FROM THE CINEMA OF ATTRACTIONS TO THE CINEMA OF NARRATIVE INTEGRATION,

PART 2

Lecture 5

How and why did filmmaking practice shift from a cinema of attractions in the pre-1908 period to a cinema of storytelling in the post-1908 period?

In order to answer that question we need to understand the following:

a) What constitutes, at the level of form, the cinema of attractions?

b) What constitutes, at the level of form, the cinema of narrative integration?

c) What historical and economic factors explain the shift ?

d) Why does the shift occur around 1908?

Formal innovation 5: Cross-cutting and storytelling

• Temporality and simple succession editing (e.g. chase film)• How to indicate the idea of “meanwhile” in film?– Gaudreault argues there are four ways:

1. Simultaneous action occurring in the same field (requires a wide shot)2. Simultaneous action existing in the same frame

a) Ex: opening shot “Life of an American Fireman”

3. Simultaneous actions presented in successiona) Ex: “Life of an American Fireman” (repeated action edits, a.k.a. temporal

overlap)b) Ex: “Rescued by Rover”c) Ex: “The Great Train Robbery”: cross-cutting or simultaneous action in

succession?

4. Cross-cutting of simultaneous action

Simultaneous actions presented in succession

Cross-cutting or simultaneous action in succession?Ambiguity in The Great Train Robbery

Shot 1 Shot 9 Shot 10

What is cross-cutting (a.k.a. parallel editing)?Gaudreault: “the sustained intercutting of two actions A and B, presented

successively but alternately on the screen, as A-B-A-B-A-B etc” (136)

The Lonely Villa, D.W. Griffith, 1909

The Lonely Villa, 19091st 4 minutes editing pattern: A-B-C-D-A-D-B-C-B-C-D-A-D-A-D-B-C-D-C-B-C-B

Action-space A

Action-space C

Action-space B

Action-space D