Texture in film

Texture in film can be described not only through physical means, such as smoothness or roughness of objects physically shown within a film, but also through the narrative, editing, acting, etc. of a film, which can bring its own texture and "feel" to a movie.

---

Physical Texture in Film

Films use a myriad of techniques to appeal to our senses, with texture affecting our sense of touch. Not only does a film show us objects to appeal to our sense of touch, films touch us back physiologically such as giving us goosebumps and making our hairs raise. Film utilizes "haptic' touch, which is the connection between our visual sense and touch, allowing us to see things on a screen and perceive how it feels. We see different textures throughout films that help fit the narrative of a film such as smooth textures in Toy Story (1955) due to the use of CG animation, which enhances the plasticky feel of the toys, adding to the world of the film. Also in Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), we see the soft textures of fur coats, seeing one of the characters feeling the coat, giving us a sense of feeling the coat as well and its softness. Texture in film encompasses many parts of a film such as production design, costuming, make-up, the sound design of the film, color grading and use of colors, among many others.

Texture of Film

The texture of a film relates to its narrative, style, and genre. The way a film is paced in terms of action and information it gives us as an audience can give the film its own "feel".

Genre Examples - Horror

In horror movies there exists certain patterns that are prevalent throughout many movies in that genre that can define a film as part of the horror genre. One such pattern is that of tension/climax/release. Horror movies tend to use camerawork, production design, and sound design to draw us into a suspenseful moment, drawing it out and making us wait in fear and anticipation for what may come, then giving us the climax of a scare, whether with the antagonist of the film or giving us a false scare, and then we have relief knowing what has happened; such as in Jaws (1975), when a diver underwater is searching a ship and finds a shark tooth, we expect the shark to appear but instead a corpse pops out of the ship suddenly.

Action

In action movies there is a pattern of having intense blasts of activity and action that is cut up by calmer periods of investigation and exposition, resulting in story and plot being mainly given to us through the calmer periods, and having our visuals and entertainment majorly come during the intense action packed moments; such as in Die Hard (1988), when Bruce Willis' character is taking breaks in between fighting the bad guys, we get scenes of him talking about him and his wife's relationship or his personal life, or he is investigating and uncovering the reason the tower is being taken over and what the bad guys want.

Case Study: Fight Club (1999)

Texture is a big part of Fight Club, not only in the film itself, but also uses texture to build onto the narrative and theme of the story. Fight Club is a film about being out of touch with others and the world, showcasing this through the main character of The Narrator. The Narrator has insomnia and in order to get relief and sleep well, visits support groups that deal with bodily diseases, then finds his comfort at the end of the sessions when he is paired with others and "shares himself completely" through physical touch.

Texture in Fight Club

One example of texture within the film is in the opening sequence when we are travelling through a foreign CGI space, perhaps not knowing quite what we are looking at. The camera moves along this space until finally, we exit through a hair follicle and get an extreme close up of beads of sweat, other hair follicles, and enlarged pores of skin. Our eyes, while not used to seeing such an extreme close up of our skin, can recognize quickly that we are looking at skin, and as we go down the smooth, metallic barrel of a gun, we recognize that the gun is in a mouth and we are looking at a face.

Texture of Fight Club

An example of texture of the film and how it adds to the story narratively, is that early on in the film we see that The Narrators lifestyle is based on consumerism and his white collar job. He lives and works in a world and spaces that are glossy, shiny, clean, and artificial. Even his "inner cave" that we see when he goes to support groups is an ice cave that is blindingly white and features nothing but slick ice surfaces. The Narrator's spaces that he is associated with signify and showcase that he is out of touch with others and the world. Then on the flip side we have the spaces and textures Tyler Durden is associated with. Tyler lives in a dilapidated house in an industrial area, has minimal furnishings and second hand objects to signify his anti-consumerism stance. The walls and almost every conceivable surface of the house is covered in dirt and grime. The Narrator quickly gets accustomed to the house despite the nastiness of it, with the camera also exploring the space more in depth than the Narrator's places in the beginning of the film. Despite the grime and sticky surfaces of the home, the space feels more real and tangible than the Narrator's condo. Tyler is also associated with organic matter, such as the fat used to make his soap and various bodily fluids he uses in his endeavors and escapades. Tyler exposes the Narrator to new experiences and pushes him out of his comfort zone in order to remind Jack what it means to be alive and interact with the world physically. The film shows us multiple surfaces and textures and incites emotions or lack thereof within us through the use of these textures. We physically are repulsed by the surfaces of Tyler's house and in one scene when Tyler and the Narrator are stealing human fat, one of the bags rips open with Tyler reaching out to try and save any bits of fat he can, in contrast to the Narrator and us looking on with disgust from a safe distance, but then immediately cutting to a close up of the fat boiling in a pot, forcing us to get close. Fight Club uses its texture to draw us into the narrative and to show how vastly different our main characters are and the way they operate, adding to their defying characteristics and adding to the film and viewing experience.