FEA 302

CLASSICAL FILM THEORY

Click to edit Master subtitle style WEEK 3

INSTRUCTOR: SARAH TATTING-KINZY

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RUDOLF ARNHEIM

Born in Berlin 1904 Studied Psychology, Philosophy, Art and Music History Wrote Film Reviews for various Berlin publications
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In Film as Art, Rudolf

Utilizes his background in the Gestalt school of psychology to theorize about film as an art form Gestalt psychology emphasizes the whole over the parts and patterns over individual sensations Examines the various ways in which film Footer Text

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Arnheim says

All media have multiple uses

Practical functions = postcards (paintings, photographs), military marches (music), instruction manuals (words) are based in reality

Artistic function returns words to poetry, dance to ballet, music to ballads etc.

Cinema can also serve practical functions representing reality -- educational, informational films

Artistic function returns film to the BASIS of its medium Footer Text

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Factors that differentiate film from reality include

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1) Projection of solids on a twodimensional surface

At its most elementary, film is different from real life because it is a moving picture projected on a flat screen Square/cube Rectangle/trapezoid
Footer Text We see more than our eyes alone

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2) Sense of depth and absolute image size

Retina receives only twodimensional images -- so we rely on our depth perception The distance between our two eyes makes depth perception possible, makes for two slightly different images which fuse together Same principle artificially recreated
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3) Lighting and absence of color

At most basic level, the world is color and most films up till this point had been black and white Manipulated film lighting meant to mimic and enhance the natural and artificial light of real life -- needed for an object to stand out in an image or in real life
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4) Framing of the image and distance of object

Our visual field is limited, so we are constantly compensating by moving our eyes and head The film image is limited by the frame and we only see what the filmmaker intends in any given shot Our mind/eyes compensate to some
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5) Absence of the space-time continuum due to editing

Time and space is continuous in real life We must physically move within our world to change our perspective and these movements take time Through film editing, we jump through time and space
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6) Absence of inputs from the other senses

The filmic experience is through sight alone, or in talkies sight and sound alone the other senses are not utilized as in real life (except smell-o-vision) In silent films, directors compensate with music and visual clues -- bird Footer to flock helps Text show when a gun has

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Conclusions

Film may mechanically record the sensations which the retina gathers but it does so mindlessly and nonrepresentationally Film art is based on the manipulation of whats technically visible -- not humanly visible
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Conclusions

To Arnheim, the sum of the limitations = the raw material of film art These are the things an artist can control and manipulate for expressive reasons Some say Arnheims theory and Footer Text

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Creative Use of the Medium

Arnheim elaborates on the artistic effects associated with each limitation Filmmakers exploit these limitations, forcing the spectator to see not just the object on the screen but the object carefully Footer Text delimited to the medium

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Purism

Arnheim says an artistic medium is most interesting when it conveys the world in concentrated or pure shapes Purist art attempts to simplify the chaos and remain true to the heart of the medium Arnheim felt that film found its purest Footer Text form in the silent era and lost it when

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Film Form

Any medium used for art draws attention away from the object conveyed dancing/gestures, music/sounds, poetry/words, syllables Likewise, Film draws attention away from the real world it conveys and translates it in a new, manipulated way
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What is the purpose of art, according to Arnheim?

No direct answer in Film as Art -- but we can examine his beliefs in relation to Gestalt psychology

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Gestaltists and Arnheim

Asserted that the mind is active in the experience of reality, giving both its meaning and physical characteristics Arnheim went further, saying all of our nervous centers create our reality by organizing it Our senses give the objects in our
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Transformation

Transformation makes it possible for humans to produce and experience art Artist sees his subject (primary transformation) -- and imaginatively organizes it into a higher pattern which expresses his vision of both subject matter and all of reality (secondary transformation)
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In this way, Andrew deduces Arnheims purpose of art

To perceive and express the general forces of existence

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The Content of the Film, according to Arnheim

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Mind Through the Body

Filmmaker uses material objects and physical happenings as raw material -- mental processes may be expressed by means of these The human face and gestures of the body in an actor make inner happenings externally visible but can be conveyed in other ways
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The Passion of Joan of Arc

Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer in 1928 Stars Rene Jeanne Falconetti

How do Arnheims limitations of film to reality apply here? Use of composition, especially the close-up?
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