Film Style Research Articles

Horror after Elevated: A Study of the Film Style of Ari Aster

American director Ari Aster is a representative director of the emerging horror genre of elevated horror, and his three feature films have revolutionized the language of the horror genre and gained great reputation in the industry and among fans. Through analyzing the three feature films and eight short films directed by him, from the two levels of aesthetic style and thematic expression respectively. It explains the spatial narration, mise-en-scène, the use of lens, and the use of sound present in the works of Ari Aster, and points out the thematic ideas of Ari Aster's works about pathological family relationships and the psychological dilemmas of the characters.

Research on the History of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Film Creation

As a leading figure in Taiwan’s “new film movement”, Hou Hsiao-hsien perfectly integrated the Western author’s film art tradition since the Italian neorealist film with the aesthetic purview of traditional Chinese culture and created the Chinese author’s film style. Hou Hsiao-hsien’s film works are very rational and connotation, with a strong documentary style and a sense of social distress, full of local flavor, and containing concern for Taiwan society. The film works have distinct personality and unique style, creating “Hou’s” artistic style through the lens language. This article will analyze Hou Hsiao-hsien’s film creation history from two aspects: the theme change and film style characteristics.

Mykola Shpykovskyi and the visual style of late VUFKU films

ABSTRACT This essay focuses on an editing strategy repeatedly found in Mykola Shpykovskyi’s films The Self-Seeker (Shkurnyk, 1929) and Bread (Khlib, 1929) that relies on limited camera set-ups and axial cutting. The aim of this analysis is to situate these films and Shpykovskyi in relationship to the stylistic influence of late silent-era films both within the Soviet Union and across Western Europe – a consideration of how Soviet montage aesthetics were appropriated in Soviet films overall. The intention is to begin making a case for how late silent Ukrainian cinema can be considered a national cinema – distinctive not only in terms of its content and themes but also by virtue of its stylistic norms.

‘I Like Just to be Me’: Women’s Work and Cadbury’s Flake Television Advertising

Academic scholarship on the representation of women in British screen advertising from 1955 onwards has focused on issues related to the housewife, domestic labour and gender stereotypes. Taking Cadbury’s advertising for its chocolate bar Flake as a case study, this article asks whether the hypersexualisation attributed to the late twentieth century television commercials was inherent in the brand’s first television campaign of the 1950s. It finds that it was not, and the sexualisation of the ‘Flake girl’ arose both from the development in the late 1960s of a cluster of production companies and directors in London emulating American film styles, and from the merger of Cadbury with Schweppes in 1969. The article examines representations of women’s work in the early chocolate television commercials of both the Quaker companies Rowntree and Cadbury, and finds that, contrary to popular assumption, they offered representations of female identity and value aligned to the early advocates of women’s rights, economic independence, and freedom from domestic labour.

Transcending Transcendence in Jim Jarmusch's Paterson

Abstract Building on Paul Schrader's thesis in Transcendental Style in Film that immanence and transcendence clash, this article explores a departure from this binary in Jim Jarmusch's 2016 film, Paterson. Although Paterson follows the formula of transcendental cinema, it lacks Schrader's prerequisite “Decisive Moments” for transcendence. I contend that films can evoke transcendence without distinct release moments, as exemplified by Paterson. To support this, Paterson is contrasted with Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 masterpiece, Tokyo Story, identified by Schrader as quintessentially transcendental and a key influence on Jarmusch. Introducing the concept of “immanent transcendence” to describe Paterson's unique position, I argue that transcendence and immanence can coexist. I challenge traditional notions of transcendental cinema, shedding light on cinematic experiences that bridge immanence and transcendence.

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.

Evaluating Vision-Language Models on the TriangleCOPA Benchmark

The TriangleCOPA benchmark consists of 100 textual questions with videos depicting the movements of simple shapes in the style of the classic social-psychology film created by Fritz Heider and Marianne Simmel in 1944. In our experiments, we investigate the performance of current vision-language models on this challenging benchmark, assessing the capability of these models for visual anthropomorphism and abstract interpretation.

AUTHOR`S APPROACHES TO DEPICTING THE PROTAGONIST`S CHARACTER THROUGH THE PRINCIPLES OF EXPOSITION IN FEATURE FILMS

The article examines the author's approaches to the construction of drama used in the presentation of plot events in the first act of feature films. The main subject of the study is the principles of building exposition in feature films as an author's approach to portraying the protagonist's character. The purpose of the study is to outline the approaches to the construction of the first act of a feature film according to the degree of authenticity of the protagonist's character portrayed by the author. The research methodology is based on the search method (for collecting information on the chosen topic), the deductive method (for identifying certain stylistic features of films and principles of the first act), the comparative method (for identifying the peculiarities of the author's methods of constructing expositions) and the method of generalisation (for writing conclusions). The results and conclusions of the work are the allocation of approaches to the construction of the exposition (first act) depending on the degree of naturalism of the protagonist's character. The author's desire to build the exposition depending on the catalyst problem narrows the range of manifestations of the protagonist's individual characteristics, which creates a certain "artificiality" of the character. In contrast to this approach, authors build characters through the depiction of the protagonist's relationships with other characters or through a detailed depiction of the protagonists' circumstances. These conclusions help to outline an approach to building a naturalistic protagonist character in the first act (exposition) of a feature film and its further development throughout the story.Key words: first act, exposition, feature film style, protagonist character, drama.

