Week 4 Flashcards
Strong Degree of Closure
-the closure effect
-forgotten about the initial problem in Wizard of Oz
Tendency Toward Unrestricted Narration AND Objective Narration.
Unrestricted: where the visa is not a Mystery in Casablanca (unrestricted)
Why Lisa left Rick is (restricted)
Objective: Flashbacks motivated by characters memory of an event are presented objectively.
The Subordinated to the Cause-effect chain.
-plot will eliminate significant durations of time in order to focus on events of casual importance.
-plot will order story chronology so as to present the cause-effect chain most strikingly.
Classical
-Long stable and influential history.
-Informed by an inherited tradition
-self-effacing craftsmanship.
The studio system
-Studio contracts- efficient ways for studios to get money
-vertical integration of studios- controlled every stage of film making including: Production, Distribution, Exhibition, movies couldn’t fail because they were played everywhere.
-Carl Laemmle, William Fox, and Warner Brothers began as exhibitors struggled to acquire new films.
-MGM one of the five integrated majors was run by Louis B. Mayer- first American to win million dollar salary.
Characteristics of Classical Hollywood narration
Narrative: A chain of events cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space.
Cause and Effect: the all important unifying principle
1. individual characters
2. goal or desire
3. clear resolution
Double/ casual structure: Two intertwined plot lines. Ex: quest + romance.
Typical Plot Patterns:
Goal oriented
Time or space as patterning device.
1948 The Paramount Decision
The major studios were compelled to sell their cinema chains.
Hollywood The Edison Trust
-American Industry grew up in the East Coast
-Many exhibitors clashed with “The Edison Trust”
-Inventor Thomas Edisons (Motion Picture Production Company <1908>)
1912 first Hollywood studio established
1918-break up of Edison MPPC
Emergence of Hollywood “Studio System”
