Theory Of Film

INTRODUCTION 1. Photography = 3 HISTORICAL SURVEY = 4 Early view and trends = 4 Current views and trends = 8 SYSTEMATIC CONSIDERATIONS = 12 The basic aesthetic principle = 12 The photographic approach = 13 Affinities = 18 Appeals = 21 The issue of art = 22 I. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 2. Basic Concepts = 27 PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIUM = 28 THE TWO MAIN TENDENCIES = 30 Lumière and Méliès = 30 The realistic tendency = 33 The formative tendency = 35 Clashes between the two tendencies = 36 THE CINEMATIC APPROACH = 37 THE ISSUE OF ART = 39 3. The Establishment of Physical Existence = 41 RECORDING FUNCTIONS = 41 Movement = 41 Inanimate objects = 45 REVEALING FUNCTIONS = 46 Things normally unseen = 46 Phenomena overwhelming consciousness = 57 Special modes of reality = 58 4. Inherent Affinities = 60 THE UNSTAGED = 60 THE FORTUITOUS = 62 ENDLESSNESS = 63 24 consecutive hours = 63 Routes of passage = 64 THE INDETERMINATE = 68 Psychophysical correspondences = 68 A basic editing principle = 69 THE "FLOW OF LIFE" = 71 Once again the street = 72 Stage interludes = 73 II. AREAS AND ELEMENTS 5. History and Fantasy = 77 HISTORY = 77 Difficulties = 77 Compromises = 79 FANTASY = 82 Scheme of analysis = 83 Fantasy established in a stagy manner = 84 Fantasy established by means of cinematic devices = 87 Fantasy established in terms of physical reality = 90 6. Remarks on the Actor = 93 QUALITIES = 93 Emphasis on being = 94 Casualness = 95 Physique = 95 FUNCTIONS = 96 Object among objects = 97 TYPES = 98 The non-actor = 98 The Hollywood star = 99 The professional actor = 100 7. Dialogue and Sound = 102 INTRODUCTION = 102 Early misgivings = 102 Basic requirement = 103 DIALOGUE = 104 The role of the spoken word = 104 Manner of synchronization = 111 SOUND PROPER = 124 About the nature of sound = 124 Reliance on symbolic meanings = 125 Role = 127 Manner of synchronization = 128 8. Music = 133 PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS = 133 The archaic era = 133 Music, imagery, and spectator = 134 AESTHETIC FUNCTIONS = 139 Commentative music = 139 Actual music = 144 Music as the nucleus of film = 152 9. The Spectator = 157 EFFECTS = 157 Impact on the senses = 158 Lowered consciousness = 159 Excursion: Propaganda and film = 160 Dreaming = 163 GRATIFICATIONS = 166 Film and television = 166 Hunger for life = 167 The concept of life as such = 169 Film-the "glistening wheel of life" = 170 Child-like omnipotence = 171 Return from the dreamland = 171 III. COMPOSITION 10. Experimental film = 175 INTRODUCTION: THE TWO MAIN FILM TYPES = 175 ORIGINS = 177 The avant-garde movement = 177 Paradigmatic character of the avant-garde = 178 AVANT-GARDE INTENTIONS = 178 The controversial story = 178 Cinematic language = 179 Physical reality = 180 "The least realistic of arts" = 181 AVANT-GARDE TRENDS = 182 ENTR'ACTE = 182 Emphasis on rhythm = 183 Emphasis on content = 187 Conclusions = 192 11. The Film of Fact = 193 INTRODUCTION = 193 Genres = 193 Characteristics = 193 Scope of investigation = 194 THE FILM ON ART = 195 Gain in three-dimensional naturalness = 195 The experimental trend = 196 The documentary trend = 199 DOCUMENTARY = 201 Concern about material reality = 201 Indifference to material reality = 206 Re-emergence of the story = 211 12. The Theatrical Story = 215 INTRODUCTION = 215 Form and content = 215 An uncinematic story form = 216 ORIGINS AND SOURCES = 216 CHARACTERISTICS = 218 Emphasis on human interaction = 218 Complex units = 219 Detachable patterns of meanings = 220 A whole with a purpose = 221 ATTEMPTS AT ADJUSTMENT = 222 The "most marvelous things" = 222 Two alternatives = 225 CONCLUSIONS = 230 Insoluble dilemma = 230 D. W. Griffith's admirable nonsolution = 231 13. Interlude: Film and Novel = 232 SIMILARITIES = 232 Like film, the novel tends to render life in its fullness = 232 Like film, the novel aspires to endlessness = 233 DIFFERENCES = 234 Formal properties = 234 Two worlds = 237 ABOUT ADAPTATIONS FROM NOVELS = 239 Difference in cinematic quality = 239 The content of novels = 239 Cinematic adaptations = 240 Uncinematic adaptations = 242 14. The Found Story and the Episode = 245 THE FOUND STORY = 245 Definitions = 245 Types = 246 THE EPISODE = 251 Definitions = 251 Types = 252 Structure = 254 A framing device = 260 15. Matters of Content = 262 THREE ASPECTS OF CONTENT = 262 UNCINEMATIC CONTENT = 263 Conceptual reasoning = 263 The tragic = 265 CINEMATIC CONTENT = 270 Subject matter = 270 Motifs = 272 EPILOGUE 16. Film in Our Time = 285 PRIMACY OF INNER LIFE? = 285 THE INTELLECTUAL LANDSCAPE = 287 "Ruins of ancient beliefs" = 287 Vistas = 288 Highways through the void = 291 Challenge = 294 EXPERIENCE AND ITS MATERIAL = 296 "Radiance of the sunset" = 296 Reality within reach = 297 Physical reality as the domain of film = 298 THE REDEMPTION OF PHYSICAL REALITY = 300 Art with a difference = 300 Moments of everyday life = 303 Material evidence = 304 From bottom to top = 308 "The Family of Man" = 309 NOTES = 313 BIBLIOGRAPHY = 339 INDEX = 351

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