Any attempt to study film history requires the consideration of films, which occur within the categories of excellence, popularity and typicality. They are three very different approaches to film history; 'excellence' covering films recognised as having artistic merit, 'popularity' covering films which have been financially or sociologically successful and 'typicality', films which are classed as mainstream displaying qualities typical of classical Hollywood films. All three categories are used to study aspects of cinema rather than film history, rarely including documentary films and never including home movies, the most common use of the film medium worldwide.

The most common way of studying film history is 'Excellency', grouping together films, which are generally agreed to be of exceptional aesthetic quality. This study, based on artistic merit, relates film study to other art forms such as painting, theatre and music. It is encouraged by the vast amounts of materials regularly reviewing and rating films, including newspapers, magazines and television shows and specific a

The majority of films made are neither huge financial successes nor critical successes, so are not included under either popularity or excellence. These films, the common experience of classical or mainstream Hollywood film, are classed under typicality. Typicality is the most difficult of the three genres to define, as it covers a much broader range of film types. They tend to be dominated by narrative, compared to technical merit for films defined by excellence and spectacle for those characterised by popularity. This narrative follows a strict structure, beginning with equilibrium, being disrupted unexpectedly and overcoming this disturbance to find equilibrium again. The main variation between typical films is the cause of the disruption, which can be any number of events, from a murder in 'The Scarlet Claw'(R. W.Neill, 1944), to a winning racehorse in 'Broadway Bill'(Capra, 1934). They can result from any number of changes of surroundings, unexpected or supernatural events or arrival of a new love interest (all of these are used in 'Wuthering Heights'(Wyler, 1939)) . The plot is very straight forward, following a linear chain of events where the lead character(s) have to overcome a number of obstacles and achieve a number of goals to achieve equilibrium with the finale of the film being the dramatic highpoint. In 'Wuthering Heights', the film ends with Heathcliff and Cathy, having faced obstacles to their love all their life, finding peace as ghosts wandering the moors together. It is these obstacles, or enigmas, which create the dramatic tension in the story and keep the audience interested until the resolution. They work on a linear time scale with no flashbacks, and have no narrator or voiceover. The direction is straight forward with the shot centring on the main characters, simple composition and mise-en-scene, and traditional editing techniques such as point of view shots and close-ups. All types of mainstream films are classed as typical films, from 'Now Voyager'(Rapper, 1942) to 'Lady and the Tramp'(Luske, 1955).

As it is commonly calculated, popularity does not take into account the huge market for film on video and television. Modern films make huge amounts of money from video sales and from television channels buying the rights to broadcast them; they also reach a whole new audience, giving the top blockbusters an initial period of release of 3-4 years from cinema release to terrestrial television screenings. It is also increasingly common for popular films to influence popular culture through merchandising tie-ins, such as toys, computer games, comics and television series. By far the most successful of these is Star Wars, which sold over $1000million worth of collectible toys between 1978-86.

There are many advantages to studying films according to their 'excellence'. Despite the problems of defining which films to study, any films studied are likely to be excellent examples of the art of filmmaking. As part of a film history it is a vital area of study, but it covers such a small amount of films as to be ineffectual without studying films thought to be of less aesthetic value and genres of film not usually included in lists of excellence.

wards for filmmaking, the most famous being Cannes film festival and the Oscars.

All three categories are a misrepresentative way of studying film history when used only in the context of Hollywood and European cinema. Many documentaries are formally excellent, with a high level of emotional involvement and as such could be classed as excellent films. Yet with the exception of some sporting documentaries, such as 'Hoop Dreams'(James, 1994) and 'When We Were Kings'(Gast, 1996), they get no widespread cinema or video release and are not included within the category of excellent filmmaking.

Studying typical films as part of film history includes far more films than either excellence or popularity. This can be seen as a positive or negativ

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