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

a.taylor@balliol.oxon.orgBerlin, November, 2008