Week 4: Classical Hollywood Narration

Question 1

Define classical Hollywood narration

Answer 1

• Long, stable history
• Informed by an inherited tradition - shared rules and conventions
• Self-effacing craftsmanship (“classicism” vs. “romanticism”)

Question 2

What is the east coast industry?

Answer 2

Fort Lee, New Jersey was America’s first film capital prior to the mitigation west

Question 3

What is “The Edison Trust?”

Answer 3

Inventor Thomas Edison’s monopolistic Motion Picture Production Company (Est. 1908). Many exhibitors clashed with his company.

Question 4

Who are some exhibitors that clashed with the Edison Trust?

Answer 4

Carl Laemmle, William Fox, the Warner Brothers

Question 5

When did the first Hollywood studio establish?

Answer 5

1912

Question 6

When did the break-up of the Edison Trust and the emergence of the Hollywood “Studio system” happen?

Answer 6

1918

Question 7

What did the Studio System include?

Answer 7

• Studio contracts
• Vertical integration of studios (production, distribution, exhibition)
• “Integrated majors” and “minor” studios

Question 8

Who was the first American to earn a million-dollar salary?

Answer 8

Louis B. Mayer

Question 9

What is the Paramount Decision and when did it happen?

Answer 9

After Paramount sold, all major studios were compelled to see their cinema chains, 1948

Question 10

What is narrative?

Answer 10

A chain of events in cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space

Question 11

What is cause and effect?

Answer 11

• The all-important unifying principle
• Action springs primarily from individual characters as causal agents
• Some goal and desire will motivate the action
• Chain of actions leading toward a clear resolution

Question 12

What is double causal structure?

Answer 12

Typically, two intertwined plot lines (ex. quest and romance)
- Each has its own goal, obstacles and climax
- Two lines will often coincide at film’s climax

Question 13

What are typical plot patterns?

Answer 13

Goal-oriented plot:
- familiar devices: the appointment or the deadline
- delays, obstructions
- climax and anticlimax

• time or space as patterning device

Question 14

What happens when a film is time subordinated to the cause-effect chain?

Answer 14

The plot will eliminate significant durations of time in order to focus on events of causal importance. Plot will organize story chronology to present the cause-effect chain most strikingly

Question 15

What are examples of time subordination?

Answer 15

• Elliptical edit
• Flashback

Question 16

What is the “closure effect” or “pseudo-closure?”

Answer 16

Relies in part on our having forgotten about the initial problem, which remains unsolved