What is film theory and what is film literature?

A summary of views in the 1980s: classical and modern theories (around the 1920s-1970s);

Classics: express movies with traditional aesthetics, and the works are divorced from the social background. The theme of the study is-Is film art? The relationship between film and other arts;

Modernity: the integration of semiotics, psychoanalysis and Marxism: the theme of the study is-Is film a language? What is the relationship between audience and image?

Shao concluded: ※:

1 and before 1930s, it was called early film theory;

2. From 1930s to before World War II;

3. After World War II and before 1960s;

4.60 years later;

(In fact, it was a classic 60 years ago, and it is modern 60 years later)

1996, Baldwell and Carroll proposed that modern theories can be divided into two types: (see post-theory-reconstructing film research). ※

1, 60 ~ 70 years of discipline position theory; The main contents are structuralism, psychoanalysis, semiotics, feminism and ideological criticism;

2. Cultural theory since 1980s; The main contents include Frankfurt culturalism, postmodernism and cultural studies.

The above two theories are called big theories. They think that the real film theory research has only started for 30 years, that is, 60 to 90 years.

Eighty years later, they began a kind of "intermediate research" and opposed the big theory. That is, when the theory of subject status and the theory of culturalism rose, another middle-level theory appeared, insisting on learning from experience and not excluding theorization.

Conclusion: ※:

1 and 60 years ago, it was a small (low) theory with strong experience;

2, 60 to 70 years, grand theory;

3. Theory from 1980s to now;

Form colorful and distinctive film research, such as narrative film research, stylistic film research, genre film research, national film research, post-colonial film research and so on.

Second, the classic film theory

Before and after the First World War, the research on the status, characteristics and laws of film art;

Works:

In 1, 19 1 1, Kanudu's Seventh Art Manifesto demonstrated for the first time that film, as an art, is an art that transcends time and space. Seventh Art Aesthetics, Symphony of Light and Shadow.

2. 19 15, Lindsay in the United States, the art of moving pictures, takes "moving pictures" as the fundamental feature of the film.

3. 19 16 American Hugo mü nsterberg's Film: A Psychological Study explores the psychological roots, artistic features and aesthetic features of film means.

Concept:

1, "upper phase"—

It is a fashionable word eye popular in France in the 1920s, which was created by Kanudou and is an important term of the avant-garde. 1920 louis delluc discussed the artistic features of movies in the article "On the Camera" and expounded its meaning: it refers to a unique method suitable for expressing the poetic state of people or things with movies;

Visual expression: scenery, lighting, rhythm, makeup; Show your spirit by taking photos-photogenic, through the above four means. It is a characteristic concept of early movies.

2. Early Montage-

Eisenstein pointed out: Different from the stage, film directors are more subjective and can choose key realistic fragments in different time and space.

The film selects and combines these clips to concentrate the plot.

Compress the reality into something distinctive, and show the time and space after the film is compressed, reorganized and cut.

3. Early differences between Eisenstein (1898 ~ 1948) and pudovkin.

Eisenstein pays attention to conflicts, such as "juggling" and "intellectual montage". Pudovkin emphasized the role of connection.

Eisenstein believes that conflict is the feature of montage, and new representations and concepts are produced after conflict. Pudovkin emphasized consistency. He believes that montage is a scene composed of multiple shots, a paragraph composed of multiple scenes, and a part composed of multiple paragraphs. There is a clear connection between these fragments. People don't feel interrupted and jumping, and get an unintentional stimulus.

Eisenstein had a new understanding of montage in his later period:

He believes that montage should express a coherent and organized theme, plot, action, behavior, and a narrative that gives the greatest emotion. The research involves sound painting montage and color problems.

4, Curry Schouw effect-

Experiments on controlling montage expressive force.

5, variety montage-

Eisenstein summed up a principle from drama creation in 1923, that is, "juggling" constitutes an independent original factor of a performance and is the molecular unit of drama effect and any drama. Juggling and gimmicks have nothing in common. Juggling pays more attention to expressing themes and ideas.

~ is an infectious means, which brings all the factors together to convey and express ideas. Not in line with the development of the plot, or even divorced from the development of the plot, there is actually an internal connection.

Free editing together to create a purposeful theme effect. Produce a miraculous and transcendental narrative and show the true theme to be expressed.

