwards and Anna Deavere Smith as Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson, Joanne's parents
• Kevin Blackton and Bettina Devin as Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, Maureen's parents
• Joel Swetow and Randy Graff as Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, Mark's parents
• Chris Columbus (director cameo) as Angry man in car

Production[link]

Rent was filmed in Super 35 mm film format. Many exterior shots were filmed in New York City, specifically the East Village; the interior and remaining exterior shots were filmed in San Francisco. Some additional exterior scenes where filmed in San Diego, the famed Filoli House in Woodside, California (San Mateo County, California), Oakland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.^[1]

Until 2001, Spike Lee was to direct the film for Miramax. However, budgetary constraints and Lee's insistence on engaging celebrities like Justin Timberlake and Brittany Murphy stalled the project for a time.

In October 2004, Revolution Studios recovered the project, with Chris Columbus as the director and Columbia Pictures as the distributor. Columbus, himself an NYU student and graduate at the turn of the 1980s, and in the location where the musical and film are set, felt a connection with the characters and their experiences. He can actually be seen in the beginning as an irritated driver who finds his car windshield being washed by a homeless man.

The first trailer for the film featuring the song "Seasons of Love" surfaced on various Rent fan sites in early June 2005. The trailer was said to be shown before the films Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Crash in select cities beginning June 3, 2005. MovieMusicals.net reported that the trailer would officially be released June 7, 2005, exclusively on America Online; the movie's official blog announced it would also air during the June 7 episode of Access Hollywood.

A second trailer was released on August 25, 2005, which featured some dialog from the film as well as music from the second part of the finale ("Finale B"). A third trailer aired during the September 2005 season premiere of Nip/Tuck, which contained new footage set again to "Seasons of Love."

The film's limited release date in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto on November 11, 2005 was canceled, and the official premiere was at New York's Ziegfeld Theatre.

Rating[link]

In the US, the film has officially been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for "mature thematic material involving drugs and sexuality, and for some strong language". The rating was actually taken into consideration with creative decisions during script writing and filming. Even with changes (such as removing pervasive profanity), director Chris Columbus still expresses amazement that the film received a "PG-13" due to risqué scenes and content. In Canada, it is rated PG. In the UK, the film was rated 12A by the BBFC.

In Ireland, the film is rated 15A by the Irish Film Classification Office on account of the scenes of hard drug use, a mugging scene, and some sexual references ^[2] In Australia, the film is rated M.

Critical reception[link]

Rent earned mixed reviews, as indicated by its "rotten" 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The consensus of the reviewers featured on Rotten Tomatoes is "Fans of the stage musical may forgive its flaws, but weak direction, inescapable staginess and an irritating faux-boho pretension prevent the film from truly connecting on screen."^[3]

It was the third-highest grossing opening weekend for a Broadway musical adaptation, surpassed by the 2007 version of the film Hairspray and The Phantom of the Opera.

The film was nominated for a number of awards, including a GLAAD Media Award for Best Picture Musical/Comedy. Rosario Dawson was also nominated for, and won, a Satellite Award for Most Outstanding Actress, and Christopher Columbus for Most Outstanding Director. Additionally, Rosario Dawson was nominated for Best Actress by the NAACP Image Awards.

Alternate ending[link]

In addition to four deleted scenes, the DVD release includes an alternate ending, showing all the main characters except Angel standing in the positions where they were during the "Seasons of Love" opening, all standing in a line of spotlights, with Angel's spot empty. Later in the scene, he enters from the side and walks down the line to take his place, stopping as he passes Collins to take his hand for a moment. Although this tableau is used in the finale of the musical, it was dropped from the film for fear that audiences may have wondered why Angel had returned or why the characters were lined up on stage again. In the commentary, Chris Columbus adds that he "didn't want audiences to think that everything was okay and Angel was alive again."

Differences between the stage and film versions[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (December 2011)

