Film’s Coming of Age Story
HUM 3343: WWII in Europe through History,
Literature and Film
Dr. Perdigao
Summer 2014
May 19, 2014
my.fit.edu/~lperdiga
Measuring time
• Early Cinema (1895-1913)
• Classical Cinema (1917-1945)
– Silent films (1917-1927)
– Sound films, golden age of Hollywood (1927-1945)
• Postwar Cinema (1946-1965)
• Contemporary Cinema (post-1965)
Classical Cinema (1917-1945)
• Silent and sound films
• Effects of World War I on American culture, represented in film
• “energetic optimism” and “trembling fear”
• Developments in early twentieth century (1910-1920): standardization of film
production, establishment of the feature film, and cultural and economic
expansion (Corrigan and White 359)
• Normalized running time of 100 minutes for narrative film
• Characteristics: full development of narrative realism and the integration of
viewer’s perspective into editing and narrative action (Corrigan and White
359)
• (Corrigan and White, The Film Experience 358-361)
Classical Cinema (1917-1945)
• New developments: representation of simultaneous actions, complex spatial
geographies, and psychological interaction of characters through narrative
(Corrigan and White 359)
• Point-of-view shots developed placing viewers within characters’ perspectives
• 1926: Warner Bros. introduced the Vitaphone system, synchronized sound
with images
• Introduction of sound in 1927, with The Jazz Singer premiering on October 6
• 1930s-1940s developments in sound: synchronous sound to show reality;
asynchronous sound to communicate psychological realities
• 1930s and improvement of Technicolor
Classical Cinema (1917-1945)
• Elaboration of movie dialogue, emphasis on characterization; emergence of
generic formulas for narratives
• Screenwriters—from novels to films (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
• Hays Office and Production Code
Violations
• Motion Picture Production Code, Hays Code
• Established by Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America
(MPPDA), later Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
• Adopted in 1930, enforced in 1934, maintained until 1968
• Attempts to “clean up” film industry, after moves toward censorship in film
• “The Formula” developed by Will Hays, hired as president of the MPPDA in
1922
• Follows 1915 Supreme Court ruling that free speech did not extend to film
(Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio)
• Promoting “traditional values,” protecting children, establishing standards of
good taste
Coding
• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93301189
• http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html
• http://www.mpaa.org/ratings/ratings-history
Postwar Cinema (1945-1965)
• (Corrigan and White 364-366)
• World War II contexts and aftermath
• Doubts about human nature, social progress—ideas about what art can do
• Deterioration of American family, fears of the “other” as extension of Cold
War culture
• Civil Rights movement in the 1950s
• Spread of television in 1950s
• 1948 Paramount decision, 1968 relaxation of codes and introduction of ratings
system
• United States v. Paramount, antitrust laws violation, separation of production
companies and theaters that arose with vertical integration (Corrigan and
White 365)
• More experimentation in film, testing boundaries, 3-D format developed in
1950s
Contemporary Cinema (1965-present)
• (Corrigan and White 369-371)
• Vietnam War—anger and confusion, fragmentation in American culture, idea
of national identity
• Revolutionary 1960s, 1970s—ideas about sexuality
• New Hollywood, influence of European cinema
• VCRs (and Beta players!), cable, dvds, dvrs
• Changing modes of production, dissemination
• Multiple perspectives, opportunities to watch again, put together puzzles
• Characteristics: image spectacles and special effects and fragmentation and
reflexivity of narrative constructions (Corrigan and White 370)
• Mid-1960s, Dolby sound reduces noise and enriches sound
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Key shots
From Anatomy of Film:
Close-up
Extreme close-up
Medium close-up: Character’s head and shoulders, in conversation scenes
Medium shot: middle ground, human body from waist or hips up
Medium long shot: 3/4 view of character, from knees up
Long shot /full shot
Extreme long shot: greater distance between camera and person or object,
