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tom gunning
-desire to be on display/exhibit
-"inciting visual pleasure, supplying pleasure through exciting spectacle - a unique event that is interesting in itself"
-an exhibitionist film may have scenes/shots that have nothing to do with narrative, but are there purely for the exhibitionist quality ("un chien andalou")
-thrilling, like an amusement park ride
-films showing (not telling), focusing on visual effects over story (james cameron, etc) |
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tom gunning
-excitement of not knowing what to expect
-about the experience of viewing the film projection over the film itself
-(early cinema) the interest in projection equipment and visual effects
-visually interacting with the audience (even when actor looks at audience breaking 4th wall)
-ex. last frame of "Great Train Robbery" |
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Bazin
-pertains to realism
-cinematic technique in which a scene is recorded in one shot absent of cuts or editing which usually lasts significantly longer than the clips within a sequence or montage
-for bazin, showing respect to how time and space exist in reality, unlike the experimental editing and montage
-long shots allow for more interpretation over the forced message of fast editing/montage
-ex. long take before freeze frame in "400 blows" |
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arnheim
-REDUCTION of depth of field in film (due to technological disadvantages) makes film closer to an art form since it takes away from presenting a "realistic" image
-how much of the scene in a shot is in focus
-shallow vs deep depth of field (respectively, small focus vs everything in focus)
-reliant on: aperture size, distance from lens, focal length
-ex. "I won't let you down" (ok go) mv --> everything in focus |
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balazs/epstein
-formative film theory
-epstein--> close ups are the "soul of the cinema", pointing to what is to be visualized/emphasized
-balazs --> close ups are inherent to the film medium
"sectional pictures" |
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bazin vs arnheim
-bazin: film should be as objective as possible by means of mechanical reproduction to come closer to reality
-realistic = artistic
-long takes bring viewer closer to reality
-arnheim (AGAINST realism): films can't appropriately replicate realism due to restrictions (limitations, reduction, absence, projection, etc) which actually makes it a unique art form |
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formulated by SARRIS, debunked by KAEL, defended by WOLLEN
-director exhibits "certain recurrent characteristics of style, serving as his signature" over a number of films
-3 premises: technique, personal style, interior meaning |
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sarris
-the following and praise of films regardless of its content simply due to the name of the "auteur" behind the film |
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sarris, (debunked by kale)
-second premise: recurrent characteristics of a director "shining" through despite being restricted to "modifications" and visual treatment, especially during Fordist classical Hollywood
-Kael --> flawed because it could point to the fact that if we notice that "signature" each time, the director may just not know how to do anything else |
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Metz / Altman
-a film's sound that has no visible source on the screen
-sound itself = aural cue
-Metz says sound is never "off" since it's either audible or not; source can be off screen
-Altman: off screen sound gives the illusion that the frame that the cinema is contained within is part of a complete 3D universe (rather than just the 2D image of what's presented on the screen) |
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Metz
-voice of a character is heard but he/she is not in the frame
-DIFFERENT from non-diegetic voices (narrator, commentary, etc)
-VOICE is different from SOUND |
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gorbman
-REFERENTIAL: signifiying beginning, end, etc of a film
-CONNOTATIVE: offering a specific message or POV about a scene or a character
-4 functions of nondiegetic music: historical context, geographic space, emotional tenor of a scene, distanced/ironic commentary
-principles in classical hollywood scoring: invisibility, inaudibility, emotion, narrative cuing, continuity/discontinuity
-ex. Ethan's theme "The Searchers" |
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gorbman
-music/sound can be used to tie together disconnected aspects of film
-can be used as bridges between scenes/shots/montage, transitions, connect temporal ellipses, etc
-establishes FLOW |
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Freud / mulvey
-little boy fearing own castration from realizing mom has no penis
-mom has a phallus though w/o a penis instilling fear of castration, yet he can't desire mom having a penis since she's a female which he's supposed to be attracted to, but he can't be attracted to a penis (cuz thats gay apparently)
-fetish masks both genitalia and makes a safe zone for gratification
-ex. Mudson's cane in "Gilda" |
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mulvey
-viewer can identify with certain characters from camera viewpoints
-experience of relating to and sympathizing with a character or perspective
-films can be "relatable" by having a protagonist or a character that audience members can physically/mentally identify with |
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mulvey
-the way male characters and audience can engage in looking at/objectifying women
-woman as image, man as bearer of look
-role of woman as sexual object to be looked at that men will desire
