"Taxi Driver"- 5 Most Valuable Minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rHxq42QrIQ&feature=related

11:10-14:42

*Note: All screenshots of extract are flipped from their original version as they came from a youtube source in which the entire film was flipped.

What happens in these couple scenes is that Travis (De Niro) is sitting with Betsy (Shepherd) in the cafe and Betsy tells Travis of the song he reminds her of. Then Travis goes ot buy the record of that song, he tells us of his next encounter through an interior monologue, and he tells Palantine what he should do if he was elected President.

I selected these five minutes because they not only tell us about Travis from his point of view, but they tell us about him from other people's points of view (i.e. Betsy and Palantine), as well as create a sort of two-faced character out of Bickle to influence an overall theme of the film. Betsy uses the lyrics of a song to describe Bickle: "He's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth and partly fiction. A walking contradiction." Although she uses all of these words, she says that the only applies the "contradiction" part, as she says in the dialogue.

These words create the idea that Bickle is two-faced because while he seems like a truly nice guy in this scene and the next scene when he talks about her in his journal, in the final scene of this excerpt he proclaims that the whole problem with New York should be "flushed down the toilet." This characterization is a recurring motif of the film because it shows how we never truly know Travis. He always continues to surprise us and sometimes what he does go against what we thought he believed. This highlights his mental instability throughout the film, which, instead of creating merely a psycho character creates a compelling, suspenseful film. This creates the theme throughout Scorsese's film that a person with a violent past who feels no purpose in their life resorts to such violence as means of gaining revenge.

This theme can especially be seen with the attempted assassination of Palantine, as well as indirectly with the murder of the pimp (, etc.) in the apartment. With the attempted assassination, Bickle was trying to get back at the government for all he had to go through as a Marine in the Vietnam War. Although we are never told of Bickle's experiences in the war, it is implied that the war had a strong effect on Bickle because of his mental instability demonstrated by his insomnia, confusing interests (Betsy and a triple x-rated movie?), and inability to take care of himself (pigsty of an apartment). Through Bickle's connection to Betsy and his encounter with Palantine in the cab, Bickle sees Palantine as an opportunity for him to disprove the slogan "We are the people". Bickle served his country by taking part in an endless bloodbath in a foreign country and all he got in return for it was societal isolation.

Pertaining to the bloody scene of the film, Bickle saw in Iris the victim he saw in himself, with the government acting as Sport and others in Iris' case. Therefore, because Bickle could not achieve his goal of revenge against Palantine and the entire political scene, he had to rely on helping someone he felt connected to (Iris) in order to feel a sense of closure so that maybe he could get over his past and create a life for himself (which relates to the final scene of the film with Betsy in the car, ending on a hopeful note).

This extract relates to Scorsese's body of work with his recurring motifs of crime and violence, which often to go hand in hand. Many of his films, like "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas", are perfect examples of these motifs. "Raging Bull" is about a boxer (De Niro) who becomes alienated from his family and "Goodfellas" is about the rise and downfall of a crime family (Mafia...) (Source: Wikipedia).

These and "Taxi Driver" do not attempt to create a candy-coated society in which the protagonist is a hero. Quite on the contrary, the protagonist is a bad guy in many cases but has certain qualities that still make them a likeable character who has some moral motive (anti-hero).

The extract relates to the narrative and plot structure of the rest of the film through how we get a straight answer from Bickle about his beliefs and this foreshadows the events of the climax and rising action in which he attempts to carry out his goal of "flushing" the problem down the toilet by getting rid of people like Sport, as well as attempting to get rid of Palantine, who he hardly sees as a solution to the problem. In some sense, when Bickle refers to New York as full of "filth and scum" he is referring not only to the city itself but the people living in it, even Palantine.

The director's intent of the film is to portray New York City as it truly was in 1976 and show the negative effects of war on veterans. The city was quite honestly a dump, and the significance of Scorsese's honest portrayal of it makes it a part of the city's history that can never be forgotten. Martin Scorsese was born and raised in New York, so naturally he would have a personal connection to the city that could influence his desire to create an accurate portrayal of the city. In addition to the hustle and bustle of what was then a filthy city, it seems natural that a poor guy like Bickle with his trauma would get caught up in the smoke and steam.

