Understanding Meaning, Mood & Message
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3.2 Bullet Time and the Mediation of Post-Cinematic Temporality
3.2 Bullet Time and the Mediation of Post-Cinematic Temporality BY ANDREAS SUDMANN I’ve watched you, Neo. You do not use a computer like a tool. You use it like it was part of yourself. —Morpheus in The Matrix Digital computers, these universal machines, are everywhere; virtually ubiquitous, they surround us, and they do so all the time. They are even inside our bodies. They have become so familiar and so deeply connected to us that we no longer seem to be aware of their presence (apart from moments of interruption, dysfunction—or, in short, events). Without a doubt, computers have become crucial actants in determining our situation. But even when we pay conscious attention to them, we necessarily overlook the procedural (and temporal) operations most central to computation, as these take place at speeds we cannot cognitively capture. How, then, can we describe the affective and temporal experience of digital media, whose algorithmic processes elude conscious thought and yet form the (im)material conditions of much of our life today? In order to address this question, this chapter examines several examples of digital media works (films, games) that can serve as central mediators of the shift to a properly post-cinematic regime, focusing particularly on the aesthetic dimensions of the popular and transmedial “bullet time” effect. Looking primarily at the first Matrix film | 1 3.2 Bullet Time and the Mediation of Post-Cinematic Temporality (1999), as well as digital games like the Max Payne series (2001; 2003; 2012), I seek to explore how the use of bullet time serves to highlight the medial transformation of temporality and affect that takes place with the advent of the digital—how it establishes an alternative configuration of perception and agency, perhaps unprecedented in the cinematic age that was dominated by what Deleuze has called the “movement-image.”[1] 1. -
(Literary) Special Effect: (Inter)Mediality in the Contemporary US-American Novel and the Digital Age
The (Literary) Special Effect: (Inter)Mediality in the Contemporary US-American Novel and the Digital Age Dissertation zur Erlangung des philosophischen Doktorgrades an der Philosophischen Fakultät der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen vorgelegt von Bogna Kazur aus Lodz, Polen Göttingen 2018 Contents 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3 2 The Question of Medium Specificity in the Digital Age .................................................. 29 3 House of Leaves (2000) and the Uncanny Dawn of the Digital........................................ 39 3.1 Digital Paranoia: Arriving on Ash Tree Lane ........................................................... 39 3.2 Writing about House of Leaves ................................................................................. 43 3.3 Intermedial Overabundance: Taming House of Leaves ............................................. 49 3.4 An “Explicit” Approach to the Digital Age ............................................................... 54 3.5 What Kind of Movie is THE NAVIDSON RECORD? ..................................................... 68 4 In the Midst of the Post-Cinematic Age: Marisha Pessl’s Night Film (2013) .................. 88 4.1 Meant for Adaptation: Night Film and the Fallacy of First Impressions ................... 88 4.2 The Post-Cinematic Reception of Film ..................................................................... 96 4.3 The Last Enigma: Cordova’s Underworld .............................................................. -
Brief History of Special/Visual Effects in Film
Brief History of Special/Visual Effects in Film Early years, 1890s. • Birth of cinema -- 1895, Paris, Lumiere brothers. Cinematographe. • Earlier, 1890, W.K.L .Dickson, assistant to Edison, developed Kinetograph. • One of these films included the world’s first known special effect shot, The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, by Alfred Clarke, 1895. Georges Melies • Father of Special Effects • Son of boot-maker, purchased Theatre Robert-Houdin in Paris, produced stage illusions and such as Magic Lantern shows. • Witnessed one of first Lumiere shows, and within three months purchased a device for use with Edison’s Kinetoscope, and developed his own prototype camera. • Produced one-shot films, moving versions of earlier shows, accidentally discovering “stop-action” for himself. • Soon using stop-action, double exposure, fast and slow motion, dissolves, and perspective tricks. Georges Melies • Cinderella, 1899, stop-action turns pumpkin into stage coach and rags into a gown. • Indian Rubber Head, 1902, uses split- screen by masking areas of film and exposing again, “exploding” his own head. • A Trip to the Moon, 1902, based on Verne and Wells -- 21 minute epic, trompe l’oeil, perspective shifts, and other tricks to tell story of Victorian explorers visiting the moon. • Ten-year run as best-known filmmaker, but surpassed by others such as D.W. Griffith and bankrupted by WW I. Other Effects Pioneers, early 1900s. • Robert W. Paul -- copied Edison’s projector and built his own camera and projection system to sell in England. Produced films to sell systems, such as The Haunted Curiosity Shop (1901) and The ? Motorist (1906). -
