Two of my all time favourites : Citizen Kane and Vertigo !
In the following paper we shall explore the characteristics of the classical Hollywood film
and also analyse how useful and limiting these approaches are in understanding how Hollywood films produce their meaning.
In order to understand the various characteristics we shall also analyse two films Vertigo (1958) by Alfred Hitchcock and Citizen Kane (1941) by Orson Welles. Both these films came to be known for their narrative and stylistic properties, not only did these films improve on the existing norms of classical cinema but also experimented and pushed the technical and narrative boundaries. Although they belonged to classical films genre they still challenged conventions and introduced new practises that laid the foundations for fiction films in late years.The period from 1917, as mentioned by the authors of Classical Hollywood Cinema is the one that witnessed the formation of essential features that were the way in which a film organized narrative time and space, the continuity of script, and stylistic features[1]. Bordwell further states that the stylistic features that developed were connected to the development of the industry and its specific business and production practices. These features when applied to the classical idea demonstrated the observance of rules of compositions and aesthetic organisations that produced uniformity, balance and order in the resulting work of art[2]. Various elements contribute to the formation of particular characteristics of the classical films, some are classical narration and story telling; mise en scene: space, scene, shot and time; and modes of production.
French critic, André Bazin argued that Hollywood needed to appreciate for its vigorous tradition, and its ability to adopt and appreciate its contact with new elements[3].Both Vertigo and Citizen Kane were two films from the classical period in which Hitchcock and Welles experimented with old norms and also adopted new ways to tell stories. Certain techniques that were used in these films motivated other filmmakers to think unconventionally. Hollywood never strongly advocated conventional filmmaking, and it was this characteristic that allowed it to progress.
CLASSICAL NARRATION OR CLASSICAL STORY TELLING
French critic, André Bazin argued that Hollywood needed to appreciate for its vigorous tradition, and its ability to adopt and appreciate its contact with new elements[3].Both Vertigo and Citizen Kane were two films from the classical period in which Hitchcock and Welles experimented with old norms and also adopted new ways to tell stories. Certain techniques that were used in these films motivated other filmmakers to think unconventionally. Hollywood never strongly advocated conventional filmmaking, and it was this characteristic that allowed it to progress.
CLASSICAL NARRATION OR CLASSICAL STORY TELLING
‘‘The very name Hollywood has colored the thought of this age. It has given to the world a new synonym of happiness because of all its products happiness is the one in which Hollywood – the motion picture Hollywood- chiefly interests itself [4]’’
Carl Milliken 1928
From the very beginning Hollywood has been known for entertaining its audiences. One of the characteristics mentioned by the authors of Classical Hollywood Cinema is narration and story telling. These films usually follow a model in which the plot is gradually revealed to the audience in a well structured way and there is a constant struggle by the characters to achieve their goals. The story plays a very important role, Bordwell makes story pre-eminent. He says that the various techniques of Hollywood cinema are there to facilitate smooth story telling, and in this process they need to draw very little attention to themselves.
Narrative structure, motivation, cause and effect, space and time, the over all visual style, the use of sound, editing and mise en scene are factors that invisibly facilitate even story-telling. So, the main function of these techniques is to produce coherence, continuity, causality and a clear cut story. Bordwell classifies these characteristics into two: Narrative and stylistic properties and it is with the help of these characteristics that Hollywood films produced their meanings.
The narrative of classical Hollywood films follows a prearranged approach, along with other factors such as logic, cause and effect, psychological motivation (of the characters), representation of time and space that are vital to story-telling. Bordwell states that ‘‘a narrative film consists of three systems: narrative logic (definitions of events, casual relations and parallelism between events), the representation of time (order, duration and repetition), and the representation of space (composition, orientation etc).Any given technical parameter (e.g. sound, editing) can function within any or all the systems.[5]’’ This structure of the narrative, was extremely useful when it came to producing meaning.
Narrative logic is what contributes to the development of consistency in narrative. It makes it possible for the narrative to produce its meaning and provide an understandable representation of the story, the characters, and the relationship between various ‘lines of action’. The protagonist is principal representative whose character is clearly defined to the audience, and is motivated to achieve his goals. In a well structured manner, the protagonist faces challenges and is psychologically motivated to achieve his goal, this helps the story progress. These features were very helpful, as they provided a clear understanding and progress of story. Bordwell mentions that classical films had at least two lines of action, both casually linking the same group of characters, where invariably one of the lines of action involved heterosexual romantic love and out of a hundred films in USA, almost ninety five used it in one line of action or the other and about eighty five made it the principal line of action[6]. Vertigo has heterosexual romance is the principal line of action, from the very beginning we see the male protagonist getting drawn towards his romantic interest. The narrative in the middle part of the film centres mainly on the love between the two and so does the climax. Citizen Kane’s primary line of action may not be ‘romance’ but it was certainly a very prominent line of action. Charles Foster Kane’s marriages and affairs contribute to the development of the story. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why this film in particular challenged conventional classical Hollywood narrative. Not much emphasis has been given to romance in it. Using romance as a primary or a secondary line of action in films, limited the scope of other lines of action and as this was very popular with the studios as well, it further left little space for other themes. However Citizen Kane clearly focused on other another line of action and made an attempt at breaking away from the popular trend.
