"Creeping Hours," by Josh Keyes, 2008

"Lifted", by Josh Keyes, 2010

More on Semiotics

                                                                                

Magritte's The Betrayal of Images: 

                                                                                                                                                        

Paradigmatic and syntagmatic shifts create variations in meaning and figures of speech:

GET TO KNOW IMAGES.

THEY CERTAINLY KNOW US.

Creator not credited
IMAGE FOUND: http://www.bekkahwalker.net

BANKSY.
IMAGE FOUND: http://www.bekkahwalker.net

FILM

WHEN DISCUSSING PHOTOGRAPHY, I MENTIONED THAT SOME CAMERA OPERATORS WERE MORE INTERESTED IN A FINE ART APPLICATION OF THIS NEW INVENTION WHILE OTHERS WERE INTERESTED IN ITS DOCUMENTARY POTENTIAL.  YET OTHERS WERE INTERESTED IN USING PHOTOGRAPHY'S OBSERVATIONAL PROPERTIES  IN THE INTEREST OF SCIENCE.

IN THE 1870's ENGLISHMAN EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE CREATED A SEQUENCING OF STRATEGICALLY PLACED CAMERAS TO RECORD AND BETTER UNDERSTAND HUMAN AND ANIMAL MOVEMENT.  

IN 1872, THE QUESTION WAS ASKED, “IS THERE EVER A POINT WHERE A HORSE’S FEET ARE ALL OFF THE GROUND AT ONCE?”

 IN THE 1880's, FRENCHMAN, JULES-ETIENNE MAREY INVENTED A SHOOTING GUN THAT COULD RAPIDLY RECORD MANY SEQUENTIAL SHOTS AT ONCE.

MUYBRIDGE’S IMAGES WERE ON GLASS PLATES.  IN 1888, MAREY CREATED THE FIRST FILM STRIP- IT WAS MADE OF PAPER AND THE MOVING IMAGE LASTED 1 SECOND

HERE ARE A FEW MODERN ANIMATIONS CREATED USING BOTH OF THESE MEN'S WORK

MUYBRIDGE'S RUNNING HORSE

MAREY'S FALLING CAT

• IN 1889 KODAK PRODUCED CELLULOID FILM- FLEXIBLE BUT STURDY.
• THOMAS EDISON IN THE USA AND THE LUMIERE BROS. (LOUIS AND AUGUSTE) IN FRANCE WERE FIRST DEVELOPERS OF MOTION PICTURES.

• THE ILLUSION OF REALISM OF STILL IMAGES IS ENHANCED BY SENSE OF REAL TIME IN PROJECTED MOVING IMAGES.
• “MOTION” PICTURES ARE NOT ACTUALLY IN MOTION- BUT A SUCCESSION OF STILL PHOTOGRAPHS PROJECTED SO MANY FRAMES PER SECOND
• SEVERAL FACTORS ARE AT WORK HERE: 

• PERSISTENCE OF VISION- AN IMAGE LINGERS ON THE RETINA FOR A SPLIT SECOND AFTER IT DISAPPEARS

• APPARENT MOTION- HUMAN TENDENCY TO READ LIGHT AS MOTION-  A SERIES OF FLASHING LIGHTS ARE SEEN AS 1 MOVING LIGHT

• CRITICAL FLICKER FUSION- PROJECTOR BREAKS UP EACH FRAME SEVERAL TIMES AS IF LIGHT IS FLASHING ON/OFF

IN EARLY FILMS THERE WAS NO FLICKER FUSION FROM FRAME TO FRAME AND FRAMES PROJECTED AT SLOWER SPEED- 16-20 FPS INSTEAD OF USUAL 24.  THIS HAD EFFECT OF MAKING IMAGE LOOK LIKE IT WAS FLICKERING- THUS THE SLANG TERM OF “FLICK” FOR MOTION PICTURES.

