Sort options:
newest first |
oldest first |
group by author
Recent tags:
egrich.com
egrich
game
online
gold
news
store
shopping
shop
source
open
ecommerce
kids
men
for
frontals
custom
extensions
hair
front
Between Here and There, Between Then and Now
This book focuses on the complex nature of contemporary European identity as explored through various art forms. The two film directors that are discussed (Theo Angelopoulos and Andrei Tarkovsky), make self-conscious use of the formalist and realist form in their films to get their message across. In the chapter “Between Here and There, Between Then and Now’: The Theme of Border Crossings in the Films of Theo Angelopoulos”, Everett argues that the principal way Angelopoulos is able to express the inner thoughts of the characters, and to portray the personal and collective journeys of his eclectic mix of characters who represent the European Self, is through a highly elaborated set of cinematic techniques. The boundaries are blurred in terms of whether these techniques may be called formalist or realist, especially since Angelopoulos strives to make his films as realistic as possible, with nevertheless a strict use of a formalist style.
Everett claims that European cinema has in the last 2 decades shifted its focus from an obsession with questions of identity to narratives “reflecting the fragmentation of the postmodern self [which] trace within their narratives the feelings of insecurity that have come to dominate contemporary concepts of identity”. A way European directors are examining these issues is through cinematic journey narratives. This borrows a few of the elements from the mythic American road movie genre, but subverts it ironically. This is particularly the case in Angelopoulos’ film Ulysses’ Gaze, which itself mixes the structure of the road movie with the equally mythic structure of the Greek epic, The Odyssey. In contrast to these two narratives however, the journeys of Angelopoulos’ characters do not have finite endings. Their identity, being contemporary, does not have a finite definition nor a conclusion. The narratives themselves become a representation of life, and in such narratives crossing borders, overcoming obstacles, becomes the primary drive forward. However, this process of learning will only lead to the realisation that there is no answer to the question of identity. To show these concepts, Angelopoulos makes use of strict formalism. For example, his films largely consist of sequence shots; the lack of cuts and the fluidity of the camera work represent how the film camera (i.e. cinema as a form of expression) is able to transcend and float over the borders which constrain and oppress society. Borders are created by identity; identity creates conflict and ultimately destruction: therefore, fixed identities must be abolished if Europeans are to survive together. Essentially this is the argument of the various chapters within this book.
Reading Hal by Michael Mateas
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is a thorough study of the movie from different angles and perspectives. It is a central and strongly recommendable piece for anyone who wishes to study Kubrick’s masterpiece. After contextualising the movie within Kubrick’s work and its cinematic and cultural history, Robert Kolker grouped nine articles from nine different scholars such as Palmer, Gilber, Tellote, Mamber, Grant, Landy, Mateas, White and Toles each tackling the movie from their area of expertise. Whether it was audience reception, auteur, psychology, fairy tale, brain, technology or violence the movie has represented a rich platform for each study.
The focus of this review is on the AI representation in Michael Mateas’ essay Reading Hal. In which he focuses his reading on Hal’s special and unique appeal to an AI audience as well as his double function as a character in a narration.
By citing the qualities and the differences with the interactional AI, Mateas defines Hal as a classical AI which still represents contemporary AI researchers’ dreams. Hal has vision capabilities which facilitate the faces recognition and even processing the info into commenting and comparing. Hal plays complicated games and demonstrates a goal driven behaviour in addition of demonstrating language and common sense reasoning which enables him to express inner conflicts in sophisticated lines.
The whole environment of the movie is focused on the high technology; many considered the rebirth scenes unrelated and irrelevant to the whole concept of the movie. Mateas offers us a different reading into our future from an AI perspective.He enables his reader to understand the possibilities of an evolution into a new human super-civilisation where human minds can be liberated from the accidental organic bodies and uploaded into postbiological bodies. The monoliths are an example of these highly evolved postbiloigical AIs; they facilitated an evolutionary jump into another consciousness more similar to their own reality.