‘Cause and effect’ model is another characteristic on which the narrative of classical films in based. Franscis Patterson writes that plot is the careful and the logical working out of the laws of cause and effect. The emphasis is laid mainly upon causality and the action and the reaction of the protagonist[7]. He further mentions that character centred i.e. personal or psychological –causality is the armature of classical story telling[8].This is evident in Citizen Kane, the film begins with an introduction to the location and death of Charles Foster Kane, uttering his mysterious last words ‘rosebud’, which becomes the central object and the story unfolds as journalists try and uncover the secret. Psychological motivations are shown in relation to Kane’s life and his business, his story drives the plot forward in the story. But it is not the main cause that takes the story forward and this is where this feels becomes different. It is the motivation of the reporter to find the meaning of Rosebud that takes the main story forward. This film challenged the idea of a simple, general story telling that existed in classical films, the unconventional way by which we learn about Kane in the film and the secret of rosebud, but not depending on the protagonist himself but another character defying the classical norm cause and effect to an extent.
Carl Milliken 1928
From the very beginning Hollywood has been known for entertaining its audiences. One of the characteristics mentioned by the authors of Classical Hollywood Cinema is narration and story telling. These films usually follow a model in which the plot is gradually revealed to the audience in a well structured way and there is a constant struggle by the characters to achieve their goals. The story plays a very important role, Bordwell makes story pre-eminent. He says that the various techniques of Hollywood cinema are there to facilitate smooth story telling, and in this process they need to draw very little attention to themselves.
Narrative structure, motivation, cause and effect, space and time, the over all visual style, the use of sound, editing and mise en scene are factors that invisibly facilitate even story-telling. So, the main function of these techniques is to produce coherence, continuity, causality and a clear cut story. Bordwell classifies these characteristics into two: Narrative and stylistic properties and it is with the help of these characteristics that Hollywood films produced their meanings.
The narrative of classical Hollywood films follows a prearranged approach, along with other factors such as logic, cause and effect, psychological motivation (of the characters), representation of time and space that are vital to story-telling. Bordwell states that ‘‘a narrative film consists of three systems: narrative logic (definitions of events, casual relations and parallelism between events), the representation of time (order, duration and repetition), and the representation of space (composition, orientation etc).Any given technical parameter (e.g. sound, editing) can function within any or all the systems.[5]’’ This structure of the narrative, was extremely useful when it came to producing meaning.
Narrative logic is what contributes to the development of consistency in narrative. It makes it possible for the narrative to produce its meaning and provide an understandable representation of the story, the characters, and the relationship between various ‘lines of action’. The protagonist is principal representative whose character is clearly defined to the audience, and is motivated to achieve his goals. In a well structured manner, the protagonist faces challenges and is psychologically motivated to achieve his goal, this helps the story progress. These features were very helpful, as they provided a clear understanding and progress of story. Bordwell mentions that classical films had at least two lines of action, both casually linking the same group of characters, where invariably one of the lines of action involved heterosexual romantic love and out of a hundred films in USA, almost ninety five used it in one line of action or the other and about eighty five made it the principal line of action[6]. Vertigo has heterosexual romance is the principal line of action, from the very beginning we see the male protagonist getting drawn towards his romantic interest. The narrative in the middle part of the film centres mainly on the love between the two and so does the climax. Citizen Kane’s primary line of action may not be ‘romance’ but it was certainly a very prominent line of action. Charles Foster Kane’s marriages and affairs contribute to the development of the story. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why this film in particular challenged conventional classical Hollywood narrative. Not much emphasis has been given to romance in it. Using romance as a primary or a secondary line of action in films, limited the scope of other lines of action and as this was very popular with the studios as well, it further left little space for other themes. However Citizen Kane clearly focused on other another line of action and made an attempt at breaking away from the popular trend.
