Ideology: An Introduction

One of the major concepts used within media is ideology as many who create films or other forms often have either a conscious or unconscious aim to spread certain ideological beliefs to the audience. In modern day, ideology can be applied to any policies such as how the importance of free speech and voting ages are seen as being dominant ideologies within countries even if certain social groups oppose them in some way. Structured ideologies are often applied to more specific focuses such as a religious group, a country’s economy or right and left wings of politics. A key role of mass media is to convey or even challenge ideologies through its various forms. As a result, media is often reactive to these forms of views as reports on various scandals and other ideologically driven events vary in the coverage given to them based on the extent to which the public respond to events in question. However, an over reliance on different ideologies in media can be seen as frustrating to audiences who may see them as pushing agendas in ways that are detrimental to the story being told when used in a film or television series. During the mid to late 20th Century, media was often used to support the binary ideologies of Capitalism and Communism supported by the major western and eastern powers respectively. Once the Cold War ended with the fall of the USSR and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, Capitalism was accepted as superior by the majority of the world with the media placing an emphasis upon the concept of Consumerism as an extension of Capitalism.

Within media, major institutions aim to use wide spread ideologies as one of the ways to attract target audiences while still appealing to wider groups as a way to gain more profits. This also has the effect of allowing for the institutions to discover how certain people react to their own ideologies when witnessing them from an outside perspective.

Component 1a – Essay: Context

“Compare how far the two films you have studied reflect the times they were made.”

Both Casablanca (Micheal Curtiz, 1942) and Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) can be argued to be seen as products of the eras they were created in and how their development became effected by the state of the Hollywood studios at these times. It is also clear that both were heavily influenced by events outside of the American film industry that were occurring at the time when they were filmed.

Throughout Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942), the characters and plot reflect the state of the world during the 1940s. The executive producer of Warner Brothers – Jack Warner – and the film’s crew intentionally based the plot on the Second World War which was ongoing at the time. The major reason for this choice was that Warner wished to use the film as a way to push forward his opinions on seeing wider American involvement within the conflict. This was also seen through the way that various stereotypes in the film were presented with the main heroes all being Americans fighting against villains from various nationalities affiliated with the Axis powers during WW2. Another stereotype seen throughout the film was the social position of certain characters such as all three main characters had been driven out of their home countries by the time of the film.

Along with this, Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) was a clear example of films created during the Golden Age of Hollywood as shown by the emphasis on the role of the Warner Brothers. During this time, studios placed strict mandates on the films they produced and thus created their own styles within the genres they created. As a result of this, Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) falls into the genres of both romance and war films with its ending with Rick and Ilza being separated being viewed during the era as counter cultural and one of three types of ending seen as acceptable by studios at the time (with the other endings involving the lovers remaining together or one dying). Another key element of Warner Brothers and the Classical Hollywood Style that can be seen in Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) is the emphasis on lavish and expensive sets constructed by studios in order to show the amount of money they had while also creating a sense of escapism for the audience through the use of exotic settings in their films. Along with this, studios placed an emphasis on hiring actors to appear only in their own films and ensuring that their protagonists appear as attractive as possible to the audience through the use of catch lights. Like most films in this era, the camera movements are extremely simple to allow for a focus on characters and not confuse the audience.

By contrast, Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) was filmed during a time when Hollywood was going through radical changes. Across the world, film was undergoing similar changes as directors such as Arthur Penn started taking inspiration from the techniques of the French New Wave. In the aftermath of the Golden Age of Hollywood collapsing, the major studios were forced to produce a wider range of films to uphold their revenue which allowed for certain directors and producers to push to make the films they wanted to make rather than being commanded by the studios they worked for. In the case of Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) both Arthur Penn and producer/actor Warren Beatty wished to create a film to truthfully represent the story of Bonnie and Clyde which led to their portrayal as anti heroes in the film through their immoral acts similar to other films of the time in an attempt to move away from the black and white stories of good against evil seen during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Along with this, cinematographers also began to use more complex camera movements with regular uses of sweeping crane shots and extreme wide shots to establish locations.