• As in the original musical, the story of the film spans the course of one year. The musical only stated that the action begins and ends on a December 24 and was meant to be the present; however, the film establishes the setting as 1989 to 1990. This creates some lyrical inconsistencies: for example, "Today 4 U" contains a reference to the film Thelma and Louise, which was not released until 1991, and the song "Over the Moon" makes apparent references to the Oklahoma City bombing^[4] which did not occur until 1995. Columbus has said that these specific dates were used because he intended for the action of the film to be taking place prior to the 1990s gentrification of Manhattan's East Village, the neighborhood in which the movie is set. Some elements of the story are shifted in time: in the musical, for example, Benny's padlock on the apartment is discovered on Christmas Eve; in the film it's found on New Year's Day.
• The first act of the musical (culminating with La Vie Boheme) takes place in the span of a few hours on Christmas Eve. In the film, it takes place over the course of a few days.
• Many of the Broadway version's original songs were cut in order to add dialogue to the film and make the plot flow more naturally; on Broadway, it is a rock opera with very little spoken dialogue. Some songs not included in the film are “You Okay Honey?,” “Christmas Bells,” “Happy New Year A & B,” “Contact,” “We’re Okay,” along with “Tune Ups #1–3” and numerous answering machine messages. Some sections of the previous songs were transformed into spoken dialogue for entertainment purposes (as with "La Vie Boheme"). A solo by Mark, "Halloween," was filmed but cut because it did not "fit in with the pacing" of the film. "Goodbye Love" was filmed in its entirety, but the second half was cut from the film because Columbus considered it somewhat of an emotional overload, as he states on the DVD's commentary track. Both scenes are on the second disc of the DVD set as special features.
• A few songs were also rearranged, including "Seasons of Love," which opens the film (as opposed to Act 2 in the musical), and "You'll See," which is also sung much earlier in the narrative than in the musical.
• Maureen appears much earlier in the film than in the musical.
• The film includes a newly created scene of an engagement party for Maureen and Joanne, hosted by Joanne's parents, that culminates in the song "Take Me or Leave Me" and the breakup of Maureen and Joanne's relationship. On stage, the fateful argument between Maureen and Joanne takes place as the two of them rehearse for another protest. Both Joanne's and Maureen's parents appear in the party scene. In the musical, Joanne's parents are heard and seen in a spotlight (Voicemail #2) and Maureen's parents are never introduced.
• The film also leaves ambiguous the death of Roger's girlfriend April, who dies before Rent begins. In the film, she is seen reading a doctor's report that she is HIV positive; it is stated that she has died, but nothing more is said. In the stage version, Mark explicitly states that April committed suicide by slitting her wrists in the bathroom, and Roger found out about his HIV in the suicide note. Chris Columbus states in the DVD commentary that a scene featuring April lying in the bathtub with her wrists slit was filmed, but cut because he thought it would be "too much."

Soundtrack[link]

RENT: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is an album containing 28 tracks of music from the film Rent, an adaptation of the Broadway musical. The 2-disc soundtrack, containing 28 tracks, was produced by Rob Cavallo and released on September 27, 2005. This version of the soundtrack was originally packaged in eight different slipcovers, each featuring one of the eight most prominent characters in the film. The first single, "Seasons of Love," was released exclusively on the iTunes Music Store on August 2, 2005; a music video was released on Apple's QuickTime website the same day.

Track listing[link]

Disc 1[link]

1. "Seasons of Love" (#33 US) - Joanne, Collins & Cast of RENT
2. "Rent" - Mark, Roger, Collins, Benny & Tenants (including Mimi and Angel)
3. "You'll See" - Roger, Mark & Benny
4. "One Song Glory" - Roger
5. "Light My Candle" - Roger & Mimi
6. "Today 4 U" - Angel
7. "Tango: Maureen" - Joanne and Mark
8. "Life Support" - Gordon, Roger, Steve & Cast of RENT
9. "Out Tonight" - Mimi
10. "Another Day" - Roger, Mimi, Collins, Mark & Angel
11. "Will I?" - Steve, Gordon & Cast of RENT
12. "Santa Fe" - Collins & Company
13. "I'll Cover You" - Angel & Collins
14. "Over The Moon" - Maureen (sung live on film by Idina Menzel [Maureen] and is a different take than was used in the movie.)

Disc 2[link]

1. "La Vie Bohème" * - Cast of RENT
2. "I Should Tell You" - Roger & Mimi
3. "La Vie Bohème B" * - Mimi, Mark, Angel, Collins, Maureen, Joanne & Roger
4. "Seasons of Love B" - Cast of RENT
5. "Take Me Or Leave Me" - Maureen & Joanne
6. "Without You" - Mimi & Roger
7. "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" - Collins & Company
8. "Halloween" - Mark (cut from the film; included on the DVD as a deleted scene)
9. "Goodbye Love" * - Mimi, Roger, Benny, Maureen, Joanne, Mark & Collins (Cut from film after the line 'I can't believe this is goodbye'; included on the DVD as a deleted scene)
10. "What You Own" - Roger & Mark
11. "Finale A" - Mimi & Roger
12. "Your Eyes" - Roger
13. "Finale B* " - Cast of RENT
14. "Love Heals" - Cast of RENT (bonus track on the soundtrack, which did not appear in the film, was written by Larson for the organization Friends Indeed)

