David Bordwell

The classical Hollywood cinema : film style & mode of production to 1960

Part 1. The classical Hollywood style, 1917-60 by David Bordwell An excessively obvious cinemaStory causality and motivationThe Hollywood mode of production to 1930, by Janet StaigerClassical narrationThe formulation of the classical style, 1909-28, by Kristin ThompsonTime in the classical filmFilm style and technology to 1930Space in the classical filmThe Hollywood mode of production, 1930-60, by Janet StaigerShot and sceneFilm style and technology, 1930-60, by David BordwellThe bounds of differenceHistorical implications of the classical Hollywood cinema, by David Bordwell and Janet StaigerThe Hollywood mode of production: its conditions of exerciseStandardization and differentiation: The reinforcement and dispersion of Hollywoods practicesThe director system: management in the first yearsThe director-unity system: management of multiple-unit companies after 1909The central producer system: centralized management after 1914The division and order of production: the subdivision of the work from the first years through the 1920sFrom primitive to classicalThe formulation of the classical narrativeThe continuity systemClassical narrative space and the spectators attentionThe stability of the classical approach after 1917Technology, style and mode of production, by David Bordwell and Janet StaigerInitial standardization of the basic technology, by Kristin ThompsonMajor technological changes of the 1920s, by Kristin ThompsonThe Mazda tests of 1928The introduction of sound, by David BordwellThe labor-force, financing and the mode of productionThe producer-unit system: management by specialization after 1931The package-unit system: unit management after 1955Deep-focus cinematographyTechnicolorWidescreen processes and stereophonic soundSince 1960: the persistence of a mode of film practiceAlternative modes of film practice

Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies

Since the 1970s, film scholars have been searching for a unified theory that will explain all types of film, their production and their reception; the field has been dominated by structuralist Marxism, varieties of cultural theory and the psychoanalytic ideas of Freud and Lacan. The authors of this text ask why not employ many theories tailored to specific goals, rather than search for a unified theory. They offer directions for understanding film, presenting essays by 27 scholars on topics as diverse as film scores, audience response and the national film industries of Russia, Scandinavia, the US and Japan. Using historical, philosophical, psychological and feminist methods, the book examines issues such as: what goes on when viewers perceive a film?; how do filmmakers exploit conventions?; how do movies create illusions?; and how does a film arouse emotion?

The Idea of Montage in Soviet Art and Film

Some questions in film history can be answered in terms of cinema alone. Other questions demand that the historian place film-making in a larger .context. For example, the historically significant European film-maker often has artistic alliances outside film, in stage directing (e.g., Sjostrom, Visconti, and Bergman), painting (e.g., Antonioni, Bresson), or even poetry (e.g., the Pr6verts). For this reason, many problems in European film history can be solved only by an investigation of the relationship between film and the other arts.

Toward a scientific film history

Barry Salt. Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis. London: Starword, 1983. 408 pp.

Book of the Month

THE CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD CINEMA: FILM STYLE AND MODE OF PRODUCTION TO 1960 by David Bordwell, Janet Staiger, and Kristin Thompson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985 --

Film aesthetics and the college textbook

49.95) NARRATION IN THE FICTION FILM by David Bordwell (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985 --

Film Art: An Introduction

37.50)

Narration in the Fiction Film

Lincoln F. Johnson. Film: Space, Time, Light, and Sound. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1974. 336 pp.