KINOWORDSpresents
HOLLYWOOD SNOOPS
Exploring Certain Investigative
Tendencies in the Cinema of
Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock,
Samuel Fuller and Errol Morris
By Alan Taylor, Berlin
HOLLYWOOD SNOOPSCourse Leader. Alan Taylor
The John F. Kennedy
Institute of
North American Studies
The Freie University of Berlin
Fall/Winter 08-09
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Introduction Overview
1. A script reading
2. Storyboards interpretation
3. Shared analysis
4. Principles of mise-en-scene
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Narrative Terms – A Sample
Antagonist
Catharsis
Causal Relationship
Character
Climax
Complication
Conflict
Crisis
Dénouement
Dialogue
Epiphany
Exposition
Foreshadow
Genre Hero & Hubris Irony
Point of View
Plot
Protagonist
Reversal
Story
Subplot
Subtext
Suspense
Theme
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Technical Terms – A Sample
Angle
Blocking
Close up
Colour codes
Composition
Continuity system
Cross-cutting
Expressive space
Eye line matching
Frame
Impact editing
Long shot
Medium shot
Mise en scene
Montage
Point of view shot
Shot-reverse shot
Three-point lighting
Tracking shot
Voice over
Zoom
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The Classic Narrative Paradigm
ACT 1 ACT 2 ACT 3
ORDER CHAOS ORDER / 2
HOOK 30 min 60 min 90min 120 min
The inciting incident
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EARLY DAYS 1912 - 1919
“…they came pouring in, mostly illegible scrawls, written on everything from postcards to butcher paper…One in five hundred was acceptable…”
B.P. Schulberg,
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Opening Rules
“…must have situations plainly visible…a clearly defined story…the complications should start immediately and the developments come with the proper regard to sequence…too many notes and subtleties interrupt the story and detract from the interest…let your stories, though they both strong in plot… be convincing, the situations not merely possible but probable…”
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From Silents to the Talkies ( 2 )
1. The Director Unit System 09 – 1914 (Chaplin, Griffith, Keaton)
2. 2. Central Producer System, 1914 (Thomas Ince)
3. Division of Labour – 1920s
4. Sound 1928
5. Standardisation of practices
6. Classic Narrative and Style, 1930s-1940s(see Bordwell, 1985)
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THE STUDIO SYSTEM
PRINCIPLES OF CONTINUITY
1. EDITING, from COVERAGE to SHOTS
2. EYE-LINE MATCHING
3. 180 degree RULE
4. CAMERA ANGLES - DRAMATICALLY JUSTIFIED/GENRE CODES
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STANDARDISATION
“…filmmaking is governed by the division of labor (specialization), by a product measured against its economic success (commercialization) and by a calculable production (standardization).
As the length of motion pictures increased in the 1920s, the screenplay came to occupy a key position in production…”
Claudia Sternberg, p. 7
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TAYLORISM….(honest!)
1. Scientific Principles of Management
2. Maximising Work flow, time & motion
3. Mass Production – Assembly Line
4. Car Industry, Ford
5. Isolated work functions
6. Efficiency, Predictability, Measurability
7. Control
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Control on the Studio Floor
1. Division of Labour & managerial oversight via the continuity sheet
2. Standardised agreements across studios
3. Emergence of trade unions
4. Genre-based stories
5. Manufactured & contracted star system
6. Block booking distribution
7. The ‘Academy’ & The Oscars
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The Auteur Theory
A personal style
A meaningful coherence
Stylistic consistency
An increasingly mature vision
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MISE EN SCENE
1. A personal style in and around genre conventions
2. A gap between stated scene narrative
and stylistic emphasis of camera
3. The manipulation of scenic elements
4. Lighting, camera, lens, movement, pace
5. Imagery, colour, framing, composition
6. Blocking, performance, dramatic weight
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THEMES
1. A line of recurring motifs, tensions, ideas
2. Relationships across characters
3. Subtextual features in the narrative
4. A maturing of thematic understanding & exploration
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ARTISTIC VISION
The conscious and unconscious
development of an artist, exploring
and deepening given personal
themes made meaningful to an
audience over time.
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CONSEQUENCES
RE- APPRAISAL OF STUDIO DIRECTORS & GENRES
ie: Howard Hawks 1896 -1977
Bringing Up Baby, 1938 Screwball ComedyGentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953 MusicalRed River, 1948 WesternLand of the Pharoes, 1955 Biblical Epic
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Or...HITCHCOCK
1. 52 films
2. Personal vision within given genres
3. Self-defined auteur
4. Director and producer
5. Consistent collaborators
6. Developmental motifs and themes
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HITCHCOCKS DISAPPEARING WOMEN
THE LADY VANISHES (1938) She is there, she dis-appears,
returns alive
REBECCA (1940) His wife lives, but dies. He (re)
marries Rebecca
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Hitchcock‘s Disappearing Women
VERTIGO (1958) She is there, she dies, returns, then dies again
PSYCHO (1961) She lives, she dies. Her sister returns
MARNIE (1964) She is dead inside and emerges into life
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Auteur Theory – Problems
1. Filmmaking a collaborative process
2. Structuralist theory, the problem of meaning and the death of the author, (1970s – 1980s).
3. Genius....or repetition?
4. Meaning and value....in who‘s eyes?
5. Corporate appropriation by the industry for marketing
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GENRE THEORY
The Principle of Repetition and
Difference in1. narrative conventions 2. visual, aural codes
AUDIENCE 1. pleasure and control2. recognition
PRODUCER 1. marketing and distribution2. standardisation of output
TEXT
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HISTORICAL CYCLE Model One
Growth
Development
Decay
Model Two
Experimental Classic Elaboration Self-Referential
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For the Writers/Directors/Producers
“To anticipate the anticipations of
your audience you must master your
genre and its conventions….”
Robert McGee, STORY
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COMPARATIVE SEQUENCE ANALYSIS
1933 - The Man From Utah
1952 - Shane.. Stevens
1955 - The Searchers.....Ford
1961 - Ride the High Country...Peckinpah
1964 - Fistful of Dollars....Leone
1969 - The Wild Bunch.........Peckinpah
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Sequence Analysis - Genre
THE
WESTERNTHE MAN FROM UTAH
THE SEARCHERS
1955
RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY
1961
FISTFUL DOLLARS
1964
THE WILD BUNCH
1969
Action
Iconographic Elements
Similarities & Differences
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The Artist and the Rules
AUTEUR THEORY and GENRE
We must be prepared to entertain the idea that auteurs grow, and that genre can help to crystallize preoccupations and contribute
actively to development... Kitses 1969
GROUP DISCUSSIONq & a
NEXT UP: STRUCTURALISM
[email protected], November, 2008