Films of this era also began to film on location out of necessity as the studios could no longer construct dozens of sets specifically for individual films. Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) was thus filmed in the Southern States in America as they were still recovering from the effects of the Great Depression which allowed the crew to capture more realistic imagery in their scenes as the film was set in the 1930s. A side effect of this is that lighting in the film regularly comes from natural sources and is unable to be controlled by the cinematographers while shooting scenes. Another place this desire for realism is displayed is through the use of regular southern accents rather than the mid-Atlantic accents seen in Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) that had been created specifically for use in high budget films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Despite this, the film is still used as escapism as it is set in the 1930s rather than modern day.

In conclusion, both of these films clearly reflect the times they were made in. As a result, they also reflect the position Hollywood was in at the times of their releases.

Component 1a – Essay: Auteur

“The director is always the most important influence on a film.”

Both Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) and Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) can be seen as deviating from this statement and were created through collaborations of multiple auteur based filmmakers. Despite this, Casablanca was also forced to conform to may studio mandates which no longer existed by the time of Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967).

Casablanca (Cutriz, 1942) can be seen as a product of the studio systems that dominated the Golden Age of Hollywood where the 8 major studios were known for making specific genres of film with specific beliefs about how films should play out which gave less room for individual auteurs to make their mark on them. Many of the cinematic elements of across Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) fall in line with the Classical Hollywood Style. An emphasis is placed upon the top billed actors and giving them a star quality through the use of bloom effects and catch lights to make their faces look smoother and as attractive to the audience as possible.

Despite this, the studios themselves could be seen as being the auteurs in this era of American Cinema as each carved out their own House Styles to distinguish their films from those of studios through the use of common motifs that carried across various productions. Films under Warner Brothers during this time became known for their realism and often being set in urban locations to appeal to the average American audience of the time. Despite this element of realism, their films still relied on large and expansive sets – such as Rick’s café in Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) – out of a desire to tightly control every part of the production including the weather while also displaying the large amounts of money and influence they had. This control is also displayed in the opening credits of Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) where there is a fanfare over the studio logo is the first thing the audience sees which indicates that they are about to watch a prestigious production.

Even with the dominance of Warner Brothers, Michael Curtiz was still able to influence his own films during their production given his skills as a director that eventually directed 100 films for the studio in 25 years. Like many of the films he directed, Casablanca (1942) focused upon a grounded story based on the real world and he heavily involved himself with almost every area of the film to keep it on schedule.

During this time, executive producers had much more influence over the structure of the films their studios released. As the executive producer of Warner Brothers, Jack Warner was able to push his own political views to audiences in Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) and placed an emphasis on his belief that America should be more active in WW2 prior to Pearl Harbour. As a way to reinforce this, a majority of characters in the film are based upon stereotypes of the era with a black and white conflict consisting of American characters heroes of the film fighting the German villains.

By the time of Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967), American Cinema had dramatically changed as the Golden Age of Hollywood transitioned into New Hollywood at the end of the 1950s.

As the director, Arthur Penn’s interest in anti-hero characters influenced the way he chose to portray Bonnie and Clyde during the film. Despite being the film’s protagonists, the main characters are still presented as being on the wrong side of the law while still being sympathetic to the audience with the Great Depression acting as a justification for their actions. This culminates in the final scene where both Bonnie and Clyde are gunned down violently from a concealed enemy. The combination of both real time and slow motion effects with the emotionless presentation of their killers put the audience in the position of feeling sorry for Bonnie and Clyde. Along with this, Penn used the film to push against sensitive topics in the American film industry at the time and included close up and graphic violence to shock audiences as this was almost never seen in films at the time.

Warren Beatty spearheaded the production of Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) out of a desire to star as Clyde in an accurate portrayal of their story. In order to do this, he collaborated with Penn and several handpicked screenwriters and editors. Similarly to Curtiz, Beatty involved himself in every aspect of the production to ensure that the film was released at the highest standard that it could achieve. Beatty’s role as Clyde also influenced the way the film was created as he pushed for his character to be as authentic as possible even if it meant forcing it against traditional film themes of the time.

In contrast to Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942), the entirety of Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) was filmed on location in the southern states of America as most were still recovering from the Great Depression and reflected the feel that the director and producer wanted to achieve in the film. Another result of filming on location was that the film was able to make use of crane shots to establish locations and the busy city streets while also bringing in more light from natural sources such as the shadows of passing clouds during the scene where Bonnie talks with Clyde about wanting to see her family which can be seen as foreshadowing their deaths by the end of the film. Along with this, the cinematographers had more space to improvise as a result of not having everything created purely for the benefit of the film which led to western inspired shots of streets during the first robbery scene of the film.

