JCM312/Narrative Structure

Classical Hollywood cinema

Television discusses seven principal characteristics of classical Hollywood cinema:

1. Single protagonist
2. Exposition
3. Motivation
4. Narrative enigma
5. Cause-effect chain
   • Story time versus screen time--in terms of duration and order
6. Climax
7. Resolution/Denouement--compare exposition and denouement

Does Day for Night qualify as a classical film? Why or why not? Template:Gallery

Signs of character

1. Viewer foreknowledge
2. Character name
3. Appearance
4. Objective correlative
5. Dialogue
6. Lighting and videography or cinematography
7. Action

Signs of performance

1. Vocal
2. Facial
3. Gestural
4. Corporeal

Day for Night cast

• Jacqueline Bisset: Julie
• Valentina Cortese: Severine
• Dani: Liliane
• Alexandra Stewart: Stacey
• Jean-Pierre Aumont: Alexandre
• Jean Champion: Bertrand
• Jean-Pierre Léaud: Alphonse
• François Truffaut: Ferrand, the director
• Nike Arrighi: Odile
• Nathalie Baye: Joelle
• Maurice Seveno: TV Reporter
• David Markham: Doctor Nelson
• Bernard Menez: Bernard, the Prop Man

Bibliography

1. Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Critical Methods and Applications (New York: Routledge, 2012).
2. David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, 9th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010).

External links

1. Frame grabs from Day for Night.
2. Wes Anderson American Express Commercial (Day for Night parody, password protected)
3. TV Tropes: listing of numerous narrative conventions.