2
Chapter 1 --- History and Genre

There is considerable debate
concerning how the concept of “genre”
should be defined or how individual films should be classified.
1.
2.
15
History --- Classical Hollywood Cinema

Different from a „cinema of attractions‟ in early cinema, classical Hollywood cinema was a cinema of narrative. The now familiar narrative ingredients of film ---- causality, temporal logic, motivated action, and plot resolutions ---- were in place.
From
History --- Early Cinema

Industry structure (业界结构) in this period differed significantly from that later.
1. Film production was based on initially the socalled “cameraman system” ---- films were the product of one individual (the „cameraman‟) who took charge of planning, writing, filming and editing. 2. At the end of this period, the director was given charge of a group of workers with clear roles, and a producer was appointed to take
1.
the most prominent characteristic ---
to seek to record and represent (记录和
重现) aspects of „real life‟.
2.
the heart ---- to rely primarily on spectacle (景象) rather than narrative.
early 1920s through to the late 1950s
arrival of sound and color ---although there were some initial obstacles (expensive, crude color technology, new lighting techniques), both of them were, of course, destined to become staple / main ingredients of the Hollywood film.
development
2.
pization, and
3.
artistic forms.
5
History --- Early Cinema
In
1826, photography was invented and laid the technological groundwork for cinema. It would be many decades before photography could be adapted to create a motion picture. 1) The exposure time was too long for the production of moving images. 2) The glass plate film (玻璃片胶卷) could not be fed through a camera or projector (投影
1.
In the era, the „star‟ was born. Unlike modern-day stars, however, the stars in this period were controlled by long-term contracts signed with the major studios, and the studios determined the roles they were to play. Studios also hyped the stars with extrafilmic publicity and gossip to promote and sustain interest in the star as a commodity. Stars were also used to generate audiences‟ interest in other commodities related to 17 films.
3
Chapter 1 --- History and Genre
1. 2. 3.
History (in the case of Hollywood)
Early cinema
Classical Hollywood cinema
Post-classical Hollywood cinema
Genre
responsibility for planning and budgeting.
11
History --- Early Cinema

From an aesthetic point of view, early cinema bears little in common with
today‟s cinema.

Nevertheless, the concept of genre remains the best way of organizing
films into meaningful groups, and also
a useful guide as to the potentially significant elements of a given film.
7
History --- Early Cinema
The
development of cameras which are able to film moving images was made independently in America and France by Edison and the Lumière brothers respectively. 1895, the Lumière brothers made the first film in the world ----- L‟Arrivee (Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat). new technology occurred on Dec. 28 1895 in Paris --- the birthday of film. 8
14
History --- Classical Hollywood Cinema

From the industrial perspective, the period is characterized by the emergence of the “studio system (制片 厂制度) ”. Major companies ---- Big Five (Warner Brothers, Loew’s-MGM, Fox, Paramount, RKO); Little Three ---- Columbia, Universal, and United Artists.
1.
2.
The art of continuity editing made Hollywood film gradually become a much smoother and more polished product.
16
History --- Classical Hollywood Cinema

The history of film is simplified by its shortness. 1895 Hollywood Genres are the categories into which, on the basis of shared characteristics, we place artistic, musical, literary or cinematic works.
Appreciating Cinema
Chapter 1 --- History and Genre
1
Contents

History Genre __________ and ___________ are the two basic parameters used when categorizing film. help to know both when a film was produced and what kind of film it is.
another expression ---- the cinema of attractions (展示性的电影)
12
Birth of Chinese Films or Movies
Film
was born in 1895,
and on August 1896, it