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Entertainment industry establishment
The US entertainment industry is set in its ways. Note that, for better or worse, "Hollywood" does not exist as a category on Wikipedia in any shape or form
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Give 'em what they want[edit]
What an odd phrase. How can the film industry give the people what they want? They never asked them.
This is related to the rule in Literature, that states that there must always be Conflict in a story. Why?
Every once in a while, a story comes along like the The Big Chill, that is driven primarily by harmonious conversation, by wit instead of spit, to become wildly popular and thereby prove this theory entirely wrong. Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting' captivated audiences with Ross' hypnotic calm; 95% of PBS stations carry his program.[1] People want harmony; they want peace. But the industry proceeds from an inherent belief that they want violence, and only ever purveys violence. Since it has sold, and they are afraid to try something new, they only ever sell that; consequently, the audience only ever gets to choose violence. So when they go to see it, it is not proof they want it, it is proof that that is all that is available.
The one hour rule[edit]
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The 1 hour rule(also the 60 minute rule or action at one hour rule[2]) is a well documented concept in the movie industry, which involves a pivotal action or special effects sequence occurring exactly 1 hour into a film. This concept mainly is used in the context of science fiction, action and thriller films, but has also been applied to other genres of film such as The Graduate.[3][4]
On the other hand, the one hour rule may well be a good definition of an appealing attribute of European cinema, which does not even seem aware of such a rule, much less use it. Neither Ingmar Bergman's, Fellini's, nor Tarkovsky's films, nor Volker Schlöndorff's The Tin Drum, nor any great European film easily recalled, is tied to such a format. And it seems likely that this gives these films room for a timeless and hypnotic quality that is induced, but not forced.
Dr. Howard Suber of the UCLA Film School, "devised the theory of the 'one-hour pivot' in narrative film".[5] His explanation of the timing of this phenomenon is that it is "based on the application of the golden ratio to dream-cycle periodicity".[6]
In many guides to writing a screenplay, one piece of advice is to add a "midpoint" scene on page 60 (on screenplays the ratio is generally 1 minute per page). In some cases, filmmakers "desperately try to cling to this structure even when the story doesn't lend itself to it". When this happens, action scenes have to be artificially crammed into the film. At the 60 minute mark in the film Armeggadon, the space station spontaneously explodes due to a fuel leak - "completely unrelated to the crisis". While films usually have a 3-part structure, these genres of film tend to have a 4-part structure with the middle act being split up into two separate acts. When this happens, "everything that happens after the 60 minute scene tak[es] on a new tone and urgency than what came before".[7] Jengo Robinson explains that: "the show-stopper of a Hollywood screenplay should burst like a thunderbolt halfway through the second Act, exactly one-hour into the drama".[3] He adds that "each Act should be 30 pages. Four of those make 120, the Hollywood length. Act I, II A, II B and III". Therefore the climatic sequence - the "flip-the-script moment" or "mid-moment" occurs halfway through the movie - at the 60-minute mark (in other words, half-way through Act II).[8] David Wong explains the reasoning behind the 1-hour rule:
In Aliens: the marines get ambushed in the aliens' nest, wiping out most of the good guys. In The Dark Knight: the Joker tries to assassinate Harvey Dent and "kills" Commissioner Gordon instead. In The Matrix Reloaded: Neo fights a hundred Agent Smiths, and realizes for the first time the nature of the threat.
When filmmakers opt against following the 1-hour rule, the received wisdom states, "the lack of a strong climax cripple[s] potential for suspense". For example, Steven Spielberg chose to show the alien threat early on in his 2005 adaption of War of the Worlds, to the film's detriment, it has been said. [9]
"...it is scientifically proven that if a young male watches anything for more than one hour he will start to fidget and wonder if there is something else he could be doing instead. So it's at this point that you need to grab him by the shoulders and remind him that there are IMPORTANT MOVIE THINGS HAPPENING. It all comes back to, "These are the things you must do to keep your audience from checking their text messages." [7]
Other one-hour rules[edit]
One alternate use of the "one-hour rule" refers to a one-hour time limit for meetings. The justification behind both these rules are the same: "People tune out. They become bored, get distracted, and then fail to give their best".[10]
Another use refers to the idea that people should arrive at the theatre an hour before a play begins.[11]
References[edit]
- ↑ PBS 28 March 2012
- ↑ Discussion. URL accessed on March 22, 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Act Two - The Elusive Heart of the Screenplay. URL accessed on March 22, 2012.
- ↑ Meme machine
- ↑ Reactions to Inglourious basterds. URL accessed on March 22, 2012.
- ↑ Heavenly Creatures. URL accessed on March 22, 2012.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Book of Eli. URL accessed on March 22, 2012.
- ↑ Screenplay Structure in Four Easy Pieces. URL accessed on March 22, 2012.
- ↑ A Great Thriller. URL accessed on March 22, 2012.
- ↑ Meeting Rules. URL accessed on March 22, 2012.
- ↑ Planning Your Next Walt Disney World Getaway. URL accessed on March 22, 2012.
External Links[edit]
- video: Vulture testing the 60 minute rule
- Meme machine
- Commentary: Episode 3 comment by amateur Hexon.Arq [ANF]
