Hollywood filmmaking standards and techniques

The principles of Hollywood cinema have been developed since 1910s and consist of a specific way of making films and fixed conventions of film practice. 

Titanic, the first movie to gross more than 1 billion dollars, has become an enormous success by following strict Hollywood filmmaking patterns. First of all, the movie has two parallel plots, a struggle between surviving a disaster and presenting a romance, director James Cameron, quoted in Maltby(2003, p10), says “only by telling it is a love story can you appreciate the loss of separation and the loss caused by death.”

Bordwell (p.18) highlights the idea by suggesting that “The classical Hollywood film presents psychologically defined individuals who struggle to solve a clear-cut problem or to attain specific goals.In the course of this struggle, the characters enter into conflict with others or with external  circumstances.”

Moreover, the romance was between the lower-class Jack Dawson(Leonardo DiCaprio) and well-heeled Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), emphasizing the social class difference but in the same time showing to the audience that love is stronger than anything else, a typical Hollywood film motif.

Thus, we can state that Titanic has the Classical Hollywood narratives which is addressed mainly at women, with about 100 minutes of the movie concerned with the romance between Jack and Rose.  

Different people identify themselves with different aspects of the movie with a diverse range of emotions being transmitted to the audience. Like in the majority of Hollywood films, there is a pick moment which creates the thrill of the action to  be presented. When Rose tells Jack that she will leave the ship with him as a result of her love, the ship hits the iceberg. The spectacular action movie begins. 

However, a Hollywood fixed convention about film is that it has to have a “happy ending”. Bordwell(p.21) suggest in Hollywood filmmaking there is “the pressure for a happy ending" and "the need for a logical wrap-up.” The movie is designed for the pleasure of the viewers.

Another important aspect present in Titanic is the narrative transitivity. In The European Cinema Reader (2002, p.74-75) the concept is defined as “ a sequence of events in which each unit (…) follows the one preceding it according to a chain of causation.”

In addition to that, Hollywood film patterns include well know stars and spectacular settings. The female viewers had the opportunity to gaze at Leonardo DiCaprio, a well known actor, while the action happened on a luxurious ship.

Titanic can be seen as the visual definition of the principles of Hollywood cinema.

Another movie in which we can see the characteristics of Hollywood filmmaking is A walk to remember. The story presents the main characters, Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan, as living in different worlds because of their social status. However, the story takes an unexpected turn when a joke planned by Landon and his friends goes terribly wrong and his punishment is mandatory participation in various after-school activities. This is the moment that the two start interacting and after a while they fall in love with each other. However, Jamie Sullivan has a secret, she is affected by terminal leukemia, the movie ending with Jamie's death, but only after the couple are married in the same chapel as was Jamie's deceased mother. All the characteristics presented earlier of Hollywood filmmaking standards are valid in this movie as well.

In addition, because it is a typical Hollywood film it had to have the “happy ending.” The last scene presents Landon and Jamie`s father talking, when he reveals he has finished college and been accepted to medical school; prior to meeting her he had no plans for life. This showed how much Jamie changed him. 

Reference List

Books

• Bordwell, D. (1985). The classical Hollywood Cinema. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p.18-21. 
  
• Fowler, C. (2002). The European Cinema Reader. London: Routledge. p. 74-75 
• Maltby, R. (2003). Hollywood Cinema. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. p. 10-14.

 Online

• Ramos, J. . (2011). On James Cameron's 'Titanic'. Available: http://amateurfilmstudies.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-james-camerons-titanic.html. Last accessed 2nd March 2012. 
• SunSeven. Titanic, the epic success of a movie. Available: http://sunseven.hubpages.com/hub/December-10-Epic-Success-of-Titanic-the-Movie. Last accessed 2nd March 2012. 

What makes an Auteur?

In Film Essays and Criticism,  Arnheim (1997) suggests that there are several debates regarding the idea of the auteur of a film. First of all, whether film is the work of only one individual or is it a collective work, a collaborative effort. Secondly, if we agree that there is an auteur of a film, who shall we give credit to? The answers to these questions rely on the viewer’s interpretation of what film means, with considerable amount of evidence sustaining both ideas.

At the beginning of the filmmaking, cinema was considered an art, “offering the individual the freedom of personal expression.” (Buscombe, 1973) Film critics like Francois Truffaut(1954) and Andrew Sarris (1962) considered that the director of a film is the true auteur, with examples such as Hitchcock and Hawks. This idea is reinforced by Hillier (1986) who suggests that the director may have little control over choice of subject and cast, or over the script, however the director is expressing his individuality thru controlling what will appear on the screen. “the originality of the auteur lies not in the subject matter he chooses, but in the technique he employs, i.e., the mise-en-scène , through which everything on the screen is expressed.… As Sartre said: "One isn't a writer for having chosen to say certain things, but for having chosen to say them in a certain way." Why should it be any different for cinema? “(Hillier, 1986, p. 142).

