The 60s and 70s was a change for Hollywood cinema. They called it “New Hollywood“. It was a change in form and content of films, change in the audience, nontraditional themes, society and institutions were perceived as corrupt, and a lot of new directors came about. Directors such as:

• Francis Ford Copolla
• Steven Spielberg
• George Lucas
• Martin Scorsese

These unique thing about these new young directors was that they were not raised in the studio system. They learned film in school. They learned the mechanics, aesthetics, and history of films, giving them encyclopedic knowledge of cinema.

• These guys revered the classics.
• They made personal self conscience films.
• They had the genres, but with autobiographical and personal elements in it.
• They were reflective of their own view of the world.
• They see their work in relation to the history of cinema.

It is said that the films that came out in this time period were modernist reworkings of the classic genres. The message that new Hollywood cinema gave out to the people was different from what classic Hollywood cinema would give.

• Movies became more sexually and violently explicit.
• Showed psychological complexity
• Social issues were addressed
• Gave a more complex view of the world
• Heroic actions are difficult
• Relationships are not easy
• Institutions have failed the individual
• Life is complicated

These films have conventional narrative and American subculture. Financing methods also changed. Directors had more say in what was to happen. Instead of a certain studio providing the finances, it would be a wide array of sources.

Zelig (1983)

This film is a “mockumentary” by Woody Allen, that claims documentary status. The film itself touches upon the social issue of social conformity. If you watch this film without knowing anything about it, you will believe that it is a real documentary. It has the stereotypical documentary look and style. Has the predictable pattern, news reels, interviews, sounds, etc.

Film is a medium so powerful that you can make people believe something is real when it isn’t. Film itself can be a “chameleon” (watch the movie to understand this point).