For more information on adopting this SNEAK title for your course, please contact us at: PREVIEW [email protected] or 800-200-3908 The Power of Movies AN INTRODUCTION TO FILM FIRST EDITION

The Power of Movies AN INTRODUCTION TO FILM

edited by Robert Campolo

Cerritos College

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3970 Sorrento Valley Blvd., Ste. 500, San Diego, CA 92121 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION: THE GLOBAL FASCINATION WITH MOVIES IX

CHAPTER ONE The Invention of the Movies 1 Introduction 1

READING 1.1 Early Cinema: 1893–1914 3 by Jon Lewis

Conclusion 23

CHAPTER TWO Cinematic Language and the Filmmaking Process 25 Introduction 25

READING 2.1 The Visual Language and Aesthetics of Cinema 27 by Mick Hurbis-Cherrier

READING 2.2 The Film System 55 by Mick Hurbis-Cherrier

Conclusion 93

CHAPTER THREE Film Genre 95 Introduction 95

v READING 3.1 Working with Genre 97 by Ken Dancyger

Conclusion 117

CHAPTER FOUR Screenplay and Storytelling Process for Movies 119 Introduction 119

READING 4.1 The Screenplay 121 by Mick Hurbis-Cherrier

Conclusion 149

CHAPTER FIVE The Movie Camera and Visual Language of Cinema 151 Introduction 151

READING 5.1 Writing with Motion 153 by Blaine Brown

Conclusion 202

CHAPTER SIX Movies as a Business and Industry 203 Introduction 203

READING 6.1 Manufacturing the Blockbuster: The ‘Newest Art Form of the Twentieth Century,’ 205 by David A. Cook

Conclusion 253

vi CHAPTER SEVEN The Movie Director 255 Introduction 255

READING 7.1 The Godfather, Parts I and II 257 by Jon Lewis

READING 7.2 Psycho: (Produced 1959–60; Released 1960) 277 by Donald Spoto

Conclusion 289

CHAPTER EIGHT New Voices, New Visions 291 Introduction 291

READING 8.1 “Film Generation” Auteurs, or the “Hollywood Brats” 293 by David A. Cook

Conclusion 319

vii Introduction: The Global Fascination with Movies By Robert Campolo

People watch movies every day all around the world. Why is that? What compels audiences to pay money to sit in the dark with strangers? • They want to be told a story. • They want to root for characters in that story. • They want to laugh, cry, be scared, be exhilarated, and to have an experience. Movies are a powerful illusion. At best, a grand illusion. People buy into this illusion every day. As an art form, movies are very complex. Motion pictures usually involve teams of technicians, artists from all crafts, and are quite expensive to produce (as the average Hollywood Studio film has a budget of $150 Million). Does the world still need movies? We have so many more distractions in our digital multitasking culture of today. Will there be movie theaters in the near future? Will people still take time out from their day, evening, or weekend and pay to sit in the dark with strangers for the communal experience of viewing theatrical films?

ix The answer still seems to be yes. Why is that? People have more choices for their entertainment than ever before in human history. Being a New Yorker, I have observed that southern California has some of the best movie theatres in the country. I remember, growing up in the 1970s, there were plenty of single-screen movie theaters in my neigh- borhood of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York. But one by one, over time, they would disappear. There is now only one left: The Alpine. It was a single-screen theater that has been hastily transformed into a multi-screen theater, without any of the fancy upgrades that most suburban theaters can afford. Yet it’s one of the last movie theaters in an area serving the southern half of a borough in New York City with a population of two million people. What happened in New York City has been happening around the United States and abroad since the 1950s: • audience loss due to a multitude of entertainment options and convenience • development and expansion of suburban regions outside city centers • the advent of television • cable television • the advent of home video—first videocassettes and then DVDs, Blu-rays, etc. • the personal computer • the internet • the smartphone • streaming video • HD digital televisions

In southern California, movie theaters are more attractive to consumers. They have ample parking, bigger screens, reclining seats, and in general are newer and cleaner. Presentation still matters. Los Angeles is still the movie capital in many ways in the United States. There are more movie theaters than I can imagine, of all types: mainstream, art house, single-screen, and historic theaters being renovated in downtown city centers.

x  THE POWER OF MOVIES On the first day of class, the question I always ask my new students: Would the world be better off without movies? Do we really need them? Would we care if they went away? Their answer: overwhelmingly yes. The reason: movies give us perspective. Movies are exciting, entertaining, and thought provoking.

So what are movies for? Entertainment? To ease boredom in our leisure time? Fast food for our senses, afterward to be forgotten? Disposable distractions from our daily grind? Storytelling for the masses? Perhaps all of these. But what is most important seems to be this: movies, good ones, and sometimes even bad ones, can enrich our lives.

So What Is the Power of Movies?

Entertainment for the Masses This is the primary function of the movies as a business and industry. The fact that movies are filmed, recorded, and mass-duplicated for distribution worldwide makes it a powerful art form. Filmed entertainment is still a draw for contemporary populations throughout the globe. In every city, neighborhood, and small town, people still desire an evening’s entertainment. Essentially, a night out.