Uk / 2018 / 1.66 / 5.1
HIGH LIFE 110 min / Germany – France – USA – Poland – UK / 2018 / 1.66 / 5.1 EVA DIEDERIX [email protected] SILVIA SIMONUTTI [email protected] FANNY BEAUVILLE [email protected] OLPHA BEN SALAH [email protected] PHOTOS AND PRESS KIT CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM https://www.wildbunch.biz/movie/high-life/ Deep space. Monte and his daughter Willow live together aboard a spacecraft, in complete isolation. A man whose strict self-discipline is a shield against desire, Monte fathered her against his will. His sperm was used to inseminate the young woman who gave birth to her. They were members of a crew of prisoners – death row inmates. Guinea pigs sent on a mission. Now only Monte and Willow remain. Through his daughter, he experiences the birth of an all-powerful love. Together, father and daughter approach their destination – the black hole in which time and space cease to exist. How did High Life come about? A while back, an English producer asked me if I wanted to participate in a collection of films called Femmes Fatales. At first, I wasn’t that interested, but after thinking it over, I agreed. The project took ages to get off the ground. There was no money. It took 6 or 7 years to hammer out a coproduction: France, Germany, Poland and eventually America. During that time, I went to England and the States to meet with actors. The actor I dreamed of for the lead role of Monte was Philip Seymour Hoffman, because of his age, his weariness – but he died mid- route. -
Reality & Effect: a Cultural History of Visual Effects
Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Communication Dissertations Department of Communication 5-3-2007 Reality & Effect: A Cultural History of Visual Effects Jae Hyung Ryu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Ryu, Jae Hyung, "Reality & Effect: A Cultural History of Visual Effects." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2007. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss/13 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Communication at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REALITY & EFFECT: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF VISUAL EFFECTS by JAE HYUNG RYU Under the Direction of Ted Friedman ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation is to chart how the development of visual effects has changed popular cinema’s vision of the real, producing the powerful reality effect. My investigation of the history of visual effects studies not only the industrial and economic context of visual effects, but also the aesthetic characteristics of the reality effect. In terms of methodology, this study employs a theoretical discourse which compares the parallels between visual effects and the discourse of modernity/postmodernity, utilizing close textual analysis to understand the symptomatic meanings of key texts. The transition in the techniques and meanings of creating visual effects reflects the cultural transformation from modernism to postmodernism. Visual effects have developed by adapting to the structural transformation of production systems and with the advance of technology. -
Lithuanian Cinema Special Edition for Lithuanian Film Days in Poland 2015 Lithuanian Cinema Special Edition for Lithuanian Film Days in Poland 2015 Content
Lithuanian Cinema Special Edition for Lithuanian Film Days in Poland 2015 Lithuanian Cinema Special Edition for Lithuanian Film Days in Poland 2015 Content Introduction 5 Lithuania and Poland. Neighbourship in Filmic Form in the Cinema of the 1960s 6 A Short Review of Lithuanian Cinema 12 Feature Film after 1990: Generation Change, New Aspects and Challenges 18 Raimundas Banionis: Film Plots Dictated by Reality 22 Algimantas Puipa: My Work Starts Where the Novel Ends 26 Gytis Lukšas: I Measure My Life in Films 30 Valdas Navasaitis: Everything Is a Private Matter 34 Audrius Juzėnas: Evil Is Not an Abstraction; It Influences Our Destinies 38 Kristijonas Vildžiūnas: Finding Historical Truths 42 Kristina Buožytė: Film Is the Door to a Specific World 46 Ignas Jonynas: I Belong to a Generation Very Rich with Experience 48 Šarūnas Bartas’ Films 52 Šarūnas Bartas: The Philosopher of Lithuanian Cinema 54 Jonas Mekas’ Diary Films 60 Documentary Film after 1990 64 Audrius Stonys: Showing the Invisible 70 Arūnas Matelis: Films Emerge from Sensations 74 Janina Lapinskaitė: Heroes Carry Their Sadness Along with Them 78 Julija and Rimantas Gruodis: We Are Trying to Walk on the Bright Side of Life 82 Giedrė Žickytė: Film Is an Emotion 86 Index 89 Introduction ver the past decade, Lithuanian cinema of Lithuanian filmmakers is also pursuing new has experienced a period of intense opportunities and original forms of expression. change. The production of films in Films by such female film directors as Alantė OLithuania has been on the increase, as has the Kavaitė, Kristina Buožytė and Giedrė Žickytė audience’s interest in films produced domestically. -
Ways of Expression: the Impact of Vfx Technology on Modern Storytelling in Film and Interactive Media Production
