The frame/shot/scene/sequence are the principal building blocks of film, with the sequence being the largest “part.” Bazin’s mise-en-scéne contains all these elements and his constant championing of mise-en-scéne at the expense of montage dictates how these elements should be used; as such, this constitutes a theory of how a film should be constructed from beginning to end. Both films fail to completely qualify for either of Bazin’s realistic camps –the documentary- like “pure” realism or the spatial realism. By 1939 all major technical advancements are established; the next step in evolution of style is spurred by subject matter. Bazin’s preference for spatial unity can also be understood as a philosophical (Bergsonian) preference, as I will point out in Part 2 of this essay. The end of the silent period brought the two “image” camps to their apex in the form of German Expressionism (the plastics) and the Soviet Post-Revolution cinema (the montagists). (What is Cinema?, 1958) Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse [Online], 1. 1, 92). Andre Bazin, “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema”, in Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen ed., Film Theory and Criticism (1999), p. 47, 7.) The atmosphere and plot of the film are revealed entirely through visual means, using wildly abstract sets and dramatically exaggerated makeup. In neither case do the slim realist tendencies compensate for the overwhelming artistic intervention, as does Welles’ spatial realism for example. This Mitry challenges, refusing t accept the argument that because the camera automatically regis ters a given "reality" it gives us an objective and impartial image 0 that reality. offers an engaging answer to Andre Bazin's famous question, exploring his 'idea of cinema' with a sweeping look back at the near century of Cinema's phenomenal ascendancy. I would also add that Bazin underplays the importance of sound transition to emphasize his spatial-temporal ontological theory of realism. In this new complex perception the clarity of the background is no longer indispensable; soft focus is no longer experienced like an im­probability: it becomes contrast and not contradiction (Cahiers du Cinéma 22). Murnau. The story is conveyed through the intricate interactions between images, lighting, composition, and movement. 6 According to Bazin decoupage in depth approaches a realism in an ontological sense, restoring to objects their existential density. The shot in questions has the title character framed in left, extreme close-up, with a secondary character visible in the right background of the frame (my translation): Given the technical state of 1910 the shot succeeds partly; both planes are visible but the background is soft. The simple geographically and psychologically logical (dramatic) cutting within a scene does not add anything to the intent of a scene, only adding emphasis. As an answer to his own query, he posits the inter and intra-sequence cuts, cuts occurring in between sequences (inter) or within sequences (intra) (See essay by David George Menard, “Toward a Syntheis of Cinema- a Theory of the Long Take Moving Camera.”). Bazin's essay touches on our need and motives to transform ourselves and preserve our being beyond its physical existence. He clearly emphasizes the psychological role with regard to the visuals, so the omission may be a result of sound theory not yet entering into the general discourse of film analysis. Bazin and Rudolf Arnheim, despite one being a realist and the other a formalist, begin their theories from the same starting point. © 2021 Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse LLC. This moral and ethical link does not circumvent the ideological, but stands as a way through the “impasse” of the ideological, or, to once again quote Prakash, “pseudorealism” to get at the “true realism.”. Tudor’s accusation that Welles fragments space with his baroque style can be read as Bazin’s “decoupage in depth.” Hence, decoupage in depth is not anomalous to Bazin’s spatial realism but an essential part of it. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. From that day in 1948 when he got me my first film job, working alongside him, I became his adopted son. In making this contention Bazin is, of course, glossing over a long line of antithetical movements (Expressionism, Surrealism, etc.) 14, 15, 96, & 97. As art evolves so must the theories. The purest form of Bazin’s vision of the ultimate realistic film, with no visible montage, no plot, no artificial or suggestive elements, and no signals sent to the audience to aid in its interpretation, is perhaps contradictory to the very purpose of this art form’s existence. André Bazin, film critic, theorist, philosopher, and humanist wrote a series of essays between the years 1944 and 1958, before he died at the young age of 40. The argument could go on and on. However, Bazin overlooks just how important a psychological role sound played in achieving the impression of reality, and the impression of space and depth that were so important to him. Historical concerns are minimized while the logic and connectedness of the various directions of Bazin’s thought are emphasized. He singles out F.W. Essays   This article begins by stating that depth of field belongs only incidentally to the technical domain (my translation): If depth of field interests us it is only incidentally as a technical progress of a shooting style and, essentially, as a revolution of mise-en-scéne or, more precisely, ‘decoupage’ (19). “A Bazinian Half-Century.” In Opening Bazin: Postwar Film Theory & Its Afterlife. So why bother? By being faithful to the space and the event itself the spectator is able to perceive this hypothetical scene with greater insight and clarity than if he/she were physically present at the scene. He categorizes the early pioneers (Muybridge, Niepce, Leroy, Demeny, Joy, Edison, Lumiére) as “ingenious industrialists” at best. The implication in Bazin’s historical evolution is that by the 1940’s the imagist style had been completely engulfed by the realist style. Bazin goes on to state that: “The guiding myth, then, inspiring the invention of cinema, is the accomplishment of that which dominated in a more or less vague fashion all the techniques of the mechanical reproduction of reality in the nineteenth century, from photography to phonograph, namely an integral realism, a recreation of the world in its own