SP 472 American Film History, Week 10

8/2/2019 SP 472 American Film History, Week 10

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Story

How do storieswork?

What makes a storycompelling?

On the Waterfront


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Story

Mimesis (Showing) Live theatre

Diegesis (Telling)

Literary - told by narratorwho may or may not bereliable

Cinema combines thetwo for a wider range of

storytelling techniques


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Story

Narratology - howstories work

Structures Strategies

Genres and theirsymbolism

The Adventures of Robin Hood


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Story

All stories are communication from a sender to a receiverbut in film, who is the sender?

The Director?

The Writer(s)?

The Producers?

The Stars?


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Story

Star

Hamlet & Lethal Weapon 2


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Story

Title

Emma & Clueless


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Story

Director

Jurassic Park, Schindlers

List & E.T.


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Story

Knowledge ofhistory

Unforgiven & The Searchers


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Story

Narrative

Realistic vs. Classical vs. Formalist

Guiding hand thatshapes the story.The boring bits areedited out.

Storyteller is overlymanipulative. Timeand events are

restructured to suit.Subjective pointof view.

Portray the worldwithout distortionbut It is also a

style. Plot islooser and lessdefined.


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Story

Strategies Realistic Narratives

True to Life

No distortion

Conflict is graduallyexposed

Avoidance ofexaggeration

Avoidance ofromanticizing cause& motivation

Plain, straightforwardpresentation

Requiem for A Dream


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Story

Formalist Narrative

Time is scrambled

Theme is emphasized

Interludes of style Personality and views

of author are imposedon subject matter

8 &1/2 & Eternal Sunshine ofthe Spotless Mind


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Story

Classical Paradigm Dominant narrative

structure in American Film

Protagonist - initiatesaction

Antagonist - resists action

Dramatic question -

How does the protagonistget what he/she wants

Conflict/opposition

Patterns of action - cause& effect until climax and

resolution


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Story Dramatic unity

Plausible motivations

Coherence

All equal a smooth flow ofaction

Deadlines help move theaction

Often Classical Narrative isa journey, chase or search

Protagonist is goal-oriented- passive characters are notdeemed as interesting High Noon


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Story

Screenplay Structure

Three Acts

Act I - Set up First quarter of the movie

Premise defined

Obstacles laid out

High Noon


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Story

Screenplay Structure Act II - Confrontation

First quarter of the movie

Protagonist fightsobstacles

Reversal of fortune inmiddle

High Noon


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Story

Screenplay Structure Three Acts

Act III - Resolution

What happens as aresult of the climax

High Noon


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Story

Chekhovs Gun If you see a gun on

the wall in Act I, it

better go off in Act III

Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904


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Story

Types of Genres Way to organize the

story conveniently

Conventionsunderstood byaudience

Archetypal story

pattern Conventions andartistic contributions

Johnny Guitar


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Story

Western

Musical

Melodrama

Crime/Gangster Thriller

Horror

Sci-Fi

Action War

Fantasy

Comedy


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Story

Repeated elements

Familiar elements

H2OEyes Without a Face


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Story

Cycles of Genre

Primitive

The Great Train Robbery


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Story

Cycles of Genre

Classical

Stagecoach


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Story

Cycles of Genre

Revisionist

Unforgiven


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Story

Cycles of Genre

Parodic

Blazing Saddles


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Story

High Noon

1952

Dir. Fred Zinnemann

Starring Gary Cooper,Grace Kelly, Katy Juardo.Thomas Mitchell, LloydBridges

Nominated for 5 Oscars &

won 4 (Best Actor, Song,Score & Editing)

Uses real time

Highlights his attention tocasting, detail & fascinationwith complex moral issues


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Story

The Blacklist & the HollywoodTen - 1950

House Un-AmericanActivities Committee

interviewed 41 peopleworking in Hollywood whobecame friendly witnesseswho named people withleftist sympathies

Some of these peoplenamed others and somerefused to cooperate & were

jailed

Those who refused werecalled the Hollywood Ten -

mostly writers


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Story

Snowball effect into TheBlacklist or those whowould not be hired by

any studio

Over 300 actors, writersand others in theindustry

The Hollywood 10: Alvah Bessie, Herbert J.Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, RingLardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz,Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, Dalton Trumbo


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The 1950s

Ronald Reagan waspresident of the ScreenActors Guild and an FBIinformant

Cold War hysteria increased Joseph McCarthy

investigated the StateDepartment & the Army forCommunists

His investigations wereinconclusive and televisionshowed him for what he was- a bully in 1954 see GoodNight & Good Luck


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Story Fred Zinnemann, 1907-1997

2 Best Director Oscars, 1 BestPicture (A Man For All Seasons &From Here to Eternity) & 1 BestDocumentary Short Oscar

Directed film debuts ofMontgomery Clift, Marlon Brando& Meryl Streep

High Noonwas seen as anallegory for the atmosphere

created by the Red Scare, ColdWar & the Blacklist (screenwriterForeman was blacklisted, Cooperwas a friendly witness) but canalso be taken as a right-leaningcry for self-defense against judges

paroling criminals


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Story The fact that somebody

shoots a gun is of no interest.What I want to know is why heshoots it and what the

consequences are." FredZinnemann

Worked with Robert Siodmak& Billy Wilder in Europe

Skeptical & rational always,

themes in his work are post-war questioning of authority,the struggle against externaland internal pressures,individual integrity, use &

abuses of power


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Story Gary Cooper, 1901-1961

Over 100 films from 1925 to1961

Starred in Wings, 1927, whichwas the first film to win BestPicture

5 Oscar nominations, 2 wins(High Noon & Sargeant York)andan Honorary one in 1961

Born & raised in Montana, his

rugged, soft-spoken demeanormade for the perfect cowboy,he moved into the charmingrube character with FrankCapra

Remained a leading manpretty much all his life


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Story

Grace Kelly, 1929-1982 Born to wealthy parents, she

started on Broadway in 1949

High Noonis her second film Worked with Hitchcock in DialM for Murder, Rear Window &To Catch a Thief

Oscar for The Country Girl in1954

Last film was High Society in1956 when she becamePrincess Grace Rainier aftermarrying the ruler of Monaco

Died in a car crash in 1982


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SP 472 American Film History, Week 10

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