6. Rational movies-

The concept put forward by Eisenstein in the late 1920s. He believes that the artistic purpose of movies is not only to express the truth of images, but also to express ideas, increase the expressive force of film means and increase the possibility of understanding realistic means. However, in concrete creation, this idea and creation are too advanced, and the result cannot be successful, which is denied by theorists.

For example, balaz, a Hungarian critic, pointed out that the idea that "film art conquers pure ideas" is not feasible.

Eisenstein's representative works under the guidance of this thought include October of 1927 and General Line of 1929 (old and new).

Eisenstein tried to use montage to express the process from visual image to rational understanding. He once put forward the idea of making Das Kapital into a movie in a 30-year university lecture to realize his further imagination.

He believes that rational film is the only way to overcome the disharmony between logical language and video activities. Based on the dialectical method of film, rational film is not a story and anecdote film, but a concept film, which is an intuitive embodiment of ideological system and concept system.

7. Film Ophthalmology School-

Soviet documentary director Wiltoff proposed.

1922, Lenin published the articles "Of all the arts, movies are the most important to us" and "To reflect the reality of the Soviet Union, we must start with news movies", and Wiltoff responded by establishing the magazine "Movie Pravda".

His main point of view: grab life by surprise, don't let the photographer know, and use montage technique to recombine these grabbed materials ideologically.

He applied this theory in the film "Eyes" of 1924.

He believes that the camera is a more perfect and reliable movie eye than the human eye, and opposes all means such as script, actors, lighting, scenery and makeup.

"Movie Eye" is an action in movies. Painting is not acting, facing life and reality, recording various life events with candid photos, and discovering drama in reality.

Wiltoff pays attention to editing. He thinks movies are a tool to explain the objective world.

8. "Movies as Art"

This book is divided into two parts: 1932 and 1957. The viewpoint in the book is technocratic tendency, or the image is supreme.

Einheim thinks that the technical limitation of film is the root of film as art, which is related to the background of gestalt psychology he studied. (Art and Vision)

Gestalt: The visual process is not a mechanical record of the external world, but an organized sensory material created on the principle of simplicity, regularity and balance.

Film can't perfectly reproduce the characteristics of reality, which becomes a necessary means for it as an art.

Einheim believes that the limitations of movies include:

Stereo projection on (1) plane;

(2) the sense of depth is weakened;

(3) Colorless lighting;

(4) the distance between the picture boundary and the object;

5] Temporal and spatial continuity does not exist;

[6] Without sound, all the senses except vision have lost their functions.

9. Film Aesthetics balaz-

German version was published in 1945, also known as film theory: the characteristics and growth of new art, which is a collection of two books: Visible People: Film Culture (published in 24 years) and Film Spirit (published in 30 years).

1952 published in English.

The book analyzes the differences between film and drama in the principle of formal expression, and analyzes the artistic characteristics of film.

He believes that the principle of drama expression is:

(1) See the whole performance theater;

(2) The audience sight distance remains unchanged;

(3) The audience's perspective remains unchanged;

Principle of film expression:

(1) The shot scene can be divided;

(2) The sight distance of the recorded scene is variable;

(3) It can change the depth of the audience's viewing angle and the imaginary distance between the audience and the screen.

He believes that the expression principle of the above films is a revolutionary innovation in film art.

10, camera fountain pen-

It was put forward by Astric of France in the article "The New Avant-garde-The Birth of Photography Pen" in 1948.

He believes that movies have quickly become a tool to express ideas and a good way to preserve the image of the times, and movies have gradually become a language. After mastering this language, artists can express their ideas and abstract concepts as smoothly and naturally as writing essays and novels.

Let the camera express personal thoughts freely like a pen, and modern movies have become a way of expressing thoughts as finely as written language. It provided a theoretical basis for the theory of film writers in the French film handbook in the 1950s.

1 1, film author theory-

Truffaut and others suggested that not all directors can be called "authors". A film shot with the qualification of a film author is an "author film".

The main figures of the French New Wave: Truffaut, Godard and claude chabrol.

The author's policy requires that movies, like novels, music and paintings, are the works of one person, the works of film writers-that is, the works of directors.

