Hollywood Lighting from the Silent Era to Film Noir

Erscheinungsjahr 2010
ISBN: 978-0-231-14902-0
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 312 Seiten, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 522 g

Reihe: Film and Culture Series

Lighting performs essential functions in Hollywood films, enhancing the glamour, clarifying the action, and intensifying the mood. Examining every facet of this understated art form, from the glowing backlights of the silent period to the shaded alleys of film noir, Patrick Keating affirms the role of Hollywood lighting as a distinct, compositional force.

Closely analyzing Girl Shy (1924), Anna Karenina (1935), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and T-Men (1947), along with other brilliant classics, Keating describes the unique problems posed by these films and the innovative ways cinematographers handled the challenge. Once dismissed as crank-turning laborers, these early cinematographers became skillful professional artists by carefully balancing the competing demands of story, studio, and star. Enhanced by more than one hundred illustrations, this volume counters the notion that style took a backseat to storytelling in Hollywood film, proving that the lighting practices of the studio era were anything but neutral, uniform, and invisible. Cinematographers were masters of multifunctionality and negotiation, honing their craft to achieve not only realistic fantasy but also pictorial artistry.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Keating, Patrick

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmproduktion, Filmtechnik
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmgattungen, Filmgenre

Inhaltsverzeichnis

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Rhetoric of LightPart I: Lighting in the Silent Period1. Mechanics or Artists?2. From the Portrait to the Close-Up3. The Drama of Light4. Organizing the ImagePart II: Classical Hollywood Lighting5. Inventing the Observer6. Conventions and Functions7. The Art of BalancePart III: Shifting Patterns of Shadow8. The Promises and Problems of Technicolor9. The Flow of the River10. Film Noir and the Limits of ClassicismConclusion: EpilogueNotes Index

Über Autor(innen)

Patrick Keating is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Trinity University, where he teaches courses in film and media studies.