Film Styles - Style and The Audience

Style and The Audience

Most films conform to the Classical Hollywood narrative film style, which has a set of guidelines that the films tend to follow. The story in this style is told chronologically in a cause and effect relationship. The main principle in this film style is continuity editing, where editing, camera, and sound should be considered "invisible" to the viewers. In other words, attention should not be brought to these elements.

While many films conform to these guidelines, there are other films that ignore the guidelines and bring attention to the film techniques. The films violate the standard rules of film in order to have an innovative style or bring attention to certain techniques.

The director decides what is and is not on the screen. They help guide what the audience looks at and notices. Although the audience may not consciously notice film style, it still affects the viewer’s experience of the film.

When viewers go see a film, they have expectations about a film. Based on previous experience watching films, the audience expects that there are certain techniques that are commonly found in films. For example, after a long shot there will be a cut to a closer view. If a character is walking across the stage, the audience expects the camera to pan or follow the character’s movement. Viewers expect to interact with and be a part of the film, rather than simply being shown a group of images. These expectations come from experiences with both the real and film worlds. The audience expects films to appear like real life, and be shot according a certain style. Classical Hollywood narrative film styles and the conventions of other genres help to guide the audience in what to expect.