One of the major inspirations for the editor Dede Allen was the French New Wave which had started in the 1950s to counter classic forms of filming and also spread to influence most European film industries. This led to Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) using rapid cuts to express emotion, especially in the last scene where the characters share a final look with each other which is conveyed through shot/reverse shot. Another major technique used is the jump cut which skips part of a clip of footage cut out of the shot in order to show the passage of time and violate traditional continuity editing which represents Bonnie’s boredom in the opening scene of the film. Tracking shots are a consistent element of the film during casual moments between the characters which allow for them to dictate the direction of their own story as the camera follows them fluidly and is often also hand-held to add a natural tone and feel to the scene. This can also be seen as reflective of how the Hollywood Studios became subservient to their directors and the stories they wanted to tell on screen.

Overall, both Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) and Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) are examples that directors are not always the most influential part of a film production as both were created through collaborative productions. However, Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) displays more independence as a film since it placed an emphasis on its story instead of the expectations of American Cinema at the time of its release.

Unconventional Auteur: Bonnie And Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)

During the 1960s, the studio system of the Golden Age of Hollywood had fallen apart as the 8 major studios such as Warner Bros lost influence over American cinema. At the same time, young filmmakers around the world began to break away from traditional techniques and drove to make films as art with the French New Wave being the most influential of these new movements.

During the 1950s, the French New Wave emerged as a response to conventional filmmaking in France after World War 2. One of the techniques of the French New Wave that are incorporated into Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) is the jump cut which is used to signify a sudden shift in time. When this is first seen while Bonnie is in bed, it is used to represent the boredom and repetitiveness she feels in her life before meeting Clyde. Along with this, tracking shots are used as a way to allow for characters and dialogue to dictate the movements of the camera while placing an emphasis on conversation in quieter sequences. Across the film, hand held shots and dollies are used to uphold a natural flow as the camera follows the story in an improvised and realistic way which was a major element of films created during the French New Wave.

The film’s producer Warren Beatty can be argued as having the largest impact on the film on an auteur basis as he handpicked the other stars who appeared in it and even gathered Penn and the film’s writers early into the process. The reason for this was due to his desire to create and star in a film about Bonnie and Clyde to contrast to the roles that he had become famous for in order to give an accurate portrayal of the character. Across the film, a compiled bluegrass track becomes a motif as part of the film’s non diegetic score as it is is repeatably used during car chases and escapes to add a jovial tone to the events on screen and help the audience view them the same way that the characters do.

Similar to Warner Bros films of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) opens on the studio logo to announce that the film is a big production although there is no fanfare to represent that the importance of studios had diminished since the Golden Age and had become subservient to the story told within films. It is also reflective of how the Big Five and Little Three studios lost their monopolies on American cinema after the Paramount case which forced them to sell off their theatres which gave way for independent cinema to rise. After this, there are cuts between photos representative of the Great Depression with an absence of a composed score until the names of the film crew are listed which is followed by text that gives exposition about the film’s main characters to display that it is based on a true story and force the audience to become active participants in the events of the film instead of passive observers. This opening also foreshadows the film’s ending by the way that the ending as the names of the actors fade from white to red.

The scene where Bonnie and Clyde die is shown in a ruthless fashion through repeated the use of slow motion footage combined with real time sound effects of bullets before the cops eventually reveal themselves who are presented as being cold and emotionless. The film’s editor, Dede Allen, did this to shock the audience and strengthen their sympathy for the two main characters which is also achieved by the use of rapid cuts as Bonnie and Clyde notice the ambush before being followed by a final shot/reverse being shot shared between the two to convey their emotional connection before they are ripped apart by the ambush. Almost immediately after the reveal of the cops and the corpses of Bonnie and Clyde, there is a cut to black in order to signify that the intentions of the film’s crew was to tell the story of Bonnie and Clyde which has ended by that point with the camera lingering on the bodies long enough to leave a final impact on the audience.