Study on the Spatial Narrative of Li Changdong's Green Film "Trilogy"

Space is one of the important areas of film industry research. It is not only an important medium to simply understand the relationship between film and social reality, but also an important channel to read artists' thoughts and analyze what artists want to express and how to express them. South Korean director Lee Chang-dong is known as the "poet who asks for life" and his unique spatial awareness builds a personal influence vein full of writing. The space in Lee Chang-dong's films not only records the growth of individuals and the changes of cities, but also becomes a place where various powers compete with each other, showing the painful memories of the oppression of individuals by The Times.First of all, the paper divides the film space of Li Changdong into visual narrative space and auditory supplementary narrative space. By studying different spatial characteristics and presentation ways, it brings people's thinking behind it. Secondly, starting from the narrative function of the film, this paper studies how the space successfully participates in the narrative and becomes the narrative driving force of the film, thus affecting the narrative structure of the film and participating in the character modeling in the film. Thirdly, through some artistic languages such as sound and color, an orderly space environment is created. Finally, the paper combines the realistic point of view to study the unique spatial consciousness of director Li Changdong from his own point of view to analyze the significance behind the spatial narrative.In this paper, the spatial types, narrative functions, narrative techniques and the meaning behind Li Changdong's films are studied. Through the study of spatial narrative, I want to understand the film style and main ideas of director Li Changdong, and understand personal survival mode and living soil behind it through the entry point of space.

Analysis of the Unique Styles of Chaplin’s Films in the 1920s-1930s

Charles Chaplin is recognised as a master of comedy, and his unique film style is widely discussed. However, the formation of his style went through a long process. This article uses the documentary research method to gather and review relevant information on the two films, “City Lights” and “Modern Times”, analyse Chaplin’s unique film styles of the 1920s-1930s, and examine the sources of these styles. This article concludes that his films in the 1920s-1930s formed a mixed story style of sorrow and joy, contained themes with personal views, and expanded visual styles for the theme. Chaplin’s unique styles come from subjective personal experiences, caring attitudes towards society, and the objective impact of the development of film technology at that time.

Transmutation of the Narrative Discourse and Artistic Style of Chinese Tibetan Films in the New Era

Transmutation of the Narrative Discourse and Artistic Style of Chinese Tibetan Films in the New Era

Genre loss and narrative dilemma: Comparative analysis of the Chinese and Korean versions of the film Door Lock

The two versions of the Chinese and South Korean films "Door Lock" are both realistic suspense films. The two films use audio-visual means to describe the problem of women living alone, highlighting the plight of women being watched and the dangerous situation that they cannot escape. By carefully disassembling the mirror language and narrative techniques of the two films, this paper focuses on thinking about the elements that determine the form and style of the suspense film, discusses the genre style shaping of the film from the mirror image, explores the narrative motivation from the character design, and considers the realistic expression of the film from the social background.

Cooking the Cosmic Soup: Vincent Moon's Altered States of Live Cinema

The films and live cinema of Vincent Moon are considered in this chapter as ‘psychedelic’: a form of filmmaking and film performances that can open the doors of perception to invisible realms of percepts, affects and durations that are beyond or below ordinary human perception. According to Paul Schrader, films can evoke such spiritual dimensions, in particular through what he called the transcendental style of film, and what Gilles Deleuze termed the time-image. As an audio-visual ethnographer of world religions who is distinctly influenced by shamanic and animistic traditions, Moon brings the transcendental style back to its plane of immanence. His live cinema performances have a ritualistic and ecstatic aspect that recalls the esoteric history of haunted media. Moon's enthralling film performances induce altered states of mind, tap into spiritual realities and immerse the audience in magic.

The Evolution of Chinese Cinema in the New Century: From Martial Arts Classics to New Mainstream Blockbusters

This study explores the evolution of the new century film from martial arts to the new mainstream film blockbuster era. Firstly, the article reviews the heyday of martial arts films and their influence on film industry and culture. Then, it studies the transformation and evolution of martial arts films in the new century and the background of the rise of new mainstream films in this period. Subsequently, the article analyzes the characteristics and value orientation of the new mainstream blockbuster, as well as the fusion and difference between martial arts and the new mainstream. Furthermore, the audience and market performance of the two film styles and the influence of technological progress on martial arts and new mainstream films are studied. Finally, the article discusses the roles and challenges of directors and producers in the transformation of film style. This research reveals the evolution and diversification of the film industry in the new century, as well as the interaction and development between different film genres.

