The document discusses readings on principles of narration and classical narration in film. It provides discussion questions on self-consciousness in films and strategies used in the film "Husbands and Wives". It also discusses concepts like verisimilitude, suspension of disbelief, documentary conventions and how films can make viewers conscious of their viewing position.
The document discusses readings on principles of narration and classical narration in film. It provides discussion questions on self-consciousness in films and strategies used in the film "Husbands and Wives". It also discusses concepts like verisimilitude, suspension of disbelief, documentary conventions and how films can make viewers conscious of their viewing position.
The document discusses readings on principles of narration and classical narration in film. It provides discussion questions on self-consciousness in films and strategies used in the film "Husbands and Wives". It also discusses concepts like verisimilitude, suspension of disbelief, documentary conventions and how films can make viewers conscious of their viewing position.
The document discusses readings on principles of narration and classical narration in film. It provides discussion questions on self-consciousness in films and strategies used in the film "Husbands and Wives". It also discusses concepts like verisimilitude, suspension of disbelief, documentary conventions and how films can make viewers conscious of their viewing position.
Classical Narration: The Hollywood Example from Narration in the Fiction Film. (pp. 48–61) and (pp. 156 –166).
Robert Stam, “Allegories of Spectatorship” from
Reflexivity in Film and Literature: From Don Quixote to Jean-Luc Godard. (pp. 29-55). • Discussion Questions: • Bordwell writes, all filmic narrations are self- conscious, but some are more so than others. (p. 58) Define and explain the concept of self-consciousness by referring to Bordwell’s text. • Give at least two different strategies utilized in Husbands and Wives, which makes the film self-conscious. Also discuss the degree of self- consciousness in the film. • Considering the conventions of documentary, articulate the ways in which Husbands and Wives utilizes and traverses these conventions. • Robert Stam writes, “the impression of reality is stronger in films than in the theatre…” (p. 34) • What are the mechanisms/capacities that are unique to the cinematic apparatus itself, which make this strong illusion/impression possible? (In addition to Stam’s argument, support your answers with those of Christian Metz summarized in Stam’s article.) • Does the film, Husbands and Wives, mobilize and make the spectators conscious of their own viewing position in a way Brechtian theatre does? (Explain how.) • Verisimilitude: (from Latin verisimilitudo, from verus true + similitudo similitude)
• Verisimilitude: True Seeming.
The state or quality of something which exhibits the appearance of truth or reality.
• A work with a high degree of verisimilitude
means that the work is very realistic and believable; works of this nature are often said to be true to life. • Reality exists in paradigms. • Verisimilitude is a term that is specific to literary and visual arts. The term is deeply rooted in structure. • The focus of credibility does not rest solely on the external world of the spectator. • The film’s credibility can be seen in terms of the film’s own internal logic, its own rules and laws. • Verisimilitude, therefore, is a technical problem that needs to be resolved within the context of the film’s fictional world. • The rules of invisibility have been broken during the last several decades. Many strategies once labeled as avant-garde have been turned into conventions; therefore, they have been included into the mainstream.
• Jump cut was such an avant-garde technique
in 60s, 70s, now it is often used in mainstream cinema.
• Therefore, our relation to verisimilitude
changes throughout time. • Suppose that you are learning a new language, at the beginning, its structure is quite new to you. But when you get used to speak this language, its grammar and its structure, you internalize the structure of this new language and the alienation effect gradually weakens.
• Similary, genres are born based on set of
rules, and specific visual or thematic characteristics, then these rules are broken, or re-codified throughout time and therefore the verisimilitude changes. • Suspension of disbelief: • Verisimilitude is also the willingness to suspend one’s disbelief (even if the events or fictitious representations might otherwise be considered preposterous) when the intensity of the story or interest in the characters overrides the need to believe that things are scientifically/logically correct. • The viewer accepts limitations in the story being presented, sacrifices realism, and sometimes logic and believability for the sake of enjoyment or to bring the story to a conclusion. • When we watch a film, sometimes we leave aside empirical truths to be able to enjoy it. We do not think about the general laws of physics or logic when we watch a science- fiction film. • We stop doing reality-check. We disavow logical inconsistencies, or impossibilities to be able to indulge into the story. • If we do not accept the basic suppositions existing in the filmic world, if we do not accept some fantastic suppositions, the film loses its credibility. When you watch science- fiction film, you accept that time travel is possible in that film’s world. • Breaking the Fourth Wall • The fourth wall is part of the suspension of disbelief between a fictional work and an audience. The audience will usually passively accept the presence of the fourth wall without giving it any direct thought. • The fourth wall is broken when a character addresses the audience directly so that the audience may acknowledge what is being presented is fiction. • The repetitive use of breaking the Fourth Wall technique, however, extends the world of the story to provide the illusion that the audience are included in it. • Convention is our prior experiences in regard to films, to our film viewing experience.
• A tradition, a dominant style, a popular form,
some such elements are common to several different films/artworks.
• Such common elements are called
conventions. Conventions are employed to create expectations. • Actuality: Actuality is the term for film footage of real life events, places and people. Unlike fictional films which use actors, scripted stories and artificial sets, actuality is a record of real events as they unfold. • Voice-over: The voice-over in a documentary is a commentary by the filmmaker, spoken while the camera is filming, or added to the soundtrack during the production. • Through this the filmmaker can speak directly to the viewer, offering information, explanations and opinions. • Interviews: It allows people being filmed to speak directly about events, prompted by the questions asked by the filmmaker. An interview may take place on screen, or off screen, on a different set.
• Interviews in a documentary give the viewer
a sense of realism, that the documentary maker’s views are mutually shared by another person or source, and thus more valid. • Archival footage: Archival, or stock footage, is material obtained from a film library or archive and inserted into a documentary to show historical events or to add detail without the need for additional filming. • Reconstructions: They are artificial scenes of an event which has been reconstructed and acted out on film based on information of the event. • Reconstructions are generally used in order to provide the viewer with factual information, and give the viewer a sense of realism, as if the event really happened in front of them live. • Strategies of Self-Consciousness in Husbands and Wives:
• Use of hand-held (shaky) camera work
• Jump Cuts • The mix of two types of voice over: • ---voice of an off-screen narrator • ---character voice-over • Direct Address • Strategies of Self-Reflexiveness in Husbands and Wives:
• Opening images. Gabe is watching a
documentary. We are going to see the construction of documentary-like aesthetics within a fictional framework and this very mockumentary (or pseudo documentary) itself opens with a documentary about Einstein. • The story of the book Gabe writes mirrors the film’s own subject matter. • Gabe’s final, self-reflexive words ( Can I go? Is this over? ). • Non-diegetic elements: