The Importance Of The Film Casablanca

Classical Hollywood movies are important to the film making. They have set a guide and standards to be followed by filmmakers to come. Making films is not only a business but an art. It reflects the directors and writers imagination of what the film should be. Classical Hollywood films encompass many formal elements. One such film that encompasses these elements is the film Casablanca. IT is a classical Hollywood film because it uses the formal elements in a way to convey its message and has been critically acclaimed for generations.
The elements of classical Hollywood are essential to the success of Casablanca. Without those critics and historians would not be discussing the movie till this day and considering it a classical Hollywood film.

It refers to how far away the camera is to the characters in the scene. Camera distance was developed in order to provide more to the mise-en-scene of a certain scene. “Mise-en-scene encompasses of variety of categories related to the staging of an action”(Belton 47). Camera distance is one of these important factors in making the scene and giving a sense of what you are supposed to be experiencing during the film. Without using camera distance to its fullest the scene or shot may not come across to the viewer as what the director or writer intended. An example of camera distance being used to its potential is in the opening sequence at ricks café. The first shot that we see at ricks is of ricks sign on the cafe building. This shot is an establishing shot showing where the next scene is about to occur. Establishing shot is necessary to set up the next scene which is the mise-en-scene. Without camera distance being used correctly the viewer may not understand what is going on in the scene. Camera angle is also an important formal

It is used by many directors and in many films. Camera angle was developed for the viewer to perceive something about the scene or the character. There are three main types of camera angles are high, low and eye level. According to John Belton, low angle shots “As a result, our impression of that characters power or statue is thereby magnified”(48) . While high angle gives us an overview of a scene and also makes us perceive the character as lonely and having a lack of power. The most common camera angle is a normal eye level. This is most common because the camera angle does not perceive anything about the character. An example from the film Casablanca using camera angles is when Victor and Ilsa are asked to come to the Captain Renaults office in the morning. The scene starts off with the camera viewing into Renault’s office through some bars at a high angle. This is supposed to make the viewer perceive that Renault and Stasser are unimportant in the grand scheme of things and that Victors cause is much more important than what Strasser and the Nazis want to happen to the rest of the world. Camera angle is important because it can make us perceive the character to be powerful or weak if used correctly. Without camera angle we wouldn’t be able to understand our characters. A third important element is