Blog Response- Article- Intensified Continuity

      When looking at continuity in film making and its progression throughout the twentieth century, it's important to look at first why the continuity of films increased. In the article it says that at one point in time a film would have 500-700 shots, while now an average film has at least 3-4000 shots, all with an average shot length of 3-6 seconds. So first it's important to ask what caused this. During the mid to late 1900's, the United States was in a constant state of panic as a result of the foreign relations with Russia. In addition to this, earlier, near the beginning of these significant changes, the United States was in the great depression and had just been part of the conclusion to WWII. Like the anti-hero, people began to connect to film as a medium through which their resentment and frustration with their society and their government could be channelled. During this early time period the film industry needed to adapt to the demands of its people who were rapidly becoming restless and needed excitement to distract them from the terrible state the country was it, out of this was born.
   
       From this birth of faster cutting experimentation quickly became demand. It started with "actions films tended to be edited more briskly than other types, but musicals, dramas, romance, and comedies didn't necessarily favor longer shots". After the incorporatino easily of quick cutting into action films it became rapidly populor as it touched on the people's desire for excitement. As a result of this the film industry began to adapt to the new interest of the people and began incoporating these quickly cut shots in to all forms of film. Onc this pheomena had grown substancially, it quickly became less of an interest in film and more a necessity. This narrowed the scope of film interpretation consideribly by almost imedialety eliminating a sense of realism from modern films. 'More important, no film is one long action sequence.' Withou this sequence of a single shot portraying a single scene with multiple meanings, a sense of realism cannot be trly obained. Always now it has to stand that each individual shot must be dynamic and portray some idea or message which cannot necessarily be controlled so easily in one continuous and unedted scene.

      This sense of intensity that was created through cutting in order to satisfy the peoples' changing interests when looking at films, was soon accompanied by many other changes that increased emotion and intesnsity. An example of this is the use of framing. In older movies it was very often the case that a very weide shot, possibly a horizon shot or one of an entire room was taken showing all the actions of all the subjects all the time. While this may help to clearly illustrate the ideas of the scene to the audience it tends to lack a sense of emoiton. In newer films, countless shots are taken in order to provide every ossible angle so that when time for editing arrives, the most dynamic, thought provokning and emotional shots can be evaluated and incorporated into the final piece. Through the use of these close ups it is very easy for someone to recognize the facial expresssions of a character giving emotion to the scene and adding an 'intense' moment where only the individual character is focused on. This is also negative though because "most important, pressure toward closer views has narrowed the expressive recources abailable to preformers". While it is true that a face and its expressions can portray numerous amounts of information, the language that a whole body can portray hold endless value. Because these shots limit to simply a close-up, we lose the hints, emotions, and ideas that are portrayed through body language like weight shifts or finger tapping.

Blog Response- Article- Intensified Continuity

      'The anti-hero can be seen in earlier American cinema as well, but was in no way as popular as it became after World War II' because following WWII people became nationalistic and rebellious. After the actions of our government the people had mixed feelings about their government. They were thankful because the government protected them, but at the same time harbored resentment as a result of the political, social and economic issues that accompany war. With the great depression about to come about, meaning economic collapse, many people blamed the government. Without the resources or ability to challenge their government and challenge the society they no longer loved, characters like Travis Bickle who could challenge the government and say what the people could not. Through the escape that movies allow people to have, a character like Travis could express the people's opinions about 'cleaning up society'. Following the war nationalistic emotions and ideas became very popular and people and they felt they needed to protect their country and its ideals as Travis does. 


    Adding to the connection people had to the anti-hero, admiration became a large factor in people's opinions. It was said that the anti-hero 'defies conventional laws of society and can sidestep rules of morality at anytime'. In film involving for example, a super hero, people can relate because they feel similar desires to break free of the confines of reality. Through a super hero people can imagine having the power they don't in real life, and they can save the world like everyone dreams. Similarly to an anti-hero, people can live a life they can only dream of. They can rebel and speak the truths that they actually feel about their government or their society. So the anti-hero became an easy symbol for people to connect to as the 'badass' that everyone wants to let out sometimes.

'Arrival of a Train' and 'Damsel in distress'

The short film 'Arrival of a Train' is a realist film that is composed of no cutting whatsoever. The single shot the scene is made of shows simply the arrival of a train at train station, thus the name. People are coming on and off the train and the quick scene wit the very upbeat and cartoonish piano score helps to give a sense of childishness to the scene. It's interesting to look at the scene on its own because while it's only 50 seconds long and doesn't hold as many ideas as other films, it quickly gives clear insight to the people who take the train every day to and from work. This being very monotonous for many people, in company with with music and the matching actions like the doors opening gives it an interesting impression that this day isn't as monotonous as the average day is. This scene greatly supports that it's a Realist film because of the long single shot that shows a period of time with no alteration to the actual time showing 'real time'.

The short film 'Damsel in distress', very different from 'Arrival of a Train' is a clearly Classical film with many quick cuts as well as having time sped up slightly. These aspects help to give the film a very high energy with a lot of tension built up around the main character. The main character being chained to the train tracks gives an interesting foil to the dog who is running long distances at high speeds metaphorically carrying the story on his back. By running from the woman to the man back to the woman and then to the train conductors he acts as a liaison between all of the characters in the film, sort of transforming him into the main character. At the end of the film the dog can be seen as the center more clearly when the people come together. It's interesting to look at this film because without the rapid cuts and the sped up action the film would not be abe to portray the numerous connections and ideas that it does, all emphasized by the lack of sound.