Classic Hollywood Narrative Style

The Classical Narrative Style is the dominant style in cinema. It follows a set of rules on how films are supposed to be put together. These rules are unspoken; they are just basic common knowledge to the film creators and expected from the film viewers.

From the realism and formalism stand point, the Classical Hollywood Narrative Style falls somewhere in between. It is fictional, but it resembles the world we know. The style usually draws the line where things become implausible.

The Classical Hollywood Narrative Style usually consists of many basic elements. These elements usually include the introduction of the problem early in the movie. Then as the movie progresses the characters logically work through the problem, creating a story. In the end the problem is solved.

Editing is another element crucial to this form. This is especially true in continuity editing. In continuity editing all edits take place for a reason. There are two popular ways of editing within a scene. Once is called editing on a glance. With this type of editing person cuts back and forth between actors or objects. The editor lines up eye contact between the two items. The other popular way is cutting on action. With cutting on actor follows an action through different takes.

The mise-en-scene (everything that appears in the shot) is another important element of the Classical Hollywood Narrative Style. To keep the realistic, feel the actors usually never look directly into the camera unless it is for dramatic purposes. Space in the mise-en-scene is very articulated, and backgrounds are less distracting. They are created to be true to life with great detail.

Cameras are also an element. The shots and angles they utilize usually follow a pattern. A popular practice in many movies is to start with a wide shot, many times this is a crane or panning shot to help the view identify the background. As the shots grow closer we are introduced to the main characters.

To illustrate this point, let’s look at two films. Both are considered “teen” movies, but they were made a decade apart. The first is 1995’s Empire Records, and the second is 1985’s The Breakfast Club. In Empire Records the problem is discovered within minutes of the movie. Lucas stumbles across plans to turn his beloved store into a Music Town franchise. As the movie moves along, Lucas and the other characters try to solve the problem as the face and conquer all the personal demons that haunt them too. In the end they raise enough money to save the store, and the rest of their personal problems fade away too.

In The Breakfast Club editing on a glance is visible in many of scenes in the library. One example of this is when John Bender is sitting away from the group, looking off screen. He is speaking to the rest of the students in the room. When the others respond to him, the shot goes straight from where he was looking to what he is looking at. The eye contact lines up perfectly. Examples of cutting on action can also be found in the 1985 film. At one point John throws a paper wad over Claire’s head. The first shot shows John throwing the paper. The next shot shows it flying through the air and then over Claire.

Back in Empire Records the mise-en-scene requirements are supported. Throughout the whole movie only one character looks directly into the camera, and he only does it twice. The incredibly goofy character Mark delivers some classic lines for dramatic effect. The thing about Mark is that he is the kind of guy you would imagine doing something similar to that in real life. The background was simple. The base setting was a record store. Lucas makes a brief trip to Atlantic City, but even those sets were convincing. Props were accurate and over all the scene was believable.

Returning to The Breakfast Club, the opening shot is very much a signature Classical Hollywood Narrative Style signature. It starts with a wide shot of the high school. The next shot closed in on some closer shots of the interior of the school. Finally we are introduced to the main cast at the end of the opening sequence.

The Classic Hollywood Narrative Style is formulaic. It doesn’t matter who the star is, who the director is, or who the writer is. Most mainstream films you see will have this lay out. Even though this may be the first time you have heard it called by name, you expect to see it in the theaters. It has been around since the birth of cinema, and it will most likely exist far into the future.