Classical Hollywood Cinema
The Arrival of Sound
Film
- Early, failed experiments
- Thomas Edison/W. K-L. Dickson's kinetophone (circa 1895)—an attempt to combine the kinetoscope with the gramophone:
![](../../T340/DicksonFilm_Still.png)
Source: Wikipedia.
- The Sound/Talkie Hybrid
- Early sound booths (circa 1927)
![Vitaphone set,with isolation booths for cameras.](Vitaphone set with isolation booths for cameras.jpg)
Consolidation of Studio System
Major Studios: The Big Five
- 1912: Paramount (as "Famous Players Film Company")
- 1918: Warner Bros. (year they opened a studio)
- 1924: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- 1928: RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) Radio Pictures
- 1935: 20th Century Fox (merger of 20th Century and Fox)
Minor Studios: The Little Three
- 1912: Universal
- 1919: United Artists
- 1924: Columbia
2019 Media Landscape, According to Recode
![2019 media landscape, according to Recode.](../MediaLandscape_AccordingToMarketCap_Recode2019_December.jpg)
Classical Narrative Structure
![](Fig03-06_Narrative Structure - Classical Film - rendered.jpg)
The Production Code (aka, the Hays Code; 1934)
- Industry (Not Federal)
Censorship
The Development of the Star System
Classical Visual Style
- Mise-en-scene
- Three-point Lighting (diagram)
- Key
- Fill
- Back
![Adventures of Robin Hood - 3-point lighting](AdventuresOfRobinHood01.jpg)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
- Cinematography
- The development of color film
- Hand-colored
- E.g., Georges Méliès films
![Georges Méliès film](Melies_HandColored.jpg)
- Kinemacolor, introduced in 1906
- E.g., Sarah Bernhardt
![Sarah Bernhardt](Kinemacolor.jpg)
- Technicolor
- Two-color Technicolor
- First feature: Toll of the Sea (1922)
![Toll of the Sea](TollOfTheSea02.jpg)
- Also, The Black Pirate (1926)
![The Black Pirate](BlackPirate01.jpg)
- Three-color Technicolor
- First animated short: Flowers and Trees (1932)
- First live-action short: La Cucaracha (1934)
- First feature: Becky Sharp (1935)
![](beckysharprestoration3_detail.jpg)
Source: UCLA restoration (see before/after video)
- Various three-color Technicolor samples:
![Technicolor sample](CI-139516299230059151.jpg)
![Technicolor sample](CI-134381299230059151.jpg)
![Technicolor sample](CI-129823299230059151.jpg)
The Continuity Editing System
- The 180 Degree Rule
Axis of action and shot-counter shot (aka, shot-reverse shot)
![shot-reverse shot illustration](../../T340/BordwellThompson_AxisOfAction.jpg)
Source: David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art, 9th ed. (NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 237.
- Match Cuts
- Match on Action
- Eye-Line Match
- Jump Cuts
- Point-of-View Shot
(a.k.a., subjective shot)
- Montage Sequence
- Typical Sequence