With reference to Bordwell/Staiger/Thompson’s model of classical narrative cinema, examine whether D.W. Griffith’s short films (1910s) might be seen to fit the model in the areas of story construction; narration; character development; staging; performance.
In this essay I wish to examine whether the short films of D.W Griffith fit into the model of Classical Narrative Cinema presented by David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kirstin Thompson. They examined how CNC developed through changes in acting, the constructing of a storyline, development of characters and staging to create a narrative based cinema. These changes were motivated by audience’s expectations of film. Therefore, filmmakers had to make changes in order to create a narrative
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Filmmakers had to create a more cohesive story in which the narrative could unfold. Thompson in her analysis of classical film states that while filmmakers were attempting to create a more complete narrative, they needed “to find the means of creating a unified space in which the story could take place” (194). Film need to find alternative methods of creating this space, as they could not do it in the way the stage or the novel could. As Tom Gunning discusses in his study of Griffith, the formulation of a new type of “language” or as Terry Ramsaye describes it a new kind of “syntax” “rhetoric” and “grammar” was key to developing a discernable story (35). One technique used by filmmakers like Griffith, to counteract this was “continuity editing” (194). As Thompson indicates, this included “cut-ins”, “point of view “shots, “eyeline structures” and “dialogue inter-titles” (194). Continuity became important in the film industry as it was one of the “basic principles” that created an ‘indiscernible thread’ which the audience were “controlled and comprehending” (196). This continuity then developed as a tool for narrative structure. Thompson comments that continuity “quickly developed from a general notion of narrative unity to the to the more specific conception of a story told in visual terms and continuing unbroken, spatially and temporally, from shot to shot” (196). These …show more content…
Thompson argues that during this period; people became more interested in human psychology. “The same was true of the classical cinema’s concept of the character; it derived in part from a growing interest in the other arts during the same period in character psychology” (170) “writers were increasingly interested in portraying realistic characters and their environments” (170). One of the main methods of creating character psychology and development was through acting. The 1910s was a time when acting changed from a style strongly influenced by vaudeville to a more subdued type of acting, which in part came from the need for a more believable portrayal of characters. As Eileen Bower discusses, “Stage pantomime, with its stylized gestures and artistic traditions, was not going to be clearly understandable to the new audience, and in addition, it conflicted with the precepts of realism” (86). Two types of acting that existed during this time, the “Saxon” style of acting, which was “restrained” and used more “facial-expression” juxtaposed to the “Latin” style of acting which used the “whole body” and was more “exaggerated” (88). This was in line with what Victorian society expected as “controlled emotions” and “naturalness” were linked with “restraint” (88). Moreover, actors were discouraged from looking at the camera as it would “destroy the illusion” (89) of the film. This type of acting is
In classical Hollywood cinema, narrative follows a linear chain of cause and effects. The narrative is clearly structured with a beginning, middle, and end. There are a lot of elements that contribute into focusing on the narrative of a film. One of the most important element of a classic Hollywood cinema is editing by using continuity cutting. The goal is to make a cut invisible and is constructed in a way that does not draw attention onto itself.
The concentration is on comparing and finding the changes that history made to this movie genre, especially considering the gender roles. Results will clearly explain the psyche of society in two different periods, which confirms that people reflect the movies as movies have an impact on people. The Introduction It is often said that the element of surprise makes the movie more interesting and leads the plot. There are many masters of storytelling
“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can convey emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.” The written word and the moving image have always had their entwining roots deeply entrenched in similar narrative codes, both functioning at the level of implication, connotation and referentiality. But ever since the advent of cinema, they have been pitted against each other over formal and cultural peculiarities – hence engaging in a relationship deemed “overtly compatible, secretly hostile” (Bluestone 2).
The novel ‘Jasper Jones’ written by Craig Silvey and the film ‘Dressmaker’ directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse have connected to the audience and use of narratives conventions in very similar ways. The ways that they have succeed doing this is through characteristics, plot and setting. By looking into how they are used by the author/ director widen the knowledge and have deeper in-depth understanding on how authors and directors use them to connect with the audience. The author and director have used characteristics to connect with the audience by using relatable situations like peer pressure, disliked by people, challenges and traumatic experiences.
