Film’s multimodal capacity to assert, describe and depict 1. Introduction 1.1 Overview It is the intention of this paper to illustrate how film’s multi-modal affordances allow some capacity to assert as well as depict. If the language of cinema is acknowledged then the issue becomes one of enquiring into the differing nature of description and assertion within film and the novel. Therefore, the paper will argue the case for the centrality of text and sound within cinema. In the analysis, examples will be drawn from a range of sources to contrast the inferential requirements of portrayals in each medium.
Film Theory debates the essence of cinematic value and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding a film’s relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large. In order to successfully approach film criticism it is important to examine several theories. It is important to keep in mind that, “no critical approach can tell us everything about a film but, rather, different approaches can teach us different things about a film” (Luhr, Lehman 80). First and foremost, films are perceived in terms of their narrative structure. When discussing a film, audiences will recall its story line or characters to exemplify what the film was about.
On the other hand, Rubayat Hossain’s ‘Meherjan’ has been adapted from Abadur Rahman’s Gulmohor Republic. This film tries to capture the total of the text; moreover it reveals successfully the author’s concealed intention. This paper basically discuses the forms and techniques employed in Nasiruddin Yousuff’s adaptation of his film ‘Guerrilla’ from Syed Shamsul Haque’s novel Nisidddho
What interests you most? I find it thought-stimulating to ponder the content of the written play itself and its shortened movie version. Does an adequate shortened movie means that certain parts of the written play was unnecessary or not important enough? This leads to the discussion of whether the written play or the movie gives the most authentic and accurate portrayal of the Laramie incident. What strikes you most?
As Cohen, Salazar, and Barkat state, there is an inherent difficulty in categorising documentaries “stiffly”, as each will tend to employ aspects of Nichols’ six groups (2009, 288, 292). However, Forbidden Lie$ can be categorised most accurately into the expository and reflexive models, with attributes of two others. The film shares traits with performative documentary film making, such as “employing the dramatisation and reconstruction of events and personal experiences” (Cohen, Salazar, and Barkat 2009, 300). As Martin describes the reenactment scenes, Broinowski uses “‘dramatic reconstruction’ of Dalia’s tale, [which is] delivered in the juiciest and most sensationalist TV style” (2009). ‘Sensationalist’ is the operative word, as it describes each of the reenactment scenes of Dalia’s murder by her family perfectly.
HOW REPETITION IS USED AS A MOTIF IN THE SHINING In this essay on Kubrick’s The Shining, I am going to discuss the use of motifs in the film. The motif that I picked is mirrors, in a very broad sense; not only mirrors, but also shiny surfaces, symmetry, reoccurring events, among others. I could discuss how that contributed to the feeling of being lost, (in a maze, and thus lost in one’s mind), but for this essay’s sake I will only focus on the link between the motif and the duality of the characters’ personalities. The cinematographical framing of mirrors and reflections in the mise-en-scene is used as a motif that creates and enhances the viewer’s assumption or interpretation of duality of the character’s personalities. Although done in a subtle way, the motif of mirrors, symmetry and shiny surfaces is reoccurring throughout the movie.
Bill Nichols states in his text, “Observational documentaries de-emphasise persuasion to give us a sense of what it is like to be in a situation without a sense of what it is like for the filmmaker to be there too. Participatory documentary gives us a sense of what it is like for the filmmaker to be in a given situation and how that situation alters as a result.” In this paper I will contend that the argument Nichols puts forward is arguably inaccurate. Like wise with participatory documentaries, observational documentaries portray a sense of interaction and influence by the filmmaker and thus candidly alter reality. As a result both documentaries become very subjective and biased, and the viewer is restrained from obtaining the whole truth of the story or event. Observational documentaries are what Erik Barnouw calls “direct cinema”.
An Analysis of Camera Angling and Symbolism in the Film “Perfumed Nightmare” as Tools Used to Reveal Power Relations that Exists in Kidlat’s “Humanum” by Daryl Pasion ABSTRACT In this paper, I present an argument that the Film Perfumed Nightmare of Kidlat Tahimik presents a cinematic interpretation of the Roman Catholic theologian Edward Schillebeeckx’ idea of Humanum. Above other thematic elements which can be used to analyze the film’s relation to Schillebeeckx’ idea of Humanum, I choose to analyze the film’s two stylistic facets: camera angling and symbols. This analysis sprang from an existing study of Antonio Sison entitled “Perfumed Nightmare and Negative Experiences of Contrast: Third Cinema as Filmic Interpretation of Schillebeeck.” Sison’s study bridges Schillebeeck’s Concept of Negative Experience of Contrast and Perfumed Nightmare by analyzing numerous stylistic elements of the film. While Sison’s analysis made mention about camera angling in relation to the idea of Negative Experience of Contrast, I, in this analysis, will study camera angling and symbolism as well in relation to yet another concept of Schillebeeckx which is Humanum. I will study how camera angling and symbols reveal the power relations that exist in the key character’s humanum.
Psychoanalysis and Film Theory Part 1: ‘A New Kind of Mirror’ Your study is located at the crossroads of magic and positivism. That spot is bewitched. Only theory can break the spell. [1] Theodor Adorno Introduction Film theory as we know it today did not come into existence until the late 1960’s, and since then has been dominated by psychoanalytic ideas. This article seeks to specifically investigate the influence of Lacanian psychoanalysis on film theory.
Defining Your Terms Clearly, What Element of Brecht’s Theories Can Be Traced in Films that are said to be ‘Alternative Cinema’? The term alternative cinema has certain connotations. To many, it is not alternative, instead it is the way cinema was meant to be viewed, in that the viewer should be able to define the film in their own personal terms. In the following essay, I will firstly examine what the term alternative cinema means, and secondly how Brecht’s theories are evident in many elements of the films that have been pigeon-holed as alternative cinema. The word alternative is described in Collins English Dictionary as: “Denoting a lifestyle, culture, art form, etc., regarded by its adherents as preferable to that of contemporary society because it is less conventional, materialistic, or institutionalised, and, often, more in harmony with nature.”(Makin, 1992) This is an extremely useful definition, as the word ‘alternative’ has been used to describe a form of medicine or therapy, and even forms of energy.