image, an image unburdened by the freedom of interpretation of the artist or the irreversibility of time” … 17-23). In his essay, “An Aesthetic Reality,” Andre Bazin writes, “Let us agree, by and large, that film sought to give the spectator as perfect an illusion of reality as possible within the limits of logical demands of cinematographic narrative” (Bazin, 26). (volumes I and II) have been classics of film studies for as long as they've been available and are considered the gold standard in the field of film criticism. Click to read more about What Is Cinema? All arts share in this inability to completely capture reality, but there are differing ways of countering this problem. In brief then, here is Bazin’s evolution of film language: a) Plastics (lighting, decor, composition, acting), 2) The Realists:(long take, on location shooting, objective approach), a) Pure objective realism (Neo- Realism, Documentary). Although Bazin made no films, his name has been one of the most important in French cinema since World War II. The film unfolds in an enthralling, completely artificial environment where even the movements of the actors echo the distorted angular shapes of their setting. Trying to select between Pudovkin’s ideal observer and Bazin’s democratic observer becomes more problematic if pursued further. The major exponents of the realist camp are F.W. Here it is instructive to recall Younger’s distinction in Bazin’s understanding of realism in art between “pseudorealism” and “true realism” -the former being caught in the trappings of ideology or meaningless formal articulations. About the essay & author: "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema" is a classic essay of film criticism by French film theorist André Bazin (April 18, 1918-November 11, 1958). DVD. According to Bazin, within the historical conditions of the 1940s and 1950s, the best way to achieve this was by means of spatial integrity, depth of field, and the long take mise-en-scéne. He describes it in the following terms: 1) The photographic image is “a kind of decal or transfer”; 2) “The photographic image is the object itself, the object freed from the conditions of time and space that govern it”; 3) Photography embalms time; 4) “The photograph as such and the object in itself share a common being, after the fashion of a fingerprint”; 5) “In no sense is it the image of an object or persons, more correctly it is its tracing”; 6) “The photograph proceeds … to the taking of a veritable luminous impression in light – to a mold. "The Myth of Total Cinema" (1946) André Bazin * is the constant desire to represent reality as completely as possible, which he claimed as the root of cinema innovations *all the techniques of mechanical reproduction of reality since the nineteenth century, from photography to … Out of this evolves Henderson’s critique of both theories: neither considers the relation of the part (the sequence) to the whole. ISSN: 2153-5760. What Cinema Is!. Produced and directed by Orson Welles. All of these quotes or paraphrases are taken from What is Cinema Vol. 2009. Thereafter, every pleasant thing that happened in my life lowed to him. Bazin, in contrast, downplays the filmmakers intervention. Despite a true story to go along with the film’s production (of Kubelka’s distaste for the bourgeois Europeans he was filming), it is very simplistic in its premise: a group of white Europeans go on a hunting trip in Africa; having fun, shooting wildlife, and interacting with the natives.&... Oliver Stone's filmography has levied an unprecedented effect on the popular understanding of American history, especially of the turmoil surrounding the Vietnam War and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Year: 2004. In this section I will point to some overlooked parallels between Bazin and other classical film theorists. André Bazin (French: ; 18 April 1918 – 11 November 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist.. Bazin started to write about film in 1943 and was a co-founder of the renowned film magazine Cahiers du cinéma in 1951, with Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.. Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse 1.12 (2009). By “freeing” the object Bazin is implying a form of salvation or transgression to a higher moral/spiritual plateau. The true realist does not fight against this opposition but merely tries to accommodate it through sincerity and honesty. DVD. This scene makes no pretense of realistic space and gains much of its intensity from the art of suggestive montage. He believed that the interpretation of a film… What Cinema Is! This limitation becomes a virtue. Cite Them Right Online is an excellent interactive guide to referencing for all our students. Bazin’s starting point for his historical overview is the silent period. Cinema reached a point of classical perfection where content fused with form. 106 min. An Analysis of Film Critic Andre Bazin's Views on Expressionism and Realism in Film. From the start he makes a distinction between “those directors who put their faith in the image and those who put their faith in reality”.1. In his essay “Two Types of Film Theory” Henderson discusses the choice representatives of the formalist and realist camps, Eisenstein and Bazin. Noel Burch, in Theory of Film Practice, defines the three terms for which decoupage is inter­changeably used for as: 1) The final form of a script replete with the required technical information. This is an ideal approach, but realistically, most directors either do not place that much thought into the editing or do not have the aptitude to, and, consequently, fall back on the more traditional editing style, to what Noel Burch terms the “zero point of cinematic style” (11). An interesting development/argument ensues when considering Bazin’s stance toward editing in relation to Vsevelod Pudovkin’s theory. Having pointed toward Bazin’s preference for the mise-en-scéne style I will now discuss his reasons for that choice. Bazin states that photography surpasses art in creative power, describing the artists mind to be in a different place than the canvases, the camera and the object at least share the same world. 