Hollywood Style (reflection paper)

Hollywood Style is one of the episodes of American Cinema which connects subjects varying from history, business, and English with other studies. Furthermore, it is the most suitable vehicle for developing visual and media literacy skills and can be used as a springboard for creative-writing attempts and media production. The Hollywood Style narrated by Joe Morton  introduces the broad themes and stylistic conventions of classical Hollywood film, a combination of strong protagonists and story structure, with powerful emotional and technical effects.

As an avid moviegoer, I learned to appreciate how movies were thoroughly thought of and how much effort was asserted just to put up those kind of productions back during the days despite the resources being limited. It was highly noticeable in the documentary how the production staff paid attention deeply on every detail that would be shown on screen, beginning with the lights, set, sounds, props, extras and the main actors and actresses.

The “Hollywood Style” being talked about in this episode of American Cinema is invisible storytelling wherein the main purpose of a mainstream Hollywood film, to tell you, the viewer, a story. Second, cross-cutting or inter-cutting, a primary narrative device of the continuity style. This technique pieces together sequences that occur at the same time but in different places in order to increase narrative tension. Lastly, point of view shot is a key device through which filmmakers create audience identification with characters in a film. This technique is often used to place the audience in the position of the main character.

The magic of movies is that they create their own universe. Hollywood Style is one of cinema’s most effective tools = tell the story; with “invisible style,” “style in the service of the story;” the movie might be beautiful, but essence is natural, illusionistic, drawing the spectator in.