WAYS OF EXPRESSION: THE IMPACT OF VFX TECHNOLOGY ON MODERN STORYTELLING IN FILM AND INTERACTIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION. RAFAL HANZL The Norwegian Film School, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences - 2019 https://goo.gl/YpAe1A 1 CONTENTS VFX as a versatile tool .......................................................................... 3 The newly coined nomenclature .............................................................. 6 Inductive storytelling analysis ................................................................. 9 Telling stories in another dimension......................................................... 25 The golden ratio of progress .................................................................. 41 Looking to the future ........................................................................... 49 References ....................................................................................... 51 2 VFX AS A VERSATILE TOOL In the past decade digital technology has become inherently involved in almost every artistic creation. Artists use computers at various stages of creation, employing them for diverse tasks. Even if the final work is not directly connected with digital technology, various software can be used to communicate with other artists or collaborators, organize the creative process, gather resources, or publish the artistic outcomes. Many professionals have had to reinvent the way they work or to convert to a completely different specialization. Their methods of seeking inspiration and developing a concept -
Brief History of Special Effects in Film Early Years, 1890S
Digital Special Effects 475/492 Fall 2006 Brief History of Special Effects in Film Early years, 1890s. • Birth of cinema -- 1895, Paris, Lumiere brothers. Cinematographe. • Earlier, 1890, W.K.L .Dickson, assistant to Edison, developed Kinetograph. • One of these films included the world’s first known special effect shot, The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, by Alfred Clarke, 1895. Georges Melies • Father of Special Effects • Son of boot-maker, purchased Theatre Robert-Houdin in Paris, produced stage illusions and such as Magic Lantern shows. • Witnessed one of first Lumiere shows, and within three months purchased a device for use with Edison’s Kinetoscope, and developed his own prototype camera. • Produced one-shot films, moving versions of earlier shows, accidentally discovering “stop-action” for himself. • Soon using stop-action, double exposure, fast and slow motion, dissolves, and perspective tricks. Georges Melies • Cinderella, 1899, stop-action turns pumpkin into stage coach and rags into a gown. • Indian Rubber Head, 1902, uses split-screen by masking areas of film and exposing again, “exploding” his own head. • A Trip to the Moon, 1902, based on Verne and Wells -- 21 minute epic, trompe l’oeil, perspective shifts, and other tricks to tell story of Victorian explorers visiting the moon. • Ten-year run as best-known filmmaker, but surpassed by others such as D.W. Griffith and bankrupted by WW I. Other Effects Pioneers, early 1900s. • Robert W. Paul -- copied Edison’s projector and built his own camera and projection system to sell in England. Produced films to sell systems, such as The Haunted Curiosity Shop (1901) and The ? Motorist (1906). -
Special Effects and the Fantastic Transmedia Franchise Book Author(S): Bob Rehak Published By: NYU Press
NYU Press Chapter Title: Introduction: Seeing Past the State of the Art Book Title: More Than Meets the Eye Book Subtitle: Special Effects and the Fantastic Transmedia Franchise Book Author(s): Bob Rehak Published by: NYU Press. (2018) Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvf3w4fp.3 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms NYU Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to More Than Meets the Eye This content downloaded from 130.58.34.230 on Tue, 14 Apr 2020 20:20:18 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Introduction Seeing Past the State of the Art At first glance, the relationship between special effects and contempo- rary Hollywood blockbusters might seem so straightforward as to go without saying. As of 2017, the top ten movies enjoying domestic U.S. grosses in the $500 million to $1 billion range were all pointedly spec- tacular productions, such as the dinosaur theme- park adventure Jurassic World (Colin Trevorrow, 2015) and Christopher Nolan’s IMAX Batman epic The Dark Knight (2007); spots two and three belonged to Avatar (2009) and Titanic (1997), brainchildren of writer- director James Cam- eron, a “technological auteur” renowned for his cutting- edge use of visual effects technologies;1 and two others, The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (Joss Whedon, 2015), assembled teams of amazing superheroes to combat world- destroying villains. -
The Director's Method in Contemporary Visual Effects Film
