The decade marked by the great depression and leading into World War II is remembered as Hollywoods Golden age. During this era new genres were formed, new stars were born and the studio sytsem greatly increased in size. The major 8 studios at the time produced 95% of american films. More than 7,500 features were released by the studios between 1930 and 1945. More than 80 million people took in at least one film per week at the height of the cinema's popularity. Hollywood's Golden Age began to decline in the late 1940's due to the introduction of television. During this time actors began to have the ability to be a 'free agent' meaning that they were no longer bound to a production company. In 1948, antitrust suits were filed against the major studios, delivering the final blow to the Golden Age of Hollywood.
The films made at this time did not have sound and did not have great graphics like today. Classical style is fundamentally built on the principle of continuity editing or 'invisible' style. The camera and the sound recording should never call attention to themselves, as they are in modern day films. The films relied on institutional mode of representation: editing was developed to develop more interest in the story itself.