Thus, an auteur is someone that has a differentiating style, almost instantly recognizable and which creates a film in which he expresses his personality.

Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is a film director, screenwriter and film producer. His debut movie is PI(1998), followed by

Requiem for a dream(2000),

The Fountain(2006), 

The Wrestler(2008) and 

Black Swan(2010).

The World of Aronofsky

PI is a psychological thriller, the title referring to the mathematical constant pi. From the beginning of his career, Aronofsky`s protagonist has an obsessive pursuit of ideas that later on leads to severely self-destructive behaviour. Extreme paranoia, hallucinations, and social anxiety disorder are the main characteristics of the protagonist.

Pi, Source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQYYGwYTPuY

 

His second movie, Requiem for a dream, is disturbing to watch with piercing and darkly visual effects that create the world of four characters with a drug addiction. Even from this point we can see part of the signature of Darren Aronofsky, the theme of self-fulfillment. 

Requiem for a dream, Source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgo3Hb5vWLE

 

Black Swan, his latest movie, is a psychological thriller in which the main protagonist, a ballerina, is sacrificing her physical and mental health for art and personal fulfillment. The film has a strong impact on the viewers with shocking visual images such as bone cracking and blood. The inspiration for Black Swan was the world of ballet he was exposed to growing up thru his sister. 

Black Swan, Source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jaI1XOB-bs

Darren Aronofsky can be definitely named a real auteur. The viewers , to a certain degree, know what to expect when watching one of his movies.

His themes are dark, provocative and controversial. There is a strong, psychological meaning produced with each of his movies. In addition, taboo subjects such as drugs, violence, sexuality, body disorders, sexual harassment are transformed into art. 

Moreover, Darren Aronofsky has a very unique stylized mise-en scene, with fast motion images and sound effects that enhance a certain action. 

Close ups of characters are often used even though we are not yet familiar with the protagonists. Moreover, the characters in the movie are inspired by his own experiences and life.

In addition to the play of lighting and his very fast pace of editing, his style introduces the viewer in a world of chaos. The viewers are itoxicated by the images, trapped in the lighting and irritated by the sound. They have been trapped in the world that is suffocating, the world of Aronofsky. 

The ending is also part of his signature. The viewers always expecting for more clarifying information, while the lack of it creates extreme controversy.

To conclude, all this elements show that Darren Aronofsky is an auteur, a director with his uniqueness in creating film, no matter of the budget of the movie, the plot, the actors.

Reference List


Books and journal articles

• Arnheim, R. (1997). Film Essays and Criticism . Madison : The University of Wisconsin Press.
• Buscombe, E.. (1973). Ideas of Authorship. Oxford Journals. 14 (3), p. 75-85
• Caughie, J. (1981). Theories of Authorship. 2^nd Ed. 2^nd Ed:Routledge & Keger Paul Ltd.
• Moreno, M. C.. (2009). Body politics and spaces of drug addiction in Darren Aronofsky`s Requim for a dream. GeoJurnal. 74 (x), p. 219-226O

Online Sources

• Soghomonian, T. . (2010 ). Darren Aronofsky Discusses BLACK SWAN at Length in Paris. Available: http://collider.com/darren-aronofsky-interview-black-swan-paris-godzilla/64506/. Last accessed 3rd March 2012. 
• Zeitchik, S.. (2010). `Black Swan's' passionate dance. Available: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/09/black-swan-natalie-portman-mila-kunis-aronofsky.html. Last accessed 1st March 2010.

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Moments of cinema pre 1930′s

Classical Hollywood Cinema

The Cheat, Source

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBKj0W1JylU

Even from the beginning of the filmmaking, the Hollywood studios were controlling the industry. We can see certain similarities between the early Hollywood movie and the present ones. The use of “appealing stars and splendid sets” with a clear storytelling is a trait of Hollywood movies used since early cinema till this moment. Moreover, most of the movies presented two interdependent plot lines, a conflict between romance and the character’s struggle to achieve its goal. In addition, Thompson and Bordwell (2003, p.73) state that “The plot also arouses suspense through deadlines, escalating conflicts, and last-minute rescues.” These principles are at the base of Hollywood movies during time and made the American films successful all over the world.