Not only does Bickle seem lost but everyone seems lost. The difference is that Bickle does something about it, which highlights his identification as the anti-hero.

The way this film relates to film history is through the popularity of the anti-hero that seems to rise up after wars (e.g. WWII or, in this case, the Vietnam War). This is seen in the extract through how Betsy characterizes Bickle as not being a perfect person but a "contradiction," which foreshadows how unpredictable Bickle is, especially when it comes to shooting eveyone in the apartment building and attempting to shoot Palantine. Also, in the taxi ride he says that the whole problem with New York should be flushed down the toilet, thus making him seem as though he is a person with questionable motives.

The idea of an anti-hero helps fulfill the film's genre as a western with film noir elements (according to Tom Dirks). The protagonist in a western is oftentimes a rebel in society, which describes Bickle with his violent outbreaks and "alienation" in society (Tom Dirks). The film noir aspects show with how much of the film is during the nighttime in a busy, depressed city. There are aspects of suspense involved, as well.

"The Rise of the American Anti-Hero"

The Question: What historical factors influenced the rise of the American Anti-Hero in cinema and how does this hero contradict the Classic Hollywood Ideology.

The land of the brave, eh? The anti-hero, in America in particular, has become more and more popular as the classic, if not cliche, concept of hero versus villain. These anti-heroes are not considered to have the qualities of any old hero, evidentally because they are the "anti-". Therefore, what makes them the anti-hero is because, in my opinion, they are working toward some personal goal in which they reflect some qualities of a hero, such as bravery. In the film we just watched in class, "Taxi Driver," Travis Bickle, played by none other than Robert De Niro, shows no signs of heroism, which is implied strongly by the title.

However, this is a war veteran we are talking about and the film shows traces of the elements of a Western, so while Travis is quite frankly pathetic, murderous in thoughts and later actions, and in no way someone a little kid dreams of going up to be, he does reach his personal goal of helping the prostitute get her life back. We are awe-inspired by Travis, but disgusted at the same time when we see the idea of his greater good, attempting to kill of Palantine. This is a common theme throughout anti-heroes in American films: the protagonist offers a set of two-faced poignancy in which he possesses the qualities of a true hero and then brings in the "anti-" by doing something stupid, disgusting, or horrific.

Henneberry says that "The anti-hero became a darker, edgier character, who was just as confused as the average American." A war veteran forced to go back to normal life without any real purpose is enough cause to try to find a purpose. Such characters could relate to the audience because, much like Steve McQueen was described in the article, they were realistic without being fluffed up in order to be called a hero. This contributed greatly to the rise while leaving room behind to discover an actual moral even though the anti-hero may have very few.

Films like "Damsel in Distress" are ideal for the Classic Hollywood Ideology because they go with the same old story of the hero rescuing the damsel while meeting obstacles on the way. This contradicts what a anti-hero stands for in many cases. While this contrasts with realism in terms of cinematography, as films are becoming more and more formalist, it connects to realism in terms of reality.

What could cause such an awakening? WWII caused a lot of damage for the US, especially compared to WWI, because US morale was lowered by such events as Pearl Harbor. This event, in line with the events of war following, changed the US forever. This was one factor in the rise of the anti-hero.

Another reason is that they wanted themselves to be reflected in film through the use of characters that went against the norm much like Americans rebelled against the status quo. The generation that came out of WWI America was one of rebellion (i.e. teenage rebellion) during the 1960s, which was when anti-hero films became very popular. This generation didn't want to have to live in such a society that caused the US to be involved in something as horrific as WWII.

The third factor also related to being realistic; having human heroes to represent humans "who were true representations of life, who were faulty and vulnerable, like America's real life heroes." It is a salute to our soldiers in the war. What is interesting is how this anti-hero trend has lived on to the present, perhaps because of other wars giving a new cause for nationalism, such as in Vietnam and Iraq.

