Hollywood Mainstream Standards and Techniques

David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson (1985) in their book, The Classical

Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960, believe that there are seven main

characteristics of classical Hollywood cinema. As a matter of fact, contemporary mainstream

cinema is understood to have varied very little from the techniques and standards of the “old”

Hollywood filmmaking.

The main elements of today’s Hollywood mainstream cinema are mass-production, large budgets,

cultivation of star personality, spectatorship, mass-audience and, promotional and advertising

machinery.

A well-known technique, employed in contemporary conventional movie theater, is the continuity

editing that promotes narrative clarity through chronological plot and a “realist” structure. Usually,

a film where this technique is used, offers events arranged around enigma and resolution. A

problem occurs in the film that needs to be solved and is usually fixed at the end of the story.

Another technique, used in commercial movies, is match-cutting which enables spectators to see

objects as observed by the film character. Point-of view-shots, memories and shot/reverse shot and

the same lens are also used in the classical Hollywood techniques. The story of commercial film

is allocated in a “present and external world”. Traditionally, there is one character or a few well-

defined individuals that the focus revolves around. In addition, commercial features tend to contain

an ideology that reflects the “fundamental beliefs of a society”. For instance, good should always

win over evil.

Hollywood Mainstream Film:

Gladiator (2000), directed by Ridley Scott, is a Hollywood celebration of film spectacle. The plot

offers equilibrium (Maximus is a respected general and plans to return to his family),

disequilibrium (Maximus is chosen by Emperor to be his successor, he is kidnapped and his family

is killed) and new equilibrium (Maximus kills Commodus, restores the peace but dies in the

outcome). The film has a linear narrative (beginning, middle and end), close-ups of i.e. Maximus

watching his family dead, match-cutting editing, mise-en-scene and flashbacks of Maximus’s

memories and dreams. The film features a well-known cast, cost $103 million to make and

involved building a $1 million replica of Colosseum. The film benefited from a vast amount of

promotional activities.

Experimental Film as Counter Cinema

3-Iron (2004), directed by Bin Jip is a Korean independent and experimental movie. The film,

written, produced and directed by Kim Ki-duk, is about a young man who breaks into strangers’

houses when they are away and looks after their homes. Tae-suk, the main hero of the movie,

repairs tenants’ broken items, does their laundry and “leaves a small detail to make his presence

known”. His routine is suddenly disturbed when, in one of the houses he breaks into, he realizes

that he is not alone and, on the contrary, someone is watching him. It is Sun-hwa, a woman, abused

by her husband. She discretely observes Tae-suk in her own house without him realizing it. When

their eyes meet, he leaves without a word but then comes back. They “fall in love wordlessly”.

The two main characters, Sun-hwa and Tae-suk, do not talk but connect emotionally. The low-

budget movie shows “the everyday and the intimate”. For instance, the film allows the audience

to observe Tae-suk masturbating in the bath. 3-Iron, an empty house in English, shocks its

audience. The last scene shows, Sun-hwa and Tae-suk, kissing passionately over her husband’s

shoulder which could indicate her guiltless and unfaithfulness. The end of the film is not

conventional. It is a happy ending but not a moral one. The narrative of the movie is

straightforward and not as significant as the film’s exploration of human cognition and perception.

The director uses slow-paced shots and juxtapositions.

George Melies: A Magician in the Editing Evolution of Film

George Melies was a professional magician who lived in France and owned a theater company

where he performed magic tricks. He was a famous illusionist of his time. He was an ambitious

man who had many talents such as acting, illustrating, being a photographer, a stage designer, and

a mechanic. He had a camera designed for him, and began showing his own productions in his

theater. He was the cinema's first influential narrative artist. He recognized the endless possibilities

for the manipulation of real time and space in the editing process of exposed film. George went on

to make hundreds of narrative films in the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

