Bonnie And Clyde/ Casablanca – Auteur Essay

“The Hollywood Machine Has Always Crushed Individuality In Filmmaking”, Compare The Extent To Which The Films You Have Studied Display Auteur Individuality.

Intro: reference abut the monopoly of studios in the golden age of Hollywood as well a the changes seen from this era into New Hollywood. Also talk about film over the entire course of its history.

Point 1: Discuss the golden age of Hollywood and how the studios dominated the cinemas. Write about how Casablanca is a product of the golden age form of filmmaking, with the studio acting as auteur. Link back to question by stating there was little room for individuality at this time. Jack Warner influence.

• Introduction of Rick and Ilsa compared to Bonnie And Clyde

Point 2: Changes between two eras and why they changed. Talk about increased amount of individuality in New Hollywood , with arrival of auteur theory and French new wave influencing films.

• Shooting on set and locations. Casablanca shot on lavish sets with high production values whereas Bonnie And Clyde shot on location in South America, which was an influence of French New Wave

Point 3: Industry more accessible to people. Block booking theat res no longer possible and easier to use cheaper technology allowing independent filmmakers to start producing films: Rising demand for films led to a surge in independent production; popular stars moved away from contracts with major studios and increasingly worked with independent filmmakers – studios had to sign a consent decree, meaning they could no longer show films exclusively produced by them in theatres that they owned; As a result of the United States vs Paramount case, studios could no longer give a years worth of movies to a theatre, instead being forced to create films they were certain would do well. The result of this was that there was an increase in production values of a movie because there were less being produced.

• The two endings nazi is killed, no blood – Bonnie And Clyde very gory, censorship changed, reflecting how directors were able to control their creative vision more than before

Conclusion: individuality did increase over time due to the difficulty of independent cinema in Hollywood at the beginning

Essay

Before the emergence of New Hollywood, individuality within filmmaking was restricted by the studios that produced the films as they owned a 95% monopoly in the industry, limiting the possibility of individuals breaking into the highly competitive market. However, the loss in the America vs. Paramount Pictures case in 1948 resulted in the gradual decline of the Golden Age of Hollywood and its subsequent successor allowed individuality to flourish within the industry.

The large monopoly meant that certain theatre chains would only exhibit films produced by the studio that owned them, limiting the power of the film system to several large institutions and restricting the individuality of many filmmakers who were forced into creating the vision of the studio. Casablanca is a product of the Golden Age of filmmaking, with the studio acting as auteur made evident in the opening sequence. The executive producers name, Jack L. Warner appears on the Warner Brothers logo as the producer is more important in terms of influence over the film than the director, Michael Curtiz, accompanied by a triumphant fanfare, celebrating the studio. This is followed by a title card displaying the A-list actors possessed by the studios stable with the lesser known actors being shown after the main title card and the director coming at the very end. Casablanca demonstrates the influence that the studio had on a production, limiting the amount of individuality given to Michael Curtiz and creating a film based on the dictations of the studio that hired him. In comparison, Bonnie And Clyde represents a shift to greater freedom of creativity in New Hollywood. Similar to Casablanca, the Warner Brothers logo appears but is no longer accompanied by a fanfare as the studio is subservient to the artistic intent of the film. The first name to appear is Warren Beatty, the main creative force behind the film as opposed to a studio head, with his name turning to red, foreshadowing the violent end his character meets, while photos of the Great Depression quickly cut in an uninviting way in contrast to the dissolves in Casablanca. This aims to guide the audience in a cohesive way, with individuality given more freedom in the New Hollywood style, differing from the Golden Age of Hollywood form with the title cards being used to reinforce the films story rather than as a ploy to encourage theatre goers to spend big to see the best stars a studio had to offer.

The change between the two eras was inaugurated by the arrival of the French New wave and the start of the auteur theory, allowing for individuality to develop in New Hollywood. Shooting on location provides realism to Bonnie And Clyde, unlike the approach of Casablanca. During the sequence in which Clyde searches for Bonnie, they run through a large open crop field where dark shadows cast over. This approach is more realistic than Casablanca as Penn can’t control the weather and doesn’t create an artificial environment to remove the shadows. Casablanca instead uses large manufactured sets with artificial lighting such as when Ilsa and Laszlo first enter Rick’s diner, while blocking of characters and framing is always in service of the narrative rather than the free-flowing handheld shots in Bonnie And Clyde which is less defined by the movements of the characters and thereby adding greater depth to the scene. The creative decision to shoot in small apertures rather than creating artificial lighting conditions further adds to the realistic nature of the film, inspired by the growing French New Wave. This gave directors such as Penn enhanced individuality on the films they created, experimenting with a new style unfamiliar to Hollywood, although the idea of Penn being in auteur is limited by the fact that many filmmakers before him had already experimented in their own films such as Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ (1960), working with unconventional storytelling techniques and handheld shooting. Despite this, the individuality of filmmaking was nonetheless vastly improved in New Hollywood, as evidenced by Warren Beatty, who played Clyde and produced the film, giving him greater liberty of control which resulted in the homosexual reading of Clyde, due to his portrayal of the character because of his desire to move away from the Hollywood heroes he was used to playing, indicating his influence for being an auteur, unlike Rick in Casablanca, where individuality was (limited).

Individuality within filmmaking was near impossible during the Golden Age of Hollywood due to the unfeasibility of financing and showcasing an individuals work. Theatres owned by major studios could block book them with their own films, meaning that individual filmmakers had difficulty finding a way of showing their work before the emergence of New Hollywood. As a result of the United States vs Paramount case, studios could no longer give a years worth of movies to a theatre, forcing them to create films they were certain would do well, resulting in an increase in production values because less films were being produced. This allowed for a thrive in individuality, as seen in the ending of Bonnie and Clyde when both characters are shot in an unfamiliar and gory manner for audiences at the time as the censorship had changed. This ending differs from Casablanca as the Nazi General is killed without blood or gore, highlighting a change in censorship while reflecting how the directors had far greater control of their creative vision.

Individuality increased within filmmaking due to the rise of New Hollywood which gave greater freedoms to filmmakers in comparison to the restrictions imposed on individual films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Films like bonnie and Clyde demonstrate the change from creating the vision of the studio according to their house style, to application of new techniques within filmmaking from far more internal sources such as director, representing a shift from studio autership to the influence of individual auteurs.