Notes from Prof. McCullough's Lecture 9/19/09

NANOOK OF THE NORTH (1922)

- “IMPRESSIONS OF REALITY”
- CREATIVE TREATMENT OF REALITY – DOCUMENTARY TRADITION
- ELEMENTS OF “CINEMA OF ATTRACTION”
- ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM – STUDY OF OTHER CULTURES
- ETHNOCENTRISM – BIASED INTERPRETATIONS
- WHO GETS TO MAKE FILMS? ABOUT WHOM?

- HOW ARE THE ‘FACTS’ TRANSFORMED INTO ENTERTAINMENT?
- AS BAZIN SAYS, “CINEMA IS ALSO A LANGUAGE”
- HOW DID FLAHERTY LEARN THE LANGUAGE OF CINEMA?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO POSTULATE CINEMA AS A LANGUAGE?
IT IS TO ASK: HOW IS INFORMATION ORGANIZED IN A FILM?
WHICH IS ALSO TO ASK: WHAT IS THE FORM OF ANY GIVEN FILM?

PRINCIPLES OF FILM FORM:
1) FUNCTION (WHAT IS THE MOTIVATION OF ANY GIVEN ELEMENT?)
2) SIMILARITY & REPETITION (MOTIFS & PARRALLELISM)
3) DIFFERENCE & VARIATION
4) DEVELOPMENT (PROGRESSION & SEGMENTATION)
5) UNITY & DISUNITY

RECOGNIZING FILM FORM, I.E., HOW A FILM IS DESIGNED, ALLOWS US TO ASK FURTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW A FILM CREATES MEANINGS

A COMMON FORM OF FILM DESIGN IS THAT OF NARRATIVE (STORY FILMS)
- “WE CAN CONSIDER A NARRATIVE TO BE A CHAIN OF EVENTS IN A CAUSE-EFFECT RELATIONSHIP OCCURING IN TIME AND SPACE.” (B&T, 75)

CONVENTIONS OF NARRATIVE CINEMA
- EST. BETWEEN ~1900 & 1915
- RICH COMBINATION OF SPECTACLE/ATTRACTIONS & LINEAR STORYTELLING

PRINCIPLES OF NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION
- CAUSALITY, TIME (ORDER & DURATION OF EVENTS), SPACE
- DISTINCTION BETWEEN STORY AND PLOT, AND BETWEEN DIEGETIC AND NON-DIEGETIC MATERIAL
- STORY = PRESUMED & INFERRED EVENTS & PRESENTED EVENTS
- PLOT = PRESENTED EVENTS & ADDED NON-DIEGETIC MATERIAL

CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD NARRATIVE & NARRATION

NARRATIVE IS THE STORY; NARRATION IS THE TELLING OF THE STORY

1) TYPE OF NARRATIVE: “HISTORICAL” NARRATIVE
- EXPLAINS CHANGE (ALL AND ONLY THOSE EVENTS NEEDED TO
UNDERSTAND THE STORY EVENTS, HISTORICALLY)
- ORGANIZED AROUND A LINEAR LOGIC AND STRUCTURE; THERE IS A SENSE OF UNITY TO THIS DESIGN (SOMETIMES THOUGHT OF AS REALISTIC OR NORMAL)

2) TYPE OF NARRATION:
- TENDS TO BE ‘INVISIBLE,’ ‘DISINTERESTED’ 3RD PERSON (E.G., “ONE UPON A TIME…”
- IMPLICATIONS OF OBJECTIVITY (I.E., “JUST THE FACTS”)

3) BASIC STRUCTURE: EQUILIBRIUM - CHANGE - (NEW) EQUILIBRIUM
- STORY & CHARACTER MOTIVATION PROVIDED BY CHANGE AND RESTORATION OF EQUILIBRIUM

4) PRINCIPLE AGENTS: PROTAGANIST/HERO IS CENTRAL ELEMENT
- EXTERNAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL (INTERIOR) MOTIVATIONS
- CHARACTER REACTIONS TO CHANGE INFLUENCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THEM AND THEIR WORLD

5) EVENT-CENTRED STRUCTURE
- GOAL-ORIENTATION (E.G., DEADLINE)
- CAUSALITY IS PRIME UNIFYING PRINCIPLE (ACTION V. REFLECTION)