Lecture 10:Lecture 10:Film TheoryFilm Theory

Professor Aaron Baker

Last Time: StarsLast Time: Stars

• Movie Stars, Their Images

• What They Are• Why They Matter to

Us • George Clooney

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Today: Film TheoryToday: Film Theory

• What is it?• Different Uses for

Film• Realism• Formalism

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What is Film Theory?What is Film Theory?

4 Lesson 10: Part I

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Filmic Discourses Filmic Discourses

• Film Criticism

• Film History

• Film Theory

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Film Criticism Film Criticism

• Analysis of one or a group of films

• A genre, filmmaker

• Evaluation of meaning, importance

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Film HistoryFilm History

• How film as a medium has developed, changed:

-economically-technologically-socially-aesthetically

Film TheoryFilm Theory

• What Is The Nature of Cinema?

• What It Can Do As A Medium

• How It Communicates Meaning

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Six ModelsSix Models

1. Realist (Formalist)

2. Auteurist

3. Psychoanalytic

4. Ideological

5. Feminist

6. Cognitive

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Each Different ViewpointEach Different Viewpoint

• Realism/Formalist – How films show world

• Auteurist – Who creates film

• Psychoanalytic – How film represents, impacts human development

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Each Different ViewpointEach Different Viewpoint

• Ideological – How film represents, impacts viewers’ beliefs and values

• Feminist – How film represents women

• Cognitive – What is the experience of film viewers

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Realist and Formalist Film Realist and Formalist Film TheoryTheory

12 Lesson 10: Part II

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Focus Today: Realism and Focus Today: Realism and Formalism Formalism

• What is a film’s ability to show the world?• Realism: Film documents reality.• Limited filmmaker manipulation of what

is shown.• Formalism: Filmmaker has to interpret

reality, manipulation of film form allows communication of that interpretation.

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Italian NeorealismItalian Neorealism• Decade After WW II• Italy in Ruins• Real Locations• Non Professional

Actors• Challenges of

Everyday Life for Working People

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Clip #1: Clip #1: BicycleBicycle Thieves Thieves (1948)(1948)

• Director - Vittorio De Sica• Antonio Ricci (Lamberto

Maggiorani) – Factory Worker

• Post-WW II Rome• Job Requires Bike• Unemployment, Poverty

and Crime

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Andre BazinAndre Bazin• French Theorist• Wrote Influential

Essays in 1940s

and 1950s• Advocated specific

style to preserve film’s realism

Preserve Viewer’s Experience Preserve Viewer’s Experience of Realityof Reality

• Don’t Control Spectator

• Keep Ambiguity in the Image

• Deep Focus Photography

• The Long Take

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Deep FocusDeep Focus

• Deep Space in Focus Before Camera

• Fore-, mid-, background

• Multiple Narrative Areas

• Clip #2 Citizen Kane

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Continuity EditingContinuity Editing• Dominant in Hollywood

Films• Directs Our Attention As

We Watch• Emphasizes Dialogue,

Reaction, Cause and Effect

• Creates Clear Space and Time to Tell Story, Narrative Continuity

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Deep Focus/Long TakeDeep Focus/Long Take

• Deep Focus: Three Planes

• No Editing• Long Take/Time to

Look, Assess:

-What are character motivations, emotions?

-What is best for little Charlie?

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Continuity Editing Ethical? Continuity Editing Ethical?

• Dirty Harry 1971• Det. Callahan

(Eastwood)• Stops Bank Robbers• Establishing Shot• Breakdown• S/RS• Clip # 3

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Do You Feel Lucky Punk?Do You Feel Lucky Punk?• Harry Takes

Control• Restores Justice• Shots Endanger

People on Street?• Editing Focuses

on Harry, Robbers• Emphasizes

Harry’s Heroics

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FormalismFormalism

• Opposite of Realist Film Theory

• Accepts Need for Filmmaker to Interpret What Shows Viewer

• Celebrates Film’s Ability to Influence Audience Emotionally, Intellectually The Underneath, 1998

StyleStyle

• Realism = Lack of Style• Formalism: Use Pattern

of Film Form (Style) to Communicate Ideas, Impact Audience

• Clip #3: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

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ExpressionismExpressionism• Germany 1910’s, 20s• Multi-Art Movement• Expression of Insane

Mind• Dark, Distorted,

Nightmarish Worlds• Influenced Hollywood

(Noir, Horror)

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Stylized FormStylized Form• Expresses Cesare’s

(Narrator’s) Psychosis, Insanity.