The Director’s Method in Contemporary Visual Effects Film: The Influence of Digital Effects on Film Directing Gianluca Balla PhD University of York Theatre, Film and Television September 2016 Abstract The director’ s method – meant as the organisation of the filmmaking process – is usually characterised by common procedures such as work on the script, shot design and the actors’ performance. For films involving a large-scale use of digital effects, directors consistently approach such procedures with a particular attitude dictated by the digital pipeline, the step-by- step technical procedure through which computer-generated images are created. In light of this, the use of digital effects might influence the director’s method. This thesis aims to define what is considered to be a consensual methodological approach to direct films with no or few digital effects and then compares this approach to when such effects are conspicuously involved. This analysis is conducted through interviews with working directors, visual effects companies and practitioners, and integrated with the current literature. The frame of the research is represented by a large spectrum of contemporary films produced in western countries and which involve digital effects at different scales and complexity but always in interaction with live-action. The research focuses on commercial films and excludes computer-animated and experimental films. The research is intended to address an area in production studies which is overlooked. In fact, although the existent literature examines both digital effects and film directing as distinct elements, there is to date no detailed analysis on the influence that the former has on the latter. -
A Comprehensive Study on the Marketing Factors of the Recent Bengali Films Considering Indian Movie Industry
IJFMS Volume 1, Issue 1, May 2014 ISSN 2349-2309 © Blue Square Publishing House A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON THE MARKETING FACTORS OF THE RECENT BENGALI FILMS CONSIDERING INDIAN MOVIE INDUSTRY Mr. Jyotirmoy Mazumder, Head,Department of BBA (H), Tarakeswar Degree College, West Bengal, India ======================================================= ABSTRACT Bollywood or Tollywood, both use marketing tools for various promotional factors in film business. Hindi movies have gone global with higher gross income, whereas South Indian films have also reached some clusters to grow business. Various genre films have been produced in top six local language films, except Hindi. Distribution has gone digital, along with increase in multiplex, but unfortunate decrease in single screens pan India. Bengali cinema gained some budget & marketing expenditure to boost its business, increasing the gross income, but far behind from even South Indian film success. Hence, various film promotion techniques are used with increase in audience research, where Word of Mouth plays as a major tool across all demographic levels. Keywords: Marketing, Strategy, Film promotion, language film, genre, film industry, single screen, multiplex, research, brand, Word of Mouth. ================================================= 10 IJFMS Volume 1, Issue 1, May 2014 ISSN 2349-2309 © Blue Square Publishing House Introduction The Journal of the Bengal Motion Pictures Association had coined the word, Tollywood - way back in the thirties- to describe a certain kind of „progressive‟ (read „Westernised‟) cinema produced by Calcutta‟s Tollygunge Studios (Derek Bose 2005). The film industry based in Kolkata, West Bengal, is sometimes referred as "Tollywood", a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge, a neighbourhood of Calcutta where most of the Bengali film studios are located, and Hollywood. -
MANIPULATING TIME and SPACE © A.M.P.A.S.®
MANIPULATING TIME and SPACE © A.M.P.A.S.® Teachers Resource Guide FILM EDITING: Youth Media International Ltd. Program Components 1. This instructional guide Dear Educator: 2. Four student activity masters 3. A wall poster for classroom display outh Media International, in cooperation with 4. A response card for teacher comments Y the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and arget Audience Sciences, is proud to present the third in a series of T study guides that focus on the different branches of This program has been designed for students in sec- the Academy. In this guide, students will learn about ondary school English, language arts, visual arts and film editing—one of the many craft areas involved in communications courses. creating a motion picture.The kit has been designed Program Objectives for students in secondary school English, language arts, visual arts and communications courses.The 1. To encourage students to use critical thinking as they activities have been developed to capitalize on stu- learn how film editing contributes to the meaning of dents’ natural interest in current films and the a film. excitement generated by the Academy 2. To engage students in an exploration of film as a Awards® to teach valuable lessons in critical thinking medium of communication. and to develop visual literacy skills. 3. To help students become more visually literate. The Academy, organized in 1927, is a pro- 4. To enhance student interest fessional honorary organization composed of in and knowledge about more than 6,000 motion picture craftsmen motion picture development, and women. Its purposes include advancing the production process and the art and science of motion pictures; its history.