This theory has a wide influence. Its author qualification conditions are as follows:

(1) In many films, the director's personality and personal style are reflected, and personal things are brought into the theme. A director is not an executor.

⑵ Movies should have some intrinsic meaning, which is formed the day after tomorrow rather than existed before.

(3) The film author has complete control over the film production, and there is no distinction between director and screenwriter.

Godard, Truffaut, antonioni, Ferini, Hitchcock and others are representatives of film writers.

This theory determines the authorship of a group of American directors, and their films are author films.

The essence of the author's theory: emphasizing that the film director is the main creator and the ultimate finisher. Judgment is based on the director's control of the work.

The author's films are also called art films, as opposed to genre films.

12, bazin, kracauer's realism and objectivism supremacism-

(Contrary to Einheim's technicalism and the supremacy of pictures)

Bazin theory: ※:

Bazin's long lens theory is a non-strict summary of Bazin's views in American theoretical circles (mainly referring to Bazin's appreciation of depth-of-field lens).

# Long lens:

A single lens reaches a certain length, which is also called a single long lens. Include zoom and a long lens with depth of field.

Long lens theory and montage theory are relative theories. The long lens theory emphasizes the expressive force (connecting expressive force), movement, depth of field and zoom of a single lens.

# montage prohibition principle (belonging to Bazin's image ontology):

If the main content of an event requires two or more action elements to exist at the same time, montage is disabled. Otherwise, montage is far from the essence of the film, but a denial of it.

# The ontological standpoint (objective) and aesthetic standpoint (tendentiousness) of the long lens put forward the social background of this theory because:

(1) A series of technical developments and changes in film and lens have improved the content quality and capacity of a single lens;

⑵ Mobile phone photography is more dexterous and changeable, which greatly enriches the in-lens changes of a single lens.

The contribution of the long lens theory: It explores a new aesthetic expression and improves people's understanding of the complex composition of the internal space of the focusing plane.

# Image ontology:

It was put forward by Bazin in 1945 "Photographic Image Ontology".

He put forward the basic characteristics of the image:

Photographic images produced by mechanical action are equivalent to objective objects. The uniqueness of photographic image lies in its essential objectivity, which produces the ontology of the subject, that is, the prototype of the subject.

Theoretical basis:

(1) photography has the privilege of keeping people out;

(2) People use realistic simulators instead of external desires, that is, they exclude people and rely entirely on machinery to reproduce the original works.

The image is persuasive.

# Mummy story:

Bazin pointed out that the attempt to analyze the origin of film, sculpture and painting with the help of psychoanalysis made people have the impulse to preserve their bodies forever. The earliest statues were mummies, and sculptures and paintings became later substitutes. It also stems from the above impulses and wishes. The eternal form is used to overcome the primitive needs of the passage of time, while sculpture and painting can't meet people's wishes.

Photography really meets the needs of people to reproduce the original. Photography is to add interest to events, and it is a supplement to natural creation, not a substitute.

For the first time, the image reflects the continuation of things-changeable mummies.

# Full Movie:

Bazin expressed the language of film origin.

The fundamental reason is psychological need, which is called "the myth of a complete film". Reproduce the illusion of the external world such as sound, color and three-dimensional sense.

Kracauer theory. ※:

# "The essence of film-the restoration of material truth"

Published on 1960

Aesthetics is a kind of beauty in essence, not in form. Kracauer expounded the concept of "cinematic".

Film, essentially an extension of photography, has obvious affinity with the surrounding world. When a film records and reveals the material reality, it is a real film.

Kinship:

(1) Movies have a close affinity for things that have never been performed. It is reasonable to play a role that can arouse the illusion of reality. If it violates the characteristics of the film, any performance is non-cinematic.

(2) I like accidental things (accident: as opposed to necessity). In American mime, unexpected events replace fate, and powerful decisive forces appear. Everything is not predestined, it just happened.

(3) I like to reproduce the continuity of the outside world (similar to Bazin), everything is shot in the camera's field of vision, endlessly. Requires us to admit that this is part of the world we live in.

(4) Preference for vague things. Natural phenomena have many meanings, corresponding to the psychological infinity and spiritual infinity. The screen tends to reflect these vague things, and the meaning can't be too sure.