Storytelling to Audiences Worldwide Movies are, at best, visual novels, narratives, and literature for the masses. On a daily basis, audiences around the world are told stories through movies, every minute, every day, around the clock.

Introduction: The Global Fascination with Movies  xi  People like to be told stories. Movies are the ultimate storytellers. They create their stories from these basic elements: a) images (cinematography) b) writing (screenplay) c) performance (acting) d) lighting (visual design) e) sound (SFX, ambient, natural, or artificial) f) dialogue (what characters say) g) editing (juxtaposition of images) h) music (the musical score that sets the tone and mood)

A Reflection of the Human Condition and Society Some of the best films involve the audience in the story and the characters on an emotional level. Movies give us perspective about the struggle for love, money, survival, and the world we live in. Movies can leave an indelible impression on humans.

A Temporary Escape from Our Reality This could be the most important element of the power of film. People want to escape, if just for a few hours. Movies can be a cheap vacation without leaving your seat. Movies take us places. They give us a window into the lives of others, what their problems are, and how they resolve them. We do this through the characters in the stories. Movies are photographed in ways to transcend reality. Add in sound, editing, actors, dialogue, narration voiceover, and we have the magic that movies are made of.

xii  THE POWER OF MOVIES What Are the Meaningful Aspects of Movies?

Film Captures Time Movies are like time capsules. The difference is that they are alive in so many ways. From the silent movies of the turn of the century, up to the digital ones of our time, we can tell a lot about our society and culture: fashion, hairstyles, technology, interpersonal relationships, music, and lifestyle. This is the main reason why people the world over use video and photography at the most important moments of their lives: weddings, graduations, birthdays, etc.. But ask yourself, do we want to capture the bad times in our lives as well? Usually not. Movies look at the good and bad things in our lives, in our world and society.

Film Imagery Stays in our Memory Take a picture of your family, friends, and even yourself. Now put that picture away. Revisit it a year from now, in five years, in ten years, and so on. • How is your life different? • What do you remember from that day? • Where were you? What were you doing and who were you with? • Are you the same person now? There is a power in photography and still images. That power is even stronger when someone has also taken video or film of themselves on that very same day and instance. People, family, and friends come alive again. You can relive the day as if you were there again.

Movies Give Us the Illusion of Experience Movies are an illusion, but a very compelling illusion. We sit in the dark with strangers and view light and shadows.

Introduction: The Global Fascination with Movies  xiii  Movies are photographed at twenty-four individual frames per second, and projected back at the exact same speed to give us the illusion of movement. We can believe this illusion because the elements seem so real to the eye, the mind, the ear, and the heart.

Film Characters Seek Goals Just Like Us What do fictional movie characters want? They want to stay alive and survive, to find love, to get rich, to laugh, to have security, escape danger, to be free, experience joy, and to live happily ever after. Can the same be said about the people watching in the dark?

Movies Replay Life Scenes in Idealized Structure People would like their lives to be like movies. They can edit out all of the unhappy and dull parts. They can fast forward, flashback, compress, and extend time as needed. There are no loose ends. In movies all problems are usually resolved. Most of all, they can have second chances, perhaps a sequel to their lives.

The World Loves to Be Told a Story

The Power of Movie Stories There are key universal themes, threads that run through most popular global movie fiction.

Survival Survival seems to be the most powerful of all movie themes. There is nothing more compelling and immediate than survival. Getting trapped, running out of air underwater or in outer space, and lack of food or water can be the most pressing, but there are more subtle ones, too, such as surviving the winter in New York City, as in the Oscar winning best picture of 1969, Midnight Cowboy. Titanic (1997) is probably one of the world’s most popular survival films with a love story involved. The real-life drama of survival aboard a 1912 transatlantic cruise ship on the freezing, open sea also shows how people react under extreme duress. There are many other notable examples: • a sinking ship: The Poseidon Adventure • a stranded spacecraft: Apollo 13, Gravity, and The Martian

xiv  THE POWER OF MOVIES • surviving the horrors of slavery: 12 Years a Slave • stranded in the wilderness: Deliverance, The Grey • surviving the urban nightmare: Midnight Cowboy, Boyz n the Hood • surviving the near future: Mad Max, Blade Runner • stranded at sea: Cast Away, Open Water, and Jaws • surviving genocide: Life Is Beautiful, Schindler’s List, and The Killing Fields • surviving war: The Deer Hunter, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, and Dunkirk

Escape Escape is always a suspenseful and powerful driving theme that can resonate with global audiences. The prospect of being on the run, being pursued, or getting involved in a chase for freedom is very compelling in mainstream film stories. Escape as the goal of a film can be told through various structures. Escape usually involves planning, aborted attempts, failed attempts, and then eventually the courage to persist to freedom. Some of the most powerful escape stories in film involve incarceration; prisoners who dream of freedom against impossible odds. Case study films for the theme of escape include Papillion, The Shawshank Redemption, and Midnight Express.