One of the most interesting things he discovered, in my opinion, was that he made his films consist

of scenes played out from beginning to end rather than in terms of shots (Cook 4). The only editing,

then, that he did with his films was between scenes rather than within scenes. He adds a lot of stage

illusion to make the shots flow better and not look so static. He was the cinema's first narrative

artist who used still photography in his films. He created different types of photography like the

"fade-in," the "fade-out," the "lap," "dissolve," and "stop-motion photography." Surprisingly, after

all that George had accomplished, he was eventually forced out of business by his competitors,

who had taken what he brought to the film industry to the next level. The most important movies

he made were ones that involved bizarre and awesome themes, and backgrounds that he made and

painted himself. That is an amazing accomplishment in itself. The most successful film George

made was Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902). Another one of his biggest

accomplishments was increasing the normal length of fiction films.

A very interesting fact about Melies's films was that he never moved his camera once in any of his

over five hundred movies. He did not alternate the viewpoint either within scenes or between them

by changing the angles of the camera (Cook 16). The early movies of the 1900s had a different

purpose than movies do today. Their function was to present and to show rather than narrate or

represent. The early cinema was thought of as a series of displays showing excitement and pleasure

through many views, events, and objects. This could be done as fictional or documentary style,

and in story form or not. Directors had the choice of how they wanted to portray their films, which

is a lot more freedom than we have today in the film industry. In many ways these limitations have

hurt really creative film makers.

George Melies showed huge potential in the editing process of exposed film (Cook 18), and he

directed the film makers of the time to create cinemas in a narrative manner rather than a

documentary medium. His films reflect his imagination and how ahead of his time he was. His

contributions to cinematic form is still used and remembered today.

D. W. Griffith gave Melies much credit to his own success by saying at the end of his career that

he, "Owes him everything." D. W. Griffith directed The Birth of a Nation (1915), the first movie

we watched in class. As you can see from what George Melies brought to the cinema, Griffith used

many of his techniques in his film. As I watched the film, I was confused with many different

scenes because they are presented so differently from the way scenes are shown in today's movies.

I now understand, after reading about George Melies and his editing techniques that films were

just presented in a different manner during that time period that made sense to the people who

watched them. It makes me have a much better appreciation of film makers of that time and their

creativity. At first when I watched the movie, I was uninterested and confused with the entire

movie. Now that I have learned background information about how films were actually made, I

would like to watch them again and look for things that were described in the book. My opinion

of early movies has changed greatly.

Sound Engineer: Employment Info & Career Requirements

Sound engineers, often referred to as sound engineering technicians, work in music, film,

television and radio, as well as during live performances. Read on to learn more about required

education and skills, employment prospects and potential salaries for sound engineers.

Sound engineers are responsible for recording and mixing voices, as well as music and sound

effects for movies, television, radio, plays and other live performances. Some sound engineers are

employed on a full-time, permanent basis at television or radio stations and live performance

venues, while others work on a freelance basis. Television and film sound engineers frequently

work irregular and long hours to accommodate hectic shooting schedules and tight deadlines.

Sound engineers must be electronically adept and able to fix equipment when it malfunctions

during a performance or recording. Working as part of a production team, they should also have

strong interpersonal skills and be able to take direction from directors, producers and other

members of a recording or performance crew. A love of music and excellent listening skills are

also important.

Sound technicians are required to assemble, operate and maintain the technical equipment used to

record, amplify, enhance, mix or reproduce sound.

They identify the sound requirements for a given task or situation and perform the appropriate

actions to produce this sound. Sound technicians of different types are required in a range of

industries including film, broadcasting (radio or television), live performance (theatre, music, and

dance), advertising and audio recordings.

Typical work activities

The specific activities carried out by a sound technician vary according to the sector in which they

are employed.

Sound technician roles can be split into two categories:

Production - the recording of all sound on set or on location;

Post-production - the balancing, mixing, editing and enhancing of pre-recorded audio.