-woman as: erotic object for characters and for spectator
-film makes woman enjoy the gaze and love to sexualized/objectified so the blame is shifted away from the male gazer
-"GILDA" gilda introduction |
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stam/shohat
-simplified/standardized conception/image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group
-it's a distortion that raises questions about "SOCIAL PLAUSIBILITY, MIMETIC ACCURACY, and NEGATIVE/POSITIVE IMAGES"
-limiting characters to a stereotype ruins chance of filmmaker to capture "realism" |
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dyer
-sensationally creating 2 racial categories: White and Other
-whiteness as everything and nothing
-construction of white as socially normative
-discussion of blackness always in comparison/opposition to whiteness
-disucssion of whiteness always as "normal" |
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stam/shohat
-act of portraying a realistic film world that represents reality, but it's not real
-spectator's willing suspension of disbelief so that they can believe the representation of the world on film as an accurate representation of real life
-ex. minstrel show in "Bamboozled" --> realistic artistic representations of what happens in real life |
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fauer
-inherent contradiction and falsehood surrounding the concept of audience participation within musical films
-induces demystification and remythification
-self-reflexive |
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dyer / fauer
-profit-based performance for an audience with sole purpose of providing pleasure
-entertainment as utopian mechanism
-entertinament as a form of escape/wishful fulfillments from the inadequacies of society (within profilmic world)
-numbers in musical films may appear to be "spontaneous"
-fauer: entertainment provides a means for an audience to experience cinema mythologically (breaking down barriers between art and life) |
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fauer / affron
-"reflecting" upon itself to BREAK something/ideology/to make a point
-calls attention to their own fictitious illusion, making audience aware of what happens "backstage"
-highlights film-within-a-film to put on display everything the audience wouldn't see from a regular performance
-not to be confused with self-reflectivity (which highlights verismilitude)
-affron: produces detachment, creates distance |
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cavell / kracauer
-cavell: myth of singularity --> a single gesture/mannerism as representational/symbolic of an actor (ex. sylvester stallone's slur)
-film actors must "relinquish" surplus movements and stylizations because they're limited to what's shown in the frame |
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manovich
-most films are of the "super-genre" because they share the same characteristic of having a narrative form
-they largely consist of unmodified photographic recordings of real events that took place in real, physical space -> RELYING ON RECORDINGS OF REALTIY AS THEIR BASIS
-in this way, films are INDEXICAL
-digital film loses indexical relationship to reality |
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prince
-when you see something and believe it's real, whether or not it actually is (because of how realistic it "looks")
-prince: cinema shouldn't be thought of as indexical anymore but more about moving image representation
-creates a trust between film and audience as audience can believe what is in the film is real
ex. life of pi |
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prince
-portrayal of an image that cannot have been capture without alteration
-stuff in a film that looks completely real (with help of CGI) but can't possibly have been referentially real
-CGI things' existence within a moving photographic image is not possible, therefore pushes the film into a realm of fiction |
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1930s-1960s --> CLASSICAL FILM THEORY
-1950S-1960S --> AUTEUR THEORY
-1970S - 1990S --> GENRE/APPARATAL THEORY
-1980S - PRESENT --> SOUND THEORY
-1970S - PRESENT --> POLITICAL CRITICISM |
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Term
| ARNHEIM - CRITICISM VS THEORY |
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Definition
CLASSICAL FILM THEORY (FORMATIVE)
-distanced criticism
-sound + image = BAD |
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ARNHEIM
1) stop thinking of critic as a comic figure
2) foreground film's moral/political/economic aspect |
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Term
| rules of film criticism/theory |
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Definition
ARNHEIM
1) synchronous sound is not artful (too realistic)
2) profit-based filmmaking is manufactured to increase sales
3) films don't express individual ideas (it's a team effort)
*** film critic's goal is to determine is film is art |
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| HOBERMAN - CRITICSM VS THEORY |
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Definition
| -immersive criticism --> how can a critic be outside the system they're trying to critique? |
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PRE-CLASSICAL FILM THEORY
-early cinema
-cinema of attractions
-modernism
-exhibitionism |
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PRE-CLASSICAL FILM THEORY
-psychology of the spectator --> cinema resembling mind/through process
-aesthetics, mechanical imitation, mental interpretation, thought effect, space reality, photoplay |
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Term
| schools of classical film theory |
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Definition
FORMATIVE (earlier): expressionist, what's inherent to medium of film, favors editing, the cut, etc