• Formalism Communicates Psychological Realism

Summary: Realism and Summary: Realism and FormalismFormalism

• Same Objective: Communicate Insight About the World

• Different Methods: -Realism/Give Audience Direct Access to That WorldVs. -Formalism/Present an Interpretation of It

• Both Emphasize Ambiguity, Complexity• Both Require Viewer Interpretation

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Soviet MontageSoviet Montage

• Political Formalism in USSR

• 1920 First Film School in Moscow

• Socialism: Society with Equal Distribution of Wealth

• Film to Promote This Idea of Society

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Lenin, Soviet Leader:Lenin, Soviet Leader:

• “Cinema is for us the most important of the arts.”

• Challenge of Unifying Soviet Society

• 160 million citizens in USSR

• 100 languages

What Kind of Cinema?What Kind of Cinema?

• Fiction or Documentary?

• Popular Entertainment or Challenging Avant Garde

• Agreed on Power of Editing (Montage) to Construct an Ideology

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Construct a Reality Construct a Reality

• Shots Gain Meaning in Relation to Other Shots

• E.g. Kuleshov Effect• Actor Mojoukine’s

Expression Juxtaposed with—

Soup = Hunger

Baby = Happiness

Coffin = Sadness31

Sergei EisensteinSergei Eisenstein

• Soviet Filmmaker• Intellectual• Studied Literature,

Philosophy, Art, History

• Multicultural Influences: Kabuki Theater, African Sculpture, American Indigenous Cultures

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Eisenstein Starts in Theater of Eisenstein Starts in Theater of AttractionsAttractions

• Like Carnival • Comedy,

Acrobatics, • Shock Spectators• Fire Crackers• Theater is a Plough,

We Need a Tractor[to Change Russian Society].

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Eisenstein’s Dialectical Eisenstein’s Dialectical Montage (Editing)Montage (Editing)

• Discontinuity Editing

• Shots Not Fit Together to Tell Story

• Shots in Conflict

• Based on Dialectic:

-Thesis/Antithesis = Synthesis

• Karl Marx’s Principle of History

-Workers/Owners = Revolution

Battleship Potemkin Battleship Potemkin (1925)(1925)

• Eisenstein’s Historical Film• 1905 Sailors Mutiny on

Black Sea near Odessa• People of Odessa at

Waterfront in Support• Czar’s (Emperor’s) Troops

Violently Suppress Protest

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Odessa Steps SequenceOdessa Steps Sequence• Eisenstein’s Dialectical

Editing Arranges Shotsto Mirror Conflict between People and Czar’s Troops

• Clip #5• Preview of Dialectical

Conflict (Russian People vs. Czar) that Would Cause Revolution in 1917.

Formalism in Formalism in PotemkinPotemkin

• Eisenstein Stylizes Reality/History with Dialectical Editing

• Presents an Interpretation to Audience

• Socialism in Russian Necessary, Justified

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StalinStalin

• Soviet Leader After Lenin• 1935 Ousts Montage

Filmmakers• Labeled Their Films Too

Hard to Understand, Elitist

• Mandated Only Realism in Soviet Films

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SummarySummary

• Film Theory – What Film Can Do

• Realism: Film Can Record, Document the World As It Is

• Formalism: Filmmakers Can Use Stylized Form to Interpret the World

• Eisenstein’s Potemkin as Socialist Formalism

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End of Lecture 10End of Lecture 10

Next Time: Film GenreNext Time: Film Genre