Formulation of the

Classical Hollywood
Style
The Classical Narrative

Extension Work

CAUSE & EFFECT

Primitive period (1894-1908) - most
common framing is the long shot
Impossible to see facial expressions &
small gestures
Presented too much for viewer
With the classical model, this changed:
Multiple lines of action
Narrative material broken down
Editing, camera distance, inter-titles,
acting articulated cause & effect

CAUSE & EFFECT & REALISM

Basis of cause & effect narrative was
compositional unity
Reality has accidents & coincidence;
not the classical narrative
Realism important for mise-en-scne

The classical film begins in medias res

Begins in middle of action; we learn
about characters & previous events
through exposition
In primitive film, we learn little
about characters or events before
film began

THE PSYCHOLOGICALLY
BASED CHARACTER
Film turned toward literature for
characters with multiple traits:
These character traits were necessary
to motivate action
Characters have only traits needed for
the narrative
Realistic traits will motivate some
later action or event

SUBJECTIVITY
With increase in length & complexity,
additional traits were added
By 1915, mental subjectivity is seen in
some films:
Earlier films had included
subjectivity - usually only as
basis for entire film or when
absolutely necessary
With classical film, portions of
objective narrations could be
subjective

OTHER WAYS TO
PERSONALIZE
CHARACTERS
By 1909, most important
characters were given names
By the mid-1920s, they were also
given tags
Star system also helped to
personalise characters

CHARACTER GOALS
Characters in primitive films reacted to
events; in classical films have clear
goals
Goals met with obstacles
CHARACTER & TEMPORAL
RELATIONS
As films became longer, plots initially
covered more story time
But generally showed only high
points
Temporal gaps marked with intertitles

 Films began to cover less time - with

more frequent, shorter, temporal gaps
Sought ways to make narration less
self-conscious by concentrating on
character actions & goals
Technical devices marked deviations
from chronological order

Fades or dissolves instead of

superimpositions

Also motivated by the narrative

DEADLINE important to structuring
temporal progression

THE FUNCTIONS OF INTERTITLES

EXPOSITORY TITLES
Common in primitive cinema
Summary expository titles
Establishing expository titles
In later silent era
LITERARY inter-title
The ART inter-title
Sometimes used to establish
setting
Or used non-diegetic images to
convey idea

 DIALOGUE TITLES (came later in

primitive cinema, favoured over
expository titles)
Expository titles used at beginning
of scenes, dialogue titles within
scenes
INSERTS: Close-ups of letters,
newspaper headlines or articles,
photographs, etc.

THE AMERICAN STYLE OF

ACTING
1909-1913, shift in acting style
More restrained style;
emphasized facial expressions &
small gestures
Improvements in film stocks,
lighting equipment, make-up,
etc.; better actors
Helped bring about CHC editing style:
Close-ups needed to fully utilise
this style of acting
Breakdown of space required
continuity rules

UNITY & REDUNDANCY

All of these features appeared in the
primitive cinema:
But not used systematically with
conventionalised meanings
Might use one of these features &
build the narrative around it
Classical cinema codified devices,
used to create unified feature-length
films, redundant narratives

Formulation of
the Classical
Hollywood Style
The Continuity
System

THE CONTINUITY SYSTEM &

SPACE
Editing increased as films became
longer & more complicate; a
potentially disruptive force required a
system to maintain unity
After 1907, industry, trade press &
how-to books promoted continuity
as essential for a well-made film

Referred to both narrative

continuity & clearly-articulated
space & time

Continuity then came to refer

specifically to editing guidelines

ESTABLISHING SHOTS
Originally, films consisted of one long
take with a fairly distant framing - then
there were a number of these shots
(tableaux)
No change in space or time within
shots; changes between tableaux
Joined by expository inter-titles
With multiple shot scenes, these
became establishing shots
Used to establish mise-en-scne &
show most of the action
Came at beginning & end of scene;
closer shots pointed out details,
showed expressions, etc.

 By late teens, establishing shot

functioned as in continuity editing
system
One shot among many,
established mise-en-scne
Scene itself consisted of a
number of closer shots
Establishing shot appeared again
only if mise-en-scne changed
Placement varied; not always at
the beginning of the scene

ANALYTICAL EDITING
IN THE PRIMITIVE ERA
Cut-ins used rarely
Most often medium shots, from same
angle as establishing shot. They were
used to:

Show facial expression

Show details not visible in the

establishing shot

To indicate POV

To limit space for special effects

Cut-ins avoided if possible; actors
moved closer to camera

BY THE MID-TEENS
Cut-in became much more common
No longer had to be motivated by
POV, a specific detail of information

Could be from any angle

Could give a better vantage

point
Increase in film length & editing
made cut-in more acceptable
By 1917, cut-in a staple of
continuity editing system

SCREEN DIRECTION & THE

180 RULE
Originally, no editing, therefore no
problem
Later, 1-D sets & backdrops made it
impossible to violate rule
Audience conceived of as if it were a
theatre audience
With analytical editing & 3-D sets, the
tradition continued

Breaks in continuity occurred, but

relatively rare

They occurred due to:

Shots taken out of continuity

without script girls

MULTIPLE SPACES
CONTIGUOUS SPACES joined by
character movement, eyeline match,
shot/reverse shot system
NON-CONTIGUOUS SPACES

Most often articulated using

crosscutting

Could compress time; important

with short films

Later, used to expand time;

important with longer films

SPACE & THE SPECTATORS

ATTENTION
Attention of viewer guided using other
elements of film style
STAGING IN DEPTH

Actors began to move toward the

camera

After this, actors began to be placed

more in depth

Helped bring the viewer into a 3-D

space

 SETTINGS & DEPTH

Painted backdrops had

advantages, but lacked
verisimilitude

As soon as studios could afford 3D sets, they did so

Late 20s, efforts to eliminate

difference between location &
studio shots

3-D sets allowed for more

extensive analytical editing

 DEEP FOCUS CINEMATOGRAPHY

During most of silent period,

efforts to achieve greatest depth of
field

But only 2 planes were in deep

focus (middle ground &
background)

Deep focus made staging in depth

possible

However, lighting was needed to

draw this attention

 LIGHTING FOR CLARITY & DEPTH

During teens, movement away from

even, overall illumination & towards
selective lighting

An effort to motivate light as coming

from diegetic sources

Hollywood refined backlighting,

creating rim lighting

 FRAMING AS A GUIDE FOR THE

SPECTATOR
Classical cinema centered important
narrative information
Camera movement began as a way to
center action in frame (reframing)
Served other functions also:
Tracking & panning to follow actions
Panning & tilting to reveal or conceal
information
With increased planning of shots, camera
movement not as necessary

STABILITY AFTER 1917

By mid-20s, CHC style reached a high

degree of stability
Many models to follow
Young filmmakers in 1920s had films
as their models
Informal apprenticeship program
Trade papers, instructional manuals,
etc. perpetuated style
Trade organizations also helped to
perpetuate CHC style
Adherence to quality filmmaking
rewarded by audiences & studio
heads

CONTEMPORARY
RECOGNITION OF
STANDARDISATION

Standardisation regarded as a positive

force
Early years regarded as a separate era
Progress halted now that near
perfection had been attained
After this point, changes in CHC style
relatively small
Minor changes such as increased
graphic continuity
Assimilation (& taming) of other
styles

Clara Bow, the It Girl