Production activities include:

Assessing the acoustics of the performance area and assembling and operating the

necessary equipment;

Consulting with producers and performers to determine the sound requirements;

Selecting, positioning, adjusting and operating the equipment used for amplification and

recording;

Applying technical knowledge of sound recording equipment to achieve the determined

artistic objectives;

Recording sound onto digital audio tape or hard disk recorders;

Monitoring audio signals to detect sound-quality deviations or malfunctions;

Anticipating and correcting any problems;

Maintaining and repairing sound equipment.

Post-production activities include:

Integrating (synchronisation) of pre-recorded audio (dialogue, sound effects and music)

with visual content;

Re-recording and synchronising audio (post-synching);

Mixing and balancing speech, effects and music;

Creating and altering sound effects for use in films, television, etc.

For larger scale operations, such as film productions, sound technicians are usually required to

work within sound teams. There are often separate sound teams for production and post-

production. The job of a sound team is essentially to follow or interpret the instructions of the

director, sound designer or sound supervisor. There are many specialised roles within sound teams

including boom operators, sound assistants, and dialogue editor, dubbing mixer, Foley artist, Foley

editor, production mixer, sound designer and sound editor.

Avant-Garde Example: Mulholland Drive

One section that is left out of most dream world explanations of Mulholland Drive is the

relationship between the two female leads and Club Silencio; a strange, mysterious zone where

musicians at first appear to be performing but end up admitting that they are miming. Betty and

“Rita” take a taxi to the club after first having sex and watch as they are introduced to musicians

who perform and then mock the audience by showing that they are in fact only pretending to play.

Here, Lynch is using music as a metaphorical attack on Hollywood. This is the main Avant-Garde

aspect to the film that otherwise smuggles its leanings of Avant-Garde cinema subtly within a coat

of Hollywood Noir remaining “in the spirit, if not the precise form, of the original cycle” (Tuck,

2009, p.165). The main thing to note about this section is the reaction of Betty and Rita to the

music. When a solo singer is performing, they appear to forget what the club is actually about and

they both begin to openly weep at the performance. At least this is what appears to be the reaction

at first. In hindsight this scene is about reaffirming the questionable nature of the reality of the

first half of the film. Lynch is using music and, more specifically, a character’s reaction to a

diegetic musical performance, to hint that the character’s take on reality is really a mime and she’s

upset at becoming aware of it.

The club is also where “Rita” finds the box for the first time that leads to the truest reality in the

film: the reality where Betty is actually Diane, the jealous ex of “Rita” who hires a hit man to kill

her but kills herself through guilt and through the torment of her past. The torment of the final

scene is also referencing music, or at least the dead aspirations of Diane which were born out of a

relationship with music. The jitterbug dance competition, which opens the film and is referred to

on a number of occasions, changes into a disturbing musical soundscape for the final moments of

madness, showing perhaps the honest naivety of the character as well as her mental instability.

“Film music obviously does not exist in a vacuum. It shares with the image track (and other

elements of the soundtrack) the ability to shape perception” sums up Katheryn Kalinak’s take on

non-diegetic music (1992, p.15) but Lynch clearly uses this relationship to break down his

character’s dream world.

Silencio is the final resting place for the film and after Diane’s final breakdown, we return to the

singer who simply states “Silencio” before the film ends. This implies that the characters were

simply going through the motions, a reality of mime created by Diane (even creating Betty as a

perfect alternative persona) to delude herself from the fact that her career had failed and that her

relationship was in tatters. No classical Film Noir would dare to imply that its narrative never

really happened, especially through the ambiguous reaction to a diegetic piece of music (one

notable example is Fritz Lang’s The Woman In The Window).

Diegetic music acting as a metaphorical pivot for both a character’s sanity and reality seems

experimental even today. There’s no doubt that Mulholland Drive’s illusion of mainstream cinema

is broken down throughout but it seems that, almost from the very beginning, the soundtrack is the

dead giveaway in that this isn’t showcasing typical Hollywood aesthetic patterns.