EARLY FILMS WERE SIMPLE- ONE LONG SHOT OF A MORE OR LESS EVERYDAY ACTION OR SIMPLE ENTERTAINMENT- THE IDEA OF THE MOTION WAS MAGICAL ENOUGH TO HOLD THE AUDIENCE'S ATTENTION

LUMIERE BROS FACTORY EXIT

EVEN AFTER NARRATIVE WAS STANDARD, AND TRICKS SUCH AS STOP MOTION WERE INVOLVED, THE MOVEMENT OF THE CAMERA WAS MINIMAL OR IT WAS EVEN STATIONARY.  THIS LACK OF CAMERA MOVEMENT STILL KEEPS THE VIEWER AT A REMOVE- AS IN A PLAY, THE "FOURTH WALL" IS REMOVED BUT THE VIEWER HAS NOT YET BEEN COMPLETELY INSERTED INTO THE NARRATIVE AS THEY WILL IN LATER FILMS.

GEORGE MELIES "TRESORS DE SATAN"

BY 1920, THE STUDIO SYSTEM WE KNOW TODAY WAS ALREADY IN PLACE- PARAMOUNT, MGM, UNIVERSAL, 20^TH CENT FOX, ETC.  WITH THIS WE SEE THE COMPLETE APPLICATION OF THE NARRATIVE STYLE THAT TELLS A STORY AND BEGINNINGS OF THE STAR SYSTEM.

HERE, MULVEY'S IDEAS OF THE DOMINANT MALE GAZE ARE FIRMLY IN PLACE.  WE CAN SEE A VARIETY OF "GAZES" IN OLD AND NEW FILMS, BUT THIS THEORY OF THE GAZE CAN BE SEEN WHEN LOOKING AT OLDER AND CONTEMPORARY FILM:

SCENE FROM VIVA LAS VEGAS, 1964

SCENE FROM DIE ANOTHER DAY, 2002

ONE REASON FOR WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO REVIEW THE HISTORY OF FILM DEVELOPMENT IS THAT WE WERE ALL BORN INTO AN AGE WHERE THE EFFECTS OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND MOTION PICTURES ON HUMAN BEINGS IS ALREADY INCORPORATED- WE TEND TO IGNORE THE BASIC EFFECTS OF THE MEDIA ON CULTURE- WE ARE MORE SOPHISTICATED VIEWERS IN THAT WE WON’T RUN, DUCK, OR SCREAM WHEN AN IMAGE OF A TRAIN IS PROJECTED AS EARLY AUDIENCES DID.

• BUT WE STILL EXPERIENCE A “SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF” IN WHICH WE GIVE OURSELVES OVER TO THE NARRATIVE.  
• WE ALLOW OURSELVES TO FORGET THAT EVENTS ARE STAGED 
• WE EVEN FORGET THAT WE KNOW WHO THE FAMOUS ACTORS ARE IN FAVOR OF IDENTIFYING WITH CERTAIN CHARACTERS.
•  IN SOME CASES WE MAY EVEN KNOW THE END OF THE STORY BUT WE STILL ALLOW OURSELVES TO GET CAUGHT UP IN THE UNFOLDING ACTION.
• CERTAINLY MULVEY'S IDEAS ARE A PART OF WHAT IS AT WORK IN THIS SUSPENSE OF DISBELIEF:
• THE PLEASURE OF LOOKING, SCOPOPHILIA, AND 
• THE VIEWER’S TENDENCY TO PROJECT THEIR OWN FANTASIES ONTO THE SCREEN- THEIR DESIRE TO BECOME THE PROTAGONIST OF THE FILM’S NARRATIVE- THE DESIRE/WISH TO TRANSCEND THE MEDIUM AND BE THE PERFECT AND ADORED STAR (THE IMAGE IDEAL FROM LACAN'S MIRROR STAGE)  

DIRECTORS MANIPULATE THE VIEWER’S PERCEPTION OF THE ACTION BY FACTORS OTHER THAN THE STORY ITSELF.

