Classical Realist Texts: American Films between 1916 and 1960

1. Classical Realist Texts: American Films between 1916 and 1960 Mise-en-scène

2. Realist Narrative The film drama is: ‘… life with the dull bits cut out’ (Alfred Hitchcock)

3. Classical realist narrative is NOT retelling of what happens in reality exactly as it does because it extracts from the world of its characters almost only elements which are relevant to its progress. • The realistic narrative in classical American films, which is achieved through various techniques and devices, is the one which gives the audience reality and truth effects, but is not exactly real.

4. Purer form of realist narrative is found in non-diegetic elements (elements not necessary for narrative advancement – Hitchcock’s ‘dull bits’). • Non-diegetic - being irrelevant to the progress of an imaginary story • SiegmundKracauer finds an inverted relation between those images that further the story and those ‘retain a degree of independence of the intrigue and thus succeed in summoning physical reality.’

5. Visualizing Methods in Classic American films (Mise-en-scène = ‘put it in the scene’; what is filmed＋ how it is shot. It includes the directing of performance, the placement of camera, camera movement, lighting, the choice of lens, design, costume, location hunting, etc.) (Montage = editing, how to present shots. It includes cutting, mixing sound effects and music, and dubbing)

6. Roland Barthes characterizes literary reference to objects that have no discernible narrative function except to give a material, worldly weight to the description as ‘reality effect’.

7. A purer form of film realism is found in an in- cidentalor contingent element in narrative. ‘… in the middle of the chase the little boy suddenly needs to piss. So he does.’ (André Bazin) • Vittorio de Sica’sBicycle Thieves(1948) 43.30

8. Gus Van Sant, Elephant (2003) – about a shooting in an Oregon high school partly base on the Colombine High School massacre. The film mostly follow the lives of several characters but the scenes are not directly related to the main plot – the shooting of students. clip

9. Classical Realist Texts: American Films between 1917 and 1960 Mise-en-scène

10. 1. Visualizing methods in classical American films 2. Mise-en-scénein classical American films

11. Mise-en-scène in Classic American Films • Classical Hollywood films aim to make the audience not notice that they are watching a film. They do so through telling a plausible narrative. • In making narrative the dominant force in a film, the classic Hollywood cinema chose to subordinate mise-en-scène and montage to narrative. • It lets mise-en-scène serve for the ‘invisible’, plausible and realistic narrative.

12. They achieve reality and truth effects by concealing filming techniques through sophisticated filming techniques MISE-EN-SCÈNEand MONTAGE • Unartificial → natural → real • Use of arts → make a film look artless → natural → real Realist mise-en-scène

13. Film arts which are employed to make a film artless • No unusual angles • Eye-level placing of camera • Follow-focus (follow shot) • No strong contrast • Choice of normal size lens (35 to 50 mm) • Balanced composition • Verisimilitudinouscamera movement etc.

14. Mise-en-scénein Classical American Films ANGLES OF FRAMING • Straight-on angle shot • High angle shot • Low angle shot

15. Straight-on angle • Following the point of view of a character - the most natural way in observing the film subject. Marriage just like any other

16. High angle shot Low angle shot • Camera angle can suggest either the vulnerability or power of a character.

17. High angle shot • A character or an object seen ‘from above’ • It looks smaller • It can be seen as ✓weaker ✓less powerful ✓less superior

18. Low angle shot • A character or an object seen ‘from below’ • It looks larger • It can be seen as ✓more powerful ✓more dominant ✓more important

19. Formalist Mise-en-scène Expressive angles • Extreme low-angle shots used in Citizen Kane • Formalist approach

20. Extreme high angle shots in Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange and Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs From below

21. LEVEL OF CAMERA • Eye-level shot – the camera is placed at the level of a character’s eyes • Little or no psychological effect on the spectator

22. Low-level and high-level placing of the camera • Following the eye level of a character - the most natural placing of the camera.

23. Formalist Mise-en-Scène • However, eye-level positioning of camera becomes expressive and formalistic, when it is set at an extreme level. • Expressive level • Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996) Opening

24. Formalist Mise-en-Scène • Dutch Angle Shot – the camera is set at an angle on its roll axis. Vertical lines at an angle to the side of the frame and horizontal lines not parallel with the bottom of the frame. • Make strong psychological effect on the spectator

25. Carol Reed’s The Third Man, an expressionistic and formalist film noir, uses Dutch angle shots throughout the film. First appearance

26. COMPOSITION • The important figure should be placed in the slightly off-centre of the frame

27. Slightly off-centre composition: Douglas Sirk’s melodramas, All that Heaven Allows and Written on the Wind

28. YasujiroOzu’sfamous composition in which a character comes right in the middle of the screen • Unconventional composition stands out in his films - more formalist stylistic element • Ozu’s influence on Kitano films

31. FOCUS Depth of the field • Selective focus or shallow focus = only one plane is in sharp focus • To direct the viewer’s attention to that plane.

32. Shallow focus Deep focus Focused field

33. DEEP FOCUS • Keeping elements at different depths of the field in focus, by using a relatively wide angle lens, strong lighting and a small camera aperture. • Preferred by realist film makers

35. Deep focus photography is normally associated with film realism. It could be used for expressionistic and formalist purpose. Citizen Kane

36. FOLLOW FOCUS • Keeping a moving object or character in focus More natural focusing Paths of Glory

37. RACK(ing) FOCUS • Changing of focus within a shot in such a way that one plane of the frame goes out of focus and instead another plane comes into sharp focus. CSI

39. Mike Nichols, The Graduate I have a date with Elaine