AN INTRODUCTION NINTH EDITION

David Bordwell Kristin Thompson University of Wisconsin

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CONTENTS

Preface xvii

PART ONE • Film Art and Filmmaking

CHAPTER! Film as Art: Creativity, Technology, and Business 2

Artistic Decisions in Filmmaking 3

To See into the Night: Artistic Decisions in the Making of Collateral

Mechanics of the Movies 8 Illusion Machines 8 Machines That Use Film 9 Machines That Use Digital Media 13

Making the Movie: Film Production 16

The Scriptwriting and Funding Phase 16 The Preparation Phase 18 The Shooting Phase 19 The Assembly Phase 22

A CLOSER LOOK: Some Terms and Roles In Film Production 24 Artistic Implications of the Production Process 27

Modes of Production 28 Large-Scale Production 28 Exploitation, Independent Production, and DIY 29 Small-Scale Production 30 Artistic Implications of Different Modes of Production 32

Bringing the Film to the Audience: Distribution and Exhibition 34 Distribution: The Center of Power 34 Exhibition: Theatrical and Nontheatrical 38

Ancillary Markets: Taking Movies Beyond the Theater 41

BOX: Movies On Screen: A 2007 Profile Of Theatrical Exhibition 39

Artistic Implications of Distribution and Exhibition 43

SUMMARY 48

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 48 WEBSITES 52 RECOMMENDED DVDS 52 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 52

PART TWO • Film Form

CHAPTER 2 The Significance of Film Form 56

The Concept of Form in Film 56 Form as System 56 "Form" Versus "Content" 58 Formal Expectations 58 Conventions and Experience 60 Form and Feeling 61 Form and Meaning 62 Evaluation 65

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CONTENTS

Principles of Film Form 67 Function 67 Similarity and Repetition 68

A CLOSER LOOK: Picking Out Patterns 69 Difference and Variation 70 Development 72

Unity and Disunity 74

SUMMARY 75 WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 75 WEBSITES 76 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 76

Narrative as a Formal System 78

Principles of Narrative Construction 78 What Is Narrative? 79 Plot and Story 80 Cause and Effect 82 Time 84 Space 86

A CLOSER LOOK: Playing Games with Story Time 87 Openings, Closings, and Patterns of Development 90

Narration: The Flow of Story Information 92 Range of Story Information 93 Depth of Story Information 95 The Narrator 97

A CLOSER LOOK: When the Lights Go Down, the Narration Starts 98 Summing Up Narration 100

The Classical Hollywood Cinema 102 Narrative Form in Citizen Kane 104

Overall Narrative Expectations in Citizen Kane 104 Plot and Story in Citizen Kane 105 Citizen Kane's Causality 106 Time in Citizen Kane 107 Motivation in Citizen Kane 109 Citizen Kane's Parallelism 111 Patterns of Plot Development in Citizen Kane 111 Narration in Citizen Kane 112

SUMMARY 114 WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 115 WEBSITES 116 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 116

PART THREE • Film Style

CHAPTER4 The Shot: Mise-en-Scene 118

What Is Mise-en-Scene? 118

Realism 118

The Power of Mise-en-Scene 119

Aspects of Mise-en-Scene 121

Setting 121 Costume and Makeup 125

CONTENTS XI

Lighting 131 Staging: Movement and Performance 138

A CLOSER LOOK: The Film Actor's Toolkit 141 Putting It All Together: Mise-en-Scene in Space and Time 146

Space 148 Time 155

Narrative Functions of Mise-en-Scene in Our Hospitality 159 SUMMARY 163 WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 163 WEBSITES 166 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 166

CHAPTER 5 The Shot: Cinematography 167 The Photographic Image 767

The Range of Tonalities 167 Speed of Motion 171 Perspective 173

A CLOSER LOOK: From Monsters to the Mundane: Computer-Generated Imagery in The Lord of the Rings 184 Framing 186

Frame Dimensions and Shape 186 Onscreen and Offscreen Space 191 Angle, Level, Height, and Distance of Framing 193 The Mobile Frame 198

Duration of the Image: The Long Take 212 Functions of the Long Take 213 The Long Take and the Mobile Frame 215

SUMMARY 218 WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 218 WEBSITES 221 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 221

CHAPTER 6 The Relation of Shot to Shot: Editing 223 What Is Editing? 223 Dimensions of Film Editing 225

Graphic Relations Between Shot A and Shot В 225 Rhythmic Relations Between Shot A and Shot В 230 Spatial Relations Between Shot A and Shot В 231 Temporal Relations Between Shot A and Shot В 233