One-Disc Edition Track Listing[link]

1. "Seasons of Love" - 3:02
2. "Rent" - 3:58
3. "One Song Glory" - 2:46
4. "Light My Candle" - 4:10
5. "Today 4 U" - 2:45
6. "Tango: Maureen" - 3:31
7. "Out Tonight" - 3:55
8. "Sante Fe" - 3:28
9. "I'll Cover You" - 2:31
10. "La Vie Bohème A & B" - 8:26
11. "I Should Tell You" - 2:53
12. "Take Me Or Leave Me" - 3:51
13. "Without You" - 4:16
14. "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" - 3:43
15. "What You Own" - 3:58
16. "Finale B" - 2:34
17. "Love Heals" (Bonus Track) - 4:36

Single Track Listing[link]

Seasons of Love[link]

1. Seasons of Love (Gomi's Liar Radio Mix)
2. Seasons of Love (Monkey Bars Remix)
3. Seasons of Love (L.E.X. Theatrical Club Mix)
4. Seasons of Love (Eddie Baez's "Payin' the Rent" Club Mix)
5. Seasons of Love (Gomi's Lair Radio Edit)
6. Seasons of Love (Monkey Bars Remix Edit)
7. Seasons of Love (L.E.X. Theatrical Club Mix Edit)
8. Seasons of Love (Eddie Baez's Payin' The Rent Club Mix Edit)

Take Me or Leave Me[link]

1. Take Me or Leave Me (Tracy Young Radio)
2. Take Me or Leave Me (Tracy Young Remix)
3. Take Me or Leave Me (Gabriel D Vine's Big Band Disco Remix)
4. Take Me or Leave Me (Jackie And Jorio Club Mix)
5. Take Me or Leave Me (Tracy Young Dub)
6. Out Tonight (Mark!'s Redux Club Remix) [Edit on the Digital Download Single]
7. Light My Candle (Monkey Bars Remix)

Notes[link]

• On Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart for the week ending August 20, 2005, "Seasons of Love" debuted at #68.
• "La Vie Bohème A" and "La Vie Bohème B" are joined together on the highlights album.
• Notes on the bonus track Love Heals (taken from the CD case booklet of "RENT: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"):

Jonathan [Larson] wrote LOVE HEALS while working on RENT, to help in the efforts of Love Heals — the Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS education. Alison was one of the first heterosexual women to contract AIDS from a "one night stand." He wanted to help her and the organization in the best way he could: with music. Although not written for RENT, we have included this bonus track as a tribute to Jonathan and to help further the cause of AIDS education.

Musicians[link]

• Tim Pierce (acoustic guitar, electric guitar)
• Jamie Muhoberac (piano, organ, keyboards)
• Paul Bushnell (bass guitar)
• Dorian Crozier (drums, percussion, programming)
• Tim Weil (piano)
• Gregory Curtis (organ)
• Greg Suran (acoustic guitar, electric guitar)
• Suzie Katayama (cello, accordion)

Recording Engineers[link]

• Doug McKean (Chief Engineer)
• Charles Williams (Assistant Engineer)
• Elan Trujillo (Assistant Engineer)

References[link]

• Yahoo! Movies: Greg's Preview for Rent
• Tuesday Night Movie Club: Rent Script Review
• Playbill: Will Justin Timberlake Appear in Movie Version of Rent?
• Playbill: Rent Film Aims to Start Production in Spring 2005 for Late-Year Release
• "Seasons of Love" Press Release, August 2, 2005
• Movies On Line: RENT...Stars For Rent
• Broadway World: Success of Rent Promises Good Tidings for Upcoming Broadway Films
• Rent: The View on YouTube

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rent (film)

• Official website
  • Official blog
• Rent at the Internet Movie Database
• Rent at Box Office Mojo
• Rent at Rotten Tomatoes
• Interview with Anthony Rapp and Taye Diggs and also Stephen John Ramirez

Look up rent in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Rent may refer to:

• Renting, a system of payment for the temporary use of something owned by someone else (hiring); the payments for such use are typically referred to as "rent"
• Economic rent, in economics, a payment to a factor of production in excess of that which is needed to keep it employed in its current use
• Rent (musical), a stage musical by Jonathan Larson, directed by Michael Greif
  • Rent (film), a 2005 movie version of the musical, directed by Chris Columbus
  • Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway, the final performance of the Broadway production filmed live in 2008, directed by Michael John Warren
• Rent (song), a 1987 pop music hit from the Pet Shop Boys
• Rent (MUD), a game mechanic in some MUDs
• Rentboy or rent boy, a slang term for a male prostitute
• Past form of the verb "to rend"

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.

