FILM THEORY ASSIGNMENTS

Anunay Barbhuiya | Film Direction, 2013 Batch

SECTION A

It is possible that the implication of Eisensteinian overtonal monage is far more fundamental to
the nature of cinema than the most-often-mentioned category of intellectual montage.
a) Discuss the creative possibility of overtonal montage as perceived by Eisenstein, specially with
respect to the essay 'Filmic Fourth Dimension' by Eisenstein.
b) Provide an example of an overtonal montage sequence from any film beyond 1950. Justify
why you consider the montage sequence as primarily overtonal in nature.

In Filmic Fourth Dimension, Eisenstein shifts from his earlier theories on montage towards a more
experiential one.

In real life human beings are always in movement. Even when in stasis, because of the movement
in the temporal axis, we are always making a shift. Now the movement in the temporal axis or
which can also be stated as the experience of time is realised because of our memory and our
ability to constantly compare our just realised moments to our memories of our earlier moments.
These every moment leave behind impressions in our mind . These are registered in our memory
because of the constant change in the experience of now.

In real life our experiences are caused by multiple elements affecting us, at the same time.
People, nature, sounds, smells, our reception ability (state of mind) and many such reasons play a
part. Eisensteins earlier theories on montage are mostly defined around a single dominant (like
length of shot, rhythm of change, tonality). When only one dominant is leading the montage it is
mostly driven towards a single goal unlike real life experiences which is actually a resultant of
multiple forces. Eisenstein compares multi-dominant montage with acoustics and names them
overtonal. Overtone being the tones other than the dominant tone and creating a different
dimension of experience.

His earlier montages were more about expression and meaning making rather than a feeling.
Feeling cannot be defined or measured with facts. It is ambiguous in nature. Evocation of an
emotion is a complex phenomena which is possible when images create a multidimensional
experience.

As a filmmaker Eisenstein was moving more towards a human experience rather than just
conveying of information.

GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995) is a sci-fi action thriller where human beings co-exits with cyborgs
who are part human, part machine. These cyborgs are beyond the basic identities human being
adhere to like age, gender, race etc. They are not grown but mechanically reproduced. They are
given with an identity as per the job they are supposed to perform. The film questions the relation
of body and mind, concept of identity of an individual and of a group and how they are related.
The film is based on a futuristic city which is constructed according to the purpose it needs to
serve just like many cities in todays time. These constructs limit and define people living in the
city. In one of the sequences the protagonist, Motoko Kusanagi, who is human-cyborg questions
identity trying to understand, even though she was given an identity whether the collision of her
(constructed) memory, thoughts, given destiny and the way she is processing the information can
give rise to an evolving identity or not. This discourse is followed by a montage of cityscape which
is some sort of a representation of the internal conflict the protagonist is going through about her
own identity.

The sequence is lead by a Japanese choir music used in weddings to dispel evil energies. The
sequence starts with shots which establish the surface of the city then slowly we start traversing
through the city as if we are travelling through it on some vehicle. The shots composed of various
elements which are reflecting in nature like water, glass panel, vehicles etc which give a sense of

the heterogeneous characteristics forming the diverse and dynamic identity of the city itself. The
length of the shots are not dictated by any one dominant like the rhythm of the music, movement
of the shots, information in it or following a particular length. These shots dont have a direct
connection with each other but it totality they evoke a sense of the city. The compositions makes
us experience of being there rather than just looking at them.

There are certain shots in between which are

just static camera composing rain over river
side houses, behind which there are big
buildings and people just moving at a pace in
front of them. The atmosphere these shots
create makes us believe in a city like this which
was a concept when it was created. These
atmospheric shots are not possible to create
using a mono dominant cuts.

