Week 11

104-114

1. They bother with it because it allows for a broader appeal, mixing plot, for the keen viewers, and spectacle, for those specifically interested in action, into a tight knit film that will appeal to more that a certain niche of viewers.

2. What he means is that many action movies contain the same story structure and motifs; ticking clocks, clear cut act structure, emotionally broken hero, villains with clearly motivated sinister plans of which at the beginning force the protagonist to be reactive and later to be proactive, buddy-cop relationships with an arising conflict which calls their relationship into jeopardy as well as a group relationship with the same arising conflict.

3. Overall, action takes up 53 minutes of physical action and the remaining 73 minutes contains; plot which focuses on emotional and cerebral action.

51-72

1. What I believe Bordwell is talking about when he says “genre ecology” is the development and the relationship between directors/writers in those developments of blending genres. He characterizes the current range of genres as a blend of old B-genres with established A-genres, but lacking the original staples of musicals, westerns and domestic melodramas.

2. By “worldmaking”, Bordwell is referring to directors attention to detail within films, in a sense layering detail upon detail, which in turn creates a world all it’s own, a fantasy world. Also, as in Tarantino’s case, the ability to create characters that could potentially exist within another film subsequent or previous to the time and setting of their original inception into film. As well as creating ancillary products that could further allow the viewer to delve deeper into the created world. The narrative design is then affected by the worlds potential, the characters decisions become driven by what possible decisions can be made.

3. The rise and fall of contemporary genres is due in part to director/writer ingenuity; the desire to create an original piece, or elaborate by adding on genres that have yet to be “mined”.

Confused on this question? Fall of contemporary genres? Do you mean like the musicals, westerns or melodramas?

4. Maximally classical, means that the film is more classical than it needs to be. For instance Groundhog Day implores symbolism within its’ mise-en-scene that goes, to an extent unnoticed, and may, in some opinions, be unnecessary to a comedy.

5. Give the audience the full puzzle, don’t forget a piece and don’t make the pieces to big where it becomes too easy, too obvious to piece together. Allusions help in creating more pieces and therefore can provide greater entertainment to those aware of the references.