American Cinema Hollywood Style

American Cinema Hollywood Style

“Classical Hollywood Style”

In what I have reflected, the most important aspect of Classical Hollywood style is that it encourages us, the viewers to become fascinated and captivated by the story. The techniques are deliberately used in order to affect precisely the right emotional response in us and at the right moment. Great filmmaking can really make us feel as if we are actually participating in an event.

In the Classical Hollywood style, the story is primary. Filmmakers rely on style – structure, narrative, and visual elements to effectively tell the story. The main purpose of American Hollywood film is to tell you a story. The Classical Hollywood Style is often referred to as the Golden Age of Hollywood. It began as a studio style.

Classical style is fundamentally built on the principle of continuity editing or invisible style. Some styles become illusionistic. It’s effortless and masterful but it’s invisible to the audience. But according to the speaker in the film, “It’s not hard to see, it’s visible.”

The continuity style is a remarkable form because of its persistence, its invisibility, and because we learn how to read it easily and without any instruction than seeing the films themselves. 

In the film, Casablanca can be used to illustrate the seamless storytelling technique of the Classical Hollywood Style. The film is analyzed as a key example of the continuity style in one part of the documentary series which provides a comprehensive introduction to the Classical Hollywood Style.

The Classical Hollywood narrative is structured with an unmistakable beginning, middle and end, and generally there is a distinct resolution at the end. 

Classical narration progresses always through psychological motivation, example by the will of a human character and its struggle with obstacles towards a defined goal. Persons or objects of significance are mostly in the center part of the picture frame and never out of focus. The aspects of space and time are subordinated to the narrative element which is usually composed of two lines of action: a romance intertwined with a more generic one such as business or solving a crime. (Wikipedia)

Within the context of the Classical Hollywood style, the film’s setting, props, costume, hair, make-up, movement, positioning, performance, lighting and cinematography must be considered in relation to its significance and function with regards to characterization and narrative.