-ARNHEIM, BALAZS, EPSTEIN
REALIST (later): camera reality, judging film medium based on how closely it portrays reality, favors the long take
-BAZIN |
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| ARNHEIM - CLASSICAL THEORY |
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Definition
FORMATIVE
-during sound conversion --> disliked synch sound --> too close to reality therefore not art
-film has many restrictions in portraying reality, making it an ART form:
-projection (of solids on a plane/screen)
-reduction (of depth)
-delimitation (constancies of size/depth)
-absence (of space/time continuum) |
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CLASSICAL FILM THEORY - FORMATIVE
-the close-up as the "soul of the cinema" --> points to what is to be visualized/emphasized
-clarevoyance of cinema, photogenic, spirit of appearance |
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CLASSICAL FILM THEORY - REALISM
-film should be made to be as close to reality as possible
-film is more artistic the close it is to reality
-favors long take (for it can allow for personal interpretation of scene/film and brings viewer closer to reality)
-"400 Blows" |
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CLASSICAL FILM THEORY - FORMATIVE
-favors the close-up
-camera allows audience to see what is CAPTURED, including close-ups which allow viewers a deeper look at certain things that don't often get attention
-close-ups allow for dramatic emphasis |
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Term
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Definition
1930s-1960s (beginning of synch sound)
-silent era concerns: art of cinema (arnheim/epstein) with synch sound
-sound era concerns: spectatorship
-PRE-classical theory --> FORMATIVE (film as a medium)
-CLASSICAL theory --> ONTOLOGY vs. REALISM (inherent to film medium vs. film as reality) |
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1950s-1960s
-re-appropriated from French critics during French New Wave
-Sarris theorized, Kael hated, Wollen defends |
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AUTEUR THEORY - FOR
-personality of director squeezing through in a pattern over many films
-1st Premise: TECHNIQUE
-2nd premise: PERSONAL STYLE
-3rd premise: INTERIOR MEANING
-benchmark for "auteurism" |
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AUTEUR THEORY - AGAINST
-each premise by Sarris is flawed
-premise 1: technical standards can be recreated
-premise 2: pattern over films means director can't do anything else (default)
-premise 3: writer-directors are immediately out because theres no supposed tension of trying to shine though the script |
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AUTEUR THEORY - FOR
-semiotician
-auteurism is an instrument for director and viewer to connect via SIGNS/CODES
-decryptment of signs (viewer finds codes)
-decipherment of signs (viewer finds out what those codes mean) |
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1980S-PRESENT
-synch sound --> "the Jazz Singer" (1930)
-sound as an exhibitionist concept
-METZ (phenomenology/off-screen sound and voice/perceptual objects)
-GORBMAN (narrative cuing, nondiegetic music, scoring)
-BALAZS (phenomenology)
-ALTMAN (semiotics, 2d/3d) |
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SOUND THEORY
-sound as "secondary" to visual, but it's not
-phenomenology - spectatorship (based on human perception and how we physically interact with the world around us)
-film as embodied spectator and utilizes perceptual objects
-ex. sounds as aural objects
-sound should be analyzed based on how strong/weak it is to visual realm |
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Definition
SOUND THEORY
-functions of the film score (nondiegetic music/narrative cueing)
-principles in classical hollywood scoring |
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Term
| 4 functions of the film score |
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Definition
GORBMAN
1) establish historical context
2) geographical space
3) make ironic/distanced commentary
4) shape emotional tenor the scene |
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Term
| principles of classical hollywood scoring |
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Definition
GORBMAN
-invisibility
-inaudibility
-narrative cuing
-(dis)continuity
-signifier of emotion |
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SOUND THEORY
-phenomenology |
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SOUND THEORY
-semiotics
-off-screen sound gives illusion that the frame that the cinema is contained within is part of complete universe (rather than just a 2d image on a screen) |
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Definition
***can be applied to almost all the theories
-primarily GENRE/APPARATAL THEORY and POLITICAL CRITICISM (~1970s - 1990s/present)
-FREUD (fetishism, repression, etc)
-MULVEY bases argument from Freud
-MODLESKI goes off of both freud and mulvey |
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FEMINIST FILM THEORY
-fetishism
-repression --> affect as a symptom
-psychical reality: fetish protects man against threat of castration and homosexuality |
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Definition
FEMINIST FILM THEORY
-woman as erotic spectacle and castration threat
-scopic desire, identification, choreography of looks
1) woman = signifier of male other
2) hollywood filmmaking made to satisfy male desire with imagery of women
3) freudian scopophilia: pleausre seeking by looking without being seen (ex. "Gilda": Mudson looking through window blinds)
4) spectator able to lose himself in filmic fantasy
5) image of woman = symbolic castration |
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Definition
FEMINIST FILM THEORY
-what about the female spectator?
