Week 12

Week 12
The Way Hollywood Tells It, 117-157

Picking Up the Pace
What were the average shot lengths (ASLs) for the following periods?
1920s – 4-6 seconds
1930-1960 - 8-11 seconds
Mid-1960s - 6-8 seconds
1980’s – 8-7 seconds
2000 (“by century’s end”) - 3-6 seconds

How has faster editing in Hollywood affected the other elements of film style?
Certain techniques are no longer taboo Such as: Cutting on movement, Rack focusing,
Cutting on flashes of light, whiplash pans and jerky reframing. Editors can cut at every line in the dialog, sometimes even in the middle. They also include a lot more reaction shots. The acting is no longer what is most important to a films success.

Going to Extremes
How were wide angle (short) lenses used after 1970?
Could be used in tight CU, with packed compositions & tight camera movements. They used wide-angle lens also to distort/exaggerate distances between background and foreground as well as to create expansive establishing shots.

How were telephoto (long) lenses used after 1970?
Could be used in tight CU or as an establishing shot as in “Jerry Macquire.”
The loss of resolution with the many defocused planes created a look that was associated with lyrical romance. It was used for Westerns, Musicals
The longer lens were used to provide the squared off planimetric image.

P. 139-151 What does Bordwell mean when he says “Our movies are sixties movies, only more so”?
It means that directors like Sidney Lumet and Tony Richardson set the tone for the next generation of directors by using fresh techniques and styles of filmmaking in the 60’s that broke the ground for modern filmmaking. Such as intensified continuity and choices of lens for emotion and style. We have movies today that are built on these masters’ styles and others like them and now filmmakers have taken everything beyond anything that was done in the past.