‘Cause and effect’ model is another characteristic on which the narrative of classical films in based. Franscis Patterson writes that plot is the careful and the logical working out of the laws of cause and effect. The emphasis is laid mainly upon causality and the action and the reaction of the protagonist[7]. He further mentions that character centred i.e. personal or psychological –causality is the armature of classical story telling[8].This is evident in Citizen Kane, the film begins with an introduction to the location and death of Charles Foster Kane, uttering his mysterious last words ‘rosebud’, which becomes the central object and the story unfolds as journalists try and uncover the secret. Psychological motivations are shown in relation to Kane’s life and his business, his story drives the plot forward in the story. But it is not the main cause that takes the story forward and this is where this feels becomes different. It is the motivation of the reporter to find the meaning of Rosebud that takes the main story forward. This film challenged the idea of a simple, general story telling that existed in classical films, the unconventional way by which we learn about Kane in the film and the secret of rosebud, but not depending on the protagonist himself but another character defying the classical norm cause and effect to an extent.
Another attribute of classical narrative is that an introduction to space, time and different characters is given as soon as the story begins. This helps one to identify with the situation and the characters. Narrative needs to have a period of time and space to create a situation, usually the narrative places the scenes in a chronological order and this in turn helps the story to move forward. Both Vertigo and Citizen Kane allow the audience to notice and familiarize themselves with the space, time and characters as soon as the film begins. Vertigo narrates its story following the classical norm, so the story telling is smooth and in a chronological order which makes it easier for the audience to follow by allowing them to form their own perception with the progress of the character. However, in Citizen Kane Welles used flashbacks to tell the story of Kane, often disobeying the chronology. These flashbacks takes the story in past and the story is developed with the memory of characters about Kane. Welles used very frequent flashbacks to help develop the character of Kane and help the reporter uncover the mystery behind Rosebud. However, these flashbacks never complicate the storytelling; they also follow a chronological order. For example, when the reporter begins to trace Kane’s life we see that one by one he interviews associates of Kane who narrate his story. First there is news on reel where we get an idea of who Kane was and his life as an adult. However more personal details about his personality come from the flashbacks .These include his childhood story from Tatcher’s diary, then Bernstein’s flashback about Kane’s career when he started his first newspaper, then comes Leland’s story that tells about his personal life, election, affair and first marriage and then Susan’s flashback when he becomes old. Although Welles used flashbacks, he still maintained chronology in them which helped the audience keep track of the story.
This practise of introduction and familiarization was perhaps one of the risk-free measures applied during Classical period of film making in Hollywood that ensured that the audience followed the story and avoided confusion. Another characteristic of classical films is that the main characters are more prominent, gaining more space and dialogue than others, the narration centres around them and the whole purpose is mainly to achieve the goal. In most films this goal is not an easy task and involves a lot of deliberation and struggle. But this is another norm that Citizen Kane does not follow. Here, the protagonist maybe Kane, but the entire story develops with the help of the journalist and the other characters, so they receive more screen presence as compared to secondary characters in other films of the classical Hollywood period. Most classical films followed norms; even major studios such as MGM had ideas that concentrated on stories about nice people involved into heartbreak, finding their happiness with each other at last and that also in settings of an idealised beauty: an England full of sunshine, an America of white fences and rambler roses around the door[9]. This shows the extent to which films depended on the existing norms to tell stories in order to produce meaning, it can be concluded that the narrative and story telling of the classical Hollywood films had common elements such as ‘cause and effect’; introduction to time and space; heterosexual romance; pursuit of goals that helped the films establish their meaning and proved to be useful without causing disorder. Bordwell’s idea of classical films benefited the films in expressing their meaning, the notion of resolution and tying up of loose ends (editing) were some of the primary characteristics that helped the story to move forward and help the audience understand the meaning
This practise of introduction and familiarization was perhaps one of the risk-free measures applied during Classical period of film making in Hollywood that ensured that the audience followed the story and avoided confusion. Another characteristic of classical films is that the main characters are more prominent, gaining more space and dialogue than others, the narration centres around them and the whole purpose is mainly to achieve the goal. In most films this goal is not an easy task and involves a lot of deliberation and struggle. But this is another norm that Citizen Kane does not follow. Here, the protagonist maybe Kane, but the entire story develops with the help of the journalist and the other characters, so they receive more screen presence as compared to secondary characters in other films of the classical Hollywood period. Most classical films followed norms; even major studios such as MGM had ideas that concentrated on stories about nice people involved into heartbreak, finding their happiness with each other at last and that also in settings of an idealised beauty: an England full of sunshine, an America of white fences and rambler roses around the door[9]. This shows the extent to which films depended on the existing norms to tell stories in order to produce meaning, it can be concluded that the narrative and story telling of the classical Hollywood films had common elements such as ‘cause and effect’; introduction to time and space; heterosexual romance; pursuit of goals that helped the films establish their meaning and proved to be useful without causing disorder. Bordwell’s idea of classical films benefited the films in expressing their meaning, the notion of resolution and tying up of loose ends (editing) were some of the primary characteristics that helped the story to move forward and help the audience understand the meaning
VISUAL STYLE
The stylistic properties of a film are integral elements that lend a touch of realism. The authors of Classical Hollywood cinema state that by the 1910s the shift to feature length films compelled filmmakers to gain guidance from sources such as short stories and novels to make the films have a realistic appeal and so editing,camera techniques, along with lighting, acting gesture, and even set construction, worked toward clear methods of delivering story information[10]. Classical realist cinema, building as it did upon representational codes for verisimilitude and stories that stressed plausibly motivated human agents became the foundation for commercial narrative cinema worldwide. Bazin states that this need also came from the requirement that films needed to have feel real to the audience, or else they would not be able to relate or believe in the story.
