sp 472 american film history, week 10
TRANSCRIPT
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Story
How do storieswork?
What makes a storycompelling?
On the Waterfront
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Story
Mimesis (Showing) Live theatre
Diegesis (Telling)
Literary - told by narratorwho may or may not bereliable
Cinema combines thetwo for a wider range of
storytelling techniques
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Story
Narratology - howstories work
Structures Strategies
Genres and theirsymbolism
The Adventures of Robin Hood
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Story
All stories are communication from a sender to a receiverbut in film, who is the sender?
The Director?
The Writer(s)?
The Producers?
The Stars?
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Story
Star
Hamlet & Lethal Weapon 2
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Title
Emma & Clueless
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Director
Jurassic Park, Schindlers
List & E.T.
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Story
Knowledge ofhistory
Unforgiven & The Searchers
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Narrative
Realistic vs. Classical vs. Formalist
Guiding hand thatshapes the story.The boring bits areedited out.
Storyteller is overlymanipulative. Timeand events are
restructured to suit.Subjective pointof view.
Portray the worldwithout distortionbut It is also a
style. Plot islooser and lessdefined.
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Strategies Realistic Narratives
True to Life
No distortion
Conflict is graduallyexposed
Avoidance ofexaggeration
Avoidance ofromanticizing cause& motivation
Plain, straightforwardpresentation
Requiem for A Dream
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Story
Formalist Narrative
Time is scrambled
Theme is emphasized
Interludes of style Personality and views
of author are imposedon subject matter
8 &1/2 & Eternal Sunshine ofthe Spotless Mind
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Classical Paradigm Dominant narrative
structure in American Film
Protagonist - initiatesaction
Antagonist - resists action
Dramatic question -
How does the protagonistget what he/she wants
Conflict/opposition
Patterns of action - cause& effect until climax and
resolution
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Story Dramatic unity
Plausible motivations
Coherence
All equal a smooth flow ofaction
Deadlines help move theaction
Often Classical Narrative isa journey, chase or search
Protagonist is goal-oriented- passive characters are notdeemed as interesting High Noon
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Screenplay Structure
Three Acts
Act I - Set up First quarter of the movie
Premise defined
Obstacles laid out
High Noon
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Story
Screenplay Structure Act II - Confrontation
First quarter of the movie
Protagonist fightsobstacles
Reversal of fortune inmiddle
High Noon
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Story
Screenplay Structure Three Acts
Act III - Resolution
What happens as aresult of the climax
High Noon
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Story
Chekhovs Gun If you see a gun on
the wall in Act I, it
better go off in Act III
Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904
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Story
Types of Genres Way to organize the
story conveniently
Conventionsunderstood byaudience
Archetypal story
pattern Conventions andartistic contributions
Johnny Guitar
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Story
Western
Musical
Melodrama
Crime/Gangster Thriller
Horror
Sci-Fi
Action War
Fantasy
Comedy
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Repeated elements
Familiar elements
H2OEyes Without a Face
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Cycles of Genre
Primitive
The Great Train Robbery
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Story
Cycles of Genre
Classical
Stagecoach
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Story
Cycles of Genre
Revisionist
Unforgiven
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Story
Cycles of Genre
Parodic
Blazing Saddles
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High Noon
1952
Dir. Fred Zinnemann
Starring Gary Cooper,Grace Kelly, Katy Juardo.Thomas Mitchell, LloydBridges
Nominated for 5 Oscars &
won 4 (Best Actor, Song,Score & Editing)
Uses real time
Highlights his attention tocasting, detail & fascinationwith complex moral issues
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Story
The Blacklist & the HollywoodTen - 1950
House Un-AmericanActivities Committee
interviewed 41 peopleworking in Hollywood whobecame friendly witnesseswho named people withleftist sympathies
Some of these peoplenamed others and somerefused to cooperate & were
jailed
Those who refused werecalled the Hollywood Ten -
mostly writers
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Story
Snowball effect into TheBlacklist or those whowould not be hired by
any studio
Over 300 actors, writersand others in theindustry
The Hollywood 10: Alvah Bessie, Herbert J.Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, RingLardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz,Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, Dalton Trumbo
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The 1950s
Ronald Reagan waspresident of the ScreenActors Guild and an FBIinformant
Cold War hysteria increased Joseph McCarthy
investigated the StateDepartment & the Army forCommunists
His investigations wereinconclusive and televisionshowed him for what he was- a bully in 1954 see GoodNight & Good Luck
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Story Fred Zinnemann, 1907-1997
2 Best Director Oscars, 1 BestPicture (A Man For All Seasons &From Here to Eternity) & 1 BestDocumentary Short Oscar
Directed film debuts ofMontgomery Clift, Marlon Brando& Meryl Streep
High Noonwas seen as anallegory for the atmosphere
created by the Red Scare, ColdWar & the Blacklist (screenwriterForeman was blacklisted, Cooperwas a friendly witness) but canalso be taken as a right-leaningcry for self-defense against judges
paroling criminals
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Story The fact that somebody
shoots a gun is of no interest.What I want to know is why heshoots it and what the
consequences are." FredZinnemann
Worked with Robert Siodmak& Billy Wilder in Europe
Skeptical & rational always,
themes in his work are post-war questioning of authority,the struggle against externaland internal pressures,individual integrity, use &
abuses of power
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Story Gary Cooper, 1901-1961
Over 100 films from 1925 to1961
Starred in Wings, 1927, whichwas the first film to win BestPicture
5 Oscar nominations, 2 wins(High Noon & Sargeant York)andan Honorary one in 1961
Born & raised in Montana, his
rugged, soft-spoken demeanormade for the perfect cowboy,he moved into the charmingrube character with FrankCapra
Remained a leading manpretty much all his life
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Story
Grace Kelly, 1929-1982 Born to wealthy parents, she
started on Broadway in 1949
High Noonis her second film Worked with Hitchcock in DialM for Murder, Rear Window &To Catch a Thief
Oscar for The Country Girl in1954
Last film was High Society in1956 when she becamePrincess Grace Rainier aftermarrying the ruler of Monaco
Died in a car crash in 1982
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