New Hollywood: Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)

By the time of the 1960s, various filmmakers began forging their own path through Independent Cinema to explore new themes as a result of the collapse of the studio system after the Golden Age of Hollywood was replaced by New Hollywood.

Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) was based on the true story of the criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and was set in the Great Depression. As a result of the characters the film follows, the audience is placed in a position of empathising with characters that would otherwise be seen as bad people. One way that Penn coveys this is through his use of onscreen violence which was used more excessively and detailed than it had been previously in American films such as how Clyde is shown to shoot someone at close range during an escape. When it first released, this was used as a way to challenge story conventions of the time as even though several heroes in films from Hollywood’s Golden Age – such as Rick in Casablanca (Micheal Curtiz, 1942) – blood was never seen after any character died although by the time of New Hollywood, certain foreign films began to experiment with adding more violence into their films.

As part of the multiple forms of new cinema during the 1960s, independent cinema was becoming popular in America as to tell unique stories that their directors wanted to tell which brought in audiences that had often been ignored by the major studios at the height of their influence over Hollywood. Along with this, Television was becoming more mainstream which led to less people heading to watch films in cinemas in favour of remaining at home for cheap entertainment. Fearful of losing profits, many studios attempted to add more spectical to their major films while also agreeing to produce a larger variety of films.

Across the 20th century, the role of women in film began to change from simply being used as love interests for the male characters before eventually becoming more independent by the time of the 1970s. The way that the two major female characters in Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) are portrayed in such a way that they act as a bridge between the Golden Age of Hollywood and New Hollywood with Bonnie herself being excited by Clyde’s lifestyle and confident (as shown by how she speaks the first line of dialogue after being shown to be bored by her current life) while Blanche is presented as a screaming wreck during confrontations with police. Despite this, there is still a hint of classic Hollywood in Bonnie, especially with the fact that she is first presented in a way that focuses on her beauty.

In order to add a more realistic feel to the film, it was filmed mostly on location in the South of the USA where several states were still recovering from the effects of the Great Depression to some extent. Due to this decision, the cinematographers were able to use more imaginative ways to create their shots as they often used crane shots to help establish locations such as the hustle and bustle of towns. Another effect of filming on location is that it forced the filmmakers to record around natural elements such as the weather and outdoor locations which gives the implication that film companies were less willing to create expansive sets by this point.

Production: Screenplay

elton-andrew-screenplayDownload

Arthur Penn: Copycat Auteur

Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) was inspired by the French New Wave through its seemingly rough editing and rapid shifts in tone between scenes. Along with this, it was also inspired by the Wave through the types of themes the screenwriters initially attempted to explore.

David Newman and Robert Benton were a pair of screenwriters who often collaborated with each other on projects. Newman collaborated with others on all except for 3 of his projects and collaborated with Benton on 7 of his 16 writing credits. After working with Arthur Penn, Robert Benton began work as a director and often wrote the scripts for his films – starting with Bad Company (Benton, 1972) – with several being adaptions from novels.

Arthur Penn became associated with his works on Warner Brothers films based around outlaws with his directorial debut of The Left Handed Gun (Penn, 1958) which was focused on the story of Billy The Kid. Many of his films following this, including Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967), were based around anti-hero type characters. Despite losing critics and even the general audience with his films later on, Penn still maintained some success with his work on stage and TV based productions at the turn of the 21st Century.

Starting as an assistant in production, Dede Allen eventually became a well known film editor auteur. A few years after editing her first full film, Allen became another one of Penn’s associates and had a successful collaboration with him for 9 years between 1967 and 1976. Another notable film she edited shortly after this was Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981) by the producer and director Warren Beatty who had worked with the two of them for Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967).

Along with staring as Clyde in Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967), Warren Beatty acted as the film’s producer. He occasionally collaborated with Penn on films which led to him being described by Penn as “the perfect producer”. As his career progressed, Beatty began to also act within most of the films he produced with a famous example being Reds (Beatty, 1981) which he directed, wrote, produced and starred in.