Hal is also a character in a narration, what is supposed to be a simple malfunction became a murderous psychosis; emotions are clearly expressed causing audience’s empathy with Hal’s fear and pain when disconnected.
By establishing the double role played by AI in the movie, Mateas suggests that the move to considering AI as media opens up the possibilities of AI based art and entertainment systems. Expressive AI will lead into a more deeply satisfying, culturally rich experience that engages human participants in intellectually and aesthetically satisfying interactions.
Tags: construction narrative technology
Book review:
"Narrative and genre" is a useful reference book. It gives an introduction into theory of narrative and genre ,from the basic ones to more advanced ones.It helps audience to understand.
Lacey outlines the basic concepts of narrative in first chapter.Todorov's theory of "three action" consider narrative should include situation, disruption and a reinstatement.While Propp's theory emphasis on the characters' function on narrative.From a structural anthropologist's point of view, Levi-strauss looks at humans' attempt to understand narrative by binary opposition.
Followed by the history of narrative in the second chapter.This chapter gives the idea of narrative with reference to narrative text like "Epic
of Gligamesh" "shakespeare and so on.It aims to show how the narrative text is influenced as the time changes.
Chapter 4 talks about the theory of genre.It is quite interesting that Lacey deems that genre should be defined within the space of media text,audience and institution.Genre facilitates both the producing and recognizing of media text.Throughout the chapter,Lacey trys to interpret the schema of genre with reference to specific genre of crime and western.
To sum up,"narrative and genre:key concept in media study" is worthy reading.audience can get a basic understanding of narrative and genre.And it also inspires us to think more about it.
Tags: construction narrative
Memento, a non-linear master piece and an analysis by Torben Schmidt
The low budget neo noir/revenge film Memento about a desperate man who suffers from short memory and tries to take revenge of his murdered wife, is one of Christopher Nolan’s first Master pieces. Based on “writing,directing and performance” instead of “money, hype and more money” (Klein, 2001) it was an immense success in the United states back in 2000.
The unique element about Memento is its non-linear construction and narration. Unlike common storytelling, Memento’s plot is not only told with several flashbacks but also backwards, meaning that the end of the plot is the beginning of the film.
Torben Schmidt published a detailled analysis in 2003, which refers to the noirish revenge film and narrative structure of Memento. According to him, Memento is a typical neo noir film, being equipped with all the necessary elements of this genre with a unique non-linear construction aiming to confuse to audience.
Through the entire movie, the audience is picking all the pieces of information the plot provides in order to rearrange them, like a puzzle. During this process, Christopher Nolan indicates a few elements which guide the audience through the storyline. The beginning of the film shows some slow motion and reversed action. Furthermore some scenes show an ongoing telephone conversation in monochrome colour (black and white), some other scenes are told linearly, referring to another story about an unknown man which is somehow related to the plot. And again, different scenes show the struggle of the main character desperately trying to remember things by marking his entire body with tattoos. Only at the end of the film, the audience is able to understand the story and all the confusing scenes.
According to Torben Schmidt, Christopher Nolan’s motivation of creating this unusual non-linear narration is a way to support and enhance the storytelling. The audience is in a similar situation than the main character, not knowing how a particular situation emerged or not knowing who is who. Like the character, the audience constantly tries to solve the mystery about the murderer, the mystery of the man shown in the other scenes and the strange phone calls. Basically, the audience is put in the shoes of the protagonist and become a detective themselves.
Beside the analysis of the narrative construction, Torben Schmidt comments on the film genre “noir”, dividing this part of the analysis in several chapters, providing the reader with descriptions, definitions, primary characteristics, comparisons, conventions and historical surroundings about classic film noir, neo noir, revenge films and the special case of Memento.
This short analyze is recommendable to read in order to get some information about this particular film genre and the film Memento itself. The seemingly simple story of Memento which gains some cleverness and complexity through the direction and edit requires but also deserves multiple viewings and thoughts.