Continuity Editing 236 Spatial Continuity: The 180° System 236 Continuity Editing in The Maltese Falcon 238 Continuity Editing: Some Fine Points 242 More Refinements: Crossing the Axis of Action 244 Crosscutting 246 Temporal Continuity: Order, Frequency, and Duration 248

A CLOSER LOOK: Intensified Continuity: LA. Confidential and Contemporary Editing 250 Alternatives to Continuity Editing 256

Graphic and Rhythmic Possibilities 256 Spatial and Temporal Discontinuity 257 Functions of Discontinuity Editing: October 262

CONTENTS

SUMMARY 265 WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 265 WEBSITES 267 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 267

Sound in the Cinema 269 The Powers of Sound 270 Fundamentals of Film Sound 272

Perceptual Properties 272 Selection, Alteration, and Combination 274

Dimensions of Film Sound 280 Rhythm 281 Fidelity 283 Space 284

A CLOSER LOOK: Offscreen Sound and Optical Point of View: The Money Exchange in Jackie Brown 286

Time 294 Functions of Film Sound: The Prestige 298

Transported Men 299 The Sounds of Magic 300 Echoes, Visual and Auditory 301 Two Diaries 302 Hinting at Secrets 304 The Opening 304

SUMMARY 308 WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 308 WEBSITES 310 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 310

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CHAPTER 8 Summary: Style as a Formal System 312 The Concept of Style 312

Style and the Filmmaker 312 Style and the Viewer 313

Analyzing Film Style 314 Step 1: Determine the Organization Structure 314 Step 2: Identify the Salient Techniques Used 314 Step 3: Trace Out Patterns of Techniques 314 Step 4: Propose Functions for the Salient Techniques and the Patterns They Form 316

A CLOSER LOOK: Film Style in Shadow of a Doubt 317 Style in Citizen Kane 318 SUMMARY 326 WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 326 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 326

CONTENTS

PART FOUR • Types of Films

CHAPTER9 Film Genres 328

Understanding Genre 328 Defining a Genre 328 Analyzing a Genre 330 Genre History 331

A CLOSER LOOK: A Contemporary Genre: The Crime Thriller 332 The Social Functions of Genres 336

Three Genres 338

The Western 338 The Horror Film 340 The Musical 342

SUMMARY 346

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 346 WEBSITES 347 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 347

CHAPTER 10 Documentary, Experimental, and Animated Films 349

Documentary 349 What Is a Documentary? 349

Types of Documentary 351

The Boundaries Between Documentary and Fiction 351

Types of Form in Documentary Films 353

Categorical Form 353

Rhetorical Form 359

Experimental Film 366

Types of Form in Experimental Films 368

The Animated Film 382

SUMMARY 390

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 390 WEBSITES 393 RECOMMENDED DVD SUPPLEMENTS 393

PART FIVE • Critical Analysis of Films

Film Criticism: Critical Analyses 396

The Classical Narrative Cinema 396 His Girl Friday 396 North by Northwest 400

Do The Right Thing 404

Narrative Alternatives to Classical Filmmaking 408 Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) 408 Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari) 413 Chungking Express (Chung Hing sam lam) 417

Documentary Form and Style 422 Man with a Movie Camera (Chelovek s kinoapparatom) 422 The Thin Blue Line 425

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CONTENTS

Form, Style, and Ideology 431 Meet Me in St. Louis 431 Raging Bull 438

APPENDIX Writing a Critical Analysis of a Film 443

Preparing to Write 443 Step 1: Develop a Thesis That Your Essay Will Explain and Support 443 Step 2: Draw Up a Segmentation of the Entire Film 443 Step 3: Note Outstanding Instances of Film Technique 444

Organizing and Writing 445

SUMMARY 446 Sample Essay: Fantasy and Reality in The King of Comedy 447

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 450 SAMPLE-ANALYSIS FILMS ON DVD 450

PART SIX • Film History

Film Art and Film History 454

Early Cinema (1893-1903) 455

The Development of the Classical Hollywood Cinema (1908-1927) 458

German Expressionism (1919-1926) 461

French Impressionism and Surrealism (1918-1930) 463

Impressionism 464

Surrealism 466

Soviet Montage (1924-1930) 467

The Classical Hollywood Cinema After the Coming of Sound 470

Italian Neorealism (1942-1951) 473

The French New Wave (1959-1964) 475

The New Hollywood and Independent Filmmaking 477

Hong Kong Cinema: 1980s-l 990s 482

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 486

RECOMMENDED DVDS 489

Glossary 490

Credits 496

Recommended DVD Supplements 496

Index 498