Film Aesthetics Research Articles

Precarity in Portuguese cinema

ABSTRACT Although perhaps not clear for someone unfamiliar with the history and the aesthetics of Portuguese cinema, the title of this paper is polysemic and thus refers to several layers of meaning. Indeed, this research will provide a historical overview and deal with precarity in two different ways that coexist and coincide in Portuguese cinema: the intra-cinematic, i.e. the representation of precarity on screen; and the extra-cinematic, i.e. the material circumstances that have characterised the Portuguese film production milieu. On the one hand, this paper will analyse the history of Portuguese films through the lens of precarity to uncover the different approaches its representation received, from the musical comedies of the 1940s to the peripheral-city dramas of the 1990s. On the other hand, we will provide an account of the evolution of the conditions in which Portuguese cinema subsisted. As this paper will argue these two situations are not entirely dissociated; the material circumstances that have determined the lifecycle of the Portuguese film production are, to a certain degree, related to the versions of precarity addressed. The point this paper proposes by bringing the topic of precarity to the fore intends to add to the literature on Portuguese cinema studies and help frame Portuguese cinema within the subarea of precarity studies.

Walter Benjamin and the Aesthetics of Film, by Daniel Mourenza

Walter Benjamin and the Aesthetics of Film, by Daniel Mourenza

Saigon as a landscape palimpsest: the hybrid identity of Saigon’s urban area in the opening period through Tran Anh Hung’s Cyclo (1995)

The film Cyclo (1995), by diasporic Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung, positions Saigon city as an endless overwriting and creation of cultural, political, and cultural currents – what I call a landscape palimpsest. In the movie, ‘Saigon’ is a site of clashing post-war traumas, modern lifestyles driven by consumerism, traditional identities, and globalisation. The superimposition of landscapes creates the city’s hybrid identity, revealing a complex and multi-faceted urban domain. Aesthetically, Cyclo also overlays the feel of ‘romantic cinema’ and the raw, documentary aesthetic of ‘everyday cinema’. Therefore, the film opens the door for the presence of contemporary, independent, everyday cinematic aesthetics. Cyclo is an intersection that can connect the cinematic and historical events of the city.

A surreal science: Guy Maddin’s Foley of the unconscious in Brand Upon the Brain! and Footsteps

In 2006, Canadian director Guy Maddin premiered a semi-autobiographical film at TIFF called Brand Upon the Brain!, which featured live Foley sound and orchestral accompaniment. Adopting the aesthetics of silent film, Maddin presents a warped version of his childhood traumas, filtered through the funhouse mirror of Sigmund Freud, Fritz Lang and the Brothers Grimm. Further emphasizing the discordances of recollection and actual event, Maddin’s theatrical presentation divorces sound from screen, reimagining the film’s soundscape (and by extension, that of his childhood) as an exaggerated live reproduction, mirroring the very process of replaying a memory. Two years after this film premiered, Maddin made a faux-documentary about the original Foley process called Footsteps (2008), which centres upon the sound artists themselves. Employing the same aesthetic conventions, this short film depicts the craft of Foley as a surreal science of the subconscious, an act of symbolic projection carried out by strange figures in lab coats. If watching and listening to these films is to be momentarily trapped inside ‘the fevered brain of Guy Maddin’, as one critic puts it, then this article sets out to interrogate the role of the sound artist in enabling and enacting such fantasies within the director’s singular psychodramas. Maddin’s foregrounding of the Foley artist is, I argue, analogous to the exhumation and display of unconscious material.