space dwarfs objects
Establishing shot
Two-shot
Three-shot
Shot/reverse shot
Over-the-shoulder shot
High angle shot (or God’s eye shot or bird’s eye shot): camera positioned
above subject, makes subject appear smaller
Low angle shot: camera positioned below, makes subject appear larger
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Perspectives
Objective shot: what the camera sees
Subjective camera: what the character sees
Point-of-view shot: point of view of the character
Often paired but distinction in presenting character’s thoughts through
subjective camera, a “one-sided take on reality” (Anatomy of Film 56)
Pan
Swish pan, “momentary blur” indicating “sudden change or transformation”
(60)
Tracking shot/dolly shot/crane shot (depending on device)
Zoom
Focal length as “distance from the center of the lens to the point where the
image is in focus” (63)
Zoom in or zoom out
Freeze frame representing stasis (63)
Measuring time
• From Anatomy of Film:
• Scene can be one shot or many shots, one unit of action (Anatomy of Film 64)
• Sequence as “group of shots forming a self-contained segment of the film”
(64)
• Difference is there can be scenes within a sequence but not sequences between
scenes (64)
• Linear sequence offers connections between incidents as “links in a chain”
(65)
• Elliptical linear sequence when details are omitted to force viewers to make
connections (66)
• Associate sequence links scenes by an object or series of objects (67)
• Montage as series of shots
• American montage from 1930s and 1940s films where “time is collapsed as
shots blend together, wipe each other away, or are superimposed on each
other” (68), uses dissolves
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Splicing
From Anatomy of Film:
Cuts
Rough cut/director’s cut/final cut
Straight cut (“one image instantaneously replaces another” [Anatomy of Film
69])
Contrast cut (“images replacing each other are dissimilar in nature” [69])
Parallel cutting/crosscutting/intercutting (“presents two actions occurring
simultaneously” [70])
Jump cut (“break in continuity that leaves a gap in the action” [70])
Form cut (“cut from one object to another that is similarly shaped” [70])
Match cut (“one shot complements or ‘matches’ the other,” establishing
continuity [70])
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Transitioning
From Anatomy of Film:
Transitions bridge scenes
Fade-out (light decreases)
Fade-in (light increases)
Dissolve (“gradual replacement of one shot by another,” establishing
continuity [Anatomy of Film 72])
Form dissolve (“merge two images with the same shape or contours” [74])
Wipe (used in movies in 1930s and 1940s, 1970s and 1980s in television news
programs; similar to curtain dropping in theatre [75])
Masking shot/iris shot (“everything is blacked out except what is to be seen
telescopically” [76])
Irising in (“opening up the darkened frame” [76])
Irising out (“darkness seeping into the frame” [76])
Editing
Continuity editing
Establishing shots
• Mise-en-scène (“staging of a play” or film [Anatomy of Film 86])
• Framing
• Tight framing (“subject appears to be confined within the horizontal and
vertical borders of the frame, so that there is not even a hint of offscreen
space,” feeling of oppression [88])
• Canted shot (“frame looks lopsided” [88])
• Deep focus (“foreground, middle ground, and background” are “equally
visible” [93])
• Shallow focus (“foreground is more distinct than the background” [93])
• Rack focus (background is a blur and foreground sharp and then switches, a
way to “conceal a character’s identity until the filmmaker is ready to reveal it”
([93])
• Long take (“shot that lasts more than a minute” [95])
• Steadicam, handheld camera
The Coming of Age Story
• Bildungsroman
adolescent matures into adulthood; coming-of-age novels
• Entwicklungsroman
adolescent character grows; novels of growth or development (Trites
9)
• Onscreen, subjective camera, point of view shots
• Voiceover narration
• Retrospective narration
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Contrast to Prelude to War documentary style
Propaganda vs. introspective journey
Public vs. private
Nostalgia
The Coming of Age Story
• http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/rulebritannia.asp#Land%20of%20Hope
%20and%20Glory