Classical Film Narration - Essay Example

RUNNING HEAD: Classical Film Narration Name Course Instructor Date Classical Film Narration a.) Hollywood’s "commercial aesthetic" as applied to storytelling In the film “close my eyes”, there is evidence that commercial and aesthetic success highly depends on the film marker ability to aggravate a broad range of emotions within a wide variety of audience groups. Because of its minimal numbers of reviewers’ different ideas, moves and moods keep the audiences glued to the film (Gleiberman, 2000). “Close my eyes” commercial success is not widely dependant on the film principal aesthetic unity but rather on the absolute diversity of its several elements that allow its audiences foresee it as an experience one would wish to have. It is quite evident that the desire of Hollywood audience has not changed. The film “shallow grave”, there is wide delivery of emotions by fundamentally focusing on its spectacular evolvement of Glasgow yuppies into killers thus the use of shallow in his title deliberately. It is through this that Mr. Boyles is much way ahead of grasping his viewers’ attention due to creating emptiness within his characters (Don Roos, 1992). Boyles ability to be at ease with boldness, coldblooded and bright gives him a strong personality that links to his the film principals. Commercial aesthetic is an important part during filming. It enables the movie to be more realistic and interesting. In the film “single white female” commercial aesthetic display itself where Mr. Schroeder bids in competing within mass media. The film is entertaining, smooth and believably sophisticated only to mention but a few. Further, the movie is seen to sound more as underpinning as compared to other movies of its kind. The fact that the characters Alli and Hedy possessing complexity in support of the film, it results to the creation of melodramatic climax for the viewer. It is through such aesthetic within this film that Mr. Schroeder competes widely within the mass media. “Wonder Boys” revolves around a hectic weekend coupled with elephantine, marijuana and his wife who is the head of department. The film is clearly posses an enchanted writing and intoxicated setting which has resulted to its commercial success. Being an educative comedy, indeed, it highly relied on its appealing nature across all categories’ of audiences of all sexes and ages. Characters in this film are reckless in love but the fact that they are loyal in friendship makes the audience wants to know more about their fate. “Wonder Boys” has a definable own style which is comparable to fizzy soda pop that is coupled unabashedly romantic notions of the audience literary life (Poliakoff, 1991). In the film “The Hunt for Red October” commercial success widely depends on the great extent on replicated viewing. The actor displays unrestrained eagerness that makes audiences ooze for his incredible performance. The clean cut good look creates a narcissistic charisma to the audiences who portray him as fearless, one with swagger and unflappable certitude. The audiences are glued to the film so as to get a broad understanding of superpowers engaging in nuclear war which is an experience of what is happening today on terrorists threats across the globe. Further, the film success is due to resonance which gives revelation on USSR’s War that is meant to annihilate audience. b) Characteristics of Classical Hollywood Cinemas The Hollywood classical movies were mainly characterized by a period that favored a particular mode or type of storytelling. During this age, a seamless style and a narrative were championed. The construction of the film was made in a way that the audience was not aware of how the film was constructed. The efficacy of the film highly depended on the use of visual syntax and codes that are still being taught in most film schools to date. Unlike the modern film industry in Hollywood that evaded from the continuity style this mode of storytelling was a basic foundation to effective classical film storytelling (Film Art). A highly economic and style that determined the cause and effect was embraced by most film makers in this age. The films always started by plunging us into an in medius res where the audience was introduced and meant to understand the characters. The characters included the protagonist, the antagonist and other supporting characters. The protagonist was the main causal agent with desires and goals that he had to achieve in the film life. The character had to fight certain enigma that was in existence by either a natural or artificial force. The enigma is meant to serve as a backdrop to the protagonist thus the narration centers on the character as he/she tries all possible alternatives to resolve the problem and retain the social order. The plot is mainly in three phases i.e. the beginning, the middle and the dénouement (Film Art). This mode of narration is still in existence in the neo Hollywood film narration. In the movie, Single White Female, the audience is introduced to Allie, the main character, who moves in with a woman called Hedy in New York (Don Roos, 1992). What Allie does not know is that Hedy’s real name is Ellen and that Hedy has a dark past. Having lost her twin sister to death at the age of nine, Hedy has never recovered from the trauma that stuck her, even after years and years of counseling. This trauma surfaced when she killed a woman she lived with in Tampa. Creepy menace and murder is seen when Ellen becomes more dangerous and obsessive as she continues to live with Allie. This is the enigma that the audience is introduced to which Allie the protagonist has to fight and defeat and retain the social order that existed before. Ellen might also end up killing Allie the same way she killed the woman in Tampa. Ellen in this case is the murderer and the psychotic individual while Allie is the innocent victim who has to escape her death. The denouement is to bring a comic relief to the audience as they are able to witness the restoration of the social order. The main drive of the protagonist is to counter the conflict that in the classical films is introduced quite early into the plot. The characteristic that accompanies this is the subsequent subordination to the action line where life is presented with no static or boring parts. moreover, the plot cuts out some of the parts of life that are not necessary leaving the audiences to view the parts that are necessary in which the protagonist struggles to overcome the enigma, thus, the movie narration and its actions take a considerable time with few shots to communicate. The classical film narration boosts of this mode of narration where the resolution of the conflict at hand is in three phases. This involves an assembly of a tight cause and effect chain of action (On the History of Film Style). The protagonists in these movies are heroes or heroines whose actions is meant to capture the feelings of the audience and communicate a certain idea. Mostly, the protagonists end up being role models in the hearts of the audience as they strive to maintain their balance in the society using the zeal learnt from the protagonist. In addition, most of these activities are mainly accompanied with other plots that run parallel with the main plot in order to increase the attention of the audience. In most cases and in particular the classical movies, it took the form of heterosexual relationships. These actions are not in any way connected to the solving