Cinema as Window and Frame - Essay Example

Film

Cinema as Window and Frame

The notion of window and frame deals with the framing of the images from a film as an essential element. There are various approaches used to identify the staging depth which has promoted the concept of the cinematic image. The cinematic image offers a privilege on look and insight into a certain scene but in a separate universe. A man who is in a wheelchair can observe a film to pass time and entertain himself through the human dramas unfolding before his eyes. The man on the wheelchair is not exempted from watching the scene due to his condition.

The authors (Elsaesser & Hageners, 13) discuss the cinema as a window and frame. Although the photographer was in a wheelchair, he was able to us the binoculars and telephoto lenses of his camera which allowed him to switch between long and close shots. The photographer is an onlooker and also a listener. As long as the photographer is far from the scenes, the events cannot hurt him. The cinema as a window and frame offers an exclusive and visual access to the event which can be fictional or imaginative. On the other hand, the real transforms the act of on looking to an imaginary notion.

Therefore, the real and the metaphorical refer to the distance from the vents that keep the spectator safe as they watch the scenes from inside the auditorium. The spectator is usually cut off from the events of the scene, which means that they do not have to worry about their direct involvement in the action nor does he feel the need for intervention. In short, the notion of cinema as the window and frame means that the spectator is conditioned by what they see and what they see when they look at something. The spectator is then disembodied meaning that the spectator will maintain a safe distance.

Cinema and Spectator

The relationship between the cinema and the spectator has been discussed in depth by Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener to guide students through the film theories. The theories range from the classical period to the modern days film revolution (Elsaesser and Malte, 15) In every film theory, the kind of cinema presumes the ideal spectator and then uses that imagination to form a relationship between the minds and body of that spectator and the screen. The authors use the distinct features of film of moving from exterior to internal relationships. The viewers are involved in the film through focalization, identification, engagement and immersion.

In a mind game movie, a spectator is a person who enters an unfamiliar or familiar world and thus, alienated from their real world for them to become wiser and later return to it (Elsaesser and Malte, 149). The mind game psychologically plays with an individual’s mind through manipulation and intimidation. Film presupposes the space between the physical and the discursive, which means that one is the film and the spectator or where the cinema and the body encounter one another. The connection between the spectator and the film further includes the arrangement of the auditorium including the seats, ordering of the performances and a specific social framing of the visit to a movie theater.

The spectator forms a perception using the imaginary stimuli and constructs images throughout the scene and the narration of the film. On the other hand, the bodies, settings, and objects within the film communicate with each other as well as with the spectator through avenues such as shape texture, size, density surface appeal or even the distance and proximity. Notably, the body engages within the film event in other ways except hearing and seeing such as consciousness which is also essential to the cinema. The main challenge occurs when trying to put the theories into practice about the body.

Andre Bazin was a French film critic and theorist. He, Andre Bazin, began to write about film in 1943. Andre was also among the founders of a magazine known as Cahiers du cinéma in 1951. Bazin was known for his call for objective reality, lack of montage and deep focus in the interpretation of film or scene that he believed should be left to the spectator. He also explained how cinema could influence and control the reality. Bazin argued that the films were a depiction of the reality such as the Italian documentaries. The directors of films made themselves invisible to the spectator (Elsaesser and Malte, 13).

Moreover, Bazin advocated for deep focus, wide shots and shot in depth which meant that the films would have true continuity throughout the scenes, thus, would help in editing the visual effects. Notably, Bazin was influenced by personalism, which he believed that a film should reflect what the directors’ mind looks. Bazin watched the film from a personal view as he expected the director also to do the same (Elsaesser and Malte, 13).

Bazin became friends with many directors and showed an interest in long takes to montage editing. Additionally, Bazin also believed that "less was more" and that for a good film there had to be a great narrative. Another contribution attributed to Bazin is the concept of appreciative criticism, which means that only critics who like a certain film should review it to encourage positive criticism.

Cinema as Ear

In Cinema, the body and senses also communicate with the film about the real and the imaginary, and media space. The senses invite new modes of bodily engagement in the hand, eye coordination. The senses of the body take different forms about cinema, film, sensory perception, physical environment, and body. Cinema as ear and sound emphasizes the importance of the body to perception, and orientation (Elsaesser and Malte, 129).

After the film contacts our skins, we then move to the ear as an interface between the film and the spectator. The ear is an organ that creates its deep perceptual envelope and also regulates the way the human body finds itself in space (Elsaesser and Malte, 129). The spectator who receives the information is no longer passively receiving optical information but exist immersed acoustically and affectively in the visual texture and soundscape. Technological advances have made it easier for the development of the psychoanalysis, aesthetics and sound studies.