The fourth and final reason is that audiences wanted an accurate portrayal of the American spirit, its culture, without any polishing to go along. This goes along with rebellion because it tells telling the world "Hey. We're American and proud! What are you gonna do about it?" Establishing such as sense of nationalism through film was key in maintaining morale even after the war with its devastating effects on the whole world.

The darker side of the idea of an anti-hero mascot for the US is that it is an accurate represenation of America as a whole. The anti-hero is not a perfect hero but a regular person who can be very violent or merely unpleasant but for some glowing moments of acting heroically, although sometimes not inentionally, such as when De Niro tried to kill himself after murdering many people in'Taxi Driver".

Nonetheless, the negative side of these characters acts as a reflection of American atrocities, such as with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That is something the US cannot deny and it was such a large event in American history, so it was bound to have its effect on the anti-hero.

Overall, to answer the question, the rise of the American anti-hero was influenced by WWII and events following so that it turned the Classic Hollywood Ideology of a perfect hero into the anti-hero, which was more emotionally accessible to Americans and a more realistic view of America for Americans in terms of self-identification, as well as for the world.

Film Portfolio!!- Wig'd Out

A. Rationale:
We made a comedy that seemed like it would be romantic but essentially was a bit gross. Our plan was to gradually expose the audience to the strange habits of this guy who seems to be interested in a girl, only it is actually just her hair he likes. We wanted to do this film because it was simple, yet compelling and showed our ability to make an audience laugh. It seemed like a good idea because with comedies actors are easy to work with and we knew it would be funny. The audience is anyone looking for lighthearted entertainment.

B. Commentary:

My areas of responsibility were cinematographer and co-editor.
As the cinematographer, I foremost found it difficult to work on a café front of a relatively populated area of town. We often had to stop just before getting a shot because someone was about to walk by. Another part of this challenge was that we could see inside the café through the windows, so people came and went while we were shooting the same scene. This caused some error in continuity as people suddenly appeared and disappeared between cuts in the final edit. However, to solve these problems we just allowed as much time in our schedules as possible with the fast-approaching deadline to shoot and we tried to be polite to the random passerby, but there was no true resolution, especially with the continuity error. Another challenge I faced was with lighting. The film is supposed to be set during midmorning, but one of our shoots had to be shot after school because of the deadline. However, with winter approaching, it got dark much sooner than our completion of shooting, so we had to shoot without sunlight, which was out source of light for the rest of the shots. We were just glad that there was light in the café to offer some assistance. We solved this issue in editing with various filters, as I will later discuss. As cinematographer, though, I tried to fix the problem as best as possible by increasing the exposure to its greatest extent.

As the co-editor, one of my challenges was with how to present the first scene with Jen coming to the café and going about her routine. It involved costume changes, so to save time rather than have her change back and forth we just shot the complete scene twice in both outfits. In the edit, I thought about overlapping them, but the camera was moved in between outfits to get other shots, so I had to settle with cutting back and forth between the two outfits with a lot of cross dissolves. Therefore, where Jen was in the frame by the end of the shot with one outfit she picked up with in similar framing in the shot with the second outfit. Another challenge I had as co-editor, as aforementioned, was with the lighting. In this instance, I had to use the 3-way color corrector filter on several shots. I tried applying a cloning tool to match the color and lighting of one of the well-lit frames to the poorly lit frames, but it made other qualities of the frames look poor. With this in mind, I resigned to increasing the whites and saturation levels dramatically and slightly decreased the blacks. Despite the problems in lighting, it was difficult to tell that there was any problem at all after applying the video filter. Another issue we had was with a couple of shots with the male lead’s dialogue. Although the camera had not been moved or shut off, the color temperature changed drastically between these couple shots and the shots preceding it, although I, as cinematographer, did not notice at the time. These two shots had a very high color temperature, while the others were fairly low. As, co-editor, I resolved this by using color correction. I merely used the color wheel to make the color temperature appear more consistent. One last problem in editing was with our audio for dialogue. Some of it came out very low, so I had to use the gain audio filter to raise it. However, some audio had a lot of static gained in the process. This was a problem we could not solve, but the choice was that we either had audio that could not be heard or we had audio accompanied by static. The dialogue was crucial, so we decided to keep the filtered audio.

