Introduction to Film Theory Cinematic Realism vs. Montage Editing Soviet Montage Cinema (1910s-20s) LEV KULESHOV ( ) 1924: The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks From filmed plays to an assemblage of images Kuleshov effect: montage editing Meaning of a particular shot determined by its relation to adjacent shots Viewer sees A then B, thinks C Soviet Montage Cinema (1910s-20s) LEV KULESHOV ( ) Experiment: shots of woman in coffin, bowl of soup, and a childinserted between same shot of a man Audience will bring their experiences to a film to try to make sense out of apparently unrelated images Audience does not visualize C in his/ her mindassumes that the actor is actually conveying that emotion Soviet Montage Cinema (1910s-20s) SERGEI EISENSTEIN ( ) Viewed montage as the basis of cinema Juxtaposition of contrasting elements Constructivist emphasis upon mechanistic assemblage Montage of attractions Objects in collision, producing an explosion that would arouse the viewer Pavlovian theory: Controlled orchestration to mold and manipulate the audience Soviet Montage Cinema (1910s-20s) EISENSTEIN FILM THEORY Rooted in Marxist concept of dialectic materialism--point and counterpoint Cognitive model of artistic creation Dominant organizing principle Four major types of montage MetricDifferent shot lengths RhythmicDifferent pace TonalAtmosphere IntellectualSymbolic meaning Soviet Montage Cinema (1910s-20s) Battleship Potemkin (Odessa Steps)(Odessa Steps) Allusions: Untouchables Naked GunUntouchablesNaked Gun Two Approaches to Filmmaking MONTAGE Eisenstein Hollywood CINEMATIC REALISM Bazin Mise en scene, long takes Kieslowski Two Approaches to Filmmaking MONTAGE One interpretation (no ambiguity) Editor (director) manipulates meaning Not realistic Shot-reverse shots that violate 180 rule Two Approaches to Filmmaking MONTAGE One interpretation (no ambiguity) Editor (director) manipulates meaning Not realistic Two Approaches to Filmmaking MONTAGE One interpretation (no ambiguity) Editor (director) manipulates meaning Not realistic Montage Manipulates! 1.Evokes emotional/visceral reaction 2.Little time to think about what you see 3.Editor controls mood, pace, tone Two Approaches to Filmmaking CINEMATIC REALISM (Mise en scene) Long takes Capture reality as it is Deep focus, depth of field Less directorial control of what the viewer should focus upon Ambiguity More real Two Approaches to Filmmaking Mise en scene Everything that goes into the composition of the shot, including the composition itself: framing, movement of the camera and characters, lighting, set design and general visual environment. Robert Kolker, Film Form and Culture Two Approaches to Filmmaking CINEMATIC REALISM Emphasis on the power of the pure image Mise en scene, not montage Viewer must think about what he /she is seeing Required to look deep into the image Experiential Two Approaches to Filmmaking CINEMATIC REALISM More metaphorical Often more romantic, spiritual, and philosophical subjects Experience the rain, be one with the mud Siefried Kracauer ( ) Critic of modernity (Frankfurt School) Human condition characterized by alienation Mass culture/society manipulates individuals Materialistic values have replaced religion, metaphysical, romantic convictions, resulting in disenchantment People live distracted lives Film as a redemptive experience that can show man damaged condition of modernity and help him transcend materialism Siefried Kracauer ( ) Foreshadowed and predicted dehumanizing power of mass media Mass ornaments--film, military parades and sporting events Real world of the individual desubstantiated by spectacle and empty rituals Film must reengage individual with nature and the Kantian real world Andre Bazin ( ) Shared Kracauers view of modernity Also saw film as redemptive Kracauer: German classical philosophy Bazin: Catholicism, Bergson, Sartre, French Phenomenological influence Bergson: Flux and flow of existence Modern life and ideologies obscure the base of life Andre Bazin ( ) PURPOSE OF FILM Christian view of man as fallen Seeking redemption and atonement The role of cinema is to help man in his search for truth and understanding in an ambiguous and uncertain world Man can transcend alienation and modernity Film can be a religious experience Love and state of grace Andre Bazin ( ) Film image embalms time & wrenches phenomena from the flux of life Best films should combine Symbolic power of cinematic imagery Empirical density of cinematic realism Andre Bazin ( ) The spirit behind the real object The long hard gaze Disliked overly expressive, overly ornamental, or overuse of montage (More like Kieslowski than Hollywood) Divining the real Andre Bazin ( ) Bergsons concept of creative evolution Evolution of the vital spirit in man Close experiential scrutiny reveals deep structures/meanings behind phenomena Under scrutiny of inquiry [artistic analysis] these deep structures are brought into the light Cinema and photography are media that an artist can utilize to review the deeper meanings behind the phenomena of existence Andre Bazin ( ) Liked films that focused on everyday psychological experience Italian Neorealism (The Bicylce Thief) French New Wave (Breathless) Long takes of surrounding environment Impact of environment on people Disliked modernist, expressionistic films Disliked films that imposed a political ideology on the viewer Liked ambiguity, unresolved plots T. S. Eliot OBJECTIVE CORRELATIVE (1919) The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an 'objective correlative'; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked." Milan Kundera Metaphor is a means of grasping, through instantaneous revelation, the ungraspable essence of things. Krzysztof Kieslowski In Blue Kieslowski is attempting to render complex and difficult emotional states and situations from within the confines of the cinematic language he has at his disposal. Indeed, I would certainly contend that he stretches that language as far as possible so as to open the ground of new cinematic vistas (the sugar cube receding in the coffee, the mysterious flautist). Krzysztof Kieslowski There are details in Blue that seem to convey a proximity to hell, despair, dread and damnation. What Kieslowski is trying to do is to find a cinematic language that can express Julies dilemmas (in much the same way that Shakespeare, for example, stretched the written and spoken word to express the dilemmas and passions of his characters). Richard Rushton, Reading Three Colours: Blue, Senses of Cinema Cinematic Realism 1.Emphasis on mise en scene (the contextual environment) 2.Audience must think and participate 3.Exploits the metaphorical power of imagery 4.Spiritual/philosophical experience rather than ideological manipulation 5.Long takes rather than the slicing and dicing of reality 6.The flux and flow of time 7.Ambiguity Cinematic Realism 1.Emphasis on mise en scene (the contextual environment) 2.Audience must think and participate 3.Exploits the metaphorical power of imagery 4.Spiritual/philosophical experience rather than ideological manipulation 5.Long takes rather than the slicing and dicing of reality 6.The flux and flow of time 7.Ambiguity (A MATTER OF DEGREE) Contemporary Examples Mike Leigh, UK Contemporary Examples Andrei Tarkovsky, Russia Contemporary Examples Andrei Tarkovsky, Russia Contemporary Examples Todd Solondz, US Contemporary Examples Roy Andersson, Sweden Contemporary Examples Roy Andersson, Sweden Contemporary Examples Roy Andersson, Sweden