• THESE ARE:
• CINEMATOGRAPHY
• EDITING
• SOUND
• MISE-EN-SCENE

• CINEMATOGRAPHY
• FILM STOCK AND EXPOSURE- RANGE OF BLACK AND WHITE FILMS USED OVER HISTORY GIVES CHARACTERISTIC LOOK, EXPOSURE CONTROLS HOW DIM OR BRIGHT FILM IS OVERALL REGARDLESS OF LIGHTING
• LENS FOCAL LENGTH EFFECTS SENSE OF SPACE- WIDE-ANGLE LENS HAS SHORT FOCAL LENGTH, TELEPHOTO LENS HAS LONG-FOCAL LENGTH- BOTH OF THESE CAN BE USED STRATEGICALLY TO DISTORT PERSPECTIVE- A LONG HALLWAY FOR EXAMPLE:

THE END OF THE HALLWAY CAN LOOK FAR AWAY WITH WIDE ANGLE LENS (SHORT FOCAL LENGTH) 

OR THE ENTIRE SPACE CAN BECOME COMPACTED AND ABSTRACTED IN A SENSE WITH TELEPHOTO (LONG FOCAL LENGTH)

• DEPTH OF FIELD OR FOCUS CAN DIRECT VIEWER TO IMPORTANT ACTION- A SHALLOW FOCUS FOCUSES ON ONE PLANE AND ALL OTHERS BLUR WHILE A DEEP FOCUS KEEPS EVERYTHING IN THE SHOT IN CRISP FOCUS
• FRAMING- BOUNDING OF THE IMAGE
• ON SCREEN VS OFFSCREEN SPACE- WHAT DOES THE FILM MAKER CHOOSE TO SHOW VS WHAT DO WE ACCEPT AS BEING A NON-VISIBLE PART OF WHAT IS SHOWN- ESSENTIALLY 6 DIRECTIONS OF OFF SCREEN SPACE- UP, DOWN, SIDE, SIDE, IN FRONT OF, BEHIND
• ANGLE, LEVEL, AND HEIGHT- THE CAMERA CAN LOOK UP, ACROSS, OR DOWN, AND ITS LEVEL CAN BE HIGH UP OR NEAR THE GROUND.  
• DISTANCE- LONG SHOT, MEDIUM SHOT, CLOSE-UP
• EXTREME LONG SHOT SHOWS LANDSCAPE, CITYSCAPE- PEOPLE QUITE SMALL, 
• LONG SHOTS OF PEOPLE ARE WHOLE WITHIN FRAME, 
• MEDIUM SHOT- PEOPLE ARE CLOSER- WAIST UP FOR EXAMPLE,
• MEDIUM CLOSE-UP IS HEAD AND CHEST 
• CLOSE-UP USUALLY JUST HEAD OR SMALLER (FACE, EYES)
• POINT-OF VIEW SHOT SHOWS SCENE FROM CHARACTERS POV.
• CAMERA MOVEMENT AND ZOOM- PAN FROM LEFT TO RIGHT OR ZOOM IN FROM A DISTANCE, IS IT SMOOTH (CAMERA ON A TRACK IN FILMING) OR SHAKY (HAND HELD)
• DURATION OF THE IMAGE (OF THE SHOT)

WARHOL’S EMPIRE STATEBUILDING WHICH SHOWS THE CHANGES OF LIGHT ON EMPIRE STATE BLDG OVER A PERIOD OF 24 HOURS IS AN EXAGERATED EXAMPLE OF THE LONG TAKE.

• EDITING
• RELATION OF SHOTS/TAKES TO EACH OTHER
• CAN SEE IT AS A GRAPHIC SET-UP- A SORT OF SHIFTING COLLECTION OF ABSTRACT IMAGES- CONTRASTS OF LIGHT AND DARK SHAPES OR COLORS
• SETS PACE- THINK ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SUCESSION OF SHORT SHOTS VERSUS ONE LONG SHOT.  EDITORS CREATE A SORT OF RHYTHM THROUGH THE COMBINATION OF SHOTS
• EDITING COMMUNICATES SENSE OF SPACE- IT CAN SHOW THE RELATION OF THINGS TO EACH OTHER - SUCH AS MIXING LONG SHOTS OF AN ENTIRE SCENE WITH CLOSE-UPS - OR IT CAN DENY SPACE BY NEVER SHOWING THE WHOLE –IMAGINE A FILM IN WHICH ALL CHARACTERS WHO INTERACT ARE ALWAYS SHOWN INDIVUDALLY AND IN EXTREME CLOSE-UP.
• EDITING COMMUNICATES TIME- IT CAN SHOW DIFFERENT UNCONNECTED ACTIONS HAPPENING SIMULATEOUSLY THROUGH EDITING- PARALLEL EDITS
• ALSO WITH TIME- STORY MAY TAKE PLACE OVER HOURS, DAYS, YEARS, BUT EDITING GIVES A SENSE OF TIME ELAPSING- SHOTS OF A MAN AT BEGINNING OF LONG STREET, IN MIDDLE, AND AT END CAN TAKE PLACE IN A SECOND WHILE THE REAL TIME OF THAT EVENT MAY HAVE TAKEN MINUTES- THIS COMMUNICATES PASSAGE OF TIME TO VIEWERS AND IS CALLED ELLIPTICAL TIME

