This article examines genre trends in the top 50 grossing films at the US box office each year from 1991 to 2010, focusing on the frequency and rank of different genres, the box office gross and release patterns of films in different genres, and the release profile of Hollywood studios. The results show a narrowing of the range of genres at the highest rankings, with fantasy/science fiction movies coming to dominate at the expense of comedy, crime/thriller and drama films. There are also marginal increases in action/adventure and family films. Analysis of the opening and total gross for each film reveals that different genres are characterized by different release patterns, and noted the importance of awards in contributing to the box office gross of drama films. With one notable exception, there is no evidence of genre specialization among film studios in contemporary Hollywood cinema.
We examine the assertion that the two-parameter lognormal distribution is an appropriate parametric model for the shot length distributions of Hollywood films. A review of the claims made in favour of assuming lognormality for shot length distributions finds them to be lacking in methodological detail and statistical rigour. We find there is no supporting evidence to justify the assumption of lognormality in general for shot length distributions. In order to test this assumption we examined a total of 134 Hollywood films from 1935 to 2005, inclusive, to determine goodness-of-fit of a normal distribution to log-transformed shot lengths of these films using four separate measures: the ratio of the geometric mean to the median; the ratio of the shape factor σ to the estimator ߪ * = ඥ2 × lnሺݔҧ /ܯሻ; the Shapiro-Francia test; and the Jarque-Bera test. Normal probability plots were also used for visual inspection of the data. The results show that, while a small number of films are well modelled by a lognormal distribution, this is not the case for the overwhelming majority of films tested (125 out of 134). Therefore, we conclude there is no justification for claiming the lognormal distribution is an adequate parametric model of shot length data for Hollywood films, and recommend the use of robust statistics that do not require underlying parametric models for the analysis of film style.
The impact of sound technology on Hollywood is analysed through looking at the median shot lengths of silent films from the 1920s (n = 54) and early sound films (n = 106). The results show a large increase in the median shot lengths with the introduction of sound (Mann Whitney U = 554.0, Z = -8.33, p = <0.01, PS = 0.0968), estimated to be 2.0s (95% CI: 1.6, 2.4). The dispersion of shot lengths measured using the robust estimator Qn shows a similarly large increase in the dispersion of shot lengths with the transition to sound (Mann Whitney U = 319.0, Z = -9.18, p = <0.01, PS = 0.0557), estimated to be 2.0s (95% CI: 1.7, 2.4).
In this paper I analyse the soundtracks of fifty horror film trailers, combining formal analysis of the soundtracks with quantitative methods to describe and analyse how sound creates a dominant emotional tone for audiences through the use of different types of sounds (dialogue, music, and sound effects) and the different sound envelopes of affective events. The results show that horror trailers have a three-part structure that involves establishing the narrative, emotionally engaging the audience, and communicating marketing information. The soundtrack is organised in such a way that different functions are handled by different components in different segments of the soundtrack: dialogue bears responsibility for what we know and the sound for what we feel. Music is employed in a limited number of ways that are ironic, clichéd, and rarely contribute to the dominant emotional tone. Different types of sonic affective events fulfil different roles within horror trailers in relation to narrative, emotion, and marketing. I identify two features not previously discussed in relation to quantitative analysis of film soundtracks: an affective event based on the reactions of characters in horror trailers and the presence of nonlinear features in the sound design of affective events.
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