of the problem but are meant to portray the protagonists as normal individuals. This narrative characteristic is commonly used in the neo Hollywood film narration (The Classical Hollywood Cinema). This is strongly depicted in the movie Close My Eyes where Richard and Natalie are attracted to each other but they cannot be together because they are siblings (Poliakoff, 1991). Additionally, Natalie is married to Sinclair Bryant and being together would make Natalie an unfaithful wife. Nonetheless, the two lovers engage with each other sexually in more than one scene as they are, without doubt, attracted to each other. Sinclair gets wind of the affair but he is quick to forgive them. Even though the movie does not end with Natalie and Richard together as a couple, it ends with the three characters walking together into a sunset. The heterosexual scenes in the movie are not in a way connected to the solving of the enigma the audience is introduced to but rather to boost its attention and portray the characters as normal human beings. Lastly, the narrative economy in the classical Hollywood films is mainly enhanced through the use of a visual style that is invisible that is aided by a continuity of editing. The viewers are not left with the ability to identify the cuts made on the movie or the causal effects of a moving camera. All the movements in the film are to be as natural as real events. The dialogue scenes utilize the reverse/shot sequence where each character is framed in a close-up thus preserving the viewers’ orientation space. Most of these scenes also employ the three pointing narration technique. This makes it possible for the characters in the movies to appear in the three dimensional. This allowed the audience to be lost in the world of the film (Narration in the Fiction Film). (c) Alternative modes of narration and other deviations from the classical mode Narration is the format of creation or construction of a story as described in the sequences of chronological nonfiction or fiction events. The Hollywood films unlike the classical mode of narration rely heavily on the structural concepts and elements that are formal. These results into a storyline whose framework is overarching as the filmmakers adopt concepts that are particular. These concepts are then incorporated in to the films through the audio or audio visual video editing techniques which conceive a film that has a structural component. To begin with, the Single White Female utilizes the fiction writing mode as the narration comprises of similar characters and plots in addition to the situations that are predictable. The story is developed in a chronological sequence of obstacles that are created for Allison Jones who is the main protagonist in the movie to overcome after she is separated with her boy friend. The movie sets us to a more intrigue as the characters try to adopt various modes of possible resolutions to counter the conflicts that arise along their ways (Rucas, 2004). This is not different from the rest of the American Hollywood fiction movies for instance The Hunt for Red October that is developed from a story line which gives a sequence of chronological events of the turning of a soviet union agent named Cassius, who is a senior aide to a senator in the Washington state, by FBI the leading investigation agency in the USA (Bal, 1985). The story leads us to how the agent is used to feed false information on the American knowledge and their responses to the incoming situations. The situation is different from the classic modes that relied heavily on the story telling structure to relay their narrative discourse the targeted audiences. the plots of the Hollywood films consists of a similar plot that has a beginning where the problem at hand is made known to the audience, the middle and the end where the problem is either resolved or left for the audience to judge the end result (Bordwell et al, 1985). The beginning of most Hollywood movies serves as an introduction of the characters to the audiences and conveys the real setting and mood of the story. This sets stage for the audience to identify the real character and what he/she has to resolve. These episodes of events are aimed at capturing the interests of the audience to stick with the movie to the end. The character is meant to strive and act on the problem at hand in the middle stage. The final part of the story in this case is the dénouement where the problem is solved and the protagonist is turned back to the real world where she or he was at in the beginning of the whole story. In other films, like the Wonder Boys employ the temporal techniques where the flow of events can get repetitive. The storyline comprises of sequences where an event keeps occurring. The film is in this case meticulously edited to suit the structural precision concepts (Ryan, 2004). References Bordwell .D., Staiger .J., Thompson .K., (1985), The Classical Hollywood Cinema. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-06055-6. R. J. Rees: An Introduction of English Literature. George Saintsbury: History of English Literature (http://ardhendude.blogspot.com/2011/03/essential-characteristics-of-comedy.html) Don Roos, (1992), Single White female, Barbet Schroeder, New York. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105414/plotsummary) Stephen Poliakoff, (1991), Close my eyes, Stephen Poliakoff, Isle of Dogs/ London/ England/ UK. (http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/494649/) Gleiberman, Owen (February 18, 2000). "Wonder Boys". Entertainment Weekly. (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,64525,00.html) Ebert, Roger (May 12, 2000). "Wonder Boys". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000512/REVIEWS/5120307/1023 Larry Ferguson, (1990), The Hunt for Red October, John McTiernan, California/ USA (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099810/plotsummary) John Hodge, (1994), Shallow Grave, Danny Boyle, 6 North East Circus Place/ New Town/ Edinburgh/ Scotland/ UK. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111149/plotsummary) Ryan, M. (2004), Narrative across Media: The Languages of Storytelling, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Bordwell, D; Staiger, J; Thompson, K(1985). The Classical Hollywood Cinema. New York: Columbia University Press. Bal, M. (1985). Narratology. Introduction to the Theory of Narrative. Toronto: Toronto University Press. Rucas, D. "Comparing Structural Films versus the Classic Hollywood Formal." Film Articles and Critiques. Accessed on the 11th August 2011 from http://www.angelfire.com/film/articles/structural.htm. The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 Written in collaboration with Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul; New York: Columbia University Press, 1985. Accessed on the 11th of August 2011 from http://www.davidbordwell.net/books/index.php#filmart Narration in the Fiction Film: Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985. Accessed on the 11th of August 2011 from http://www.davidbordwell.net/books/index.php#filmart On the History of Film Style: Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997. Accessed on the 11th of August 2011 from http://www.davidbordwell.net/books/index.php#filmart Film Art: An Introduction; Written in collaboration with Kristin Thompson. Ninth edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Accessed on the 11th of August 2011 from http://www.davidbordwell.net/books/index.php#filmart Read More

