Hollywood Films
- Most of the big label studios, big label distributors like Warner Bros pictures, Disney picture, Universal pictures, and film production companies are located in Hollywood
- In order to attract their audience, Hollywood films are mainstream films
- To maintain the film quality, they are willing to invest over USD50 millions for a film production.
- Since they have big budget, they hire experts from various professions. Moreover, each department has a big crew. [sometimes, for instance, a production assistant in art department may not have the chance to meet the director nor the talents]
- Too much money involves, therefore, most studios and production houses are not willing to take the risk in experimenting a film.
- Most Hollywood films are widely spread internationally. Hence, they have "rules" and "formulas" to follow to assure their audience, and to get approval from government.
Independent Films
- Unknown label, unknown film production, unknown sponsors.
- Most of the time they can't afford a good team, or celebrities.
- Production size is usually small and not as big as Hollywood film productions
- Indie films are shown in selected theaters because they are not distributed by the big labels and their films often may not have big audience.
- Sometimes, because of insufficient budget, indie film-makers are forced to be highly creative.
- Because the investment is low, indie film-makers usually would take the risk to do experiment in their films, and they often like to "break the rules". Thus, most of the time indie films can get more awards than the Hollywood films.
- Most theories of film are concerned with the wider context of the medium- its social, political and philosophical proposition.
- Theorists explore the vital nature of cinema – what differentiates it from other art forms, what its basic properties are.
- Traditionally, theorists focus on 3 areas.
- The work of art - the film itself, how the film is constructed, or how it’s manipulated.
- The artists - how they want to show themselves.
- The audience - how they perceive, respond either critically or analytically, the outcomes are various because perceptions are subjective.
- Most theories of realism emphasize the documentary aspects of film art.
- Movies are evaluated primarily in terms of how accurately they reflect external reality.
- The camera is regarded as essentially a recording mechanism rather than an expression medium. Thus, they have less concern about cinematography techniques, and they prefer simple editing.
- Often, their films are bias to one side, and usually involve moral and ethical issues. It’s like an argumentative article on a topic about humanity, society, or morality only in a visual form.
- Neo-realism is a cultural movement that brings elements of true life in the stories it describes, rather than a world mainly existing in imagination only.
- The movement was developed in Europe (mostly Italians), primarily after the end of World War II.
- Neo-realism is characterized by a general atmosphere of authenticity.
- Andre Bazin, a French film theorist and critic, argued that neo-realism portrays: truth, naturalness, authenticity, and is a cinema of duration.
- The necessary characteristics of neo-realism in film include:
- a definite social context;
- a sense of historical actuality and immediacy;
- political commitment to progressive, even violent, social change;
- authentic on-location shooting as opposed to the artificial studio;
- a rejection of classical Hollywood acting styles;
- extensive use of non-professional actors as much as possible;
- a documentary style of cinematography.Formalist Film Theory
- Formalist film theories believe that the art of cinema is possible precisely because a movie is unlike everyday reality.
- Exploits the limitations of the medium - its two dimensionality, its confining frame, its fragmented time - space continuum- to produce a world that resembles the real world only in superficial sense.
- The real world is merely a repository of raw material that needs to be shaped and heightened to be effective as art.
- Most of the Hollywood films: Star Wars, Spiderman, Enchanted, Matrix, etc
- Some extreme formalist films can be abstract or difficult to accept for the majority of the viewers, for instances, 2046
- Auteur critics claimed that what makes a good film is not the subject matter as such but stylist treatment.
- The director dominates the treatment, provided he or she is a strong director, an auteur.
- The greatest movies are dominated by the personal vision of the director.
- A filmmaker’s signature can be perceived through an examination of his or her total output, which is characterized by a unity of theme and style.
- The auteurists argued that the best movies are dialectical, in which the conventions of genre are held in aesthetic tension with the personality of the artist.
- Eclecticism isn’t really a theory so much as a method of practical criticism. It is a favored approach of many film critics in the US.
- It is sometimes called the tradition of sensibility because a high value is placed on the aesthetic discrimination of a person of taste and discernment.
- Eclectic critics reject the notion that a single theory can explain all movies.
- Personal taste is the main determinant of value in eclectic criticism.
- They usually begin with their feelings about a movie, then work outward, trying to objectify these instincts with concrete arguments. Thus, it’s just an opinion, however well founded or gracefully argued.
- (Eclectic: choosing what is best or made up of elements from various sources)
- Eclectic critics are rarely in agreement because each of them is reacting to a movie according to his or her tastes rather than a large theoretical framework, with its built-in system of checks and balances.
- Their critiques may change from time to time depending on the particular period. In 1963, the movie “81/2” was regarded as a bad film; in 1972, it was ranked as a masterpiece.
- Structuralism and semiology were attempts to introduce a new scientific rigor to film criticism, to allow for more systematic and detailed analyses of movies. Borrowing their methodology from such diverse disciplines are linguistics, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy, these two theories first concentrated on the development of a more precise analytical terminology.
