The Great Train Robbery And The Narrative Structure Of Silent Cinema

In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.

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,

In “A Century of Cinema”, Susan Sontag explains how cinema was cherished by those who enjoyed what cinema offered. Cinema was unlike anything else, it was entertainment that had the audience feeling apart of the film. However, as the years went by, the special feeling regarding cinema went away as those who admired cinema wanted to help expand the experience.

Almost every piece of cinema seeks to give the viewer an understanding by intricately assembling shots in a coherent, and a sometimes muddled, manner; the techniques used in editing places various shots in purposeful sequences, to emphasize certain relationships between shots. The shots can be arranged smoothly and logically, or shift abruptly from shot to shot; different methods of the aforementioned arrangement of shots are utilized in either discontinuous or continuous editing. Sherlock Jr. and The War on Drug’s music video “Holding On”, are two motion pictures that offer spatial relations, by applying techniques of both continuous and discontinuous editing.

Usually when two characters are in conversation, often with Patricia, a sequence of shots and jump cuts is favored over a continuous shot. As Michel and Patricia are driving together, their conversation is shown using jump cuts. It is not obvious how much time the cuts skip, but by the sequence and the other similar ones, there is something to show specific point in time being reached. In this case it is them reaching their destination. In another scene, a man finishes telling Patricia a story. By cutting out times of silence, there is a nonstop stream of dialogue that cannot practically be achieved in a continuous shot without the acting being very strange to watch. During these conversations, the movie’s title is physically exemplified as the characters are breathless in their conversation. These also create a certain rhythm that the viewer can follow since each shot is roughly the same length of time. Because of this, the technique calls attention to itself while simultaneously taking care to not detract from its overall effect and the

2) Many early films, and even films today, use what is called Freytag's Pyramid. Freytag’s Pyramid refers to the way a film is structured narratively, creating a similar pattern among the beginning, middle, and end of most films. I believe that The Immigrant mostly complies with this structure. Typically, a movie’s narrative using Freytag’s Pyramid will be laid out in a way that starts with a exposition, where the characters, scene, and mood is introduced. The Immigrant happens to comply with the pyramid on this point. The film opens with a shot of a ship, then continues on to show a rolling boat, its seasick passengers, and Charlie Chaplin’s comedic character. Most everyone aboard is sick except Charlie, and a few others. However, We don’t quite get much detail on the characters backgrounds, other than they are obviously immigrants from another country. Next, usually an inciting incident would occur that would trigger a conflict. When eating in the ship's dining room, charlie looks up from his table where a girl standing that he shows much interest in, and gives his seat to her. I personally believe this moment is the inciting incident that drives the rest of the story. Charlie’s drive to “get the girl” ends up causing him to give her all of his money after her mother had her money stolen. Later, after everyone is dispersed onto land, Charlie is left with no money. However, he finds a coin on the ground and decides to spend it on a meal in a nearby restaurant. Eventually, he spots the girl that was on the ship with him, and offers her a meal. Eventually, the scene shows a man being beat up and kicked out of the restaurant for being 5 cents short on his bill. Later, the waiter brings Charlie his bill, and as charlie reaches into his pocket for the coin he found and realizes the hole in his pocket. This could be seen as rising action, the next part of the pyramid. This moment escalates the conflict of not having money, since now Charlie is in clear danger. Tension rises as many minutes pass of Charlie stalling by ordering more food, and the waiter growing impatient with him. At one point, he even finds the coin again and the waiter

So, now the question of how they could entertain without offending anyone come into play. Films from this period have been named the "Cinema of attractions" by film scholar Tom Gunning, in part, because they treat show over narrative. The popularity of film in its first decade was for some, a cause for concern. It faced challenges to produce longer pictures, which not only would advance their profitability, but also needed to be narrative, which in turn allowed films to carry ethical and good messages.

The first movie theatres were rented rooms and music halls.As movies aired popularity and the technology.Movies were an form that captured the interest of the masses worldwide.As a new form of entertainment their success was extremely a made people laugh making the world a happier place to live in after the horrors of WW1.The 1920’s movie goers experience was largely dominated by silent movies but saw the introduction of synchronized sound.The rise of “talkies from the late 1920 onwards led to a radical shake-up of the entertainment industry.Live entertainment went into decline and variety theatres became movie palaces, were eager punters could see exactly the same entertainment as their fellows in Los Angeles,Berlin or Bombay.The belief

This scene uses multiple film techniques which work together to help express specific and important messages . These include non-diegetic sound and cross-cutting as well as dialogue and mise-en scene. We as the audience are introduced

Phenomenal Acting and a jaw dropping storyline are the foremost reasons why The Departed is by all means a spectacular movie. This film will go down as one of the best crime thrillers of the 21th century. Many viewers of this movie will find themselves astonished as the storyline roller-coaster’s around making twists and turns never expected. Some may question the vulgar language and intense violence but if you are a person who’s easily offended, simply do

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.

Establishing the difference between the story and the plot allows one to determine the effect each element has on the understanding and interpretation of the piece. It also provides a way of tracking the continuation of events and the relationship between seemingly isolated moments in time. Film Art clearly defines both story and plot but acknowledges that there is a significant overlap between the two functions and allows a flow within the film. The plot is the presentation of the events, in chronological order and includes the events that are seen, inferred and assumed by the viewer as opposed to the story. The story refers to the way in which the plot is presented, the ‘personality’ imposed

The introduction of sound films in the late 1920’s was a divisive issue among those involved and interested in the emerging motion picture industry. Even though it wasn’t the sudden breakthrough it is often perceived to be, the addition of sound and voice to mainstream cinema revolutionized movie making and led to conflicting viewpoints as to whether or not this innovation was a positive progression for film as an art and as an industry.

The first movie I looked at was Irréversible, a French movie written, directed and produced by Gasper Noé. Noé employs a non-linear narrative to force the audience to think about the actions taken by those seeking vengeance before the reasons behind these actions are known. The movie is told in reverse order, beginning with the main character murdering the person he believed brutally attacked his girlfriend. The intention of this

The style of edit for this sequence and entire film is continuity editing which produces a logical and straightforward narrative. The sequence begins with an establishing shot of the city road setting, orienting the viewer. The editing follows real-time human experiences, for example, the Tramp enters the paddy wagon then it cuts to him sitting down on the benches with the rest of the convicted, minimizing the perception of breaks between cuts (invisible editing).