Along with narrative, the visual style of classical Hollywood films helped them demonstrate coherence, continuity, and comprehension. Narrative devices such as motivation, cause and effect, narrative logic and time and space in classical Hollywood films support the progression and completion of a story, similarly stylistic devices like visual style and sound also facilitate the progress of the narrative.
Bordwell mentions that the camera is the most important technical tool used to tell a story to the audience, he calls it a ‘story teller’. In order to produce meaning the camera positioning and movement was were used to create dimensions for objects, which represented space with depth and volume[11]. Both Hitchcock and Welles used camera as a story teller in their films Vertigo and Citizen Kane, however they used it unconventionally (which we will discuss later in the essay). Classical films followed some popular norms such as the object occupying the centre of the frame always enjoyed more attention as mentioned by Bordwell, focus on important objects and the blurred appearance of non-important objects[12].This was useful in making the audience focus more on the relevant objects, it also left very opportunities for the attention to get diverted to insignificant objects.
Although there are no rules for visual style in classical cinema, there certainly are a set of popular norms. These norms facilitate the smooth progress of the story and the narration; they also prepare the audience expectations and on many occasions motivate them to expect certain outcomes. This is evidently very useful, but sometimes it may also limit the audience’s perception if it is over used or outwardly useless.
In French, Mise en scene means ‘putting into the scene’ and it was first applied to the practise of directing plays. In Cinema it is applied to the director’s control over what appears in a frame. Bordwell states that aspects of mise en scene such as the setting, costume and make up, lighting, staging of movement, and acting are factors that contribute to the style of a film[13]. Naturally, like other narrative devices, classical Hollywood films also gave a lot of importance to these stylistic devices. Bordwell mentions that mise-en-scène is the composition of the frame which functions as part of the narrative[14]. Although, Vertigo rejects a lot of conventional norms, we do see some elements of Bordwell’s notion of mise en scene present in one of the scenes from the film. The scene that shows the conflict between the male protagonist and his romantic- interest is an example of how by the use of the right costume and make-up, staging and lighting, dramatic opportunities were created to compliment the narrative arc and establishes its meaning. The location is tranquil. The perfect positioning of the church and dark passage leading to the stairs help create drama and act as a prelude to a very intense scene which induces fear. The dark shades of the costumes also lend a sense of gravity to the scene. The narrative also demands the actors express a lot of feelings in this scene. Scotty experiences a degree of urgency and anticipation while he tries to help the female protagonist uncover and understand her behaviour. While the facial expressions of the female protagonist expresses confusion, distrust, unrest, pain, love and also detachment to an extent. All these elements and others of Mise en scene contribute to the narrative flow of the scene and thus help establish the desired meaning which in the case of Vertigo was to induce suspense, fear and shock in the audience. Not only do these elements help us understand the psychology of the characters it also helps in establishing meaning and so we can understand that such approach was very useful.
SOUND
Classical Hollywood films did have strict rules but followed norms when it came to sound, music and sound effect. Some of the norms in use of sound and music that prevail in classical Hollywood films are the use of sound in a way that it is usually loud in the absence of dialogue and is made to fade out in the presence of dialogue in to the background[15], music can be used to express the emotions of characters and underline a dramatic point, for example Welles uses loud music for Susan’s opera scene when Kane claps loudly and continuously, this means that Kane’s self centred and adamant nature stops him from accepting his wife’s failure( which in turn is a huge blow to his ego).The music was useful in conveying tension and a sense of anger to the audience.
