Why Every Film Today Looks the Same

A video essay about the directing style that has dominated cinema since the 1970s: Intensified Continuity.

David Bordwell, our greatest movie theorist, created the term to define this visual fashion that replaced the classical form. His amazing book “The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies” can tell you everything about the subject.

Intensified Continuity is marked by fast cuts, over predominance of close shots, lens length extremes (though Bordwell emphasizes the clear overuse of long lenses) and constantly moving cameras.

Most living filmmakers have these tendencies as an eternal part of their arsenal, from Michael Bay to Michael Mann, from the Wachowskis to Ridley Scott, from the Farrelly brothers to Christopher Nolan.

The style also brought, unfortunately, a preference for lazy blocking. Most films are blocked in the Stand & Deliver style, in which two actors stand or sit (Sit & Deliver mostly) still and talk without ever moving. Cutting from one close-up to the next, the scene (and the movie) move at a visually inert pace. Walk & Talk is an alternate choice, but directors from the classical era had a richer quiver, which included the Cross and the Turn Away.

By analyzing six scenes from five movies we’ll check the limitations of Intensified Continuity and the wider set of creative choices used by classical directors.

A comparison between Peter Jackson’s Council of Elrond in “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and Robert Wise’s final board meeting in “Executive Suite” will reveal how little value a beautiful extravagant set has when the director is only interested in shooting quick faces with the long lens.

Then a comparison between Mia and Sebastian’s fight in Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” and Margo and Bill’s fight in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s “All About Eve” will show what a difference elaborate blocking can make when staging a scene. It’s odd that Chazelle decided to be so static in such a dramatic moment when earlier, in a lighthearted scene, he perfectly blocked his actors the same way a classical filmmaker might have done.

Finally, a scene from Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show” will demonstrate how directors can use the fast and dramatic pace of Intensified Continuity while still keeping older techniques alive.

00:00 Intensified Continuity
04:35 Flamboyance
06:03 Blocking
07:12 The Fellowship of the Ring vs. Executive Suite
11:22 La La Land vs. All About Eve
15:38 Quiz Show

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#videoessay #cinema #thelordoftherings #lalaland #directing #blocking

In his book “Figures Traced in Light: On Cinematic Staging” (my favorite of his), David Bordwell analyzes a scene from “Jerry Maguire” and long lens shots from “Heat” and "Jerry Maguire", both of which I included here while I speak. Much of the enlightening information I learned from him also comes from his invaluable blog.
David Bordwell’s article about Intensified Continuity: http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/200...
David Bordwell’s article about Blocking: http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/200...
David Bordwell’s article about the Cross: http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/201...

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