FAMST 96 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Pg. 99, Object Relations Theory, Perspectivism
9 May 2018
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NEXT ESSAY DUE MAY 11TH AT 10AM
READ THRU BORDWELL PGS 99-146 AND UNDERSTAND CONCEPTS AND ELEMENTS OF
SPACE
…..Then relate it to Badlands and its narrative space
Cinematic and Filmic Space
Pictorial representation is inherently incomplete or ambiguous
That's the point of a cue
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We are being cued to something that is missing
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Images don’t reflect depth or object relations
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The spectator does cognitive work to fill in the cues provided by the
image on screen
Crucial to our understanding of the filmic space
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We infer worlds on cognitive grounds, not merely on perceptual
ones
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Filmic space is guided by the spectator's position
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"mmetic?"___ theory doesn’t consider contextual relations
Spectator is the apex of viewing
Connects all perception
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Camera is narrator and spectator
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World of the film built thru editing is attributed to the
idealized spectator
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Diegetic theory: film enunciates the space
But space cannot speak
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Still need the spectator in order to make sense of that space
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Space has to be constructed and cued by the spectators
cognitive process
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"just as there is more to narration than the camera, there is more to
cinematic space than effects of position" (Bordwell pg. 99)
Narration presents information can be facilitated or blocked
through the style and representation of space
Some space occludes our vision□
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How films mobilize spatial perception (through the knowledge of
the spectator)
Offscreen = onscreen in regards to importance□
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Perspectivist = logical grid
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Geschtalt
Involving the spectator's prior knowledge to make sense of what
they're being shown
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Constructivist theory = the BEST according to Bordwell
Creates logical space in the film
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Include a different kind of activity that is more dynamic and
complex of the spectator
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Looking at filmic space from a reoriented position
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Creating distance between spectator and film
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Process of braking down basic units of perception
How space and cognitive understanding works together□
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Allows the spectator to be included dynamically in the film
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Focus on the process of cueing in order to realize how the
spectator is embedded in the process of narration
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Perceiver is constantly active, making sense of the material
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Spectator works upon cues that the film gives using schema (stuff
that we know to be true from previous knowledge) to make sense
of the space
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Concerned with scenographic space
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Cues imply that the image doesn’t determine the kinds of objects
represented or the depth relations between them
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Look at what you know you see of the image being shown, then pay
attention to what it is that you don't know about the frame. How
does that construct a certain space? What is the image cuing us to
think about?
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Editing and putting together spaces through mechanics of orientation
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Shot space
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Lecture 10: Filmic Space
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
2:04 PM