Study of Wes Anderson’s Film Tragedy from the Perspective of Tragic Aesthetics

The research object of this paper is Wes Anderson, an American independent director and author-director. Wes Anderson and his films are unique, Because his films have not only won numerous artistic awards, but also have considerable commercial value. The purpose of this article is Analyze the underlying content of the movie. This article takes the film narrative, theme and visual impression as the starting point, and analyzes the director's films, and then summarizes how Wes Anderson's films operate from the perspective of tragic aesthetics. This article uses case analysis and interdisciplinary research methods to study Wes Anderson's movies and the philosophies they contain, try to sort out the tragic aesthetic characteristics shared in his films. The paper finally summarizes the characteristics of Wes Anderson's film aesthetics and the theoretical sources of film philosophy. Wes Anderson carefully designed every detail of the film to make the audience clearly feel a sense of alienation, but also to immerse the audience into them. Wes Anderson calls his movies "very personal" because he integrates his unique insights into the philosophy of life into his works and deconstructs life from a unique perspective, allowing the audience to experience a unique style of film.

Ethnic Identity and Traces of Culture: Pema Tseden in a Centenary History of Films

Abstract As a Tibetan indie filmmaker, Pema Tseden is endowed with an ethnic advantage. In his films, he focuses on the real-life conditions of Tibetans. Observing ethnic groups through the personal perspective of the individual, he profoundly contemplates the condition of Tibetan culture in the modernized world while reflecting on China through the geographical perspective of borderland. In terms of form, Pema Tseden’s films represent the unique features of Chinese film aesthetics and poetics by adopting special Tibetan images and the implicit narrative structure of blank space.

A Comparative Study on the Aesthetics of Chinese and Russian War-themed Movies from the Perspective of Big Data

As an important component of national cinema, war-themed movies represent the strength of the national film industry and modern technology. From a historical perspective, Chinese war-themed films have been influenced by the aesthetics of Soviet cinema. This paper begins by exploring the historical origins and development of Chinese and Russian war-themed mainstream films, and conducts an aesthetic comparison from the aspects of ideological consciousness, humanistic reflection, new paradigms, and application of network big data technology. It elucidates the spiritual aspirations of Chinese and Russian war-themed films and grasps the development direction of such films in China.

The Politics of Film Aesthetics: Filmososphy, Post-Theory, and Rancière

The question of aesthetics in film-theoretical discourse today is split between, on the one hand, a film-phenomenological or “filmosophical” approach that values the putatively immanent relation between film and the mind and, on the other, the naturalizing epistemology of post-theory, which reduces the question of film aesthetics to one of poetics. What unites these otherwise disparate projects is the consideration of aesthetics divorced from the question of politics; in both cases, the social or political significance of the film–spectator relationship has been summarily purged. In this article, I will offer an alternative account of film aesthetics that draws on Jacques Rancière’s theory concerning the mutually determining relationship between aesthetics and politics. In particular, I will consider the relevance of Rancière’s thesis concerning what he calls the distribution of sensible to current accounts, as well as taking up his novel consideration of aesthetic distance and the “emancipated” spectator. With respect to film phenomenology, I will examine how its film-theoretical program rests on the flawed concept of a de-politicized spectator enchained by the film image. With respect to post-theory, I will examine how its appropriation from cognitive science of the rational agent model of meaning making inappropriately limits the political potential of film aesthetics.

Relentless Melt: visual trends and aesthetics of contemporary visual music films in Hong Kong

In recent years, a growing trend of abstract and experimental animation has emerged in Hong Kong, with an increasing number of works produced over the last two decades, particularly since around 2015. This article examines how Hong Kong artists approach abstract animation, the predominant aesthetic trends, and how these trends relate to or diverge from Western traditions in visual music, following pioneers such as Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling, Oskar Fischinger, Harry Smith and Norman McLaren. Employing content analysis, as used by Emmanouil Kanellos (2018) and textual analysis, this study investigates 95 selected works from the Relentless Melt screening series curated by Max Hattler and organized by the Hong Kong-based society Relentless Melt. By categorizing the data under two separate systems – the ‘What System’ and the ‘Where System’, as suggested by Margaret Livingstone in Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing (2002) – the analysis encompasses aspects related to the perception or recognition of objects, faces, or other properties under the ‘What System’, and the perception of motion, depth, spatial organization and figure/ground segregation under the ‘Where System’. Unlike pioneering visual music artists who largely abandoned mimetic constructions in their aesthetics, some Hong Kong artists employ various types of representational abstraction. In addition, many do not shy away from expressing concepts or narratives in their hybrid visual music works while retaining fundamental elements, such as audio-visual synchronization. This project represents an initial step towards a more systematic understanding of Hong Kong’s visual music practices, aiming to promote plurality over homogeneity by critically examining the multiple facets of artistic practice in Hong Kong. It is hoped that this study will contribute to international scholarly discourse and establish a trajectory for further exploration.