Christopher Nolan’s Memento – Analysis of the narrative structure of a nourish revenge film. Available online at: http://www.christophernolan.net/files/narrativeMementoSchmidt.pdf
Tags: christopher construction genre memento narration narrative neo-noir nolan non-linear revenge
Book review of “Visual digital culture: surface play and spectacle in new media genres
“Visual digital culture: surface play and spectacle in new media genres” is written by Andrew Darley who is Senior Lecturer at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design. The main topic presented in the book, like the title suggests, is about visual digital culture, especially the effect of new image technologies on the forms and experience of mass visual culture. Andrew’s purpose in writing the book is to prove that contemporary visual culture is radically different from traditional visual culture--marking a break with the emphasis on story, representation, meaning and reading, favoring instead a focus on style, image performance and sensation.
This book arises from research into the digital image as mass culture undertaken from the end of the 1980s. There is three parts included in this book. Part 1 is the retrospection of the visual culture’s history, which has a description of the genres and forms and some idea of how they have emerged and come to be the way they are. This part is split into three chapters. The first chapter covers a relatively short period of time stretching from the 1960s to present day, in order to trace the main ways in which the digital computer has been developed and used in the production practices of the incipient visual forms at issue. Chapters 2 and 3 introduce further historical considerations as a way of beginning to throw more light on the aesthetic make up of the visual digital genres at issue.
Part 2, the most important part I think, involves a more extended enquiry into the character of the visual digital aesthetic itself. There are also three chapters in this part, chapter 4—6. In chapter 4 and 5 Andrew undertakes a close exploration of several of the genres at issue. By examining specific expressions of digital animation, advertising, cinema and music video he demonstrate in more detail how each in their various ways continues the tradition of popular spectacle introduced in the precious section. At the same time he shows how the aesthetic dimension of each is a manifestation of a very different historical moment: one that is enable and encouraged by new technological development and subject to the prevailing forces of a mass culture dominated by ‘electronic intersexuality’. In chapter 6 Andrew makes a wide consideration which related to repetition, montage authorship and genre, and gives his viewpoint that whilst certain developments stemming from practices involving notions have a strong part to play both in the constitution and the understanding of current neo-spectacle impulses, conversely, once-central notions such as authorship and genre do not.
In the final part, Andrew shifts the focus more directly on to spectator experience and spaces of aesthetic consumption. And in the end he makes an expectation that contemporary culture is far more nuanced or differentiated at the aesthetic level than first it may appear: we need more clarity as to the ways in which this is so and do not be too quick to generalize.
Visual Digital Culture is a worthwhile read for anyone concerned with the impact of new media on contemporary visual culture. The book is written clearly and roundly , not only demonstrate lengthwise about the history, the present and the future of visual digital culture, but also across a wide range of media, including music video, computer games, theme parks and simulation rides, to show the its great Influence . And there are plenty of particular instances such as Forrest Gump and Toy Story, which is really helpful to understand the viewpoints quickly and accurately.
Nick Lacey's book for film fans
Introduction to Film as its title and as the intention of the author, is a bringing of different basic aspects of the medium to film lovers. Within 352 pages and 7 chapters, Lacey has successfully described concisely film language, film genre and narrative, film as industry, film and theory, film and history, film and presentation, film and technology and appendices with specific case studies of New Zealand and Australian, Balkans, Canadian, HongKong, and Mexican films. In each chapter, he also used different examples as evidences for his theories and analysis.
Film is a large and complex media form, therefore the simple and precise written language with lively illustrations make the reader quickly engage with the content. Moreover, as the author mentioned in the introduction, “...examples will be drawn mainly from contemporary films as the reader is more likely to be familiar with them.”
It is wisely start to get acquainted to a complex medium by explaining its language. The first chapter ‘decodes’ film language for the reader to ‘cover the ground’ of what they are going to involve further. From there, Lacey step by step guides the readers through main issues in film. Another plus for the book is the well balance between theory and facts from a ‘close up’ analysis of the medium itself, then open up to a wider aspects such as an overview on the industry, or the case studies of different cinemas from different countries...
