Cecil Hepworth and the Rise of the British Film Industry 1899-1911
14 days return policy
Shipping & Delivery
Product details
- ISBN 9780859898904
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 27 Feb 2016
- Publisher: University of Exeter
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
This book offers an industrial, economic and aesthetic history of the early years of the British film industry from 1899–1911, through a case study of one of the most celebrated pioneer film makers, Cecil Hepworth.
Presenting a picture of daily life in his film studio, an analysis of Hepworth’s films is offered including the development of their content, production methods and marketing in this formative period.
The early twentieth century saw British film production develop from a cottage industry of artisans to a multi-modal complex economic system with a global reach. Changes in the nature of exhibition and distribution caused a major crisis in the years 1908–1911, whereby Britain lost its status as a world leader in film making. Existing histories of this period lay this crisis at the feet of pioneers like Hepworth, whose perceived inability to improve the quality of film production led to stagnation.
Brown attempts to challenge this assumption by analysing Hepworth’s development of production methods as well as his strategies towards sales in the market to demonstrate the impact on the modernisation of the film industry.
Simon Brown is Associate Professor in Film and Television at Kingston University. His main areas of research are early cinema, British cinema, colour cinematography and contemporary American television. In 2004, in addition to teaching at Kingston, he was Senior Research Fellow for The London Project, a year-long AHRB funded project researching the history of the British Film Industry in London from its inception to 1914.