There is no linearity in the temporality or spatial continuity that is presented in the sequence. We
still feel a continuous flow through them, making the sequence and the portrayal real. Its pure
experience with fragmented shots reminding ourselves that cinema is beyond logic and meaning
making. This sequence breaks this initially a plot driven film into a cinematic philosophical
discourse after which our perception of the plot and the dominant of the narrative change.
Montage has the potential to provide us with the multivalent possibility of cinematic experience
which will make our association varied and our experience distinct from any other.
SECTION B

The idea of 'face' has been extended by Balzs, for him even body parts, objects, landscapes
have 'faces', which are only available to the perceiver with intention to look for those faces. How
this notion might be important for a film practitioner in his mode of dealing with reality (within
which s/he and the filmic process are also integral parts)?

Bela Balazs was one of the earlier film theorists and critics who has written about film aesthetics
and how the medium has its own way of affecting our sense of reality and it interpretations, very
differently from that of other art forms like paintings and literature. He says film as a medium is
composed of sectional pictures and indivisible sound through which reality is created. These
broken parts remain in our consciousness as a constituent unity in both time and space and that
makes this medium far more powerful.

In his book 'The theory of films' he talks about closeups and faces and how even body parts,
objects, landscapes can have faces depending on the perceiver and his intentions. He says simple
human body doesn't render the human soul. It's our faces, minute details in them through which
human feelings and emotions gets uncovered and general gets transformed into a particular.
Along with that Balazs also says that how an individual looks at another human being, properties
or even landscape, what he seeks into them drive what he finds in them. On a similar note a good
closeup can bring out faces of objects, body parts and even nature which represents the
filmmaker's attitude, his concerns and his sensibilities towards the world that he is trying to create
on the screen.

Following are some examples where 'idea of faces' were exploited :

Kieslowski uses color filters, unconventional

framing and closeups to portray the psyche
of the character, a subjective world, a
subjective reality rather than a general one.
In the film Three Colors : Blue, the character
of Julie is struggling to cope with the death
of her husband and her daughter. She is
holding in so much that she is not concerned
about the world and the people who exist
even otherwise. In this scene soon after the
man who proposed her leaves after getting
rejected by her, we see a point of view shot of her observing the sugar cube soaking tea, a close
up and her obsession of the tune that is being played by the man outside (played in the
background and then eventually becomes digetic) showing her perception, her indifference
towards the world.

Ceylan is known to use natural phenomenas like climates in a metaphorical way to represent his
characters and the circumstances they are in. In his film Uzak we see Mahmut, a disillusioned
character going through his midlife crisis, alone. In the last scene we see him sitting beside the
port looking at the ships sailing on the sea. With his coldness as a human being, his false pride
 and an unattainable future Ceylan draws a
parallel of the vast sea, on an windy winter
morning when it's difficult to sit through. His
smoking the cigarette in the cold which
belongs to Yusuf is the closest he goes to
human companionship that too when Yusuf
has left him. Slowly by zooming in (and not
tracking in, which represents moving in), we
get closer to his face (from a distance) which
exposes Mehmut's loneliness to us which he is
trying to mask from everyone around, most prominently from himself.

One of the consistent themes of Yasujiro Ozu's films is the exploration of the changing form of
the Japanese family as modernisation starts to slowly seep into the society. Culture, traditions,
changing generations and interpersonal relations have been his concerns throughout. In Late
Spring he talks about a father who is a widower and his daughter who is in her mid 20s and is not
yet married. Throughout the film we see why the daughter is worried about her ageing father and
decides to postpone her marriage. The father too persuades her to marry by assuring her that he
will be able to take care of himself. He says that though one feels let down when the daughter
marries and leaves but that's part of the change. 'Change' and how one faces it. At the end of the
film the daughter gets married after which the father comes back to the same house but it's not
the same house anymore. He takes off his coat
which used to be taken care of by his
daughter. He sits there and peels off an apple.
The closeup of the apple. It feels like this
closeup of him peeling off the apple, alone in
his house explains his solitude. This closeup
adds another layer because of our
understanding of the people we get to know
in the film. It's like the audience sees the
solitude in that closeup. The protective cover
of the Apple is taken off to bring out the fruit
to the surface probably like how now that the
daughter is married, both are exposed to the
reality and both will be dealing with it by
themselves.
SECTION C

Comment on the proposed relationship between the nature of photograph and that of cinema
by Sigfried Kracauer.
How it is related and varied from Bazin's ontology of photograph and cinema?

