James Cameron & the Inspiration Behind Filmmaking

 

   

       James Cameron, a writer and director, of The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2, Titanic, and Avatar to name a few has dominated the movie industry for the last twenty years. 

James Cameron gave a speech on his life and his inspiration on making various movies.  As well, he stated his personal interests and love of scuba diving.  His speech was very inspiring to hear as personally for me it gives me insight into the making of movies, as I want to represent actors/actresses.

     He first started out  by  explaining how he has always had a passion for reading science fiction books and a curiosity of science.  He loved to go hiking and collected snakes, and pod water to take back and analyze it under a microscope.  In doing so he was curious to understand about the world and it’s possibilities.  As well, James took this passion, and curiosity of robots, aliens, spaceships to draw and paint them –these were the images in his mind and the only way he knew how to express them was to put them on a movie screen. 

 

Motion Picture of Assoc. of America and Campaign on Public Awareness

      The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), is a professional association that is very interesting, and awesome.  This association began in 1922, by the presidents of major motion studios-Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayor, Jesse Lasky, and Joseph Schenck.  Their goal was to form an association to resist the demand for government censorship of films, and to provide a better image for the film industry while protecting the silent films in mainstream America.  Thus, this first association was called,"Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Assoc. of America before it became to be known as MPAA. Thus, this Association was led by General William Hays to create what is known as the, "Hays Code." This code protected the public from never seeing offensive material, as the Hays Code was enacted by the studios for self censorship-there was a review of all manuscripts to ensure of the viewing safety for the public. However, in 1960 there was major change bringing a new revision to the Hays Code so that film makers would be given freedom to their artistic creations. The new system flourished in 1966, by Jack Valenti, who was named the next president to the now MPAA.  
      This new system consisted of a voluntary rating system, it protected filmmakers so that they could create what they liked and also, protected the minors because their parents could be the judge of what their kids watched.  Today, the MPAA is represented under the leadership of CEO Chris Dodd, who is dealing with the positiveness or this digital age, but also the drawbacks such as copyright theft.