Essay about André Bazin: Film Critic Extraordinaire

Film exists in layers of physical existence and reality. You have the layer the audience views of the film’s world - setting, characters, and plot - and then you have the layer the film production workers view of the film’s world - actors, the set, and the story. Like photography, film is able to establish a physical existence. However, unlike photography, film uses two very unique and different techniques in order to establish its physical existence. According to Siegfried Kracauer, film establishes its physical existence through representation of reality as it evolves through time and with the help of techniques and devices exclusive to cinema cameras (Kracauer 187). All the world is a stage for film, however Kracauer lists specific techniques of film he refers to as cinematic due to how these techniques are read on the cinematic medium. Although Kracauer wrote his theory on Establishment of Physical Existence in 1960, the 2015 movie Tangerine contains a fair amount of content that can be serviced as examples in order to support Kracauer’s theory. Using the 2010’s movie Tangerine directed by Sean S. Baker, modern cinema examples from various scenes of the film can be provided for examples on Siegfried Kracauer’s theory of Establishment of Physical Existence through cinema’s recording functions of nascent motion, cinema’s revealing function of transients, and cinema’s revealing function of blind spots of the

During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that,

Editing is also used to decide what the viewer sees and understands in order to bring emotion and meaning forwards.

Alfred Hitchcock incorporates multiple instances of point of view editing and cross-cutting to explore man’s intimate feeling of helplessness. He accomplishes this task by creating tense situations in which the viewer is more informed than the characters. However, the viewer’s omniscient range of narration is stifled by several occurrences of perceptual subjectivity, creating a momentary feeling of helplessness within the viewer.

Theorist Vsevolod Pudovkin claims that narrative films are mainly a “product of construction” and cautious compilations of “selections of images that have been shot” (Renée).

Eisenstein and Vertov are two filmmakers/theorist that made films to illustrate and emphasize their film theories. One of Eisenstein’s theories is that film should have a dialectic approach to create conflict. Furthermore, he states that conflict will spark active thinking in the spectator 's mind. Another theory from Eisenstein is the methods of montage. There are five methods, but the one he highlights the most is the intellectual montage, which helps create an idea through juxtaposition to make the audience think about the film and social issues. In comparison, one of Vertov theories states that film is like a medium of movement. Furthermore, he explains the movement is required to create montage and bring shots together in harmony. Another theory from Vertov emphasizes the camera eye. He explains how the camera can show the truths of the world better than the human eye. In summary Eisenstein demonstrates his theory of conflict and intellectual montage in his films October (1928) and The Battleship Potemkin (1925). Plus, both films get the audience to think about life and society. In comparison Vertov displays his theories of movement to create montage and the importance of the camera eye in his film The Man with the Movie Camera (1929) to illustrate cinema as a whole and show the power of the camera eye. To conclude, both Eisenstein and Vertov are able to effectively display their theories in film.

Before beginning the analytical portion, first a more philosophical discussion about film as an art form. Film is an art form that is experienced by its receiver over its duration, in that way it is similar to music, and is different from a static art form like paintings. This matters because it alters the way in which its effect is had on its receiver – the audience. The film is a sequence of shots usually coupled with audio, and the narrative film tells a story. The story may be delivered sequentially or not, and this choice has implications on how viewers will react. These choices are considered as a part of film form, choices can also be made about the individual scenes, frames, and sounds as well – which are

This reversal was caused in part by the development of cinema itself, which increasingly resembled reality with the introduction of sound, deep-focus photography, and Italian neorealist aesthetics—a progression that André Bazin called the myth of total cinema. Siegfried Kracauer, a critic of authoritarian aesthetics, argued that cinema should focus on the unpredictable, unplanned events of everyday existence. André Bazin preferred films that use depth of field and long takes to emphasize mise-en-scène, preserving the spatiotemporal integrity of the scene and empowering the spectator to scan the image for

