The Basics of Classical Hollywood Cinema

Cinema is rendering reality through invisible style and continuity editing according to David Bordwell’s “The Classical Hollywood Style, 1917-1960.” In his book, he demonstrates Classical Hollywood Cinema (CHC) as a paradigm in which specific stylistic formulae are followed to create a parallel world of reality in an audience’s mind. This paper will discuss the norms and editing techniques of CHC.

Before we dive into the discussion of how CHC is normative, we must first look at CHC’s beginnings. August 1929 was the start of a worldwide economic recession, more commonly known as The Great Depression. The stock market crashed, and people were driven into poverty. The only affordable entertainment was watching films, and to the movie theaters, people went.

Bordwell states, “Before there are auteurs, there are constraints; before there are deviations, there are norms.” (4) CHC would be considered the mainstream filmmaking style then. Hollywood’s stylistic approach would create consequences for other filmmakers or production studios whereby deviating from the norms of CHC would not bring success for those films.

CHC heavily depends on principles of decorum, proportion, the representation of the real world, modest craftsmanship, and cool control of an audience’s response (4). An example of this norm would be the representation of individuals in CHC.

A Hollywood character, especially a protagonist, is always goal-oriented, as Bordwell argues (16). This is to serve the greater function of CHC’s story format. To break it down, CHC films follow a specific sequence in their storyline--(1) causality (2) consequence (What will happen to the characters? What will the ending be like?) (3) psychological motivations of the characters, and (4) the drive to overcome obstacles and eventually achieving the goal (13). Bordwell continues that should a character be a primal causal agent, they must have a certain set of characteristics and traits. Furthermore, these traits must be clearly identified by the audience, unambiguous, and consistent.

The story’s protagonist, or in Bordwell’s words, the hero’s goal may be their desire for something new or seeking to restore an original state of affairs. The usage of the word ‘hero’ implies CHC’s upholding of morality, in which the good person will always save the day while the bad person will receive their punishment accordingly. A German critic cited by Bordwell compares a Hollywood character to a man of deeds. “In the first act his goal is set; in the last act he reaches it. Everything that intervenes between these two acts is a test of strength.” (16) The main point of a goal-oriented character is to reflect the American ideology of individualism toward the audience.

A socio-political norm that CHC films commonly present is heterosexual love. This enforces the suppression of expressing one’s sexuality in real life as it was considered a deviation and an unnatural behavior at that time. Heterosexual romance is often the main line of action in a CHC film (16). Screenplay manuals highlight the theme of love as the greatest human appeal, as Bordwell argues. It is universally relatable and significant to audiences of all groups of ages.

Spatial and tempo-awareness in a CHC audience arises from an implied contract between the audience and the production studio, whereby the audience will always be given the best vantage point on the screen so that their only focus will be narrowed down to the storyline. This awareness is enforced by the editing style of CHC films, inviting “us to look through the ‘plate-glass window’ of the screen.” (55)

One component of CHC editing is directional continuity whereby the movement of the camera creates an imaginary line, inviting the audience to follow the subject as the camera moves (57). For example, if shot 1 shows a subject moving from left to right, the second shot should continue to do so. This movement can be seen at work in Howard Hawks’ His Girl Friday (1940). The opening scene of the film follows Hildy as she walks toward Walter’s office. The camera moves from left to right, positioning itself at Hildy’s right shoulder, and pacing its speed according to her footsteps. When the camera cuts to the left side of the walkway where Hildy’s coworkers greet her, the movement stays the same, moving from left to right, signifying directional continuity.

Another crucial aspect of editing is the centered compositions (50). Our eyes are naturally conditioned to look at things in the center. CHC’s interest in balance and equilibrium allows the audience to pay attention to whatever is happening in the center of the screen without worrying about splitting their focus to every corner of the screen. To give an example, in 48’52” of His Girl Friday, Hildy rushes into the press room to make a call, dodging the men along her way into the room. Notice that the camera keeps Hildy centered, even when she moves to the left side of the screen to make her call. The camera compensates Hildy’s movement by panning the camera to the left. When the camera zooms closer to a tight medium shot, Hildy sits in the center of the screen.

The ultimate goal of the above paradigmatic filming aspects is to train the audience’s eye and turn this paradigm into realism. Julian Hochberg explains, “The task of filmmaker therefore is to make viewer pose a visual question, and then answer it for him.” (59) CHC filmmakers focus the audience’s attention on the hypotheses generated in the film. The hypotheses that filmmakers form in CHC films are more or less probable, allowing the viewing process to be smooth. There are some drawbacks to CHC’s paradigmatic style.

The paradigm is redundant and treats viewers as unintelligent consumers. For instance, time in CHC is linear, except for an occasional flashback, which is more commonly shown in film noirs. Bordwell states that story events are unfolded in a 1-2-3 order (42). Flash forwards are strictly forbidden, as it would defeat the purpose of carefully controlling viewers' responses. Similarly, flashbacks are rarely used as they might slow down a film’s pace according to a screenwriter’s manual.

In addition to that, the concealment of the editing style lets the audience immerse themselves into this parallel utopian universe. The audience is invited to invest their emotion and time in film characters. CHC narration always offers the audience closure or resolution of a film. Bordwell highlights that this paradigm “rewards the search for meaning and makes the time span we experience seem a complete unit.” (47)

Viewers are generally not invited to think about a CHC film critically as everything is laid out for them. Sergei Eisenstein, a revolutionist of intellectual montage, argues that the basis of cinema is dialectical montage, and it is created by conflict and collision. The invitation for the audience to participate in an intellectual discussion is where CHC films disregard.

With that said, many CHC films are considered classical films now. The easy-to-follow and escapism element of CHC films prove that they’re not just films that people watch, it takes a sharp viewer to truly concentrate and break down the techniques of the invisible style.