Post Classical Film Essay

1.How did post-classical cinema break with classical Hollywood narration and style? Please refer to readings and illustrate with examples from one or more films and clips we saw in and for class.
The transition from classical Hollywood narration and style to that of the post classical Hollywood period seen throughout the late 50s and 60s stems from the studios looser adherence to the production board. The studios were far less profitable than they had been in the past decade, mainly due to competition with TV and the paramount decision in 1948. In response to the declining numbers of moviegoers, the films essentially had to become edgier and reach previously untapped markets. These new films, when compared to classical Hollywood films, explore

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) is a progressive teen fantasy drama with leads James Dean and Natalie Woods. Nicholas Ray, like many directors at the time, began to reject classical conventions and began to embrace European Neo-Realism. As a result of this and the use of the new widescreen ratio, classical Hollywood Conventions like the shot-reverse shot for dialogue is minimized in Rebel. In Double Indemnity, almost all of the dialogue between Walter and Phyllis uses the close shot-reverse shot. In Rebel however, Ray uses the wide aspect ratio to shape conflicts by the way in which he sets up the shots. This editing is apparent in the Police Station scene at the beginning of the movie. In a classical Hollywood movie, there would have been three parties involved in a shot reverse shot: Jim, his parents, and the detective. However, Ray uses the widescreen to establish two conflicting parties instead of three. By grouping the adults in a single shot, the conflict between Jim’s adolescence and the adults is more pronounced. This allows the audience to empathize with his inner conflict more than if the argument revolved around three conflicting