As a whole, our group had problems with actors and schedules. Our original film concept was completely different and we had shot about half of it when our lead actress told us that due to her commitments to the school musical and her parents’ inflexibility she could no longer film. Therefore, we had to scrap everything we had already done and come up with a less complex film that could be shot in a couple of days. We managed to shoot, but it was rushed, so what we accomplished during our shoots with our more flexible actors was not as good as we had hoped. Still, we were very pleased that the final product was a general success. Luckily, we had no issues with group members as they were all very dependable and it helped that 2 out of the 4 of us had cars.

Critical Evaluation:

This film is clearly of the romantic genre, as there are many periods of silliness in the actors’ expressions and actions. However, the only thing that establishes this in the first minute or so is the choice of music. It is French accordion music that creates a light mood. Otherwise, the genre is not clearly established by what we see, as all new see is the girl going about her routine and a creepy person watching her. Still, the surprise created by the motif of hair and the reaction of the girl makes it a good attempt at being funny.

The narrative itself is interesting as it seems to unfold with a guy who has taken an interest in a girl, but it turns into a story in which there is a happy ending for no one, only grossness. I feel like the between the two people could be further developed, as well as the climax, but the story does feel resolved with the appearance of the other girl who walks by, which also adds to the comedy aspect. To improve this as well as the identification as a comedy, there could be a scene in which the two seem to be getting along fine and then he later finds out about his obsession with hair, thus making the intensity of disgust between the two much more potent. To avoid such problems in the future, special attention should be paid to character development in increasing the effect of the climax on the audience.

The acting is believable, for the most part, although at times it seems as though the girl is fighting back giggles. Still, the cheesy nature of the climax was evidently deliberate and full of laughs, so this makes up for any faults in acting. Once again, though, the relationship between the characters could be better developed.

As far as editing goes, there are some stylistic elements that enhance the film. For example, the choice of classic horror music for the moment in which the wig is revealed adds to the comedic genre. However, this could have been further utilized with the use of an echo audio effect in witnessing the girl’s reaction. The use of cross dissolves suggests the passing of time in the first scene fairly well. On the topic of time, though, I feel the shot with the guy watching the girl in a time lapse is much too lengthy, for while it establishes the nature of the guy’s obsession with the girl this could have been established if the shot was shorter, as well. Still, they made well use of the slow motion in shots, such as when they show the girl’s reaction and the new girl flipping her hair. One interesting technique used was a video filter at the end in which there is a glow around the other girl in which the guy has taken a new interest. This heightens our perception of the girl so that we see her as the guy sees her, thus establishing the perspective of someone we don’t necessarily want to have the perspective of due to his disturbing personality. Overall, the film’s moderately formalist nature is evident as serves to create an altered sense of time and visual perception with its manipulation of time and visual effects, although they are not overdone.

The score fit the genre well in its lightheartedness, but it could be interpreted as misleading for its implications of romance (it is French music, after all). I like how the same music from the opening scene is repeated at the end because it gives not only a sense of resolution but a sense of the male lead’s character with the new hair interest of his. The use of the classic horror music in the climax is effective as it is the most intense part of the score, thus highlighting the events it accompanies. There are no discern able sound effects, but this does not seem to disadvantage the film, for this type of comedy seems best suited as being simple.

The cinematography is mostly static, but, once again, it adds to the simplicity of the film as a part of the comedic genre so that it does not distract from elements of this genre such as the characterization of the male lead. However, there are some graphic vectors with the use of lines down moving down the street with the male lead in the foreground, the female lead in the mid/background, and the rest of the avenue in the background. This highlights the guy’s attention to her, as if he is being drawn to her (or her hair, at least). There are some close-ups used only to show character’s reactions or simply emotions, such as when the girl sees the wig or the guy’s eyes follow her when she leaves in the first scene.

The production design is fairly good as there are no continuity errors in costume design for either character, thus showing the passing of time without causing confusion. One issue in mis en scene is that there is no control over the extras as they are random passerby and café patrons. Therefore, in the same scene, one person may be in the background in the café in one shot, but when it cuts back they may be gone or someone else may have taken their place. This could have been fixed with the use of shallow focus by the cinematographer to emphasize what is happening between the characters, as well as avoid noticing such continuity errors. The choice of location for the film was advantageous as it seemed like a place people could go to on a regular basis and it had outside seating that isolated the characters with each other.

Overall, I believe this short film is a success because it achieves its goal of being funny with a disturbing twist. All of the errors are either very minor or merely missed opportunities, so they are not distracting in receiving the overall point of the film: some people are weird, so just stay away.
C. Supporting Material: https://sites.google.com/site/causeitsib/

P.S. It's about time I finished this...

"Intensified Continuity"

The Question: According to David Bordwell, explain how and why continuity has intensified in Hollywood Cinema. Also, consider whether anything has been lost with this change.

The four areas in which continuity has intensified in Hollywood Cinema are shot length, lens choice, close framing, and a free-ranging camera.

What I find fascinating is the gradually decreasing average shot length. As the shots became shorter and cuts became more frequent, films became more "intense". This can be considered an evolution as far as technological advances are concerned, but has film lost the flavor it once had with its once long takes? There is a socioeconomic influence on shot lengths' impact on how action-driven films are today. An appropriate analogy would be a car in the 1920s versus a car today. In my opinion, much like how all of the technological advances made in the world as a whole embodied inventions making communication and transportation much more quick and efficient, the film world grasped on to such changes to try to keep up with its rapidly moving audiences. Another factor, as Bordwell states, is that "when an independent goes mainstream, the cutting is likely to accelerate." This basically implies that everyone in the audiecne wants the same thing--a fast pace. Out of this socioeconomic factor comes the idea that in order to be a successful filmmaker independents must comply to the invisible boundaries set by mainstream filmmakers. Ultimately, technology is a driving force in decreasing average shot lengths because we as an audience (unless you're a sucker for old films) are accustomed to a more fast-paced life.

Technology also has its influences in other areas, as Bordwell discusses. Lens choices have been leaning toward long lenses, perhaps due to its use in close-ups, medium shots, over-the-shoulder shots, and even establishing shots, according to Bordwell. However, they have been mixed with other lenses, such as wide-angle lenses (i.e. Spielberg). I believe the long lens allows for more stylistic cinematography that makes a film more visually apealing, such as with rack focuses, which became more popular in the 1960s.

Another important aspect of intensified continuity in cinema is how all up in your face the actors are getting. In more sophisticated terms, the framing of shots is oftentimes very tight, especially during dialogue scenes. This puts a strain on the actors because all they have to try to get the director's point across is their face. Dialogue can be a very powerful source of communication in which facial expressions offer characerization. As Bordwell states, "Most important, the pressure toward closer views has narrowed the expressive resources available to performers...Mouths, brows, and eyes become the principle sources of information and emotion, and actors must scale their performances across varying degrees of intimate framing." But what about the rest of the actor? Body language in such dramatic scenes is limited to the face, which demands a lot of the actors. In some sense, this may be why some acting seems so unrealistic or cheesy. It is so much harder to act witih such limitations. With the use of the long lens there is therefore a technological influence on the commonly used close-up.

Long and wide shots are rarely static these days, as aforementioned. The demands of the general public are that the bigger the better because these are considered to be epic. One might say to a static long shot today that it can be compared in its fascination to "Arrival of a Train," but a tracking aerial view of the a horse running across the Fields of Pelennor in "The Lord of the Rings" would be considered eye-popping because it is as though the viewer is flying (I know I feel this way, at least). Bordwell states, "Today, everyone presumes that a long take, even a long shot, is unlikely to be a static one." Therefore, because life is much less "static" than it once was, there is more that the audience expects. Movement is naturally more compelling, which is why many youth of the modern day find many classic films boring in nature. Quite honestly, I find the realist film "Arrival of a Train" very boring (no offense to the filmmaker)because I am so used to something like "The ord of the Rings" or "Inception" in which there is much more to be seen and heard. However, someone at that time might consider "Arrival of a Train" a thrill because film was so new. Nonetheless, the use of movement in film has greatly increased as the cameras became lighter and devices were made to allow movement.

