Year 12 Media Studies

Audiences and Institutions Hollywood vs. UK Cinema

Hollywood Cinema

Starter: Two adjectives to describe Hollywood film…

Hollywood Cinema

In order to understand British Film, it is important to compare it to Hollywood film.

Why?

Hollywood Cinema:

Conventions

What do you associate with mainstream Hollywood film?

Create a spidergram in pairs

Eddie Izzard British vs. Hollywood Films

Hollywood Cinema:

Industry

Originated as a distinctive product of the Hollywood Studio System from 1930 to 1959 The American film industry has dominated global film production ever since Similar model still widely used today

Hollywood Cinema:

Industry

Emphasis on industry (money) over art Major companies undertake production, distribution and exhibition Factory production-line approach Has come to mean ‘mainstream’ (non controversial)

Horizontal Integration

Ownership of the same type of company / product

A butcher may become successful and decide to buy more shops

Vertical Integration

Ownership of different types of related companies / products in order to maximize profit and control the market

A butcher may decide to buy the farm that rears the livestock and the restaurants that uses the meat

Hollywood Cinema

In pairs, discuss and make bullet point notes on the following:

Style

(consider the 5 areas of film language)

Narrative Character Genre Audience

Hollywood Cinema:

Style

Artifice rather than realism (artificial reality or ‘heightened realism’) Studio sets rather than real locations Artificial lighting (back lighting) Use of music to emphasise tone, mood and atmosphere and to heighten emotion

Hollywood Cinema:

Style

Fairly short scenes and tendency for rapid editing (to keep audience interested) Use of slo-mo; dissolves etc Lots of special effects Emphasis on ‘glamour’ Emphasis on escapism Emphasis on entertainment

Hollywood Cinema:

Narrative

Prioritises ‘story’ using straightforward narrative techniques Easily understood by widest possible audience Avoidance of any narrative complexity Continuity editing to ‘hide’ constructed nature of film production

Hollywood Cinema:

Narrative

Linear cause and effect narrative One main narrative strand Emphasis on action (moving narrative forward) High degree of narrative closure – usually a ‘happy ending’ If not happy, then at least ‘satisfying’

Hollywood Cinema:

Character

Relatively small number of characters to maximise audience involvement (identification and empathy with main protagonists) Characters have clearly-defined motivations for their actions (realism?) Emotional involvement with characters and their predicaments Characters have ‘hero’ qualities (they are ego-ideals rather than ‘real’ people) Heavily reliant on the ‘star system’

Hollywood Cinema:

Genre

Recognisable generic features -audiences predict actions and events Fulfil audience expectations (generic unity) Pleasure Passive audience?

Hollywood Cinema:

Audience

A number of formal features: Feature length (85 + minutes in duration) Designed to maximise its potential audience both home and abroad Mass-market, global appeal

Hollywood Cinema

Carry out your own research on: Classical Narrative Cinema Apply what you have learned to a recent American film of your choice.

British Cinema

British film has always had its ups and downs

Unfortunately, the British film industry has never been capable of generating worldwide commercial success on its own.

This is partly down to the major power, success and control of…

The basic fact is that the British cinema market is too small for the British film industry to successfully produce Hollywood style blockbusters over a sustained period

UK Film Industry Hollywoo d

How many British film production companies can you think of?

How do your expectations of British films produced by Working Title differ from your expectations of British films produced by Warp Films?

Why?