1. How Time Goes By “Cinema is life with the boring bits cut out.” --Alfred Hitchcock

2. The Economics of Time What is the central activity of the leisure industry in a capitalist economy?

3. The Market Defines the Screenplay It has three acts Act 1 is the setup, which establishes the plot situation (first ¼ of movie) Act 2 is the confrontation, which builds tension (middle ½ of movie) Act 3 is the resolution, which brings closure (final ¼ of movie)

4. The Market Defines the Screenplay--2 Standard length is 120 pages 1 st 10 pages establish characters, premise, and dramatic situation Plot Points hook viewers Linear Continuity crucial Achievement of goals ‘Up’ endings preferable

5. The Market Defines the Screenplay--3 Strategies of Delay Multiple plot lines Can add comic relief or increase tension in main plot Every scene advances at least one plot Cross-cutting can increase tension Sub-plots should be resolved before main plot Insertion of spectacle (music, action, sex)

6. The Market Defines the Screenplay--4 Conventions: Novelty within formula (regulated difference) Use of spectacle to interrupt narrative, but enhance viewer pleasure Average of 30 scenes or sequences of 3-4 minutes in length Events fit into real time frame audience accepts as normal (Harry Cohn rule)

7. The Market Defines the Screenplay--Finale Conventions: Heavy use of coincidence to condense plot Ideas and relationships stated and restated Mise-en-temps Editing out dead time Devices such as music, matched shots, and optical edits preserve continuity Flashbacks and forwards provide relief from continuous present

8. What Makes the Movie Move? Persistence of Vision Critical Flicker Fusion What speed of projection causes these biological factors to induce us to see motion?

9. Hitchcock to Truffaut: Point of View: How to make an audience connect with your story

10. What’s a story? Causality Plot vs. story Consistency of story Composition Realism Intertextuality Artistry

11. Audience Building Blocks Story Spectacle Performance Special effects Star persona Style Costumes and sets

12. Thought for the Week “It is most often the inaccuracies or re- workings of history in Hollywood movies that make the movies themselves such informative historical documents.”