Animation

The Artist`s Dream, Source

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DFgvqA1eCw

During 1910s in America there has been increased interest in animated filmmaking, with many technical innovations like the mechanical printing of background setting, the use of transparent cels, and the slash technique of drawing action.( Thompson and Bordwell, 2003, p.77)

 Bray's The Artist's Dream (or The Daschund and the Sausage), released in June 1913, became the first animated film distributed commercially in theatres. Moreover, in The Artist`s Dream, Bray "managed to create extremely fluid animation as well as to imbue his dog character with a crucial quality-personality, as shown in the dachshund`s movements, facial expressions, and the story-driving gluttonous desire."

(http://brayanimation.weebly.com/jr-brays-cartoons.html)

German Expressionism

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Source

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9WjHEKLMbc&feature=related

 

In German Cinema, John D. Barlow (1999, p.84) says “two goals were to be achieved with expressionist film: to regain export territory closed to German films because of the world war I, and to attract new, socially and artistically more sophisticated audiences to the cinema without scaring the traditional viewers.

Critics announced that the expressionism style made its way into the cinema with Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari/The cabinet of Dr Caligari in 1920. The first motif of the German expressionism film is the stylisation of the decor.  Thompson and Bordwell (2003) state that “The film used stylized sets, with strange, distorted buildings painted on canvas backdrops and flats in a theatrical manner.” Effective lighting design with the play between lights and shadows is another characteristic of German expressionism. The lights help in constructing the story and enhance the mystery and the action presented. In addition, stereotypical characters and exaggerated acting were used in order to “express various anxieties about the modern condition, and the nature of contemporary life.” German expressionisms movies are characterised by focus on the characters` faces to highlight expressions and create the mood and the atmosphere of the movie. 

Kracaur (2004, p67) says that “Caligari exposes the soul wavering between tyranny and chaos, facing a desperate situation. Like the Nazi world, that of Caligari overflows with sinister potents, acts of terror and outbursts of panic.”

French Impressionism

El Dorado, Source

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM7l_pK7l6o

Central to the Impressionist Movement are the attempts to transmit sensations and emotional `impressions`. Thompson and Bordwell (2003, p91) say that “Film techniques often function to convey character subjectivity. This subjectivity includes mental images, such as visions, dreams or memories (…).” Because of this, many Impressionists` innovations involved camerawork in order to distort the look of the photographic image. For example, in L`Herbier`s El Dorado, a filter placed over the lens is used in order to suggest the distraction and the worries of the actress.  In the film we can see that slow motion plays an important role in producing mental images. Other French Impressionist would shoot into a curved mirror to distort the image or thru curtains to create subjectivity or would show us the point of view of the actor. Impressionists were focused on the effects of camerawork and editing and less importance was on the narrative or the settings.  Thompson and Bordwell (2003) suggest the idea that other film makers have been influenced by the Impressionism characteristics saying that “was quickly picked up by German film makers, who popularized this technique and usually have gotten credit for inventing it.” For example, Hitchcock’s 1927 film –The Ring- can be seen as an Impressionist film.

Soviet Montage movement

Strike, Source

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjQ1Skzzdos

Eisenstein`s Strike (1925) movie is the first major film of the Montage movement.  In Film History, Thompson and Bordwell (2003, p. 130) state that Eisenstein believed that “the filmmaker should assemble a series of exciting moments to stimulate the viewer’s emotions.” Therefore, an important aspect of the movement is the area of cutting in order to stimulate the spectator. Montage films are supposed to have the greater number of shots then any other movie of that time and Thompson and Bordwell (2003, p.131) say that “Montage cutting often created either overlapping or elliptical temporal relations.” In addition to that, in Strike we can notice that individual characters are replaced by masses or stereotypical representations and shot in a realistic location. Furthermore, in the film we can see the use of another Montage device: the nondiegetic insert. This means the use of one or several shots with no relevance to the story in order to make a “metaphorical point”.

Reference List 

BOOKS

• Aitken, I. (2001). European Film Theory and Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Barlow, J. (1999). German Cinema. London: British Film Institute.   
• Kracauer, S. (2004). From Caligari to Hitler. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 
• Thompson, K. and Bordwell, D. (2003). Film History . New York: McGraw-Hill.

ONLINE

• J.R. Bray's Cartoons (1913-1916). Available: http://brayanimation.weebly.com/jr-brays-cartoons.html.Last accessed 2nd March 2012.
• Evamaria Trischak. (1998). Soviet Montage. Available: http://cinetext.philo.at/reports/sv.html. Last accessed 4th March 2012. 

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