Citizen Kane advocated the beginning of new techniques in sound as well. Welles created a technique ‘lightning mix’ in which he combined a series of related sounds to create a continuous and smooth soundtrack. This technique is evident in the scene when Kane grows from a child into a young man in 2 shots. We see Kane speaking the words ‘merry Christmas and a happy new year, only that ‘happy new year’ is spoken by Kane who is 15 years older. The audio here has been used to show the transition to the next scene. Another unconventional technique that Welles used was the over lapping of dialogues that gave the conversation between the characters a more natural look in contrast to how characters would not interrupt while others were speaking in other films of the classical period. This unconventional use of sound not only makes this film different from others, it also shows that with the use of these techniques Welles successfully produced the desired meaning.
Citizen Kane advocated the beginning of new techniques in sound as well. Welles created a technique ‘lightning mix’ in which he combined a series of related sounds to create a continuous and smooth soundtrack. This technique is evident in the scene when Kane grows from a child into a young man in 2 shots. We see Kane speaking the words ‘merry Christmas and a happy new year, only that ‘happy new year’ is spoken by Kane who is 15 years older. The audio here has been used to show the transition to the next scene. Another unconventional technique that Welles used was the over lapping of dialogues that gave the conversation between the characters a more natural look in contrast to how characters would not interrupt while others were speaking in other films of the classical period. This unconventional use of sound not only makes this film different from others, it also shows that with the use of these techniques Welles successfully produced the desired meaning.
EDITING
Editing is the final stage in which films are polished and cultured. In the classical filmmaking period editing was used to produce coherence, continuity and visual style to films. Editing was used as a tool to compliment narrative requirements.
Citizen Kane was considered as a masterpiece for the experiments that were carried out, the use of flashbacks and flash forwards to take the narrative to the past or jump to the future facilitated the progress of story i.e. We watch Charles Kane grow from an innocent child to a ruthless and power hungry old man, Welles used montage sequences to show the lapse in time. Montage in classical cinema was primarily used to depict time lapses[16].So, it can be said these unconventional techniques helped in the progression of the narrative and helped the audience on instances linking scenes and transitions like a jigsaw puzzle and on other occasion by reinforcing the plot for better understanding (for example in Vertigo we are reminded of the Scottie’s fear of height from time to time). The opening scene of Citizen Kane involves transitions known as dissolves, one by one shots fade out to allow the other shots to fade in, and another scene where it has been used is to depict Kane’s marriage to Susan Alexander and weariness of it in later years. We see a happily married newly wed couple at the breakfast table and it changes to depict middle age spouses, who hold little interest in one another. These new techniques which had not been used earlier, showed how films could achieve meaning by adopting new ways.
Also, techniques such as Reframing (pan or tilt to accommodate moving figures) have also been used in this film. It is said that after 1929 one in every six shots used at least one reframing[17]. Another characteristic was the continuity in editing. Andre Bazin summarized it as’ verisimilitude of the space in which the position of the actor is always determined even if the close up eliminates the décor and that the purpose and the effect of the cuts are due to dramatic or psychological requirements of a scene’ .Crosscutting was also a very common characteristic, in which two or more story lines or lines of action were joined together usually set in different places.
The ‘Classical Hollywood Cinema’s ‘authors lay emphasis on the fact that viewers of classical films assumed durational continuity unless signalled otherwise. Only editing disrupted this continuous time span[18].Classical cinema was cinema of cutting and single shot sequences were rare. Citizen Kane adopted an unconventional approach here as well and there are many single shot sequences, in the scene where Kane and Tatcher discuss how a newspaper should be run, we see one single shot changing the movement of the camera as per the characters enter and exit, it also zooms and pans as per the narrative and the psychological needs of the main characters.
The visual system of the audience is accustomed to recognize modifications. Bordwell introduces the composition of screen space in relation to two dimensional compositions (organization of shapes, outline of light, textures) and three dimensional space in which action occurs[19]. Citizen Kane’s scene where the ‘News on March’ ends and the characters discuss the news piece; we almost instantly get drawn to the way light is distributed in the room and on the objects. The only sources of light are the two small windows. It is still dark and one cannot easily see the face’s of the men in the room. It begins with a long shot and cuts into high angle shot. Among all the men only one is shown to move throughout the room, interestingly he is the one who makes all the valid statements and has most of the dialogues. As a result, the characters are indistinct, at best a silhouette. This allows one to concentrate on him and pay attention to him
Space and Time: There were certain norms that were followed in the classical construction of space. Bordwell suggests that the post renaissance paintings provided one such model. Filmmakers displayed interest in centred positioning, which was similar to central positioning of the erect human body in post renaissance paintings. Some of the other norms were that extreme long shots displayed a tendency to weight the lower half of the image (this derives from landscape painting traditions), most shots work with a privileged zone of screen space resembling a T: the upper one-third and the central vertical third of the screen constitute the ‘centre’ of the shot [20]. It is evident that Citizen Kane challenged these conventions and advocated numerous new stylistic techniques such as montages, dissolves and reframing. Montage sequences were also used to compress time[21]. The ‘News on the March’ in Citizen Kane helped compress a very long story of a man life into an uncomplicated news bulletin. Also allows the story to progress without having to go into details at a very early stage, also helps secure the interesting and more relevant bits from it for later as the story unfolds. Flashbacks and such use of time helps the narrative make sense to the audience, and leaves less scope for one not being able to follow the narrative.
Space and Time: There were certain norms that were followed in the classical construction of space. Bordwell suggests that the post renaissance paintings provided one such model. Filmmakers displayed interest in centred positioning, which was similar to central positioning of the erect human body in post renaissance paintings. Some of the other norms were that extreme long shots displayed a tendency to weight the lower half of the image (this derives from landscape painting traditions), most shots work with a privileged zone of screen space resembling a T: the upper one-third and the central vertical third of the screen constitute the ‘centre’ of the shot [20]. It is evident that Citizen Kane challenged these conventions and advocated numerous new stylistic techniques such as montages, dissolves and reframing. Montage sequences were also used to compress time[21]. The ‘News on the March’ in Citizen Kane helped compress a very long story of a man life into an uncomplicated news bulletin. Also allows the story to progress without having to go into details at a very early stage, also helps secure the interesting and more relevant bits from it for later as the story unfolds. Flashbacks and such use of time helps the narrative make sense to the audience, and leaves less scope for one not being able to follow the narrative.
Time: Narration manipulates time in specific ways. Bordwell mentions that in classical cinema the story in accordance with time moved forward in a 1-2-3 pace. This orderly progression allowed the audience to have a better understanding of the story; such structure also facilitated the smooth flow of narrative. Vertigo, demonstrates such order. Throughout the film the systematic narrative allowed the audience to progress along with it, rarely dramatically challenging the chronology.
Other techniques to manipulate time involved the use of flashbacks. However, very few classical Hollywood films used flashbacks and to an extent this made treatment of the story monotonous and common. It limited the scope of cinematic experimentation, all the stories moved forward following the norms, however both Citizen Kane and Vertigo used flashbacks. For example Hitchcock used flashback when Judy recalled her memory when she acted as Madeleine and Welles used it on several occasions to establish the character of Kane. One such scene in which Susan Alexander (Kane’s second wife) fades into flashback to recall Charles Foster Kane, we get to know everything about Kane as a husband and also about his empire. In a similar fashion we see more characters during the film going into a flashback and provide information about Kane. Flashbacks perhaps helped the story move forward without making storytelling monotonous. It also gave filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their creativity .Another way by which time was manipulated was by the use of fade in and fade out, as they helped show progress and change in story.
Hence, it can be said that the various narrative techniques along with the visual techniques helped classical Hollywood cinema achieve an identity that is unique to it. These techniques still find their way into present techniques of filmmaking, however there is no doubt that their inception dates back to the period of classical Hollywood cinema. Both Citizen Kane and Vertigo show that experimentation and unconventionality was possible in Hollywood. The domination of the studio system in later years also intensified these norms and left little place for experiments and innovations. The model of mass production of films was used to cut cost and also the ‘factory system ‘of making films shaped products that were to a large extent risk –free. With the growing dominance of the major studios the aim was to gain maximum profit.
Both Vertigo and Citizen Kane belong to this period of time when the industry worked as per norms and rules but they challenged conventions. Welles greatly challenged conventions and introduced new techniques that enabled cinema to produce its desired meaning with the help of new methods, he pushed the existing boundaries.
Other techniques to manipulate time involved the use of flashbacks. However, very few classical Hollywood films used flashbacks and to an extent this made treatment of the story monotonous and common. It limited the scope of cinematic experimentation, all the stories moved forward following the norms, however both Citizen Kane and Vertigo used flashbacks. For example Hitchcock used flashback when Judy recalled her memory when she acted as Madeleine and Welles used it on several occasions to establish the character of Kane. One such scene in which Susan Alexander (Kane’s second wife) fades into flashback to recall Charles Foster Kane, we get to know everything about Kane as a husband and also about his empire. In a similar fashion we see more characters during the film going into a flashback and provide information about Kane. Flashbacks perhaps helped the story move forward without making storytelling monotonous. It also gave filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their creativity .Another way by which time was manipulated was by the use of fade in and fade out, as they helped show progress and change in story.