Our perpetual struggle to win over time.

Bazin at a basic level talks about our intention of our creation and representation of our subjective
reality. Plastic arts before coming of photography like painting provided with the aesthetic which
brought in the subjectivity of the artists in their representation. He says a true painting is one
which strikes a balance between symbolic and realism.

The adaptation of the objective reality, starting with the attempt of perspective triggers the urge
to duplicate the reality rather than just the representation. In later times perspective gave ways to
realist painting exposing our resemblance complex. People started copying the nature as it is
rather than putting forward their impression of it. Photography which is more about a mechanical
device, lacks all the subjectivity, judgement, influences artists carry while representing their reality.
The process of painting or sculpting is more about the process itself whereas photography
became something about the result. Somehow it freed us from the complexes of copying nature
around us.

A photograph of any object or model frees it from the limitation of time and space, from the
decay. Without any hindrance of the personal experience and emotional association, it is simply a
replication of the reality (which itself is just an assumption), in its purest form. Our reality is bound
by our interpretation of the physicality rather than the physicality itself.

Bazin while talking about cinema and its spiritual relation with the creator, he builds it on his views
on photography. While photography is like a representation of a fragment of moment, cinema is
more like the representation of a continues fragment of time. Its more closer to our obsession of
preserving ourselves from the ever occurring decay. Realism in that sense satisfies our this
obsession.

Kracauer raises the question of cinematic. He identifies that cinema can be classified under two
major categories. One led by Lumiers and another Melies. Lumier following the classical
understanding of documentation (which later became the basis of realism) and Melies being more
of imaginative. Kracauer had inclination towards the representation of physical reality which can
be easily connected with his own philosophy of photography. Though he accepted that both are a
result of a mechanical device which devoid of any impression of human nature, captures the reality
but he considered Cinema as a more potent art form. Quite early he realised the importance of
movement, time and construction of reality that cinema brings in. With that he was also aware
how cinema can become a way of manipulating reality and thus influencing people.

Bazins relation with cinema was more personal and thus he talks about personal intention whereas
Kracauer takes that intention to a larger context and brings in the politics of construction of
alternate reality.
SECTION D

The concept of 'photogenie', highlighted with great importance by the theorist and avant-garde
filmmaker Jean Epstein is a volatile one. While writing your own understanding about the
concept, comment how Epstein might have indicated a significant truth that the explanatory
concepts for cinema can hardly afford to be strict and rigid.

In their nascent stages, art forms are always compared with the existing, accepted art forms to
understand how they affect us, how differently they make us experience or look at the reality we
know and adhere to. Jean Epstein in his essays writes about such differences which make cinema
stand out from other forms.

He talks about photogenie, characteristics which, according to him, makes cinema cinematic and
thus artistic. He says these characters enhance the moral character of beings or things on film.
These characters will have a personality of its own and by personality he refers to something
which would bring out ones essence which will elaborate its position in history of our existence.
He also calls it spirit of ones soul. Epstein also talks about mobility within the space-time
paradigm. If can be curved on a 4 dimensional graph every dot in it is like a moment in our reality
which gets over the moment it is actualised. In spatial world, objects and souls in its physicality if
not moving, atleast can occupy a position of its own whereas only our mid is capable of traversing
through time as it traces out our past through memories. As every moment there is a progression
in time (which is one directional in nature), it brings a mobility in larger space-time paradigm. In
that way this temporality becomes the essential characteristics of mobility.