Hand painted movie stills: a study of the aesthetics of the cinematographic space in painted scenography

ABSTRACT Scenes as vivid in our cinematographic memory as Tara’s views in Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939), the oppressive sewers in the final sequence of The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949), the vistas of Rome in Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959) or the famous final shot on the beach in Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968), all place the viewer, without their awareness, in front of an image produced using the mechanism known as matte painting. It is a resource to which cinema has turned with considerable frequency over the course of its history, albeit one which has received little to no analytical attention from film studies. With a view to redressing this omission, this essay will aim to create a conceptual framework within which a rigorous analysis of this technique can be carried out in the context of film aesthetics. For this, it will be useful to start by reviewing the existing definitions of this term and proposing not one but two updated ones. This will then allow us to conceptualize this practice as a mechanism for assembling spaces, employing analytical tools used for editing in order to understand the way in which matte painting performs its unique construction of the cinematographic space.

The Influence of CG Technology on The Aesthetics of Chinese Magic Films Take The Candle in The Tomb Film Series for Example

This study aims to investigate the impact of computer-generated imagery (CG) on the aesthetic context and innovation of oriental gods and creatures in Chinese magical film footage. This study focuses on the analysis and research of CG technology in Chinese magical film lens images, as well as the aesthetic habits and aesthetic psychology of contemporary audiences towards oriental gods and creatures. This research employs a qualitative research approach because it is appropriate for examining the cultural background and aesthetic habits of Chinese magical film lens images created using CG technology, as well as the aesthetic emotions that the film evokes in its audience. This study specifically examines the aesthetic expression and breakthrough innovation of oriental gods and monsters in the CG screen effects of the film series Candle In The Tomb, as well as the operation process of Chinese magical film CG technology and its expression based on and the generative context and breakthrough innovation of oriental gods' aesthetic style. This study will provide a theory of the CG technology used to guide the visual aesthetics of Chinese fantasy films. It will benefit creators of Chinese magic films, researchers, academicians, students, and those interested in the subject's study and preservation.

A Kaleidoscope of Multisensory Perceptions in the Films of Buddhadeb Dasgupta

In the present age, digital media, particularly films have earned the reputation of successfully forging an alternative reality by offering a multisensory experience to the spectators. Playing a pivotal role in the foundation of Indian realistic cinema, the films of Buddhadeb Dasgupta have conveyed serious, hard-hitting messages through their sensory appeal. His films have been widely applauded and recognized for portraying multisensory poetry on celluloid. His iconic films like Tahader Katha (1992), Grihajuddha (1982), and Bagh Bahadur (1989) reveal the bleakest secrets of the human mind. On the other hand, films like Charachar (1993), Tope and Uro Jahaj convey a unique sense of ethereal existence through their multisensory experience. This paper attempts to analyse the multisensory film aesthetics in some selected films of Buddhadeb Dasgupta that question the cultural codes and set exemplary models of individual, social as well as environmental responsibility through its unique portrayal of multisensory experiences. This experiential perception of these films creates an alternative reality with the help of the stylistic aspects of narration. This paper also attempts to find out what purpose is served by this multisensory appeal and how it has opened new avenues and genres in the discipline of film-making.