Hence, it can be said that the various narrative techniques along with the visual techniques helped classical Hollywood cinema achieve an identity that is unique to it. These techniques still find their way into present techniques of filmmaking, however there is no doubt that their inception dates back to the period of classical Hollywood cinema. Both Citizen Kane and Vertigo show that experimentation and unconventionality was possible in Hollywood. The domination of the studio system in later years also intensified these norms and left little place for experiments and innovations. The model of mass production of films was used to cut cost and also the ‘factory system ‘of making films shaped products that were to a large extent risk –free. With the growing dominance of the major studios the aim was to gain maximum profit.
Both Vertigo and Citizen Kane belong to this period of time when the industry worked as per norms and rules but they challenged conventions. Welles greatly challenged conventions and introduced new techniques that enabled cinema to produce its desired meaning with the help of new methods, he pushed the existing boundaries.
It can be concluded from the above argument that Classical narration and story telling; the various aspects of Mise en scene such as shot, scene, time. Space; and the studio system are characteristics of a classical Hollywood film that were also very useful in establishing the desired meaning. Bordwell’s argument that Classical Hollywood Cinema is the one that witnessed the formation of essential features that were the way in which a film organized narrative time and space, the continuity of script, the structure of management , and the division of labour in production stands as an important piece of substantiation to the suggestion of a ‘classical Hollywood film’. Although there are norms that have been used to produce meaning and realism, there is no doubt that some of these norms limit the creativity of filmmakers by binding them in dwell defined rules of filmmaking. Both Vertigo and Citizen Kane are films from this period of time that initiated unconventional techniques. Bordwell calls Citizen Kane unclassical as he states that ‘‘the narration supplies the answer to the rosebud mystery, but the main traits of Kane’s character remain partly undetermined, and no generic motivation justifies that[22]’’. The fact that these films were able to challenge conventions also shows the fact that Hollywood was flexible and was open to new ideas and initiates and it was one of the primary characteristics that made Hollywood cinema so popular in the world.
FILMOGRAPHY
FILMOGRAPHY
Citizen Kane (1942, USA.Directed by Orson Welles)
Vertigo (1958, USA. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Vertigo (1958, USA. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
· Baxter Jon, Hollywood in Thirties, London: A Zwemmer, 1968, Pg 11-12
·Bordwell David, Janet Staiger, Kristin Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985), Pg.4
·Bordwell David, Janet Staiger, Kristin Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960, ‘Story causality and Motivation’ pg(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985), Pg 11 & Pg16.
·Bordwell David, Kristin Thompson, ‘Film Art: An Introduction’, Part 4: Chp 6 (Sixth ed), McGraw-Hill 2001 pg 156- 160
Bordwell David, Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, Part 4: Chp 6 (Sixth ed), McGraw-Hill 2001 Pg 176
Bordwell David, Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, Part 4: Chp 6 (Sixth ed), McGraw-Hill 2001 Pg 156- 160
Cowie Elizabeth, (1998) ‘Storytelling: classical Hollywood cinema and classical narrative.’’, an extract from ‘A Manual for aspiring scriptwriters’ pp185 by Francis Patterson; From Neale, Steve and Smith, Murray (eds),Contemporary Hollywood Cinema ,London :Routledge, Pg 178-179
·Higham Charles, Joel Greenberg, Hollywood in Forties ( 1968) ,Pg8
· Higham Charles, Joel Greenberg, ‘Hollywood in Forties’: Black Cinema, (1968), Pg 22-23
Higham Charles, Joel Greenberg ‘Hollywood In Forties’ Chapter: Melodrama, (1968), Pg 36-37
·Maltby Richard, ‘Hollywood Cinema,’ Introduction: Taking Hollywood Seriously, Blackwell Publishers (1995), Para 2, Pg 6 & 7
