Auteurship

B) Compare how far your chosen films reflect the different production contexts

“Studios had faces then. They had their own style.” Billy Wilder states how, in Casablanca, we can see the Warner Bros signature style – notably, the big screen realism of the melodramatic love triangle, the elements of crime, and a charismatic male protagonist…

[Having directed over a hundred films at Warner Bros, Curtiz might be considered an auteur in his own right, but there is debate over how much creative control he actually had, with the studios exerting influence over all stages of production.]

Elements of Classical Hollywood film form are apparent in the opening of the film, when the spectator is introduced to the protagonist Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart. The sequence begins with an exterior establishing shot of the sign for Rick’s Bar Americain, with the camera then tilting down and tracking in to the bar itself. This technique is a key trope of Classical Hollywood, with a sense of setting, location and atmosphere being established early on. The deliberate, highly engineered camera movements were enabled by the studio set up, with dollies and rigs already in place. As we move into the bar, a series of tracking shots drifts from one sphere of action to the next; cinematographically, this is meticulously choreographed, with deliberately fluid camera movements introducing disparate groups of characters. These movements are cued by a combination of dialogue and blocking. This kineticism sutures the spectator into the diegesis of the filmic text. This is further complemented by the editing: we cut to static camera shots of peripheral characters seated at tables, with three point lighting in evidence, again reflecting the tropes of Classical Hollywood film form. In the studio, lights could be rigged above the sets – most of which did not have ceilings – so that heavily stylised effects could be created. The chaos of multiple spheres of action funnels the spectator’s gaze to a single character – Rick. This is another feature of classical Hollywood cinema.

Our first view of Rick is via a static close up from the chest down. Whilst this creates an enigma code around him, built up via references to him from the diegetic audience, it also serves to focus the attention on the props on the table in front of him – a cheque book, chessboard and a wine glass. These props respectively connote money and power; strategy and intelligence; and an inner turmoil. The fact that he is playing chess against himself could also imply a suppressed internal conflict that manifests itself when Ilsa comes back into his life. In terms of proxemics, Rick is isolated, surrounded by chaos. This represents the isolationist policy of the US during WW2. One could take the bar itself as a metaphor for the global conflict, with Rick being the embodiment of the US. He repeatedly declines offers to drink with customers, which parallels the Allied Forces’ desperate pleas to join their cause. To further contextualise this, the purposeful close up on the chequebook reveals it is dated 2^nd December 1942, five days before Pearl Harbour. Therefore the events in the narrative directly correlate with the US’ entry into WW2. The chequebook itself can be said to represent the huge financial investment in WW2 by the US.

Conversely, the influence of French New Wave on new Hollywood


The contrast between New Hollywood and the studio system is made clear in Apocalypse now's opening scene.