In this paper I hypothesize that A Voyage to the Moon was most innovative in cinematography and editing. Although mise en-scene was the main focus of the film, I hypothesize that mise en scene wasn’t as innovative as the other two. As mentioned earlier, mise en scene made A Voyage to the Moon easy to understand and follow along. In the first scene of the film, this power
Introduction This essay examines the Cassavetes’s unique approach in his films he directed especially in Faces (1968) and Shadow (1959) in creating alternative forms of performative expression. Cassavetes’s approach focus on spontaneous, unstructured performance of characters, contradict to Stanislavski 's system that focus on emotion memory or actor’s past experience to bring out the expression on stage. In this essay, Cassavetes’s first film, Shadow, will be compared to his fourth film, Faces, to see development in Cassavetes’s approach in performance of character. Shadow is a film about interracial relations between African-American and white Americans in 1950’s New York, starring Ben Carruthers as Ben, Lelia Goldoni as Lelia and Hugh Hurd as Hugh, the only dark-skinned among three siblings.
The film 13th directed by Ava DuVernay targets an intended audience of the Media and the three branches of the United States government with an emphasis that mass incarceration is an extension of slavery. It is intended to inform viewers about the criminalization of African Americans and the United States prison boom. 13th uses rhetorical devices in its claim to persuade the viewers by using exemplum in the opening seconds of the film. President Barack Obama presents statistics, saying “the United States is home to 5% of the world’s population but is home to 25% of the world’s prisoners.” Also the film uses a hyperbole in talking about the movie Birth of a Nation produced in 1915 which portrays a black man as a violent savage who will kill white women.
Mise-en-scéne is crucial to classical Hollywood as it defined an era ‘that in its primary sense and effect, shows us something; it is a means of display. ' (Martin 2014, p.XV). Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) will be analysed and explored with its techniques and styles of mise-en-scéne and how this aspect of filmmaking establishes together as a cohesive whole with the narrative themes as classical Hollywood storytelling. Features of the film 's sense of space and time, setting, motifs, characters, and character goals will be explored and how they affect the characterisation, structure, and three-act organisation.
Storytelling has been a part of people's’ lives since the beginning of time. It started with just verbal communication, then it was translated into written word, and now there hundreds of ways to tell those same stories. Movies and books, for example, are two very different ways to tell stories to an audience. A story can be a book, but not a movie or vice versa. Many books are made into movies, but lose major elements in translation.
These separate entities used different techniques of writing and film and character portrayal to capture the key themes in this story.
This would help in making the audience connect with the story and the characters more easily. I now have a better understanding of film in general and how it can move and transcend people of the society at a particular time when it can take them to a different world and make them forget about their worries. Just like German Expressionism inspired me, a budding filmmaker, this specific translation of cinema as craftmanship would go ahead to impact the absolute most essential filmmakers of the twentieth century, including Alfred Hitchcock, Werner Herzog, and Tim
Structure in narrative film can be thought of as the arrangement of scenes and sequences, however deconstructing sequences and re-ordering them can create a whole new theme and mood in a films sequence. Phillips, (2005). Casablanca’s narrative plot has a beginning, middle and an end. It has a certain symmetry about it and follows a set of norms and conventions. For a viewer, Casablanca is easy to understand and it simply tells a story that is not ambiguous.
The movie ties in more brutality and violence to appeal to a modern audience that demands intense appeal to the senses. The play uses the simplicity of setting elements such as the balcony and common acting techniques to communicate Shakespear’s original message. Given the time period of the text, Shakepear’s use of these strategies are as modern as those unique techniques used in the movie. The movie and the play attract their audiences based on what appeals to them. Most importantly, both deliver the message to the audience that “For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her
In “Aesthetic of Astonishment” essay, Gunning argues how people first saw cinema, and how they are amazed with the moving picture for the first time, and were not only amazed by the technological aspect, but also the experience of how the introduction of movies have changed the way people perceive the reality in a completely different way. Gunning states that “The astonishment derives from a magical metamorphosis rather than a seamless reproduction of reality”(118). He uses the myth of how the sacred audience run out the theater in terror when they first saw the Lumiere Brother Arrival of the train. However, Gunning does not really care how hysterical their reaction is, even saying that he have doubts on what actually happened that day, as for him it the significance lied on the incidence--that is, the triggering of the audience’s reaction and its subsequence results, and not the actual reactions and their extent. It is this incident, due to the confusion of the audience’s cognition caused by new technology, that serves as a significant milestone in film history which triggered in the industry and the fascination with film, which to this day allows cinema to manipulate and
2015, 129). Each performer acquires roles which contain expected behaviours that are appropriate to the performance of that role (Willmott, 2018). When we perform our roles to other actors and to our audience, we view them as theatrical productions. Our performance displays