Movie Continuity Taken Essay Example For Students

Movie Continuity Taken Essay Over the last few decades, we have seen a dramatic change in American cinema. This has been because of the effect of editors using ‘intensified continuity’ to construct the shots in films. David Bordwell suggests in his paper on ‘Intensified Continuity: Visual Style in Contemporary American Film (2002)’ that there are different components that intensified continuity use, which are not really seen in earlier classical Hollywood films. Contemporary films generally move at a much faster pace, up to the point where if you turn away for a second, you may miss something important because of the rapid editing that is now used. These modern films are being labelled as ‘post classical films’ although, as David Bordwell argues, â€Å"today’s films generally adhere to the principles of classical film making† (2002, p. 16). One film in particular that stood out for me that is relevant to the concept of ‘intensified continuity’ is the film Taken (Pierre Morel, 2008), an action film which involves a ‘retired’ CIA agent, Bryan Mills, who travels across Europe to rescue his daughter at any cost who has been kidnapped in Paris. Throughout this essay, I shall examine and analyse the factors that David Bordwell argues make up ‘intensified continuity’, using Taken (2008) for examples to show how these factors are used successfully to create exciting and intense scenes. Furthermore, I shall assess the extent to whether films that use intensified continuity are generally based on the ideas of classical continuity as Bordwell suggests, and whether or not the use of intensified continuity is actually a positive aspect in a film. It is apparent that Bordwell suggests that contemporary Hollywood cinema is still a variant of classical Hollywood, â€Å"Intensified continuity constitutes a selection and elaboration of options already on the classical filmmaking menu† (2002, p. 24). This includes techniques such as establishing shots, whereby the audience gets to know where everything is in relation to everything else. This is used in contemporary films so that intensified continuity is understandable. An example of this can be found in Taken, when ‘Kim’ is in the bathroom of the house where she is staying and there is a point of view shot to the other side of the house where she sees her friend ‘Amanda’ dancing. This shows us that ‘Kim’ is on the opposite side of the house. 1. Establishing shot of Kim’s point of view from the other side of the house 2. Medium shot of Kim looking out of the window towards the other side of the house (as above) 3. Back to Kim’s point of view seeing Amanda being taken. Bordwell sees intensified continuity as a hyperbolic development of classical filmmaking, which can be seen as excessive, but also exciting for the viewer. Bordwell suggests that there are ‘four tactics of camerawork and editing’ (2002, p. 16) that are key to intensified continuity. The first is that there is ‘more rapid editing’ in contemporary films. Bordwell comments on how classical Hollywood films have an average shot length (ASL) of around eight to eleven seconds. Comparing this to the much more contemporary film that is ‘Taken’, the ASL is a lot shorter, with some sequences of the film having shots that last around half a second. For example, the scene where Bryan Mills finds the man who kidnapped his daughter in ‘the house with the red door’, and starts fighting all of the men in the kitchen has very quick, rapid editing, moving from shot to shot with about a second on each shot length. Steven Shaviro comments in a lecture about ‘Post continuity’ at Wayne State University, Detroit that recent action films have â€Å"totally chaotic film making much more orientated towards maximal effect every 3 seconds†. Good Will Hunting EssayTaken uses all four of these properties, and so is a good example of a film that incorporates intensified continuity. Shaviro argues that intensified continuity has led to an overuse in these techniques, and suggests that this has resulted in â€Å"regime change† and states, ‘The new Hollywood of the 1970’s may just have â€Å"intensified† the conventions of continuity editing; but the Hollywood of today has exploded them, and reached the point of what I will call a stylistics of post-continuity’ (Shaviro, p. 23, 2010). For him, intensified continuity in recent Hollywood films leads to bad consequences for recent Hollywood films. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, techniques such as close up shots that were used in classical filmmaking to create an emotional response for the audience is overused in today’s contemporary films, and so the effect is no way near as great. As Bordwell notes, â€Å"even ordinary scenes are heightened to compel attention and sharpen emotional resonance† (2002, p. 4). In addition, pushing intensified continuity to its limit risks losing spatial and temporal awareness. It could be argued that the fast pace of contemporary cinema moves us around objects and space faster than we can take in, which therefore makes it hard for the audience to keep up. However, the editing of Taken in my opinion was done very well in using intensified continuity. It had the right amount of shock and action to create a thrilling and exciting film. The fast cutting and range of camera shots helped me to engage with the character of Bryan Mills, giving me an idea of his character in general, which is a tough, fast-on-his-feet spy, and the love he has for his daughter. Pierre Morel the director of the film has directed other spy action films including From Paris with Love (2010). He uses similar techniques throughout his films to create suspense and immerse the audience in the action. In my opinion, I would argue that intensified continuity has been a positive development in the film business, however, when overused, the results may not be as effective as intended. Bibliography: Bordwell D. (2002) Intensified Continuity: Visual Style in Contemporary American Film Film Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 3, University of California Press Bordwell D. (2006) The way Hollywood tells it: Story and Style in Modern Movies (1st edition), United States: University of California Press Shaviro S. (2010) Post Cinematic Affect, United Kington: Hunt, John Publishing Shaviro S. (2013) Post Continuity and Post irony: The new Audiovisual regime (Lecture) Wayne State University, Detroit – 3/6/13 Filmography Citizen Kane. Dir. Orsen Welles. Prod. Mercury Productions. RKO Radio Pictures, USA (1941). Main cast: Joseph Cotton (Jedediah Leland), Dorothy Comingore (Susan Alexander Kane), Anges Moorehead (Mary Kane). From Paris with Love. Dir. Pierre Morel. Prod. EuropaCorp,, France (2010). Main cast: John Travolta (Charlie Wax), Johnathon Rhys Meyers (James Reese) Kasia Smutniak (Caroline) Taken. Dir. Pierre Morel. Prod.   Luc Bessons  EuropaCorp. USA (2008). Main cast: Liam Neeson (Bryan Mills), Maggie Grace (Kim), Famke Jassen (Lenore)