Hollywood Lighting from the Silent Era to Film Noir

Informationen zum Autor Patrick Keating is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Trinity University! where he teaches courses in film and media studies. Klappentext 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. 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

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Though often unnoted, lighting performs an important function in Hollywood film, 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 establishes Hollywood lighting as a distinct compositional force. With close analyses of Girl Shy (1924), Anna Karenina (1935), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and T-Men (1947), among other classics, Keating describes the unique problems posed by each film and the innovative ways cinematographers meet the challenge. Once dismissed as crank-turning laborers, 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 disproves the conventional theory that Hollywood film style took a backseat to storytelling, revealing 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 both realistic fantasy and pictorial artistry.

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Acknowledgments Introduction: The Rhetoric of Light Part I: Lighting in the Silent Period 1. Mechanics or Artists? 2. From the Portrait to the Close-Up 3. The Drama of Light 4. Organizing the Image Part II: Classical Hollywood Lighting 5. Inventing the Observer 6. Conventions and Functions 7. The Art of Balance Part III: Shifting Patterns of Shadow 8. The Promises and Problems of Technicolor 9. The Flow of the River 10. Film Noir and the Limits of Classicism Conclusion: Epilogue Notes Index