-identifies with both passive female object (by gender) and active male object (as audience member subject to gaze position by camera)
-females' close relationship with mothers prevents sexual relationship with men (therefore mother figures are made into mean mother-in-law figures in film) |
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POLITICAL CRITICISM (1970S - PRESENT)
-can also be applied to AUTEUR THEORY (spike lee), GENRE/APPARATAL THEORY (race/cultural difference)
-DYER (whiteness/white representation, racial binaries)
STAM/SHOHAT (stereotyping, mimesis, representation/self, polyvocality) |
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RACE/STEREOTYPING/POLITICAL CRITICISM THEORY
-whiteness as "normal" in filmic representation
-dependent on other groups for whiteness to come out as "whiteness"
-whiteness as everything and nothing
-racial binarism |
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Definition
RACE/STEREOTYPING/POLITICAL CRITICISM
-stereotyping
-mimesis
-representation // self-representation (via stereotypes)
-polyvocality --> stepping away from "authenticity" and towards giving a voice |
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Definition
***CLASSICAL FILM THEORY (1930s - 1960s) // POLITICAL CRITICISM (1970s-Present)
-DYER (political criticism): entertinament, tendencies of musical film
-FAUER: (political criticism) myth of spontaneity/performance/integration/audience, self reflexivity/reflectivity
-KRACAUER: (classical) difference between stage and film actor
-CAVELL: (classical) myth of singularity, gesture, typecasting
-AFFRON: (classical) fiction effect/reality effect, self reflexivity |
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Term
| DYER - ACTING/PERFORMANCE |
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Definition
POLITICAL CRITICISM THEORY
-What is entertainment? + utopian aspect
-tendencies of musical films |
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Term
| 3 broad tendencies of musical films |
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Definition
DYER
1) narrative & "number" are clearly separated OR
2) "numbers" are integrated into narrative by thinly veiled tricks, but the division between "escapist/utopian" show and the "problem filled/dystopian" world is clear OR
3) no distinctions between narrative and "numbers" (implication of world as utopian) |
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Definition
POLITICAL CRITICISM/ACTING/PERFORMANCE
-"myth": entertainment is shown as having a greater value than it actually does
-myth of spontaneity
-myth of integration
-myth of audience
-self reflexivity vs. self reflectivity |
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Definition
CLASSICAL THEORY/ ART/PERFORMANCE
-stage actor: mental image (rest up to audience), interaction with live audience, over-acting
-film actor: emphasis on being, casualness, physique
-functions: "object among objects", body fusing with environment
-3 types: professional actor, celebrity, non-actor |
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CLASSICAL THEORY / ART / PERFORMANCE
-stereotypes are not roles, but parts
-gesture/typecasting |
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ACTING/PERFORMANCE/CLASSICAL THEORY
-fiction effect --> film as aware of performer performing (self reflexive)
-opposed to reality effect |
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Definition
now?
-SEMIOTICS!!!
-symbol: taught things with no actual connection (ex. language)
-icon: referential connection (ex. a picture)
-index: literally the thing
-problems for film theory because digital cinema no longer needs referents but are still viewed as real
-PRINCE: perceptual realism. referential connection --> moving away from indexical understanding and to a moving-image-representation
-MANOVICH: super genre, back to old-school filmmaking |
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Definition
DIGITAL CINEMA
-perceptual realism --> we believe something to be real and think it's real even if its not; away from indexical understanding
-referential fiction --> stuff in a film that look completely real (CGI) but can't be real; it's referentially NOT REAL (fiction) |
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DIGITAL CINEMA
-super genre: live action films in which the recorded component is the main piece
-digital cinema: recorded footage is just a piece of the puzzle that needs to be illustrated/edited/digitzed/painted/etc over to create final piece |
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