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the French Wikipedia. (January 2012) Don't speak French? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the French article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|fr|Cinéma}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

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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:
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	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
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	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
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• Allmovie – Information on films: actors, directors, biographies, reviews, cast and production credits, box office sales, and other movie data.
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Adam Pascal
Pascal in concert in New Haven, Connecticut, January 19, 2008
Born	(1970-10-25) October 25, 1970 (age 41) Bronx, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor/Musician
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Cybele Chivian (1998–present; 2 children)

Adam Pascal (born October 25, 1970) is an American actor and singer known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original cast of Jonathan Larson's musical Rent on Broadway 1996, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the Broadway Tour of Rent in 2009. He is also known for originating the role of Radames in Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida and for playing the Emcee from the 1998 revival of Cabaret.

Early life and stage work[link]

Pascal was born in The Bronx, New York and grew up in Woodbury, Nassau County, New York, with his mother and stepfather, Wendy and Mel Seamon.^[1] He was raised Jewish.^[2] He graduated from Syosset High School.^[3] Before his interest in music, he was a personal trainer. Although he began as a rock musician playing in a number of bands (such as Mute) formed with his schoolmates, Pascal became drawn to the musical theater. A friend of his from high school mentioned Rent to him. On a whim, he auditioned and was cast as the HIV positive rock guitarist Roger Davis. His powerful tenor voice and his performance in Rent earned him a Tony nomination, a Theater World award, and an Obie Award. He left the show on November 2, 1997, but went on to reprise Roger when Rent opened in London.

The role helped Pascal gain fame on Broadway, and he was cast in the Elton John and Tim Rice musical Aida as the Egyptian general Radames with the original and final casts^[4] (former Rent castmate Idina Menzel would co-star as Amneris in 2001), and Kander and Ebb's Cabaret, closing the show as the Emcee (closing cast).^[5] He also participated in several charity performances, including Chess in 2003 (playing the American, Freddie Trumper),^[6] Hair in 2004 (singing "I Got Life"),^[7] and the 24 Hour Plays in 2005.^[8] He returned to Aida in 2004 to close the run of the show as Radames.^[9][10]

Along with original Broadway Rent cast member Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen), Pascal returned to Broadway to star as Roger in Rent from July 30 to October 7, 2007.^[11] In January 2009, he and Rapp reprised their originating (and film) roles as Roger and Mark in another Rent tour titled: "Rent: The Broadway Tour", which played in many cities in the North America, as well as stops in Japan and South Korea. At the tour's Detroit, Michigan stop in February, Pascal suffered two herniated discs in his neck and was on medical leave for a week. Cary Shields, an understudy and also a Broadway Rent veteran, filled in. Pascal made a full recovery and finished up the tour in early 2010.^[12] This tour closed on February 7, 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Pascal reprised the role of Frederick Trumper, aka "Freddie, The American" in the London concert version of Chess at the Royal Albert Hall on May 12–13, 2008. His Rent and Aida co-star Idina Menzel played the role of Florence.^[13] This performance was recorded; it has been televised, first on American and British television on June 17, 2009, and repeatedly in America on PBS stations as part of that network's "Great Performances" series; and has been released on DVD.^[14]

Pascal joined the Broadway Cast of Memphis (musical) on October 25, 2011 as Huey Calhoun. He replaced original cast member Chad Kimball in the role. ^[15]

Music[link]

Pascal felt that he was looked upon solely as a Broadway singer, and thus returned to his rock and roll roots with a solo recording contract on Sh-K-Boom Records, which was founded by his Aida costar, Sherie Rene Scott and her husband Kurt Deutsch.^[16] He has released two solo rock albums, Model Prisoner (2000),^[17] Civilian (2004),^[18] as well as a collaborative rock album Blinding Light (2008) with pianist, Larry Edoff.^[19] He also contributed a cover of Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" to the CD Broadway Cares: Home for the Holidays (2001),^[20] the end credits song, "Winter Light", from the movie Noel (2004),^[21] and the song "Perfect Place" on the album Listen which showcases songs written by adolescents who stutter (2009).^[22] In School of Rock, he played Theo, lead singer of the band No Vacancy, and sang on two songs on the soundtrack.

On July 4, 2006, Pascal took part in the Macy's Fourth of July Celebration. He sang during the traditional fireworks display. He also took part in both the fifth and tenth anniversary celebrations of Rent on Broadway in 2000 and 2005, respectively.

