Title: Classical Realist Texts: American Films between 1916 and 1960
1Classical Realist Texts American Films between
1916 and 1960
2Table of Contents
- 1. Mise-en-scéne in classical American films
- 2. Montage in classical American films
3Mise-en-scéne in classical American films
- Mise-en-scene ought to be motivated as narrative
is. The chain of cause and effect dictates
mise-en-scène (what and how to shoot). - e.g. When a character is a hero, he may be placed
in the centre of the frame. When he walks into a
room, the camera also moves with him. When he is
walking in the darkness, no strong light is cast
on his face.
4Mise-en-scéne in classical American films
- F.W. Murnau, Sunrise A Song of Two Humans (1927)
- Travelling shot from a tram
- Motivated when the characters and the vehicle on
which they are on move, the camera moves.
5Montage in Classical American Films
- As mise-en-scène, montage must help a narrative
move on without distracting the attention of the
viewer from it. - Smooth flow from a shot to the next shot
- CONTINUITY Editing
6Montage in Classical American Films
- Continuity editing
- PURPOSES
- To tell a story coherently and clearly
- To map out the chain of actions in an
un-distracting way
7Montage in Classical American Films
- GRAPHIC CONTINUITY
- Shot-Reverse Shot
- The figures are balanced and symmetrically
deployed over shot-reverse shot. - The overall lighting tonality remains constant
over shots.
8Continuity Editing
9Continuity Editing
10Montage in Classical American Films
- EYE-LINE MATCH
- Shot A presents someone looking at something
off-screen shot B shows us what is being looked
at by him/her. In neither shot are both looker
and object present.
11Montage in Classical American Films
- Eye-line match
- Alfred Hitchcocks Rear Window (1954)
- In one shot Jefferies looks through his camera
and in the next shot what he is watching is shown.
12Montage in Classical American Films
- 180-DEGREE RULE
- Two characters (or other elements) in the same
scene should always have the same left/right
relationship to each other. - The axis of action (or centre line, 180º line) is
assumed between two characters. Then, this axis
of action determines a half-circle, or 180º area,
where the camera(s) can be placed to present
action.
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15Montage in Classical American Films
- Examples of the scenes which blatantly ignore the
180-degree rule - Jean-Luc Godard, A bout de souffle (1960)
- Ozu Yasujiro, Tokyo Story (1953)
16Montage in Classical American Films
- TEMPORAL CONTINUITY
- Time, like space, is organized according to the
development of the narrative. - ORDER, FREQUENCY, DURATION
17Montage in Classical American Films
- ORDER
- Continuity editing typically presents the story
events in a 1-2-3 order. - With the exception of occasional flashbacks.
- Christopher Nolans Memento its narrative told
in a backward 3-2-1 order
18Montage in Classical American Films
- FREQUENCY
- Classical editing also typically presents only
once what happens in the story. - Non-classical montage
- Sergei Eisensteins Battleship Potemkin (1925)
- Spike Lees Do the Right Thing (1989)
19Montage in Classical American Films
- DURATION
- In the classical continuity system, story
duration is seldom expanded or shortened. The
story time is equal to the film time. - Story time is extended in the famous Odessa Steps
scene in Sergei Eisensteins Battleship Potemkin
(1925)
20Montage in Classical American Films
- JUMP CUT
- A device to compress (dead) time. (A man enters
a large room at one end and must walk to a desk
at the other end. Jump cut eliminates most of
the action of traversing the long room.)
21Montage in Classical American Films
- Unobtrusive jump cut - a cut which does not make
the viewer aware of it. - Excess dead time must smoothed over either by
cutting away to another element of the scene or
by changing camera angle sufficiently so that the
second shot is clearly from a different camera
placement.
22Expressive Montage
- Obtrusive, jugged jump cut
- An action is abruptly interrupted without it is
completed. - Jean-Luc Godard, A bout de souffle (1960)
- Lars von Trier, Dancer in the Dark (2000)
- One of the avant-gardes favourite expressive
techniques. - Making artificiality evident.
23Expressive Montage
- Cross cutting
- Alternates two or more lines of actions taking
place in different places simultaneously. - Cross cutting could be employed to enhance
reality and truth effects, but is generally
associated with more formalist editing. - Edward Yans Yi, Yi (A One and a Two, 2000)
- Francis Ford Coppola, Godfather
24Expressive Montage
- David Lean as a master editor
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- Formative editing jumping thousands of miles in
space over two shots
25Expressive Montage
- The most audacious editing
- 2001 Space Odyssay
- Time travels million years in one editing.