- Semiology is a study of how movies signify. The manner in which information is signified is indissolubly linked with what’s being signified.
- The language of cinema, like all types of discourse, verbal and non-verbal, is primarily symbolic: It consists of a complex network of signs we instinctively decipher while experiencing a movie.
- Semiotic theorist suggested that the sign be adopted as the minimal unit of signification.
- A single shot from a movie generally contains dozens of signs, forming an intricate hierarchy of counterpoised meanings.
- Any element, lighting, items in the scene, part of a dialogue, the camera angle, and etc, could symbolize and suggest something, like codes.
- Structuralism is the study of how various codes function within a single structure, within one movie.
- It is strongly eclectic and often combines the techniques of semiotics with other theoretical perspectives, such as auteurism, genre studies, ideology, stylistic analyses, etc
- They basically break down a movie into codes and decodes them one by one. The codes may not be an item or an object, it could be abstract and subjective, for examples, sexual (male vs female), conceptual (cooked vs raw), generational (youth vs age), etc
- Their pluralistic approach allows for much more flexibility, complexity, and depth in critical enterprise.
- These theories are merely tools of analysis. By themselves, they can tell us nothing of the value of signs and codes within film, Like every other theory, then, there are only as good as their practitioners. The writer’s intelligence, taste, passion knowledge, and sensitivity are what produce good criticism, not necessarily the theoretical methodology used.
- Deals with theory of history - the assumptions, principles, and methodologies of historical study.
- The theorists scoff at the naive notion that there is a film history. Rather, they insist that there are many film histories, and each is defined by the historian’s particular interests, biases, and prejudices.
- 4 types of Historiography theories.
- Aesthetic films historians
- Film as art
- They concern themselves with tradition of masterpieces and great filmmakers.
- They value a work primarily for its artistic richness, irrespective of whether the film was commercially successful.
- Technological historians
- Film as inventions and machines.
- “The history of motion pictures – as an art form, as a medium of communication, and as industry – has been determined principally by technological innovation” by Raymond Fielding, an American scholar.
- They are concerned with the implication - artistic, commercial and ideological - of such innovations as portable cameras, synchronous sound, color, improved film stocks, 3-D, stereophonic sound, steadycams, etc.
- Economic historians
- the bigger profit the film make the better, however, prestige, artistic integrity are also valued.
- To them, the profit motive has been the main driving force in the evolution of American film industry, and movies tend to reaffirm the ideological values of their sponsor.
- Social historians
- They concerned about their audience.
- They emphasize film as a collective experience, as a reflection of mass sentiments during any given era. These sentiments can be overtly articulated or subliminally insinuated by appealing to our subconscious desires.
- They often turn to stylistic and sociological data for supporting evidence.
- Genres are distinguished by a characteristic of conventions in style, subject matter, and values.
- Many genre films are directed at a specific audience
- Filmmakers are attracted to genres because they automatically synthesize a vast amount of cultural information, freeing them to explore more personal concerns
Setting
- Crime: places its character within realm of criminal activity, or within organizations attempting to prevent said activity (or sometimes both).
- Fantasy: speculative fiction outside reality (i.e. myth, legend).
- Film noir: portrays its principal characters in a nihilistic and existentialist realm or manner.
- History: taking place in the past amidst notable historical circumstances.
- Music: about musicians, music and their instruments, not to be confused with musicals.
- Prison: takes place in an prison environment where the characters may be guilty or innocent.
- Science Fiction: defined by the effects of speculative (not yet existing) technology (i.e. future space travel, cyberpunk, time travel).
- Sports: sporting events and locations pertaining to a given sport.
- War: battlefields and locations pertaining to a time of war.
- Western: wilderness on the verge of civilization, usually in the American West.
- Asian: oriental civilization.
- Action: generally involves a moral interplay between "good" and "bad" played out through violence or physical force.
- Adventure: involving danger, risk, and/or chance, often with a high degree of fantasy.
- Comedy: intended to provoke laughter.
- Drama: depends mostly on in-depth character development, interaction, and highly emotional themes.
- Horror: intended to provoke fear and/or revulsion in the audience.
- Mystery: not understanding in full the plot of the movie until the end.
- Romance: dwelling on the elements of romantic love.
- Thriller: intended to provoke excitement and/or nervous tension into audience.
Format
- Live action: The most common format of films.
- Animation: the rapid display of a sequence of 2-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement.
- Biography: also known as "biopic", a format that tells the story of an historic figure or an inspirational story about real people. This genre is arguably the most controversial, because the majority of biopics show fictionalized events.
- Documentary: a genre that portrays reality.
- Musical: songs are sung by the characters and interwoven into the narrative.
- Target audience
- Children's film: films for young children; as opposed to a family film, no special effort is made to make the film attractive for other audiences.
- Family film: intended to be attractive for people of all ages and suitable for viewing by a young audience. Examples of this are Disney films.
- Adult film: intended to be viewed only by an adult audience, content may include violence, disturbing themes, obscene language, or explicit sexual behavior. Adult film may also be used as a synonym for pornographic film.
