The Classical Hollywood Cinema : Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960

'A dense, challenging and important book.' Philip French Observer 'At the very least, this blockbuster is probably the best single volume history of Hollywood we're likely to get for a very long time.' Paul Kerr City Limits 'Persuasively argued, the book is also packed with facts, figures and photographs.' Nigel Andrews Financial Times Acclaimed for their breakthrough approach, Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson analyze the basic conditions of American film-making as a historical institution and consider to what extent Hollywood film production constitutes a systematic enterprise, in both its style and its business operations. Despite differences of director, genre or studio, most Hollywood films operate within a set of shared assumptions about how a film should look and sound. Such assumptions are neither natural nor inevitable; but because classical-style films have been the type most widely seen, they have come to be accepted as the 'norm' of film-making and viewing. The authors show how these classical conventions were formulated and standardized, and how they responded to the arrival of sound, colour, widescreen ratios and stereophonic sound. They argue that each new technological development has served a function within an existing narrational system. The authors also examine how the Hollywood cinema standardized the film-making process itself. They describe how, over the course of its history, Hollywood developed distinct modes of production in a constant search for maximum efficiency, predictability and novelty. Set apart by its combination of theoretical analysis and empirical evidence, this book is the standard work on the classical Hollywood cinema style of film-making from the silent era to the 1960s. Now available in paperback, it is a 'must' for film students, lecturers and all those seriously interested in the development of the film industry. Book Cover Half-Title Title Dedication Copyright Contents Figures Acknowledgments Preface Part One The classical Hollywood style, 1917–60 1 An excessively obvious cinema Norms, paradigms, and standards Levels of generality Viewers, schemata, and mental sets Style in history The ordinary film 2 Story causality and motivation Causes and effects Motivation 3 Classical narration The modest narration Causality, character, and point-of-view Music as destiny The reappearing narration The winding corridor 4 Time in the classical film Temporal order: the search for meaning Duration, deadlines, and dissolves Crosscutting 5 Space in the classical film The image: composition Continuity editing 6 Shot and scene From montage to découpage Anatomy of the scene 7 The bounds of difference Benson’s cubist picture The assimilation of the European avant-garde The case of film noir The reappearing author Norms, subversion, conditions of production Part Two The Hollywood mode of production to 1930 8 The Hollywood mode of production: its conditions of existence Introduction A mode of production: initial definitions The historical context Detailed division of labor and commercial filmmaking 9 Standardization and differentiation: the reinforcement and dispersion of Hollywood’s practices ‘Absolutely the superior of any moving picture film ever made’ Coalescence of industrial interest groups Trade associations A professional engineers’ association Labor associations Adjacent institutions ‘The balance between formula and showmanship’ The innovative worker Cycles 10 The director system: management in the first years The introduction of a new product The first methods of marketing the product Luring the customer The production shift to fictional narrative The ‘cameraman’ system of production (1896–1907) The ‘director’ system of production (1907–1909) 11 The director-unit system: management of multiple-unit companies after 1909 The ‘director-unit’ system of production (1909–14) The efficient, departmentalized organization of the means of production Changes in script writing practices: the scenario script 12 The central producer system: centralized management after 1914 The diffusion of longer films Dirty little dumps and quality theaters The feature film Bigger pictures, bigger prices Copyrights and sources of fictional narratives The standardization of the multiple-reel feature film The ‘central producer’ system of production (1914–31) Another change in script writing: the continuity script Alternatives within the mode of production Legal control of the quality of the product 13 The division and order of production: the subdivision of the work from the first years through the 1920s The conception of the production Direction of capital Initial decisions about the product and production process The production department Pre-shooting work Script writing Direction Research Art direction Costuming Casting Make-up Cinematography Shooting work Assistant direction Rehearsals Music during shooting Order of shooting Multiple cameras Continuity clerk Post-shooting work Negative development and rushes Editing Previews and revisions Musical accompaniment Part Three The formulation of the classical style, 1909–28 14 From primitive to classical The primitive film’s relation to vaudeville The rise of the classical model Novel, short story, drama The conditions for influence Narrative principles 15 The formulation of the classical narrative Cause and effect Traits, visions, and desires: the psychologically based character Character and