David Bordwell's Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

The film Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder and staring the main characters of Norma Desmond, Joe Gillis, and Max Von Mayerling is ideal example of how important film making techniques help depict a movie's core theme intentions with vivid clarity. Classic Hollywood is the first thing that comes to mind when one speaks about this film's style. This signature category combined with the visual style of realism and it's continuity editing; detailed mise-en-scene and all of its characteristics; and lastly the use of reoccurring motifs with formalistic qualities make the audience grasp the central theme of just how vicious the actual motion industry can be to the individuals that keep its

In the play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee Williams mentions explores realism on a new dimension. He mentions controversial themes such as suicide, sex, marital issues, alcoholism, and greed. Although Williams experienced his fair share of drama in his lifetime, he is able to bring together many of the issues that many Americans were experiencing in their own homes. A critic once said, “His plays deal with a serious them- a them as in self-pity, the persistence of memory that holds people in its grip, and will not let them get on with their lives”. In this play, he specifically relates this self-pity and haunting memories to one of

Over the many years of filmmaking, there is no doubt that classical Hollywood has made an interesting name for itself. The classical Hollywood style has become quite predictable in relation to film narrative because of their unique filmmaking choices using devices like continuity editing, three-point lighting, centered framing, and musical scores. When we think of a classic Hollywood film, we usually imagine a story with a happy ending. A phenomenal film that performs all these functions

What makes for a classic Hollywood film? Increasingly, films have evolved to the point where the standard by which one calls a “classic Hollywood film” has evolved over time. What one calls a classic film by yesterday’s standards is not the same as that of today’s standards. The film Casablanca is no exception to this. Although David Bordwell’s article, “Classical Hollywood Cinema” defines what the classical Hollywood film does, the film Casablanca does not exactly conform to the very definition that Bordwell provides the audience with in his article. It is true that the film capers closely to Bordwell’s definition, but in more ways than not, the film diverges from Bordwell’s definition of the typical Hollywood film.

This paper was prepared for Introduction to Film History, Module 1 Homework Assignment, taught by Professor Stephanie Sandifer.

Being one of the world’s most popular art forms, it was inevitable that these archetypes would find their way into film as well. In this essay I will argue that the

David Bordwell wrote his article ‘The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film’ in an effort to convey the main idea that “art cinema” can be considered as a distinct mode of film practice, through its definite historical existence alongside other cinematic modes, set of formal conventions, and implicit viewing procedures. Rather than searching for the source of the art, or what drives the art in film, Bordwell compares art cinema to the classical narrative cinema, and highlights the differences in narrative structure. Bordwell makes the assumption that it defined itself against the classical narrative mode; especially with the way it deals with space, time, and the cause and effect link of events.

During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that,

Understanding movies comes from describing and analyzing the cinematic, theatrical, and literary elements that combine to create meaning. These steps create a basic understanding of the artistic and technical elements found in moviemaking. In addition, the major characteristics of different film genres and classic movies will be analyzed. The purpose of this paper is analyzing the Academy Award winning film Chicago. This paper will describe the six steps that a person should think about when watching a movie. These steps include, (1) analysis of the narrative: story, plot and meaning; (2) theatrical elements, (3) cinematography, (4) editing, (5) sound and the (6) complete package.

Films are a large part of our lives here in America where we depend on them to do when we’re bored with nothing to do, or when the snow or rain is falling. We all use movies as a common way to go on dates and be with friends. However, there has become an abundance amount of movies that we can all enjoy throughout our lives. Although not all movies are interesting to all viewers depending on their personality and what they like to watch. I can say for myself that a film that I really enjoy would be “Mean Girls”. In the two thousand four film “Mean Girls” there is a sense of entertainment that helps in combining all the aspects found in a classical film. Classical films having a entertaining and dramatic plot, and a excellent cast.

On some level, continuity has to extend throughout the course of the film, especially if you are trying to create a level of meaning to a scene that transcends its normal limits. In this scene Brick says the line “Didn’t you ever look up to anybody” while Big Daddy is framed in a low angle shot looking down at Brick. This is an intelligent use of juxtaposition within this particular shot, though its true weight becomes apparent during a later scene in which Big Daddy is coming to terms with his mortality and for the first time in the film he looks up at Brick. In fact, throughout the entire film Big Daddy does not directly look up at anyone because he is either framed from neutral angles or just does not look up. Finally, in a later scene in which he is most vulnerable, he is framed from a higher angle looking up into the eyes of Brick while he talks. This is a small detail but it helps show how truly each shot of a film in this system was meticulously

According to film theorist Thomas Schatz, “a genre approach (to film) provides the most effective means for understanding, analyzing, and appreciating the Hollywood cinema (Schatz vii).” His approach to film is strongly supported by theorist Edward Branigan’s and the narrative representation of character interaction (Branigan), and André Bazin’s arguments that the objective reality pressed against audience interpretation.

Hollywood cinema is primarily subjected to telling stories. The inclination of Hollywood narratives comes not just from good chronicles but from good story telling. The following essay will discuss Hollywood’s commercial aesthetic as applied to storytelling, expand on the characteristics of the “principles of classical film narration” and evaluate alternative modes of narration and other deviations from the classical mode.

In the early 1900’s silent films amazed audiences with images, later talkies impressed with sound, today we have 3D. As technology continues to evolve so too will film genres. Genres, while having some shared characteristics, also differ in terms of stylistic devices used. For instance, the dramatic film “The Notebook” effectively uses color to reinforce theme and has plausible performers as the two main protagonists.

The release of Gordon Hollingshead and Alan Crosland’s The Jazz Singer in 1927 marked the new age of synchronised sound in cinema. The feature film was a huge success at the box office and it ushered in the era David Bordwell describes as ‘Classical Hollywood Cinema’; Bordwell and two other film theorists (Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson) conducted a formalist analysis of 100 randomly selected Hollywood films from the years 1917 to 1960 in order to fully define this movement. Their results yielded that most Hollywood made films during that era were centred on, or followed, specific blueprints that formed the finished product. Through this analysis of Hollywood films the theorists were able to establish stylised conventions and modes of