What Is Cinema? The creative process of

1958, the first volume of essays by French film theorist andre bazan came out. This anthology is planned to be published in four volumes, entitled "What is a movie? ? Bazin said in the preface: "This title doesn't mean to promise readers ready-made answers, it's just a question the author asks himself in the whole book." After Bazin died this year, this anthology was finally published in 1962 with the help of friends. The main articles were selected from this four-volume anthology and condensed into one volume, which is the popular "What is a movie? 》。

Bazin is a film theorist and film philosopher. He studied the essence of photographic images and movies from the perspective of philosophical ontology and gained the reputation of "Aristotle of movies". What Is Cinema? It is also known as "the Bible of movies". Adhering to the concepts of realism and humanitarianism, Bazin believes that the potential feature of photography aesthetics lies in revealing the truth, and it is very important for movies to love people.

Bazin's ideal film is Italian neo-realism, but his concept of film is open, and he thinks that with the progress of technology, the forms of film will become colorful. When audio movies appeared, some people held the homesickness mentality and thought that silent movies were perfect, but Bazin thought that dialogue and sound effects enhanced the sense of reality and made the performance style more perfect. When the color film appeared, Bazin affirmed the expressive force of color; While many directors complain about widescreen, Bazin also emphasizes that widescreen helps to maintain the continuity of time and space and make the vision more realistic.