Edward Branigan classified elements of representation in films into six categories –origin, vision, time, frame, object and mind. According to him, origin signifies the perspective of placement of camera and use of sound in cinema. The reference point that generates images and space by glance, look, sight and gaze constitute vision. Time refers to the time of telling i.e. the time of representation and the time of what is told i.e. represented. Branigan refers to the boundary that limits selection and organization of the story as frame. Object and mind refers to the element that is represented and the mental state attributed to a character, respectively. Thus, we can argue that from a director’s point of view, Branigan’s elements – vision and

The knowledge given by the three articles unlocks potential for the amateur and student filmmakers, and it can be applied to any given assignment or any personal project in the future. Even for the professional director, these methods must be the standard if they wish to produce a quality film, because these methods have proven to result in films that are both groundbreaking and awarded for their editing; films old and new. Unlike continuity editing, montage editing has two separate strategies. One strategy being Hollywood, and the second being Soviet. The Soviet montage is the montage that induces emotions from the audience, while Hollywood montage is used to tell a story that occurs over a long period of time.

German Expressionism can easily be defined as the style which was used during most early 1920s European films. It encompasses the use of darkness and light as well as high key lighting. German Expressionism exaggerates shapes in order to make the audience feel a specific emotion, mostly that of uneasiness or discomfort. Soviet Classical Realism is popular for using editing, primarily montage, to evoke time moving in a faster pace. It is also suggested in scenes where the masses are celebrated as the hero in the film instead of one protagonist. Finally, Hollywood Classical Realism holds a more standard, formulaic structure, with a romantic aspect, that we are so keen to. There is a goal oriented protagonist, a malevolent antagonist, and a linear plotline that usually ends with a satisfying resolution which appeals to the audience. As a result to the U.S. film industry’s success, the British Sound Period shows us how a director like Hitchcock uses these styles of film in a time where British cinema was non-existent.

Montage, a name synonymous with Editing, is an original film style with different techniques used by the Soviet filmmakers between 1924 and 1930 to construct a film narrative. Montage is the connection between one shot and the other, a continuous or discontinuous relationship between shots. According to David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson (2012: 478), Soviet directors maintained that, “through editing, two shots give birth to a feeling or idea not present in either one”. This ‘feeling’ or ‘idea’ then guides a viewer into understanding or making a “conceptual connection” of the narrative (Bordwell 1972: 10). Strike (1925) and Mother (1926), directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin respectively, are films made in the Soviet Montage era that show a juxtaposition between shots across the film. This essay discusses the different techniques used in these films that show the functions and effects of Montage.

By making small but significant changes to the conventions of cinema, the artificiality of the

Cinematograph story began on December 28, 1895 in the basement of the Grand Cafe des Capucines Boulevard in Paris. The creators of this invention were Gustav and Antoine Lumiere. The film uses the illusion of the human eye, the reading sequence in rapid succession, still images, in which subjects slightly change shape and position, as a single image showing the change in location or shape of these objects. In the same time Freud started his new movement in psychology by publication “Studies in hysteria”. The film is a kind of delusion hung on between the real world and the illusion just like a dream. Therefore, this form of artistic expression has been linked immediately with psychoanalysis. Cinema and psychoanalysis had a huge influence on the development of perception and view of the contemporary artistic expression, science and technology. Through close to human awareness as its recipient and participant featured content of these two types of expression of human emotions merged towards the end of the nineteenth century. Lou Andreas- Salome wrote “The movies really play a role of no small significance for us” at February 1913, he also added “ and this is not the first time I have thought about this fact” (Andreas-Salome 1987: 101). Metz in his book, which he titled “ In the social life of our age” in 1977 wrote: “ the fiction film enters into functional competition with the daydream”. He was also one of the main people who started a new psychoanalytic theory of movie in

No matter who a person thinks invented the motion picture camera, whether it was Louis Lumiere or Thomas Edison, I'm sure they had no idea what it would become at the turn of the century. Motion pictures, has become an entertainment medium like no other. From Fred Ott's Sneeze to Psycho to Being John Malkovich, the evolution from moving pictures to a pure art form has been quite amazing. Different steps in filming techniques define eras in one of the most amazing ideas that was ever composed. Silent to Sound. Short to long. Black and white to color. Analog to Digital. All were important marks in the History of Motion Pictures. "It's different than other arts. It had to be invented"