·Bazin Andre ‘ La Politique des Auteurs’, in Peter Graham, ed., The New Wave (London: Secker and Warburg, 1968) pp 143-4
Trotti Lamar, ‘The Motion Picture as a Business’ delivered as a speech by Carl E.Milliken, April 1928.Motion Picture Association Archive, New York
[1] Bordwell David, Janet Staiger, Kristin Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985), Pg.4
[2] Maltby Richard, ‘Hollywood Cinema,’ Introduction: Taking Hollywood Seriously, Pg 6 & 7
[3] Maltby, op.cit., p7
[4] Trotti Lamar, ‘The Motion Picture as a Business’ delivered as a speech by Carl E.Milliken, April 1928.Motion Picture Association Archive, New York
[5] Bordwell, op.cit., p 11
[6] Ibid, p11-p 16
[7] Cowie Elizabeth, (1998) ‘Storytelling: classical Hollywood cinema and classical narrative.’’, an extract from ‘A Manual for aspiring scriptwriters’ pp185 by Francis Patterson; From Neale, Steve and Smith, Murray (eds),Contemporary Hollywood Cinema pp.178-179 London :Routledge
[9] Higham Charles, Joel Greenberg, Hollywood in Forties (1968) , p8
[10] www.filmreference.com
[11] Bordwell pp 12
[12] Bordwell, op.cit., p 163
[13] Bordwell David,Kristin Thompson, ‘Film Art: An Introduction’, McGraw Hill, 2001, pg 156- 160
[14] Ibid, p 161
[15] Bordwell, op.cit . pp34
[16] Bordwell, op.cit., p 44
[17] Ibid, p 51
[18]
[19] Bordwell,op.cit., p 176
[20] Bordwell David, op.cit.,156- 160
[21]
[22] Bordwell, Op.cit., pp 160
·Bordwell David, Janet Staiger, Kristin Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985), Pg.4
·Bordwell David, Janet Staiger, Kristin Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960, ‘Story causality and Motivation’ pg(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985), Pg 11 & Pg16.
·Bordwell David, Kristin Thompson, ‘Film Art: An Introduction’, Part 4: Chp 6 (Sixth ed), McGraw-Hill 2001 pg 156- 160
Bordwell David, Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, Part 4: Chp 6 (Sixth ed), McGraw-Hill 2001 Pg 176
Bordwell David, Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, Part 4: Chp 6 (Sixth ed), McGraw-Hill 2001 Pg 156- 160
Cowie Elizabeth, (1998) ‘Storytelling: classical Hollywood cinema and classical narrative.’’, an extract from ‘A Manual for aspiring scriptwriters’ pp185 by Francis Patterson; From Neale, Steve and Smith, Murray (eds),Contemporary Hollywood Cinema ,London :Routledge, Pg 178-179
·Higham Charles, Joel Greenberg, Hollywood in Forties ( 1968) ,Pg8
· Higham Charles, Joel Greenberg, ‘Hollywood in Forties’: Black Cinema, (1968), Pg 22-23
Higham Charles, Joel Greenberg ‘Hollywood In Forties’ Chapter: Melodrama, (1968), Pg 36-37
·Maltby Richard, ‘Hollywood Cinema,’ Introduction: Taking Hollywood Seriously, Blackwell Publishers (1995), Para 2, Pg 6 & 7
·Bazin Andre ‘ La Politique des Auteurs’, in Peter Graham, ed., The New Wave (London: Secker and Warburg, 1968) pp 143-4
Trotti Lamar, ‘The Motion Picture as a Business’ delivered as a speech by Carl E.Milliken, April 1928.Motion Picture Association Archive, New York
[1] Bordwell David, Janet Staiger, Kristin Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985), Pg.4
[2] Maltby Richard, ‘Hollywood Cinema,’ Introduction: Taking Hollywood Seriously, Pg 6 & 7
[3] Maltby, op.cit., p7
[4] Trotti Lamar, ‘The Motion Picture as a Business’ delivered as a speech by Carl E.Milliken, April 1928.Motion Picture Association Archive, New York
[5] Bordwell, op.cit., p 11
[6] Ibid, p11-p 16
[7] Cowie Elizabeth, (1998) ‘Storytelling: classical Hollywood cinema and classical narrative.’’, an extract from ‘A Manual for aspiring scriptwriters’ pp185 by Francis Patterson; From Neale, Steve and Smith, Murray (eds),Contemporary Hollywood Cinema pp.178-179 London :Routledge
[9] Higham Charles, Joel Greenberg, Hollywood in Forties (1968) , p8
[10] www.filmreference.com
[11] Bordwell pp 12
[12] Bordwell, op.cit., p 163
[13] Bordwell David,Kristin Thompson, ‘Film Art: An Introduction’, McGraw Hill, 2001, pg 156- 160
[14] Ibid, p 161
[15] Bordwell, op.cit . pp34
[16] Bordwell, op.cit., p 44
[17] Ibid, p 51
[18]
[19] Bordwell,op.cit., p 176
[20] Bordwell David, op.cit.,156- 160
[21]
[22] Bordwell, Op.cit., pp 160
No comments:
Post a Comment