Short Motion Studios

Hollywood, famous for being the world’s biggest hub for movie studios and film stars, has long been celebrated as the ultimate holiday destination for celebrity spotters. Often considered to be a city in its own right due to its significance to Los Angeles’ culture, Hollywood is one of the most-visited districts in California.

Overlooked by the iconic Hollywood sign, a landmark that was created as nothing more than an advertisement for new housing developments in Hollywood hills, Hollywood is every bit as glitzy and glamourous as its industry makes it look. A stunning and diverse town, Hollywood is packed with excitement and adventure at every corner and it’s not an uncommon sight to see some of the biggest celebrities in TV and film strolling down its streets to get to the studios and film that big scene they’ve been rehearsing for weeks.

If Hollywood forms one of your dream destinations, you couldn’t do better than to hop on one of the Hollywood tour coaches and enjoy being driven around in style while a friendly and expert tour guide points out the homes of the rich and famous, as well as where the magical film studios reside where all of your favourite movies have been made.

You’ll be able to discover just how big some of your top celebrities’ residences are, as well as possibly catch a glimpse of your idols making their way to and from work, walking the dog, going out for a run or enjoying catching up with friends in one of Hollywood’s hottest restaurants.

Another must-do item on the itinerary for this enigmatic town is to visit the world-renowned Hollywood Walk of Fame. This instantly recognisable sidewalk has been paved along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street and is embedded with more than 2,000 stars adorned with the names of the biggest and best stars that the district has ever known. Spend some time trying to find your favourite celebrities and you’ll be sure to drum up a few surprises – like the discovery that some of the stars on the pavement are actually fictional characters so loved by the public that they were awarded with the honour of their real life counterparts.

You may not spend much time in your Los Angeles hotel when there’s so much to see and do in this incredible city, but as long as you have your camera, you’ll be sure not to miss a thing – so enjoy Hollywood and live the dream when you head off on holiday to America’s west coast.

The Hollywood detective film genre has consistently proven itself popular with movie-going audiences. The attraction to this type of character and the stories involving detectives actually began on radio with a number of successful detective series radio programs. In the early part of the 20th century, as the motion picture industry began to grow, people began to turn off the radio and fill the movie theaters to view the detective movies that Hollywood was producing.

 

Detective movies did not always require sound in order to entertainingly portray the mystery that was involved. In fact, silent films played a large part in the detective movies that were released during the 1920s. However, the addition of sound greatly enhanced viewers enjoyment through classic dialogue and sound effects.

Of all the detective movies made by Hollywood, Sherlock Holmes may be the most popular. There have been over 200 films and television shows based on the character.

Edger Allen Poe is generally regarded as having introduced the first fictional detective character in 1841. The detectives name was C. Auguste Dupin. The classic sleuth Sherlock Holmes, as created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, achieved widespread popularity easily becoming the most famous fictional detective in motion picture history. So famous that the character has been portrayed by more actors than any other character in film history. The actor most recognized as playing Holmes is Basil Rathbone, with Nigel Bruce as his trusted associate Dr. Watson. This team shared top billing from 1939 – 1946. Some other notable actors to play the role included Robert Rundell, and Reginald Owen.

Another extremely popular film detective during this period was Charlie Chan. There were 46 Charlie Chan movies made between 1929 and 1946, and interestingly enough, the Chinese detective was never played by a Chinese actor. Introduced to the movie-going public as a minor role played by E.L. Park in the 1929 movie Behind That Curtain, the characters popularity soared with 1931′s Charlie Chan Carries On starring Warner Oland as the detective. Oland continued in the role of Chan for fifteen additional films right up until his death. Sidney Tolar took over the role for another eleven films produced by 20th Century Fox through 1942 when Tolar himself bought the screen rights and began a new series of Charlie Chan films with Monogram Pictures.

 

Actor Roland Winters followed in the role after Tolar’s death and the series continued for another six films. Sadly, the quality of the films went dramatically downhill after Tolar’s purchase of the screen rights.

 

As for the character himself, Detective Charlie Chan worked for the Honolulu Police Department, was married, and had fourteen children, often referring to the oldest as “number one son”. In an era when Asians were mostly thought of as laundrymen, house boys, or just villains, Chan stood out as a positive example for Asians. Other popular detective film series included Mr. Moto, The Thin Man Series (along with Sherlock Holmes, my personal favorite) and Bulldog Drummond.

Just as they were in the early part of the 20th century, Hollywood detective movies continue to appear on the movie screen on a regular basis, and will continue to owe their success to these humble beginnings. It’s the lure of mystery that will continue to keep audiences coming back for more. 

 

A production house refers to a company that is in charge for the development and production of films. In some cases the production house may also be responsible for raising the funds for the film. Sometimes they also sell their products to a film studio or presenting it in a theatrical venue.

In the recent times we will find that the actors, directors, producers, writers of Hollywood have started opening their own production houses because of the fact that this gives them a good opportunity of controlling their careers. Let us go through the details of these production houses of Hollywood.

In the late 1960s Francis Ford Coppola started American Zoetrope, which was considered as an early adoption of digital filmmaking. The studio had produced the films of renowned filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, etc. In fact four films produced by this production house are included in the list of top100 film by American Film Institute. Till date the films that have been produced by American Zoetrope have received fifteen Academy Awards and sixty-eight nominations.

Columbia Pictures Industries is an American production and distribution house that is a part of Columbia Tristar Motion Picture group. This production house was established in 1924 and is working in collaboration with MGM movie studio. In the year 1989 the electronic giant Sony bought Columbia Pictures. Sony spent nearly 100 million dollar and started off with Sony pictures studio. Some of the films that come under the Columbia Pictures are Batman and Robin, The Legend of Zorro, Spiderman, Anaconda, etc.

Paramount Pictures Corporation based in Hollywood, California was founded in 1912 and is one of the oldest running production houses of America. Paramount was the first successful nation wide distributor. The year 1980 and 1990 proved to be a fortune for Paramount Pictures because it generated hits like Flash dance, Raiders of the lost Ark, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Mission Impossible, etc.

Warner Brother Entertainment is the third oldest American production house meant for both film and television. In the late 1990, the Warner Brother obtained the rights to the vastly popular Harry Potter novels. The feature film adaptations were released in 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005. The final adaptations will be released in the year 2010.

A Band Apart, was a production house created by a number of famous and acclaimed movie directors. The name of the production company was derived from a play on the French New Wave classic by a filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. The members of this production house include Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, John Woo, Tim Burton, Steve Buscemi and John Landis. Producer Lawrence Bender was a cofounder of the company and presently owns and runs the business. The movies produced by this production house include Kill Bill, From Dusk till Dawn, Four Fictions, and Pulp Fiction, etc.

Taking a look at this list one can gauge the importance of production houses of Hollywood. Probably without their existence Hollywood would not have been able to organize and make movies.