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Classical Hollywood Film: The Classical Hollywood Cinema

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The Classical Hollywood cinema has style which is difficult and mostly invisible for the average audience to see. Classical Hollywood narratives are delivered so effortlessly to the audience to a point that they appear to have no source. In other words, it appears off the screen. The style has been effective from the 1920s and it convinces us that whatever we see on the screens is real and sometimes we as the audience have to keep reminding ourselves that it is only a movie not a real thing. For a movie to follow the Classical Hollywood style, its plots must progress through time in a linear way, must be based on the main characters and use continuity editing styles. First, the movies are character driven. The story revolves around the main …show more content…

The main function of mise-en-scene is to manufacture reality. To achieve mise-en-scene, the movie uses soundtrack and editing together so as to maintain the film continuity (Bordwell, Staiger, & Thompson, 2006). Tommy is an example of this in the scene where he contracted HIV from a dirty needle and this led to his death. Though he was a good guy who never used to take heroine, he became addicted after the breakup. Trainspotting lacks closure that is used in Classical Hollywood cinemas. In Classical Hollywood movies, the audience can tell what the audience is up to even when the other characters cannot tell. In Trainspotting, Renton is seen walking away with the cash and then he says that he is going to change (Welsh, 1996). The audience does not know whether he quit using heroine for good and if he changed like he said. To gain the full Classical Hollywood Style I would add scenes showing that Renton did change like he promised after walking away with the money. This can be done by showing him leading a happy family life free of drugs. The audience should be aware of what is happening to the main character even if the antagonist and supporting characters are not aware of what is happening to him as the main

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