According to Munsterberg’s film theory, the motion picture is an original medium in that it aesthetically stimulates the spectator’s senses. Although both still picture and theatrical play can possibly leave images on the spectator’s retina or brain, each element of motion picture, including camera angle and work, lighting, editing, music, and the story itself, appeals to somewhere more than just retina or brain— the element of motion picture truly operates upon the spectator’s mind. Speaking of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, the film unfolds a story of physically and mentally repressed ballerina’s life. Due to the film’s effective filming and editing techniques, the film successfully increases excitement as well as suspense in the story. Since Black Swan captures not only the real world the ballerina lives in but also the other side of the world the ballerina has within her mind, its spectator would experience a fantastic world where one ballerina lives in two different worlds at the same time. Even though the still picture and the theatrical play also give the spectator either a visual or an aural image, motion picture is the one that stimulates the spectator’s senses with its story, color, sound, acting, filming, and editing.
Based on Munsterberg’s film theory, what makes motion picture so distinct from other mediums is that because it has several characteristic processes of attention, memory, imagination, emotion, and unity. In the book The Major Film Theories says that “Munsterburg had a hierarchic notion of the mind; that is, he felt it was comprised of several levels…Each level evolves chaos of undistinguished stimuli by a veritable act, virtually crating the world of objects, events, and emotions that each of us live in”...
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...he real world where never moves backward.
In final analysis, the motion picture is the one that goes deeper inside the spectator’s mind. The other mediums such as still picture and theatrical play also provide the visual and aural elements for the spectator, yet they seem to be inferior to the motion picture in that they lack the reality, affinity, and creativity in terms of use of time and space. The levels of emotions such as attention, memory, imagination, emotion, and unity, which were introduced by Munsterberg, indicates how the spectator perceives the elements of the film and ends up with it.
Works Cited
Andrew, J.Dudley. The Major Film Theories. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. 11-26.
Print.
“Hugo Munsterberg. From The Film: APsychological Study. The Means Of The Photoplay.”
Course Reader. Hoffman-Han, Alison. 2010. 411-417. Print.
the visual medium. In a way that is unique to the cinema, the special effects disrupt the
This year in film studies, we studied many directors, such as Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock and others, along with elements of film such as colour, shots and dialogue. Director Orson Welles, who is mostly known for his film Citizen Kane, is commonly known for his films being in non chronological order which creates a riddle for the viewer as they piece together what happens. Orson Welles is also known for his compression of time, which aids in creating the riddle of the story and allows the characters to possibly move on from something, which could in turn, help them develop. We also studied elements of film like the use of colour and black and white. The colours of a film can easily set a tone. Bright, warm colours will create a feeling
Lehman, Peter and Luhr, William. Thinking About Movies: Watching, Questioning, Enjoying. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.
Modern day directors use a variety of methods to hold ones interest. Ethan Hawke and Kenneth Branagh’s created versions of Hamlet that shared some similarities, but ultimately had many differences in respects to an audience’s appeal. An appealing movie is one that has an alluring ambiance and an intellectual stimulus. With these two movie versions, a setting and a mood forced an audience to acquire specific emotions, but Ethan Hawke’s version generated emotions more strongly and effectively. Also, these movies had extremely different uses of music and visuals, but both movie versions incorporated them well for the ambiance it tried to obtain. Finally, both movie versions drew characters to captivate the audience; however in Ethan Hawke’s version, the characters were used so effectively that it was easy to feel involved with them. While both these versions of Hamlet had a captivating ambiance, Ethan Hawke’s version was more appealing due to the intellectual incentive that it offered.
...successful collaboration of sound, colour, camera positioning and lighting are instrumental in portraying these themes. The techniques used heighten the suspense, drama and mood of each scene and enhance the film in order to convey to the spectator the intended messages.
The structure of the third paragraph provides merit to other claims as well such as the impact of the “color, editing, cinematography, special effects, and even costume design” (Acevedo-Munoz 128). In the analysis of each scene, the author accounts for how such traits impact the narrative structure of the film, and how they affect the audience as well. For example, the author depicts the lighting and special effects utilized during the sequence in which Tony and Maria first meet at the dance. Here the “oil effect”, lighting effect and “‘not quite real’ representation of an otherwise realistic set” are described and
This film created a narrative in which it falsely depicted certain events, which influence was substantial and its success was based off of audience participation. Within that film the public diverged into two groups, the disgusted and the inspired. A two-hour film has created dialogue that exists today and defends a group of individuals that still live by such ideals. To say that the audience is absent minded is no different than to say a man is absent minded in observing a painting or reading a poem, but they are not, instead they are analyzing, evaluating, and breaking down the significance or insignificance of what is presented before them. The process of digesting art has always been in solitude, film is no different and even though the art has changed the examination of it and the influence it has on individuals has remained consistent throughout the
Boggs, J. M., Petrie, D. W. (2004). The Art of Watching Films (6 ͭ ͪ ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Spadoni, R. (1999). The Figure Seen from the Rear, Vitagraph, and the Development of Shot/Reverse Shot. Film History, 11, 319-341.
He points out the different characteristics which helps distinguish them. These certain characteristics show the shock displayed by the cinema of attractions. One characteristic is the projection of the still images displayed on the screen that would “eventually give way to motion, subjects within the film that would acknowledge the camera and the viewing audience”, and the narration would prepare the audience for the upcoming shock in the way “that a carnival barker
Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.
The first chapter of George Bluestone’s book Novels into Film starts to point out the basic differences that exist between the written word and the visual picture. It is in the chapter "Limits of the Novel and Limits of the Film," that Bluestone attempts to theorize on the things that shape the movie/film from a work of literature. Film and literature appear to share so much, but in the process of changing a work into film, he states important changes are unavoidable. It is the reasoning behind these changes that Bluestone directs his focus, which is the basis behind the change. He starts to look at the nature of film and literature, as a crucial part in the breakdown of this problem. It is only through a discussion into nature of each of these, that Bluestone can discover where film and literature seperate, and also develop a close to accurate theory on the laws that direct the course of change from novel to film.
As an audience we are manipulated from the moment a film begins. In this essay I wish to explore how The Conversation’s use of sound design has directly controlled our perceptions and emotional responses as well as how it can change the meaning of the image. I would also like to discover how the soundtrack guides the audience’s attention with the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sounds.
Boggs, J. & Petrie, J. (2008). The Art of Watching Films. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies. p. 2-463.
‘Then came the films’; writes the German cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, evoking the arrival of a powerful new art form at the end of 19th century. By this statement, he tried to explain that films were not just another visual medium, but it has a clear differentiation from all previous mediums of visual culture.