As Bordwell discusses, there is a sort of cause-and-effect in intensified continuity. The tighter framing leads to faster cutting (there is less information in the frame to process), long lenses allow for faster cutting (e.g. rack focus tells you what you are supposed to see, although it is visually appealing), and the free-ranging camera cannot help but follow the commotion provided by technology, producing in some sense even a domino effect. Ultimately, the films have increased in intensified continuity to such an extent that they are getting old. At least in my opinion, it is very rare to find a mainstream film that follow such stylistic elements without being repetitive like many other films out there today that stick close to the action. As far as answering the question goes, continuity has intensified in Hollywood Cinema through the cause-and-effect relationship posed by such elements as rapid editing, long lenses, tighter framing, and more camera movement because of the circular influence of technology in which technology allows for more in film and causes audiences to demand more, in turn.

Soviet Montage (Classicism), Formalism, and Andre Bazin (Realism)

3. Soviet Montage and Formalism

a. What was Pudovkin's concept of constructive editing and how did it manifest itself on film?

According to Pudovkin, shots are meant to express something new to the audience as well as create meaning when shots are put together. Close-ups can unite meaning while long shots are much too realistic. The way montages are put together portray the underlying idea. In Pudovkin’s film called Mother, there is a juxtaposition of images cutting between the mother in a crowd and the son traveling far and wide to reach her. There are cuts between the close-ups of the son’s expressions, the mother’s expressions, and ice being broken up, thus attempting to produce the underlying idea that mother and son must meet obstacles before they can finally be reunited.

b. What was the Kuleshov effect and give me an example of how is it used in today's films?

The Kuleshov Effect cut from shot of a person’s singular expression to something that could explain the expression, then cuts back to the person with the same expression, another object explaining the expression, and then over again. The basic idea is that an actor’s expression juxtaposed with an object of interest creates meaning in that expression and merely changing the object of interest can easily change the entire meaning of the expression. An example would be man, bowl o’ soup, man, coffin, and man, enormous electricity bill. It seems as though the man’s expression changes because of what is in front of him, but really the expression is the same. One film that uses this is Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” Not only does the father maintain a continuously disturbing expression throughout the majority of the film, but the son in the hallway maintains the same expression of fear when the two girls are in the hallway and when they disappeared (were they ever there?).

c. What was Eisensteinian Montage and how does it work in the "Odessa Steps" sequence?

Eisenstein’s Montage was a montage in which its meaning went beyond simply the film. In the “Odessa Steps” sequence, by cutting from wide shots of the fleeing people to close ups and medium shots of specific people, it creates a much more potent effect of fear and sympathy in the audience. This effect would not work if the montage consisted merely of a series of different angles of wide shots in which the emotions of the people were not captured by tighter shots.

4. Andre Bazin and Realism

a. What were Andre Bazin's frustrations with Classical and Formalistic film making?

Bazin as a critic clearly favored film as a representation of real, everyday life. Therefore, such formalist films of filmmakers like Hans Richter, who used abstract cutting. He felt as though filmmakers did not have the right to manipulate reality in such a way because it was distracting and distorted, that they were merely observers. Bazin feels as though less editing and variety allows the audience to pick out what they feel is important and form an opinion about it rather than have it done for them by the filmmaker.

b. What do Realist filmmakers strive for in their work?

Realists strive for as little manipulation as possible to maintain an atmosphere as close to reality as possible. They, along with Bazin, believe the best film lies in what is true, not in what the filmmaker interprets as true. They aim to leave as much up to the audience as possible by allowing every object in the frame to be an object of thought, whereas classicists and formalists take matters into their own hands to reflect their personal views.

c. What techniques to realists use in their filmmaking?

