New Hollywood 1961 - 1990

New Hollywood

Coppola was at the forefront of the so-called 'film school generation', from the 1960s onwards. 

This group also included Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Brian di Palma and George Lucas. 

This new generation of directors had studied at film school; were well-versed in film theory; had absorbed the influences of New Wave filmmakers in France; were given big budgets with which to work.


From the dawn of cinema, various epitomes of exceptional editing in films are used as examples of how successful manipulation of the footage in postproductions can certainly enhance its image. Editing will most of the time act as the glue, which holds all other elements together.

Between Casablanca and Apocalypse Now, various similar and contrasting editing techniques are employed to achieve appropriate spectatorial effects. A strong illustration of this can be drawn from the introductory sequence of Apocalypse Now and the scene introducing Rick in Casablanca. In AN opening, a traumatised Willard gradually sinks into his subconscious, exploring his memories of Vietnam. The scene starts with an unknown sound, which manifests into a helicopter that flies across the screen in slow motion, an image that holds for two minutes before transitioning. This abstract effect captures the audience’s attention instantly, causing them to question the origin of the sound. Further down the scene, the combination of multiple simultaneous dissolves slowly replicate Willard’s dazed and disoriented state, developing his character straight away – from this editorial effect alone, the spectator is brought inside Willard’s body, and are able to tell Willard is suffering from withdrawal of the Vietnam war. After filming over 200 hours of footage, Coppola sent editors Walter Murch and Richard Marks the clips with the mission of constructing the his visualisation of Hearts Of Darkness.



-       Deep Depth of field
-       Technological innovation allowed for extreme tracking shots.

-       Long take, forces spectator to suffer through the explicit imagery

-       One of the most important characters in the film [Kilgore] has no close ups.

-       A lot of shouting represents the pandemonium

-       Brown and orange colour scheme

-       Costume of Kilgore: Cowboy hat = American individualism and advancementship and self evaluation, Yellow shirt = Confidence(as he’s more visible to Charlie)

-       Birds blocking the sky = religious connotation (priest scene)

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