• SOUND
• SOUNDTRACK IS RECORDED SEPARATELY
• DIALOGUE- CAN MANIPULATE THROUGH VOLUME/CLARITY – SHOUTING WITHIN A CROWD OR QUIET DIALOGUE ALONE IN ECHOING ROOM HAVE DIFFERENT EFFECTS
• MUSIC- CAN ADD TO EMOTIONAL EFFECT- CAN DRAW ATTENTION TO IMPORTANT MOMENT OR FORESHADOW LATER EVENTS
• OTHER SOUNDS- CARS, FOOTSTEPS, BARKING DOGS- ALL HAVE POTENTIAL OF ADDING OR TAKING AWAY FROM REALISM, ADDING TEXTURE TO SCENE, BRIDGING SCENES, ETC.
• MISE-EN-SCENE
• THESE ARE ALL OF THE ELEMENTS WITHIN THE SHOT OR “ON THE STAGE” THAT CAN BE MANIPULATED ACCORDING TO DIRECTOR’S VISION AND WHICH AFFECT THE VIEWER’S READING OF THE FILM
• SETTING  (THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE ACTION TAKES PLACE AND ALL OF THE FURNISHINGS AND PROPS FOUND WITHIN IT.)

• COSTUME AND MAKE-UP

      THESE BOTH CAN ADD CONTINUITY- COLOR PALETTE TEXTURES CAN BLEND OR BE HARMONIOUS WITHIN SCENE, FROM SCENE TO SCENE, OR CAN BE VISUALLY STRIKING TO EMPHASIZE THE PERSON OR PLACE.  CAN BE USED SYMBOLICALLY- SCARLET OHARA’S RED DRESS WAS OVERTLY SYMBOLIG.  ACTORS CAN BECOME ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT COLORS OR PATTERNS.  COLORS CAN BE USED DIFFERENTLY FROM PLACE TO PLACE- THINK OZ VS KANSAS- MORE SUBTLE DIFFERENCES IN OTHER FILMS

MANY FILMS TRY FOR HISTORICAL ACCURACY.  ANY ITEMS WITHIN A SET OR A COSTUME THAT DO NOT CONFORM TO OUR EXPECTATIONS OF THIS ACCURACY WOULD STICK OUT AND CAUSE DISUNITY OR WOULD NEED TO BE SEEN AS SYMBOLIC- PURPOSEFULLY INACCURATE- THINK OF BAS LUHRMAN’S ROMEO AND JULIET OR MOULIN ROUGE, FOR EXAMPLE.

• LIGHTING
• CAN SHOW WHAT’S IMPORTANT, SET MOOD, SENSE OF TIME.
• LIGHT COLOR, DIRECTION, SOURCE, QUALITY

• EXPRESSIONS AND MOVEMENTS OF THE CHARACTERS

WITHIN ANY MOVIE, THERE NEEDS TO BE ORGANIZATION- PRINCIPLES OR RELATIONSHIPS THAT UNIFY THE FILM.  JUST LIKE IN FINE ART AND DESIGN, THERE IS A SET OF ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES IN FILM:

• SIMILARITY AND REPETITION-
• THERE CAN BE A REPEATING MOTIF- SETTING, SPEECH, PROPS, LIGHTING, OR OTHER FACTORS,
• REPETITIONS CAN BE EXACT, OR CAN BE GENERAL
• DIFFERENCE AND VARIATION
• PARALLELISM- SCENES THAT ARE SIMILAR BUT CAN BECOME MEANINGFUL THROUGH HOW THEY VARY FROM EACH OTHER
• DEVELOPMENT
• PROGRESSION OF STORY
• GROWTH OF CHARACTER
• UNITY AND DISUNITY- DEGREE TO WHICH ELEMENTS IN FILM COHERE AND ARE EXPLAINED

 HERE ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SCENES FOR COMPARING THE ABOVE FACTORS:

FROM DOWN BY LAW, 1986

FROM RAISING ARIZONA, 1986

 OR

FROM SPEED RACER, 2008

A Vert Brief Review of Art from the Last 150 Years

In order to contextualize many of the discussions we have had over the past few weeks, it is important to look at some of the developments in Art over the last 150 years.

Part of the story of what has happened has to do with how artists have influenced each other.  This influence has travelled from one artist to another, from one period to another, and from one culture to another.

We live in a period where global communication, awareness, and influence is easy.  This was not always the case, but cultures have always influenced each other.  Here is a 2000 year old example of this influence- the Silk Road:

The spread of Buddhism is a good example of how trade and travel across cultures spread ideas.  Buddhism began in approximately 600 BCE in India.  Today the religion does not really exist in India but over a 1000 year period it spread over the Asian continent and originally into areas of the Middle East.  Buddhism was also affected by outside forces- we can see this through its art.

Before contact with Greek artists, Buddha was never pictured

Great Stupa of Sanchi, 3rd cent BCE

 

After introduction of Greek art, spread throughout region with Alexander the Great, Buddha is represented in human form but as a god, just as Greek deities were.

Gandhara Buddha, 1st cent BCE

Praxiteles, Hermes & Dionysus, 4th cent BCE

Aphrodite of Knidos

In western art (European), we can see how these depictions of human forms from ancient Greece also influenced artists over 1000 years later.  The discovery and interest in ancient Greek texts and works of art led to a renewed interest in the human form.

It was said that the Greeks made their men into gods and their gods into men.  Renaissance artists began to look at this model and integrate it into depictions of Christian stories.

Donatello, David with the head of Goliath, approx 1400 CE

Michelangelo, David, approx 1500 CE

Michelangelo, Pieta, approx 1500 CE

In earlier centuries, the emphasis had been on the Christian message, not on naturalistic portrayals of life either in the human form or in a believable sense of space.
 

Portal figures, Chartres Cathedral, approx 1150 CE

Cimabue, Madonna, Approx. 1300 CE

Renaissance artists included mythological content alongside a Christian message.

 

Boticelli, The Birth of Venus, approx. 1485 CE

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, approx 1495 CE

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, from Sistine Chapel Ceiling, approx 1510 CE

Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, approx 1510 CE

Michelangelo, Adam and Eve, from the Sistine Chapel ceiling,  approx 1510 CE

For centuries after the Renaissance, paintings focused on depicting an illusion of reality, whether historical or mythological subjects, portraits, still life, or landscapes were depicted.  In fact, Art History,  the study of art (started in the Renaissance) focused exclusively on the big three:  painting, sculpture, and architecture.  Other items that were designed such as furniture, tapestries, porcelain, and glass were relegated to a lower level and considered craft.

In Art History, the following images belong to a variety of defined periods, styles, and movements, however, for the sake of getting closer to the present, we will skip any effort to define and explain until we get to an Art Movement called Realism.  

Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538

Peter Paul Rubens, Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus, 1618

Diego Velazquez, Las Meninas, 1656

Jan Vermeer, Young Woman and Water Pitcher, 1665

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Grand Odalisque, 1814

In the mid-19th century, a group of French artists including Courbet, Millet, and Corot, gathered together as a group, declaring their interest in depicting different themes than their counterparts.  These artists were not interested in mythology or history or in the exotic but in what could be literally perceived in their everyday lives.  The Stonebreakers, below, is an example of the type of subject the Realists were interested in: toiling laborers.  Gustave Courbet famously said, "Show me an angel and I'll paint you one!"