When we visit the movie theaters, we do not just sit and look at the films; we listen to the words of the actors which in turn help us comprehend the story line of the film. The sound and motion of the actors work hand in hand to ensure that the spectator understands and enjoys watching the film. The eyes and the ears will work together to help the spectator understand the film. The connection of the cinema to the ear is what makes people express their opinions after watching any film. The sound produced in a movie manipulates how a person will view the movies. Therefore, most directors today have invested in sound to ensure that the spectator is captured not only in the action but also the sound effects that make the film more interesting.

Cinema as Door

Cinema as door describes the way a film begins. Mostly when a film begins with a shining rectangle illuminating the darkness of the cinema or movie theater. The rectangle can be in vertical or horizontal position. The illuminating light in the form of a rectangle resembles a door. Hence, the representation of cinema as a door. Cinema as a door means that the film has different points of entry except from the screen. A door separates the scene from the real world or in sometimes opens and allows access to something. Therefore, it serves and filters what goes through it into the other side (Elsaesser and Malte, 35).

Notably, cinema unfolds differently scene after scene in time and in space which manipulates the spectator. The transition from real to imaginary as the viewer sees the film and comprehends it. This means that the spectator comes from the outside to inside when they move from the reality to the imaginary (Elsaesser and Malte, 35). Therefore, there is the need for filtering for things not intended by the producers of the text. Thus, this indicates that there is semantic instability and tectonic shift of texts from the inside to the outside which are quite unstable.

For instance, the producers may make a movie with a certain intention which then changes when the movie is released. The spectator gets a different meaning than intended by the director ending up in a totally different interpretation. For instance, The Searchers, 1956 movie end when Edward leaves the house and walks into the sunlight leaving the rectangular shape gently closing leaving the spectator in the same darkness they had been in at the begging of the screening in the auditorium.

Cinema Perception and the Human Body

The relationship between cinema perception and the human body is fascinating. This has been a subject of discussion among many avenues of film study. In every type of film, there lies an imagination of an ideal spectator. This means that there is an imagined relationship between the viewer and the images on the screen. However, these scenes have to make sense for the spectator to comprehend, interpret and make sense of them (Elsaesser and Malte, 170). For instance in a narrative cinema, can be defined as the way a certain film engages, addresses and grabs the attention of the spectator.

Films are known to presuppose the physical and the informal space in which the film and the spectator, cinema, and the body come into contact with one another. This physical contact means that way the cinema auditorium is arranged. For instance, how seats are arranged in a movie theater; the way the scenes of a film are ordered; some are continuous whereas some have separate sessions; the social framing of the movie night out; people may go as friends while others may just go alone to enjoy the movie. In the contemporary world, people go out to movie nights especially when the film is on the premier. The arrangement of an auditorium is in such a way that all people can view the cinema from a safe distance, therefore avoiding direct involvement in the scenes while at the same time enjoying the film (Elsaesser and Malte, 149).

The body, settings, and objects communicate with one another in different shapes, sizes, density and surface appeal. The body uses different senses to engage in a film such as vision, tactility, and sound Elsaesser and Malte, 167). Notably, people need not go to cinema halls or movie theaters to watch films anymore; they could watch from the comfort of their homes on a laptop screen or television screen or even on a mobile phone. The body experience is thus, different from how one would benefit from watching the star wars in a 3D cinema. Star Wars Awakens is a science fiction movies that grabs the attention of the spectator through the mind tricks brought about by the computer graphics. The film grabs the attention of the spectator through many avenues making them a part of the great experience through a captivating story line.

In conclusion, there are seven cinematic senses discussed in the film theory. First, the cinema as a window and frame, door, mirror, and face, eye, skin and touch, ear and film as brain-mind and body. Elsaesser & Hagene use these seven senses to discuss the different ways of representing cinema. Each of the senses accounts for a new understanding of how cinema works and it relationship to the speculator. Cinema grabs the attention of the spectator through different ways, for instance, cinema as door means that there are different entry levels of film not just through the screen. Cinema as ear means that the speculator listens to the movie to comprehend it and eyes to visualize the scene before getting the whole concept of the film. Consequently, cinema and the speculator relate through the body and the human perception.

Work Cited

Elsaesser, Thomas, and Malte Hagener. Film theory: An introduction through the senses. Routledge, 2015.