The desire for money, or the loss and gain of money Money is a universal theme. The quest for riches has driven movie stories since the beginning of film narrative, starting with The Great Train Robbery of 1903. The pursuit of money is a compelling theme for film. It shapes great film characters, especially gangsters. Is there a difference between the street “gangster” of Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s, and the “gangsta” of contemporary Los Angeles? Is the goal just about money, or about control and the tragic outcomes in people’s lives? Are film stories about characters who rob banks different from those about white-collar criminals? Case study films can include Bonnie and Clyde, Run Lola Run, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

The desire for love, or the loss and gain of love The quest for love and affection is another powerful theme in film. There are all types of love stories that appeal to audiences.

Introduction: The Global Fascination with Movies  xv  Romantic desire alone is a compelling theme, and usually it involves some tragedy. Love stories can be bittersweet. Correlations between fiction and reality come together in films with themes of love. Can audiences relate to unrequited love? Can there be great drama and comedy in dating, courtship, marriage, and divorce? Yes. Add to that suspense, horror, and music, and you may just have a great movie. Because just like in real life, movies like to show what can go wrong in relationships. Case study films include The Graduate, Love Story, West Side Story, City Lights, and Love Story.

The loss and gain of power Power and control in fiction and reality are motivating forces for film stories and film characters. Gangsters are looking to control and expand territory and ferret out weakness in their crew (The Godfather, Scarface). Corporations are seeking to extend their monetary power and clout (Network, Wall Street). Politicians seem to always be in a power struggle to gain control over the House and Senate to shape public policy (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). Even husbands and wives vie for power in their spousal relations (The War of the Roses, Kramer vs. Kramer).

Epiphany: The realization of the truth The heart of this type of film story centers around discovery of the truth. In the hit filmThe Matrix, Keanu Reeves discovers that he is living in a false reality, and is shown the truth of his existence. In the 1968 hit science fiction filmThe Planet of the Apes, Charlton Heston discovers that the mysterious planet he crash-landed on is a destroyed Earth in the distant future. In Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Vertigo, James Stewart realizes the woman who he thought committed suicide is still alive. In the 1976 hit science fiction film Logan’s Run, Logan realizes that people in the futuristic society where he is a policeman are actually being killed by a mainframe computer and not being “reborn” in the process called “renewal.” In the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green, the hero, played by Charlton Heston, realizes that people are being made into food in a horrifying, overpopulated near-future society.

xvi  THE POWER OF MOVIES Higher meaning in life beyond our material concerns and the physical known world These film stories can perplex audiences. If there ever was a film to challenge audiences worldwide it would have to be the 1968 cult classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a film that breaks narrative tradition in many ways. It is a film in four parts, and each one is fascinating in its own way. The film challenges audiences to interpret what happens to the main character, Dave, the surviving astronaut pitted against an emotional computer, HAL 9000. It asks us, what is the universe? Where did it begin and where does it end? What is the black monolith? An alien being, God, an intelligent being that when touched brings enlight- enment and knowledge? On Dave’s journey, he is slung from Jupiter back across the cosmos, held in a purgatory, and then reborn and sent back to Earth. What is being said to the audience? In the hit film Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks skillfully takes us on a lifetime journey through flashbacks; we discover how a man with a low IQ made an impact on the world and the people around him. It seems like Forrest Gump has more wisdom about life, love, societal racism, and death than people realize. His simple philosophy resonates in a complicated world.

The Power of Movies Will Explore the Following Topics: • What are movies and what is their meaning? • What is the language of film? • How are films made technically? • What is the essence of film storytelling? • How did the film industry begin, and where is it today? • And, most importantly: how have movies shaped and impacted society and culture, and enter- tained the world in a way that is unique, magical, and everlasting?

Introduction: The Global Fascination with Movies  xvii  CHAPTER ONE The Invention of the Movies By Robert Campolo

INTRODUCTION

Compared to the other arts, film is still a very young medium. The motion picture is a phenomenon of the age of invention from 1880 through 1910. Within a span of 30 years, a myriad of dynamic inventions transformed society, from Thomas Edison’s incandescent electric light bulb in 1879 to the Wright Brothers’ manned flight in 1903. The invention of the movies happened at a time of great innovation. The telephone, wireless radio wave communication, and the development and mass production of the gas combustible engine automobile were also taking shape on the world stage. From the beginning, movies were meant to become a global force. From the first projected short film clip in 1895 to the digital cinema age of today, the movies have become a treasured global industry. The histories of art, music, and theater date back thousands of years. The history of movies is only 125 years old. The ability to record time visually is a powerful craft. Maybe this is why we value historic paintings so much.

1 They showed the way people lived, what they looked like, and what the world was like in that time period. The motion picture is the ultimate time capsule. Movies dared to take a technological invention and transform it into a device that can tell stories in way that would entrance audiences for generations to come. The invention of the movies would pave the way for civilization to record and document itself like no other in the history of time.

2