The last chapter of the book is about technology and its interaction with film. This seems to be standing out of the flow that he has been given. However, these technical terms appear to be more difficult to understand if they are introduced at the very first half of the book. Therefore, the previous chapters provide the fundamental background for readers to understand these denote terms.
The author has accomplished his aim when written Introduction to Film: “After reading the book, film fans should find their appreciation of film heightened, which will increase the manifold pleasures already offered by the medium.”
Tags: cinema film genre history industry international narrative technology theory
Concepts in Film Theory - Book Review by e9098434
Concepts in Film Theory
Andrew, Dudley. 1984
Andrew Dudley created this book as a sequel to his original book from 1976 ‘The Major Film Theories’. However, in contrast to his previous book, in Concepts in Film and Theory he offers a different view to his assessment of film analysis focusing on contemporary theory, or what he calls a ‘more direct approach to film’, instead of basing his studies on the work of individuals who originally shaped the views of cinema (Eisenstein, Bazin, BÉLA BALÁZS, Munsterberg, Arnheim ). In his own words…
“In writing now about contemporary theory, I find it far more useful and honest to treat key concepts rather than key personalities and to build an overall view of film based on positions taken in relation to those concepts”
The book is divided into ten chapters each offering an insight into the main film concepts perception, representation, signification, narrative structure, adaptation, evaluation, identification, figuration, and interpretation.
Chapters Summary:
o Perception: this study is based on the viewers perception, not just visually, but also what their senses are delivering to the viewer how it makes them feel.
o Representation: “Whatever organizes our sense of ‘the world’ or of some portion of it is a version; and versions we call representations”. (Dudley, 1984).
o Signification: consists of an analysis of all the individual aspects of the film as ‘symbols’ that represent or signify codes that communicates specific messages to the audience.
o Narrative structure: this concept exposes narrative as the base of film study, the main tool which purpose is to put all the elements into a context.
o “Since cinematic signification appears on all counts to depend on delimitation, narrative (or some grander schema of which narrative is the dominant subset) is a necessity, a rule, not an option”. (Dudley, 1984).
o Adaption: this concept studies film as a visual representation or a version of an existing text and it goes into detail explaining the different modes of text adaptation into a film: borrowing, intersection, and fidelity of transformation.
o Valuation (of Genre and Auteur): this chapter explains how art and creativity in film (Auteur) were replaced by ideology and a system of classification (genre).
o Identification: Dudley refers to this concept as the rapport between the human psyche and the cinema screen and explains how the relation between reality and art, and the viewer psychoanalysis and desire were the principles that form this theory.
o Figuration: “As its name implies, a figure (metaphors, parallelisms, disjunctions, and so forth) a direct representation of meaning, nearly a visual representation, as opposed to the sequential logic of grammatical language.” (Dudley, 1984)
o Interpretation: this chapter analysis film theory based on the viewers interpretation of, not only the visual elements of the film, but also their psychological engagement and the ability to understand genre, roles and figures.
This book caters for those film enthusiasts who are looking for an alternative view to film analysis. It is written in a very theoretical and yet comprehensive way with examples based on contemporary films.
Overall I found this book easy to read and very useful as it helped me gain a better understanding of the different approaches to film theory in a well- structured and simplistic way.
MAPFT - Dec 2010
Bournemouth University
e9098434
Tags: constructions film narrative theory
Review
Narrative and genre is the second book of Nick Lacey around media studies. The first one is about Image and representation and the third one is about Audience and Institutions. The book is mainly about university students seeking knowledge around media studies and especially in the subjects of narrative theory and the theory of genre but also to anyone interested in extending his knowledge around the narrative theory and genre.
Lacey starts by analyzing the basic principles of narrative theory, from Todorov’s and Propp’s ideas about narrative emphasis and the resolution of the conflict till Barthes’s narrative codes and how they create an impression of reality.