The Virtual Vistas: Cinematic Aesthetics in the Pandemic Era

This study examines the newly formed cinematic art during the pandemic and its influence on the audience. While the people of the world were suffering in the global pandemic, some artists came up with the innovative idea to perform in the lockdown through their devices in isolation. This initiative was for entertainment and to keep the art alive to motivate people who were struggling. The purpose of this creative effort was to express the feeling of isolation and social distance through digital canvas. Artists worldwide, from different countries have experimented with this, and Indian actors have also tried this remote filming concept and given some of the master pieces. This paper contains the critical analysis of such art form assessing its impact on the audience during the pandemic. Additionally, the study also examines the challenges encountered and the sustainability of such remote filming without enough props, camera quality, music and dressing. Beyond analysing the impact of remote filming during pandemic, this paper presents the impact of conducted experiments and its indication to the implications for the future of performing arts. Technological advancements in filming techniques and digital distance performing through unconventional cinematography is worth noticing. As these innovations gain popularity while lockdowns, this research considers how they can be further improved post-lockdown to enhance audience advancement. This research sheds light on the process of such innovations and contributes to shaping the post pandemic landscape of cinema with some existing examples of experiments.

The Weather in Tsai: Slow Cinema and Slow Violence

Abstract: Recent critical thinking on anthropogenic climate change has mourned cinema’s ability to capture the slow violence of large-scale environmental degradation and foresee a future of environmental disaster that is unchecked because it remains invisible to aesthetic representation. This essay argues that the rise of slow cinema aesthetics, particularly the affective mode of anxiety that it cultivates through the chronic violence of the long take, is one aesthetic approach within contemporary cinema to mediate slow violence. This argument is developed through a close reading of Tsai Ming-liang’s film, I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (2006), paying particular attention to the representations of ambient toxicity, the exhausting forms of reproductive labor on display, and the queer forms of intimacy that are cultivated throughout.

Alfred Andersch, the Cinéma des Auteurs, and the Poetics of Screenwriting

This essay presents a little-known chapter in the film history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Alfred Andersch, founding member of Gruppe 47 and influential broadcast editor, was one of the few authors who was intensively involved with film. The essay reconstructs Andersch’s attempt to associate film and literature and thereby develop an alternative concept to the European cinéma des auteurs. To this end, the essay discusses not only Andersch’s critical writings but also a number of documents from his estate. Andersch’s film theory is evaluated in light of the contemporary literary debate on the medium. His screenplays for the adaptations of his novels Die Rote and Die Entwaffnung are used to examine the conclusions Andersch drew regarding film aesthetics in his own poetics of screenwriting. In sum, the essay reconstructs Andersch’s attempt at a literary response to the crisis of West German film around 1960.

Light and Shadow: Exploring the Aesthetics of Dune’s Visual Spectacle through Effects, Design, and Art Direction

This paper explores the profound aesthetics of light and shadow in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. Drawing upon elements of cinematography, special effects, design, and art direction, the analysis examines how the interplay of light and shadow serves as a narrative language, shaping the visual storytelling experience. The study investigates the innovative use of lighting to enhance visual effects, the impact of design elements on thematic depth, and the role of art direction in creating a visually cohesive world. Additionally, it investigates the emotional and psychological dimensions influenced by the aesthetic choices, contributing to the film’s atmospheric tone and mood. Through an examination of audience reception and critical acclaim, the paper underscores Dune’s significant contribution to the contemporary visual language of cinema. The findings suggest potential areas for further research in the dynamic field of film aesthetics.