5] Life flows. Refers to the specific situation and the world, refers to the material phenomenon rather than the spiritual phenomenon. Streets are often mentioned because the primitive forms of life on the streets often appear, not performances, but gathering places of accidental events, and any plate is incomplete.

# Movies are not suitable for tragedy.

This is Krakow's understanding of the characteristics of film art and an extension of his basic viewpoint, pointing out that tragedy is "non-cinematic".

He thinks that there is a natural affinity between tragedy theme and stage story:

⑴ Tragic themes must be expressed in a purposeful and holistic story form, which is contrary to the characteristics of movies.

⑵ Tragedy only cares about the interaction between characters, and inanimate objects can only be props, which support and standardize the development of drama.

(3) Tragedy needs the arrangement of external things, and the environment of the stage play reflects emotions, so there is bound to be a storm in the stage play.

(4) Tragedy requires a limited and orderly world. Film is an art centered on the vast world. There is no universe in the film, only a piece of land, sky and street. In short, it is a huge material, and the ending of death has nothing in common with the huge reality of this material.

In the tragic world, fate rejects accidents and accidents.

5] Tragic content is always absent in the material world. Because the content of tragedy is a pure spiritual world.

Tragedy can appear in movies, but the tragedy of movies is not completely cinematic.

Similarities and differences between kracauer and Bazin's theoretical viewpoints. ※

Similarities: both emphasize the recording function of movies to reality;

Difference:

(1) identity is different. Kracauer is a theorist and Bazin is a critic.

(2) The system is different. Kracauer is a deductive system (theory), while Bazin is a critical system and a historical system.

(3) Different influences. Kracauer has little influence on film practice, while Bazin's influence on film practice is worldwide.

(4) The starting point is different. Kracauer's starting point is single (theory), while Bazin's starting point is complex (psychoanalysis, mummy, etc. ).

5] Krakow lacks historical consciousness, while Bazin has a strong historical consciousness.

13, Film Aesthetics and Psychology Mitri-

Divided into two volumes, published in 1953 and 1965 respectively, it is the summary and masterpiece of the classic film theory.

Mitri is in the middle of the two schools of classical theory-montage school and long lens school. There are three modes to express and stand on the film: the film is an Eindham, a window (Bazin) and a mirror (kracauer).

Mitri is called Hegel in the film, and his theory is called the end of classical film theory.

Kracauer and Bazin affirmed the realistic means of film performance, but ignored fiction.

In the imaginary signifier, Metz does not exclude the ability to copy reality, and constructs the illusion of copying reality.

14, Two Kinds of Film Theory, Henderson, USA-

Classical theoretical research materials are rich and systematic, but film materials are lacking, insufficient and incomplete. There are two main film theories:

Eisenstein and Eindham, who study the theory of the relationship between the parts and the whole of the film; The representatives are Eisenstein and pudovkin.

Kracauer and Bazin: The Theory of Studying the Relationship between Film and Reality. The representatives are Bazin and Krakow.

Eisenstein and Bazin are the most influential of these four representatives.

The book evaluates the common limitations of these two theories: only the film form is studied, the limitation is the paragraph, and the whole film does not exist.

Only Metz takes the film as a whole as the research object, from syntax to discourse.

Film literature is a multi-level compound concept. The artistic connotation refers to a new literary type developed in the process of film development and juxtaposed with traditional literary types such as drama literature. On the development road of film art, film, as a comprehensive art, has formed a close fusion relationship with literature in the process of absorbing various artistic nutrients to enrich its comprehensive characteristics. The infiltration of various literary styles into films, as well as the reference of films to literary narrative techniques, lyrical techniques and rich artistic methods of characterization, have made film art play a role in enhancing its own expressive ability and forming new comprehensive artistic characteristics. As the literary basis of film, film literature is a literary form conceived and written by the unique audio-visual thinking mode of film, which has both the dual attributes of film and literature. Film literature focuses on the basis of film script, that is, film script. The screenplay consists of three parts: literary screenplay, story board and stage screenplay (workbench screenplay and completed stage screenplay). Film literature also refers to the literary significance of film works, including the literary value of film scripts, the literary form factors borrowed and integrated in film creation, the literary personality of film scripts and so on. Film literature is also directly and often reflected in the adaptation of literary works by films.