The writer continues with a passage in the narrative history starting from The Epic of Gilgamesh and Aristotle’s theory art to Shakespeare and stops at the Postmodernism. The first part of the book ends with a further analysis of the theory of narrative dealing with more advances matters of the subject such as the various types of narrative voices, Chapman’s distinction between story and discourse and finishes with an investigation of the narrative systems in The Searchers (1956) and Pierrot le fou (1965). The analyses are exemplified with an original and eclectic range of texts.
In the second part of the “Narrative and Genre” the reader is being introduced to the theory of genre. The writer talks about the basic schema of genre and is investigating the connections between genre with format, society and style. The section on genre offers exhaustive case studies on "film noir" and the "hard-boiled" detective novel, the TV cop genre, and soap opera. In the final chapter, Nick Lacey is giving us a more advanced perspective of the genre, looks at the concept’s theoretical problems and considers its relationship with society. The reader is being introduced to the generic approaches to the media texts, the generic cycles and gender semiotics.
-Konstantinos Aravanis
Narration in film and in videogames
Analyzing narration in film and videogames Clarke and Mitchell pay a lot of attention to the continuity of time, space and action in these mediums.
The crossover between film and computer games (videogames, online RPG, etc.) are obvious: both are screen-based, time-based and visual. Moreover, computer games adopt some distinctive elements of film, such as established conventions and iconography. Designers use the language of film to produce interactive narratives. But the focus and key question of this article is how they use it in computer games in contrast to filmmakers.
Narration in film created from plot, the choice of actors, the use of special effects, the choice of camera position, the style of editing, etc. A film is regarded as a presentation of the people, locations, objects and events onscreen to the spectators.
The nature of narration in computer games is the players (i.e. spectators) have a power to intervene in the narrative and create their own way of further developments.Clark and Mitchell point out “the problem is not the player’s intervention in the narrative, but rather their intervention in the narration”. In the film the filmmaker decides what and how to show. In videogames the players through the “eyes” of their characters decide what they want to see and how long. But thus the players are imposed a continuity of time, space and action as they have to go through all stages to achieve the finale. They could not “jump” from the beginning to the end of the narrative and so on. For instance, “the worlds themselves often have a maze-like structure, with paths blocked off until certain tasks have been done”. So, Clarke and Mitchell highlight as a problem computer games, literally, is a single continuous event where the players have not opportunity to change the structure of its components.
It is interesting, as Clarke and Mitchell mention, that videogames was obeyed to continuity of time, space and action not long ago. The authors consider thereby the designers try to offer a quick and easy sense of immersion. But in this way the players just can choice a type of action (i.e. take part in event or not) and they are limited with influence on the events in the virtual environment.
In conclusion Clarke and Mitchell give some examples of the games where the players were allowed to jump forward in time. The authors believe that interactive narratives would take much more from the narrative techniques of film and the continuity of time, space and action would have broken up. These filmic techniques would include “changing viewpoint in mid-action; bridging time or space with a cut; cross-cutting between separate locations, characters or threads of the narrative; incorporating flashbacks and flashforwards”.
Tags: constractions narrative
Relevance in Application to a Narrative Construction Presentation
I used this publication in reference to a presentation for a university module on narrative construction. I was preparing a presentation on the applications of formalism and realism to modern day portrayals of realities, which include supernatural content, in moving images (using the presentation of supernatural powers in the television show ‘Misfits’ as my primary case study).
I found the text extremely useful in my academic research, as its encyclopaedic nature presents an accessible, alphabetical structure, which includes a broad range of theories and theorists. In my case sections on both theories relating to realism and formalism were available.
It has a system for cross-referencing within the book and opens with advice on the most advantageous use of the text in a chapter aptly titled ‘How to use this book’ along with a clear ‘Introduction’ to the text. The list of entries facilitates the reader’s interaction with the text, by providing the most in depth listings (therefore often the most widely researched and commonly required) in a bold typeface.
Each section also contains a reference list and sources for additional reading, which makes it an excellent starting point for further research. I would recommend the book to other university students as a quick reference guide for narrative theories/theorists, which you are less familiar with. It provides a good overview of a lot of topics, but perhaps not the detail that a specific, more focused academic text could provide on each subject.
Tags: construction narrative