Mobility is more about the objective reality whereas personality is about subjective reality.
Personality is something which makes an object or soul alive. Even in objects which are not part of
human life can be given life by using cinematic tools like a close-up. Epstein extends that by
saying depiction of something on screen makes us aware of lives which exist without being part of
our existence like animals, trees or inanimate objects like pistols, chairs etc. Its the emotion which
we attach with that object that makes it alive for us. Cinema makes us aware of reality other than
our own or reality which we in normal circumstances are moulded to disregard and this is a lot
about our own past experiences and our teachings. Though Epstein while explaining his readings
generalises the benchmarks of cinema but it expands the possibility of cinema too. He says like all
primitive languages cinema language too attributes a semblance of life to the objects it defines.
As our understanding of our life varies with everyone, ones language of cinema, when not
borrowed, will comprise of different systems and its constituents and thus cannot be inflexible
even when received or analysed.
SECTION E

Comment on the following statements made by John Berger in Chapter 1 of 'Ways of Seeing'.
Use a contemporary example of reproduced images of art to substantiate your argument.

Reproduced paintings, like all information, have to hold their own against all the other
information being continually transmitted.
Consequently a reproduction, as well as making its own references to the image of its original,
becomes itself the reference point for other images. The meaning of an image is changed
according to what one sees immediately beside it or what comes immediately after it. Such
authority as it retains, is distributed over the whole context in which it appears.
Because works of art are reproducible, they can, theoretically, be used by anybody. Yet mostly -
in art books, magazines, films or within gilt frames in living-rooms - reproductions are still used
to bolster the illusion that nothing has changed, that art, with its unique undiminished authority,
justifies most other forms of authority, that art makes inequality seem noble and hierarchies
seem thrilling.

An image, which is a
representation at first,
is always related to its
original context. A
context is an ever
evolving concept. With
time it expands. When
an image is
reproduced or reused
in a different time,
because of the history
that followed since the
time of its creation, its
understandings, it relations completely change. The reproduction (which always has a purpose)
works with the consideration that the original context is
known and only then the new form in which it is presented
can be realised.

One of the most reproduced paintings, Creation of Adam

was a fresco painting by Michelangelo which presents a
part of the narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God
is breathing life into Adam, the first man. The composition
has Adam in a similar form of that the God which is a
reminder of the note from Bible that man was created in
the image and likeness of God. Their fingers are not
touching so Adam is yet to receive the life. The image of
the near-touching hands of God and Adam has become
iconic of humanity. Years after its creation NOKIA uses a
recreated version of parts of this image as its logo. Its
composition pushes us to consider the larger context which
is based on our knowledge of the original image. In its simple form it says Connecting People and
two hands are trying to hold each other, trying to connect. In the larger context, probably NOKIA
was hinting at its importance as a brand and how it has the potential of taking the human
existence a little forward. Just like God it is breathing new life in our lives.

But this whole consideration takes a toll if we consider the later development of the
understanding of the original context. In 1990s Frank Lynn Meshberger came up with a paper
claiming that the image is about God as human minds creation. Creation of Adam was created in
the Renaissance time when our faith, religion, church everything were getting questioned. Science
and rationality started to slowly change how human in general looks at the world.

According to Meshberger in the original image the God is wrapped around by few other figures
and a maroon cloth which gives a form of the structure of our brain. Its whole concept is
something human beings have created by themselves, development of their own intellect and
beliefs. The form of the God is in the form of Adam which can be considered manifestation of
mans understanding of its own form. The characters around God, in its earlier consideration were
Eve due to the figure's feminine appearance
and gaze towards Adam, but was also
suggested to be Virgin Mary, Sophia goddess
of wisdom to consider a few. In the same way
they can also represent how different parts of
our brain are responsible for developing
understanding of emotion and wisdom(and
many other) giving a complete form to our
intellect. This new way of looking at the
original context punctures its use in different
context like that of NOKIAs which while doing
it considers that original context is constant.