New Hollywood Research

 New Hollywood

- New Hollywood was a movement in American film history from the early 1960s to the early 1980s

- the 1950s and early 1960s saw a Hollywood dominated by musicals, historical epics, and other films that benefited from larger screens, wider framing and improved sound. audiences attention began to dwindle and so 'old Hollywood' was rapidly losing money in the 1960s.

- a generation of young film makers such as Woody Allen and Robert Altman came into prominence and influenced the types of film produced, their production and marketing, and the way major studios approached film-making. 

- a defining film of the new Hollywood generation was bonnie and Clyde in 1967 

- it was the director, rather than the studio that took on the authorial role

-films made in this movement are stylistically characterised in that their narrative often strongly deviated from classical norms

Francis Ford Coppola

- his key films were: The Rain People (1969) , The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and others including Apocalypse Now (1979)

- Coppola's auteur style is very distinctive

- his first major hit film was 'The Godfather' 

- he uses chiaroscuro lighting, method acting, reuse of cast from previous films and cinematography that uses expansive wide shots as well as long continuous takes 

- he uses very contrasted light and shadows which evokes a dramatic and striking look on a scene 

- another thing Coppola does which could be considered as part of his auteur signature style is his use of continuous shots which helps to immerse the viewer and give the scene a sense of believability and reality despite the absurdity of what is going on

The Vietnam War

- started in 1950s

- forces withdrew in 1973

- severally damaged US economy, unwilling to raise taxes to pay for the war, president Johnson unleashed a cycle of inflation. war also weakened US military morale and undermined, for a time, the US commitment to internationalism

- films influenced by Vietnam War include: The Fog of War (2003), 9 Rescue Down (2006), Good Morning Vietnam (1987), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Platoon (1986) 

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