The 1930s was an era of enormous technological development in the Hollywood cinema. This chapter considers major changes in the look and sound of the studios' product. That is, its concern is with the systematic use of film techniques that constitutes a film's style. It seeks to show how certain technological developments during the decade affected Hollywood's canonized style. To explain such developments, we must take account of two broad factors. First, to a considerable extent, the aesthetic norms of Hollywood studio filmmaking as a whole constitute a group style. This style uses particular devices, such as three-point lighting and match-on-action editing. As might be expected, technology often creates new devices or reinforces or revises existing ones. The Hollywood style also embodies assumptions about how a film is constructed and the sorts of effects it should have. For example, the Hollywood style can be said to facilitate story continuity or to construct a unified space for a scene. Such assumptions can in turn guide technological changes. Filmmakers' beliefs about proper film technique make certain kinds of change more acceptable than others. A second explanatory factor is nonstylistic. We must take account of the social processes that translate filmmakers' goals and standards into new materials, equipment, and procedures.
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