Sisworo Gautama Putra’s Primitives and the paradox of savagery

This article discusses the lone outlier associated with the cannibal boom of European exploitation films in the 1970s and 1980s – with the main point of diversion being that Sisworo Gautama Putra’s film is an Indonesian production rather than the typical Italian fare. Being an Asian film that emulates the traditionally European style of cannibal film, Primitives opens a larger discussion about the role of the theoretical savage and the implications thereof, put in place by ghosts of imperialism and cinematic mimicry. The author explores these concepts with psychoanalytic input, opting to unpack the rationality behind an Indonesian film following the same imperialist notions utilized by the preceding Italian directors, which ultimately results in a subdivision of the artificial–natural dichotomy: the meta-natural.

The Influence of the Style of Superhero Film Series on Its Development --- Taking the Batman Series as an Example

Superhero-themed films have exploded in popularity in the film business in the year 2023. Superheroes are the primary subject of American comic books and the protagonists of fantasy works. Many comic book heroes have been adapted for the big screen, and different characters require varying degrees of adaptation of their source material in order to be presented to the public on the big screen. In the process of adaptation, the decision to adapt their style impacts the tone and direction of the film, as well as the plot. This research will examine the relationship between the style of each film in the Batman series, box office performance, and word-of-mouth to determine the effect of the style of different superhero films on their own evolution.

Research on the Symbolic Expression of Film Visual Art Directed by Chinese Director Zhang Yimou

As the leader of the fifth generation of directors in China, Zhang Yimou leads Chinese films to the world in the new era. He is an outstanding representative of Asian films and a world-renowned film master. This paper takes visual art as the tool and mainly studies the symbolic expression of Zhang Yimous film. The research allow readers to access the Chinese classic film symbol and Zhang Yimous personal characteristic film symbol by analogy Zhangs several films. Through the online research on Douban and Zhihu, the author made a brief appreciation of the visual language features of Zhang Yimous two films To Live and Red Sorghum with the highest score and voice.The author makes some discussions on the composition characteristics, techniques and creation style of Zhang Yimou's films. On the one hand, the author believes that Zhang Yimou and his films are deeply influenced by the structure of traditional Chinese aesthetics. Zhangs film not only display grand Chinese aesthetics in the structure of the picture, but also intersperse many unique Chinese meanings in the film. From the creative technique, Zhang is good at using scenes to foil atmosphere and allude to the characters fate. On the other hand, Zhang Yimous typical male chauvinist creation style is reflected in many aspects of his film, such as female stereotypes, improper male gaze.

Laughing Mechanism and Social Value of Chinese Black Comedy Films——From the Perspective of Bergson's Comedy Theory

This article aims to explore the mechanism of laughter and social functions of Chinese black comedy films from the perspective of Bergson's comedy theory. As a popular comedy subgenre in the Chinese film market, black comedy films combine dark and absurd tragic themes with comedy forms to form a unique film style. By using Bergson's comedy theory, while analyzing the comedy and the production mechanism of laughter in Chinese black comedy films, it also analyzes the social functions and cultural values of black comedy films, and explains how to use universal comedy techniques to empower them Black themes are accepted by the current Chinese society, providing some useful ideas and perspectives for further understanding of the creation and appreciation of Chinese black comedy films.

The Rise of the Ljubljana School of Documentary Film at TV Ljubljana (1981–1990) and the Transformation of the Documentary

The article discusses a specific period of the production of the documentary genre at TV Ljubljana, known as the period of the Ljubljana School of Documentary Film (1981­1990). The focus of this research is predominantly the conditions and limitations of production, under which documentary films and practices, as well as the routines of the creators, were created, to analyse how production practices were reflected in the form and style of documentary films. The documentary films of this period began to move away from news coverage with current political content and the explanatory mode of representation, and moved towards the participatory and observatory modes of representation. The routines and practices became more professional. In particular, journalists began writing scripts and collaborating with talented directors from AGRFT (Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television). Despite financial and production limitations, which placed numerous bureaucratic tasks into the creative process, and the self-censorship of creators, under the leadership of editor Drago Pečko and with the collaboration of directors, numerous authorial documentary films were made that were recognized in the Yugoslav space. Owing to the changed circumstances of the media, the management of public television saw the direction of the development of the medium after 1990 tend towards entertainment programmes, which meant that the documentary began losing its former importance in the name of ratings and advertising revenues.

Dividual Film Aesthetics

The term “dividual” aims to present a critical view of the Western conception of persons and artworks as individuals. It is used in Euro-American anthropology in order to analyze the practical and ethical interferences between single persons and communities mainly in non-Western cultures. It is also used by Gilles Deleuze in Cinema 1. The Movement-Image in order to describe the aesthetic and self-affective character of films: since the filmic images cannot be temporarily fixed and individualized, he calls them “dividual”, much like contemporary plurivocal musical compositions. He reads their articulations as transitions between temporarily varying semiotic combinations; thus, they are not “‘divisible or indivisible’, but ‘dividual.’”(14) Referring to this Deleuzian concept, I want to delve into different films under this aesthetic perspective, exposing their character of mutual allusions and formal adaptations: from a docufiction by Jean Rouch to feature films by Jean-Luc Godard, Med Hondo and Jean-Pierre Bekolo. These films dividuate themselves due to their aesthetic interferences and the curious observation that certain European film styles were “invented” in an African context.