Escaping The Eight: The French New Wave

In the years directly after the Second World War, cinema radically changed around the world as new filmmakers began to emerge in rejection of the traditional methods of filmmaking and often became the result of social, political and economic factors that resided in the post war world, especially within Europe. The most influential of these was the French New Wave which emerged in the mid to late 1950s. Some of the new techniques established by the filmmakers of the Wave involved breaking the 180 degree rule, tracking shots and jump cuts as a way to prevent the audience from focusing upon the camera exclusively and as a general refusal to suspend their disbelief. They also used cinema to explore themes such as existentialism and absurdity while being made on a tight budget which led to directors creating improvised equipment out of everyday objects. Despite not being a filmmaker in the French New Wave, André Bazin was a large influence upon the genre with his belief that “true continuity” should be created with mise-en-scene while also supporting techniques such as wide shots used by Jean Renoir and deep focus shots used by Orson Welles.

Jean-Luc Godard was one of the most of the prominent French New Wave filmmakers and focused upon stylistic choices within his films in opposition to mainstream French cinema which have led to many of his films being seen as revolutionary moves in the history of cinema. His main aim when making his films was to prevent the audience from viewing them becoming passive in their experience through the use of direct shock in innovative ways for the time.

Chris Marker was part of a secondary group of French New Wave directors referred to as the Left Bank who were often supported by the regular Wave directors. This group were mostly made up of French directors who were more experienced and older but viewed cinema as an art form. Chris Marker himself directed La Jetée (1962).

Waving Goodbye: New Hollywood (1961-1990)

At the end of the 1950s, the 8 major Hollywood Studios (The Big Five and The Little Three) began to decline both economically and in influence. During this time, they had become restricted in their capabilities as a result of the case against them which had ended in each studio being forced to sell off their theatres which ended their monopoly over the film industry.

During the 1950s, television started to become commonplace across America (and most prominent countries across the World). With the ability for the average working class family to own a television, it was easier and more appealing to watch channels of scheduled programming in the comfort of one’s home over going out to watch a film at theatres. This led to a shift among big studios towards basing their films around spectacle in a desperate attempt to uphold their profits.

As a result of the original Hollywood Studio System collapsing, independent cinema became popular. A major reason for independent cinema reaching such popularity was because it offered more unique experiences and stories to consumers who were used to the major corporations focusing on a small amount of genres that they knew made money. At this point there were two systems working parallel to each other as the major studios still existed after the end of the Golden Age of Hollywood (mostly) even while independent cinema began to rise. Another advantage of independent cinema was that the films created as a result of it were able to appeal to audiences that wouldn’t have otherwise been focused upon.

Arthur Penn and other directors of this era began to be inspired by the French New Wave. During the 1950s, new French directors began moving towards a more auteur based view on filmmaking which moved on to influence various other filmmakers around the world. One result of this was that it led to several American filmmakers wanting independence from studio oversight in order to create the films they wanted to make.

Pre-Production: Equipment Research

Given circumstances outside of our control we were unable to fully record and edit our short films. This has made me believe that my sister’s Canon branded camera should be sufficient for taking photographs of the storyboards. The model is the Canon 4000D. This camera comes with full HD quality, approximately 18 pixels and a built-in flash mode. However, it does not come with a stand to position it on while taking photos for my storyboards. Despite this, I feel that this is an appropriate camera to use for this process as it is a good starting point for professional photography at colleges.

As most of my shots will be taken close to subjects, I have decided to use the 18-55 millimetre lens for the storyboards. Along with this, I had the idea to use a drone with a camera attached to it for the final shot of the short film as it pushes in on the subject in the scene. However, due to a combination of reasons – global circumstances and the fact that I do not own such equipment personally – this idea was just a hypothetical possibility as I believe I can still achieve a similar result in storyboard film by simply standing over the actor in question.

As a result of our inability to film my complete project, I felt that making a decision on what sound equipment I should use would be unnecessary as recording any form of audio would be impossible and pointless under current circumstances. Despite this, I planned to use a voice recorder app on my phone that is installed on the device by default. The last time I recorded footage for a short film, I did not use any form of voice recording other than keeping the audio from my phone that I used to capture the footage and with hindsight, I see that this decision led to a decrease in the quality of the short film.

If I were able to film footage, I would use Final Cut Pro in order to edit the footage together in the post production stage of developing my short film given the amount of success I have had with it while working on previous projects. Along with this, I will use a San Disk Ultra memory card to capture the images for my storyboard as it can hold 16 Gigabytes of data and works at 80 megabytes per second.