Gustave Courbet, The Stonebreakers, 1849

Realism is also an example of a group of artists declaring a new direction based upon common concerns.  This search for something that seems newer and/or truer is a key factor of Modernism in art.  For the next 100 years or so, artists will try to get at a universal or essential truth.

Each new group who superseded the last with a new idea was referred to as the avant-garde.

We have seen this painting in class.  Manet is considered the father of Impressionism.  He was loosely associated with Realism but followed his own direction, eventually influencing the Impressionists and showing with them.

Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1863

The Impressionist movement was concerned with perception as well.  They also painted subjects from their contemporary lives including landscapes, city scenes, and modern men and women in public.  In Impressionism, the real subject is light and how light creates changes in color.  This focus on color and atmosphere meant that the artists did not define forms with hard edges the way audiences were used to seeing them.  This as much as some of the subject matter disturbed audiences.

Claude Monet, Haystack

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral

The first exhibition by this group of independent artists in 1874 was actually called 

The Anonymous Society of Painters and Sculptors

but a scandalized critic tried to use the title of Monet's painting below as an insult, calling them all mere "impressionists."  Instead, this title would eventually be adopted by the artists.

Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise, 1873

After the Impressionists were more or less accepted, a group of artists called the Post-Impressionists were the next avant-garde group to challenge beliefs about art.  In part they payed homage to the Impressionists in how they used their brushes and in most of their chosen subjects.  But they were very different in their use of space and color.

Van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889

Cezanne

Some early 20th century European movements included  The Fauves ("Wild Beasts" a name given by another disgruntled critic)

Henri Matisse

 And the German Expressionists, who used line and color in an emotional response to the times.

Ernst Kirchner

Abstract Expressionism was the name given to artists working in a manner similar to Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock

Pollock in the act of painting

Mark Rothko

 

Willem deKooning, Woman I, 1952

The move toward abstract, non-objective, and expressionist tendencies started early in the 20th century and built, from artist to artist, and movement to movement, but that was not the only impulse in the early part of the century.  Remember Duchamp?  The man who defaced a print of the Mona Lisa?  The Man who put a Urinal on its back and called it art?

The Dada Movement included a number of artists using parody, irony, and/or nonsensical content to call attention to the irrational and immoral nature of a society that would create the atrocities of WWI.  All aspects of culture were implicated and attacked.

Duchamp, Fountain, 1917

John Heartfield, Don't Worry, He's a Vegetarian, 1936

The Dada movement influenced some artists in the middle of the century to turn away from abstraction and expressionism,  This was essentially a scrutiny of post-war culture.  This was Pop Art

Roy Lichtenstein

Andy Warhol

Along with Pop Art came events called "Happenings" where audiences became a part of the work as artists circled them with props and shouted.

Claes Oldenburg, Soft Toilet

Performance art can also see its roots in Dada.  Happenings were an early form of performance.

Richard Long, A Line Made by Walking, 1967

Abramovic and Ulay, Performance

Abramovic and Ulay, Gallery Entrance

Commentary on the essentialist vision of Modernism (and the critics who proposed letting the materials speak for themselves- paintings are flat, sculpture has planes) resulted in

 Minimalism

Donald Judd

 

Donald Judd

Conceptualism placed the artist's idea above any concerns with form.

Robert Rauschenberg, Erased deKooning, 1953

Walter de Maria, Earth Room,  1977

  The late 1960's and early 1970's saw a rise in Feminist Art as a part of the second wave of Feminism.

Guerilla Girls, Do Women have to be naked?, 1989

Institutional Critique in the 1970's, 80's and beyond called attention to the structures that society, but in particular, the art world, are based on.

Hans Haacke, Metromobilitan, 1985

Another common theme at the end of the 20th century was the purposeful lack of originality practiced by many artists.  Borrowing imagery from others, and using it in parody or to create new meanings is a common aspect of art under Postmodernism.  We call this borrowing (stealing?) Appropriation.  Here Sherrie Levine takes it to an extreme: 

Sherrie Levine, Fountain (After Duchamp) 1991

Sherrie Levine, After Walker Evans, 1981

Sam Taylor-Wood, Pieta, 2001

Performance of holding Robert Downey, Jr.