Pascal formed the band "Me and Larry (Edoff)" in 2006. The two musicians began composing and performing original material and reworked Broadway songs in small venues throughout the US. Pascal won the 2007–2008 Golden Icon Award for Best Small Venue Concert. The band's first CD, Blinding Light, was released in May 2008 on Pascal's own label. The CD is available at concerts and through Amazon^[23] and the band's website^[24] (where a direct digital download is available).

In 2008, Pascal recorded a ballad entitled "Eva Wanted" with Broadway veteran and recording artist Maya Days. Pascal and Days co-starred in Aida on Broadway in 2000. Days is also a veteran of Rent on Broadway and in the UK, as well as the first National Tour, playing Mimi.^[25]

As of 2009 and later, Pascal is developing a theatrical stage version of the classic 1988 concept album, Operation: Mindcrime by the prograssive metal band, Queensrÿche. The band is one of Pascal's musical influences, and has fully endorsed his efforts.^[26]

Film work[link]

Pascal made his film debut in SLC Punk! (1999), and also appeared in School of Rock (2003) and Temptation (2004). The audio for Temptation, a musical, was recorded live on set during filming.

In late 2005, he, along with five others of the principal cast, reprised their roles in the film version of Rent, directed by Chris Columbus. Pop idol Justin Timberlake campaigned heavily to Columbus and the producers for the role of Roger,^[27] but Columbus insisted that only the original cast members could convey the true meaning of Rent. The film released on November 23, 2005.

In the independent movie Falling Star (formally titled Goyband), Pascal stars as a former boy-band icon who is booked to play a show at a Kosher hotel, but ends up shocking the guests with his sexy show. Fans were invited to participate in the movie as extras for the concert scenes. His co-stars are Amy Davidson, Cris Judd, Tovah Feldshuh, Dean Edwards, Tibor Feldman and Natasha Lyonne. Goyband originally premiered at the Jerusalem Films Festival in December 2008. Its North America premiere was July 2009, on Long Island. The movie was bought by distributor, MarVista Entertainment, which retitled it Falling Star.^[28]

Pascal has also completed filming for another independent movie, American Primitive, about a gay couple who try to hide their relationship from family and neighbors in 1973, a few years following the Stonewall Riots.^[29]

Disney had been planning a major motion picture adaptation release of Aida in 2010. According to Jim Hill Media, Beyoncé Knowles was in talks with Walt Disney Studios to star in the title role alongside Christina Aguilera as Amneris. It was unknown if Pascal would be asked to play his familiar role of Radames in this adaptation.^[30] However, no further reports of the adaptation's production have surfaced since.

Television[link]

Pascal had a guest role as Dennis Hofferman, a murder victim, on an episode of Cold Case, with Tracie Thoms, his co-star from the film version of Rent, and Laura Bell Bundy, another Broadway star who originated the role of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. The episode, called "Willkommen", originally aired on April 2, 2006, and revolved around an amateur production of Cabaret.^[31]

Pascal provided the narration and sang a song in the double-length episode "Tale of the Mighty Knights" for the show The Backyardigans. The song is called "I'm Not an Egg Anymore", and is the final song of the episode.^[32]

Personal life[link]

On December 19, 1998,^[33] Pascal married Cybele Chivian, daughter of Eric S. Chivian, M.D., Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School and 1985 Nobel Prize winner. They have two sons,^[34] Lennon Jay (born October 2001) and Montgomery Lovell (born February 2004).^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]

• "Mute" - ca. 1994
• "Model Prisoner" - 2000
• "Civilian" - 2004
• "Blinding Light" (with Larry Edoff) - 2008

Stage credits[link]

• Rent (Original US & UK casts) - Roger Davis (1996–1997 [New York], 1998 [London])
• Aida - Radames (Original cast) (1998–2000)
• Fully Committed (off-Broadway) - Co-producer (2000)
• Cabaret - Emcee (October 2003 - January 2004) (Closing Cast)
• Aida - Radames (2004) (Closing Cast)
• Hair (2005) (Actors' Benefit Concert)
• Chess - Freddie (2005) (Actors' Benefit Concert)
• 24 Hour Plays (2005)
• Rent (Broadway) - Roger Davis (2007)
• Alive in the World (2008)
• Chess (London) - Freddie (2008)
• Drift - (2008)
• Rent (US national tour) - Roger Davis (2009–2010)
• The Real Love: A New Musical - Rolf (2011) (Special Engagement in Pasadena)
• Memphis (Broadway) - Huey Calhoun (2011)

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Adam Pascal at the Internet Broadway Database
• Adam Pascal at the Internet Movie Database
• Adam Pascal at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Adam Pascal on Myspace
• Adam Pascal Official YouTube Channel
• Adam Pascal Interview