temporal relations Narration: the functions of inter-titles The ‘American’ style of acting Unity and redundancy 16 The continuity system The concept of continuity Establishing shots Analytical editing Multiple spaces The eyeline match Shot/reverse shot Crosscutting Parodies of continuity The ready-made center of interest 17 Classical narrative space and the spectator’s attention The knot hole in the fence Staging in depth Settings and depth Deep focus cinematography Lighting for clarity and depth Framing as a guide for the spectator 18 The stability of the classical approach after 1917 Learning standard style The contemporary recognition of stand ardization A summary example: Code of the Sea Part Four Film style and technology to 1930 19 Technology, style and mode of production Technological change and the mode of production Production efficiency Product differentiation Adherence to standards of quality Film technology and the classical style Technology and Hollywood institutions The American Society of Cinematographers The Society of Motion Picture Engineers The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Relations among the technical agencies 20 Initial standardization of the basic technology Standardizing cameras Standardizing lighting instruments Mercury-vapor lamps and diffused sunlight Arc lamps Editing and laboratory technology Editing Laboratory technology 21 Major technological changes of the 1920s The change from orthochromatic to panchromatic stock Automatic editing and developing devices The soft style of cinematography 22 The Mazda tests of 1928 23 The introduction of sound Technical agencies and the standardization of sound Style: the image-sound analogy 1928–31: multiple-camera shooting Part Five The Hollywood mode of production, 1930–60 24 The labor-force, financing and the mode of production The labor-force and the mode of production Advanced capitalism, the mode and the product Independent production 25 The producer-unit system: management by specialization after 1931 The ‘producer-unit’ system of production (1931–55) Further subdivisions of the work in the 1930s and 1940s The studios and their systems of production: 1930s and 1940s Twentieth Century-Fox Warner Bros Metro -Goldwyn -Mayer Universal Paramount RKO Radio Pictures Columbia 26 The package-unit system: unit management after 1955 The ‘package-unit’ system of production The early 1940s Later incentives to continue the trend The package-unit system in operation The Hollywood mode of production: an evaluation Part Six Film style and technology, 1930–60 27 Deep-focus cinematography The soft style in the sound period Gregg Toland and deep focus Deep-focus cinematography in the 1940s and 1950s 28 Technicolor 29 Widescreen processes and stereophonic sound Part Seven Historical implications of the classical Hollywood cinema 30 Since 1960: the persistence of a mode of film practice 31 Alternative modes of film practice Envoi Appendix A The unbiased sample Unbiased Sample Films Appendix B A brief synopsis of the structure of the United States film industry, 1896–1960 1896–1909 1909–1912 1912–18 1918–48 1948–60 Appendix C Principal structures of the US film industry, 1894–1930 Appendix D Lighting plots and descriptions Notes Select bibliography Journals General background, theory, and method Film books and articles Photograph credits Index "Acclaimed for their breakthrough approach, Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson analyze the basic conditions of American film-making as a historical institution and consider to what extent Hollywood film production constitutes a systematic enterprise, in both its style and its business operations. Despite differences of director, genre or studio, most Hollywood films operate within a set of shared assumptions about how a film should look and sound. Such assumptions are neither natural nor inevitable; but because classical-style films have been the type most widely seen, they have come to be accepted as the 'norm' of film-making and viewing. The authors show how these classical conventions were formulated and standardized, and how they responded to the arrival of sound, colour, widescreen ratios and stereophonic sound. They argue that each new technological development has served a function within an existing narrational system. The authors also examine how the Hollywood cinema standardized the film-making process itself. They describe how, over the course of its history, Hollywood developed distinct modes of production in a constant search for maximum efficiency, predictability and novelty. Set apart by its combination of theoretical analysis and empirical evidence, this book is the standard work on the classical Hollywood cinema style of film-making from the silent era to the 1960s. Now available in paperback, it is a 'must' for film students, lecturers and all those seriously interested in the development of the film industry" -- Provided by publisher.

how Films Are Conceived,planned, And Produced Leaves A Mark Upon The Films, Directly And Structurally. The Relations Between Film Style And Mode Of Production Are, According To The Authors, Reciprocal And Mutually Influencing. The Authors Trace Such Topics As Style, Economics, And Technology Over Time, Demonstrating How Significant Changes Occurrred In Hollywood From The Earliest Days Through The Sixties.

american Film

a Tour De Force . . . Destined To Become Itself A Classic In Film Studies And A Magnificent Introduction To The American Cinema For A Much Wider Audience.