This is achieved through long shots, lengthy takes, deep focus (so one can take in everything the frame has to offer), and tracking, panning, and tilting (to get a well-rounded view). In more early forms of cinema, this would be achieved with a single long and stationary take of some event that is seen through to the end. Later on, there may be shot variety, but it may only be to get a different angle of the same thing so as to get a more well-rounded view of whatever reality the film is attempting to portray.

"Arival of a Train" and "Damsel in Distress" (this stuff is old school...)

"Arrival of a Train" was a film made in 1895 by the Lumiere brothers, so evidently at this point the idea of film was very new. It is composed of one stationary shot (did you really expect them to be able to move that big camera?) of a train arriving with passengers and passengers awaiting the train so they can depart. Just because it is one stationary shot does not mean it isn't a good one. This single shot expresses so much by showing two points of view, those who wait and what they are waiting for, that ultimately blend to form a pleasant chaos that portrays everyday life of boarding and leaving a train. Even the shot composition in this single shot is outstanding because of the strong use of graphic vectors: the train creates a line moving from background to midground to foreground (based on where it arrives from) to represent the great journeys each of the people we see is taking. It turns these simple figures into meaningful characters even without the use of closeups. Overall, this film would definitely be considered realism because it is a continuous recording of time, the shot lasts as long as the event (the "arrival of a train") and there is a very basic story being told. The simplicity of the film (due to its label as "early cinema"), however, does not allow it to be identified as an example of classicism or formalism.

The other film I looked at, D.W. Griffith's "Damsel in Distress," although still early on the film spectrum, was much more advanced in terms of shot composition, editing, and narrative. It includes a villain, a damsel in distress, two heroes, and a seemingly inevitable obstacle. This villain ties the damsel to the train tracks when a train is speedily on its way. The damsel is stuck there, so why doens't she be resourceful? She takes out a whistle and calls for her dog. Help is on the way! Or, is it? The dog gets there alright, but the lack of opposable thumbs and other necessary tools keeps him from freeing the damsel, so he runs and gets the help from another man (a "Good Samaritan", says the person on youtube who posted the film), who comes and tries to get the girl out of the way while the dog makes the conductor stop the train. The damsel is saved, the villain is caught, and the man-hero and damsel make out as the train moves along on its journey. While I would not consider this film formalist (there is no manipulation of time or space, only a hightened sense of it through cross-cutting), it is definitely realist for its common use of long shots (often with the accompaniment of a black, circular matte to highlight what is important) and classicist for its dramatic tendencies (such as character development and how it works into the plot).

Let's compare: this story of heroic triumph versus the arrival of a train. The train is important to the narritive structure of both, no doubt, but one is from a more neutral standpoint and the other is from a standpoint of frantic anxiety. Additionally, the shot variety of "Damsel in Distress" allows for the development of the narritive to create characters with unique personalities, rather than a uniform personality within potential train passengers. The differences in the edit are that for the latter film there actually is an edit. It required all of that tedious trimming that the first film did not. This definitely allowed for characterization, as well as concepts like parallel cutting that are still used today. While the damsel is being tied to the tracks, it cuts to the train speeding along toward her, thus identifying a pressing conflict during the first five seconds. As the story develops, it even cuts quickly between the train, the damsel, and the man on the bike, thus allowing for an intensity that the first film does not have. This parallel cutting is a key feature that can be found in films that use time as an important factor (from "Damsel in Distress" to "Run Lola Run"), even though it may not be for the entire film. These can make up the rising action, especially in short films, such as "Lovesick" (the one with the guy chasing after the girl he doesn't even know yet). There is the use of a black, circular matte that highlights the charactersn because this film lack the use of close ups, or at least close ups as we know them. Some of the most memorable shots include one of the shots of the train that has a strong graphic vector that makes shows how the train is moving forward towards its goal, no matter what (or who, in this case) is in its way. The same goes for the first film, only there is nothing in its way to establish a narrative quite as complex as the latter film. This highlights an important use of angles that makes the film much more compelling. However, in the latter film there is movement, such as tracking shots of the train, the dog, and the man on the bike. These show the different journeys of important aspects of the film that are all destined to approach the central figure, the damsel. In other words, they come from points A, B, and C, but they all move toward point D.