b) Characteristics of Classical Hollywood Cinemas The Hollywood classical movies were mainly characterized by a period that favored a particular mode or type of storytelling. During this age, a seamless style and a narrative were championed. The construction of the film was made in a way that the audience was not aware of how the film was constructed. The efficacy of the film highly depended on the use of visual syntax and codes that are still being taught in most film schools to date. Unlike the modern film industry in Hollywood that evaded from the continuity style this mode of storytelling was a basic foundation to effective classical film storytelling (Film Art).

A highly economic and style that determined the cause and effect was embraced by most film makers in this age. The films always started by plunging us into an in medius res where the audience was introduced and meant to understand the characters. The characters included the protagonist, the antagonist and other supporting characters. The protagonist was the main causal agent with desires and goals that he had to achieve in the film life. The character had to fight certain enigma that was in existence by either a natural or artificial force.

The enigma is meant to serve as a backdrop to the protagonist thus the narration centers on the character as he/she tries all possible alternatives to resolve the problem and retain the social order. The plot is mainly in three phases i.e. the beginning, the middle and the dénouement (Film Art). This mode of narration is still in existence in the neo Hollywood film narration. In the movie, Single White Female, the audience is introduced to Allie, the main character, who moves in with a woman called Hedy in New York (Don Roos, 1992).

What Allie does not know is that Hedy’s real name is Ellen and that Hedy has a dark past. Having lost her twin sister to death at the age of nine, Hedy has never recovered from the trauma that stuck her, even after years and years of counseling. This trauma surfaced when she killed a woman she lived with in Tampa. Creepy menace and murder is seen when Ellen becomes more dangerous and obsessive as she continues to live with Allie. This is the enigma that the audience is introduced to which Allie the protagonist has to fight and defeat and retain the social order that existed before.

Ellen might also end up killing Allie the same way she killed the woman in Tampa. Ellen in this case is the murderer and the psychotic individual while Allie is the innocent victim who has to escape her death. The denouement is to bring a comic relief to the audience as they are able to witness the restoration of the social order. The main drive of the protagonist is to counter the conflict that in the classical films is introduced quite early into the plot. The characteristic that accompanies this is the subsequent subordination to the action line where life is presented with no static or boring parts.

moreover, the plot cuts out some of the parts of life that are not necessary leaving the audiences to view the parts that are necessary in which the protagonist struggles to overcome the enigma, thus, the movie narration and its actions take a considerable time with few shots to communicate. The classical film narration boosts of this mode of narration where the resolution of the conflict at hand is in three phases. This involves an assembly of a tight cause and effect chain of action (On the History of Film Style).

The protagonists in these movies are heroes or heroines whose actions is meant to capture the feelings of the audience and communicate a certain idea. Mostly, the protagonists end up being role models in the hearts of the audience as they strive to maintain their balance in the society using the zeal learnt from the protagonist. In addition, most of these activities are mainly accompanied with other plots that run parallel with the main plot in order to increase the attention of the audience.

In most cases and in particular the classical movies, it took the form of heterosexual relationships.

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