1706 Introducing geriatrics to medical students through film

Abstract Introduction There is an urgent need to increase the workforce of geriatricians. Geriatrics is not a popular specialty amongst medical students due to limited education and training opportunities in this discipline. Nurturing positive attitudes towards ageing, and early engagement with older people and their social networks could address this challenge. Film can be creatively employed to introduce the lived experience of older generations to medical students. Methods An 8-weeks film-based educational intervention, a student-selected module (SSM) was offered by a clinical-academic geriatrician to 11 first year medical students at Brighton and Sussex Medical School to enable them: to appreciate the diversity of older people, to understand the bio-psycho-social model of ageing, to develop skills in history taking, and present a focused narrative learning from film aesthetics, and to learn how to analyse a life narrative in a non-judgemental, compassionate, and empathic manner. Over 6 weeks, students watched and discussed a selection of short films, and a feature ‘Radiator’ with its director Tom Browne, all films depicted ‘old age’. During the last 2 weeks, students delivered a short presentation on a film they choose and gave feedback on the module. Results In their presentations, students discussed short, feature, and animated films portraying successful ageing, institutionalisation, dementia, and terminal illness. Examples included ‘Ikiru’ (Japan, Akira Kurosawa, 1952), ‘Drving Miss Daisy’ (Bruce Beresford, USA, 1989), ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan, 2004), ‘Amour’ (Michael Haneke, France, 2012), ‘Echoes’ (Ben Bradbury, UK, 2018), and ‘The Father’ (Florian Zeller, UK, 2020). Students demonstrated insight into the heterogeneity of senior citizens, and the burden experienced by carers of dependent adults. The module, as a platform for interactive learning, was positively perceived by students. Conclusions Conversations with medical students around films portraying ‘old age’ could enhance the possibilities of them choosing ‘Geriatrics’ as a future career.

Oriental Punk Aesthetics and Youth Discourse Construction in Chinese Animated Films: Taking the New Gods Series of Animated Films as an Example

Although punk culture was introduced into China from the West, with the rapid development of Chinese science and technology and the enhancement of the consciousness of national discourse construction, Chinese punk culture has shown a breakthrough trend. Meanwhile, as a significant representation of youth subculture, punk culture always pays attention to youth culture's reality to convey young people's spiritual needs. With the development of the Internet, the attitude of youth has gradually changed from complete rebellion to looking out from the edge to the center, showing the tension of resistance and compromise. In this paper, the author studies Oriental punk aesthetics and youth discourse construction in Chinese animated films, and the New Gods series of animated films is taken as a case study. According to analysis, it is concluded that the New Gods series connects the punk style with national identity, finds the commonality between punk culture and the spiritual core of the films, and fits with the discourse of youth in the context of national culture, so as to construct a localized mythological space based on national historical experience and explore the mode of youth culture with Oriental punk aesthetics.

Rhythmic Vitality: Traditional Aesthetics and the Theoretical Vision of Contemporary Chinese Film Aesthetics

Abstract For Chinese films, the ideal of “rhythmic vitality” (气韵生动, Qiyun Shengdong) pursued by traditional aesthetics is of great significance. Traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy stress the pace of flowing (“similar sounds integrate”) and the rhythm of harmony (“different sounds correspond to each other”). Correspondingly, the aesthetic ideal of rhythmic vitality refers to the awareness of life produced by the cinematic medium during its evolution. However, compared with the aesthetic developments that characterize western cinema, Chinese films should not be content with its current approach, which largely disregards this particular aesthetic ideal. Rhythmic vitality originates from a unique national cosmology and methodology, beginning with the resemblances between appearances and spirit and resulting with the “primordial qi” (元气, Yuanqi) that constitutes all living creatures. It signifies the special aesthetic connection between humans and nature, whereby each are subjects of one another and in complete harmony. Arguably, this aesthetic ideal avoids the subject–object dichotomy of western thought that has prevailed since modern times. Additionally, the unique quality of cinema’s rhythmic vitality involves the use of special footage. Practically, through the use of large (small humans in wider landscape), full (the scene), far (the distance), and long-lens cameras for scenarios depicting intense emotion or conflict, cinema may render the holistic ideal of rhythmic vitality.

Artistic Alchemy: Exploring the Fusion of Art Theory and Film Aesthetics in Visual Storytelling

Artistic Alchemy: Exploring the Fusion of Art Theory and Film Aesthetics in Visual Storytelling