75 min. A good example of the first movement would be Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. What Is Cinema? Further, cinema’s ability to record the event in time, making “an imprint of the duration of the object” elevates it above photography. I was intrigued by the title and directors discussed by Andre Bazin in his book The Cinema Of Cruelty: from Bunuel to Hitchcock (1975). Some compression of time and shifts in camera position are inevitable. Andre Bazin, “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema”, in Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen ed., Film Theory and Criticism (1999), pp.44-46, 6.) Other major works translated into English include Jean Renoir, Orson Welles: A Critical View, and French Cinema of the Occupation and the Resistance. This oversight is surprising, especially with the evidence already building around Bazin toward the evolutionary direction which the dialectics of realism/formalism would take: toward a harmonious existence where the two become more or less equal and interchangeable operative modes of a complex art form. By including Murnau and Dreyer as realists Bazin is falling into the same trap that Siegfried Kracauer does when he accepts certain fantastical/formalistic scenes when they are in the proper “realist” context, such as a dream or a specific point of view (Tudor 94). The fact that the lion is tame is unimportant; this deceit is made “morally” correct because it occurs in a homogenous space. With the ameliorization of the depth of field shooting style and the parallel advancement of audience awareness, soft focus becomes a technique (rack focus and softening of a part of the image for an effect) and takes on a different meaning, that of decoupage. Being a humanist he believes that the idea precedes the invention and hence is superior to the technical means used to achieve it. Again, giving the state of cinematography (to render a clear, legible image) and the state of audience awareness the softness of the background appears as a default. Noel Carroll does not “agree, by and large” with Bazin’s realism-based (or medium essential) proposal, nor is he satisfied with ascribing the power of film... Peter Kubelka’s 1966 film “Unsere Afrikareise” or “Our Trip to Africa” is a remarkably unique bit of filmmaking. Andre Bazin, from whose group of essays the title is borrowed, tried to define this from a critical point of view. (volumes I and II) have been classics of film studies for as long as they've been available and are considered the gold standard in the field of film criticism. Pages: 207 / 206. Bazin sees no deceit in the proceedings behind a long take/depth of field shot (numerous takes, removal of walls, props, etc.) All rights reserved. As time evolved so did the means of artistically replicating reality, from cave drawings, to mummification, to engraving, to painting, to photography, and to its (thus far) most convincing form, cinema. 119 min. Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse 1 (12), http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=86, BLAKENEY, K. 2009. ‘The Precession of Simulacra’ explores... F.W. An integral part of the mise-en-scéne style is the presence of depth of field. Though ‘mechanical’ must be considered relatively, since all ‘tools’ (pen, brush, needle, etc) used in art are a form, lesser perhaps, of mechanical intervention.) Edition: 1. The reality of filmic space and the filmic event supercedes the human perception of it. In "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema" Bazin speaks 0 the image as being evaluated not according to what it adds t reality but what it reveals of it. Film reaches its “equilibrium- profile” (. By using deep focus, Welles is able to “cover whole scenes in one take”, allowing the audience to see the whole picture and interpret the scene independently of intrusive editing.11 There are definitely many elements of realism in Citizen Kane, but Orson Welles indulges in a great deal of symbolic and metaphoric montage to tell his story. Edition No. By the late 30’s sound moved editing toward realism, switching the operative cutting style from symbolic/expressive to dramatic/analytic. Through these contradictions we can decipher Bazin’s true motives for his disliking montage and upholding mise-en-scéne. This paper argues that film is a medium defined by its relationship to memory. Even given the ideal, Bazin would still reject Pudovkin’s theory because of its potential to reduce the possibility for multiple interpretations. Writers who try to reveal inconsistencies in how Bazin applied his own theory to criticism often focused on his troubled affirmation of Welles as a realist. Cinema can never totally duplicate the viewing process – physiologically and psychologically. Bazin is not against editing which forms the basis of film structure, that is cutting necessary to join unconnected scenes/sequences, but is against optical illusions (superimpositions, dissolves, process shots), needless pedestrian editing within a single scene, and expressive editing that adds meaning through the juxtaposition rather than content of each image. 1 Possibly as a means of countering mortality, humanity has forever been attempting to preserve his/her likeness in one form or another. Although Welles inherited many traits from German Expressionism Tudor can not deny that the context is different – within Wellesian mise-en-scéne- ­and that there is a difference between cutting a space through montage and cutting a space “in depth” as does Welles. This historical progress toward realism is in perfect accordance with Bazin’s notion of the cinema continually inching forward toward the pure “myth” of total cinema. In both cases the limitation – not being able to reproduce reality exactly- becomes the source for the respective ends. Although Bazin made no films, his name has been one of the most important in French cinema since World War II. It is true that painting, the world over, has struck a varied balance between the symbolic and realism. Although Bazin made no films, his name has been one of the most important in French cinema since World War II. Language: english. Given the breadth of his work, I have limited myself in this introduction to his theoretical work and omitted his critical work on genre/cycles (the Western, Neo-realism) and/or specific films. RKO Pictures, 1941. Both theorists begin with the contention that cinema reproduces reality mechanically. This interplay between contemporary and past theorist is a vital part of the theoretical world’s evolution and proves the validity of past theories. I can respect Tudor’s refusal to grant Bazin the benefit of two types of realism, but I disagree with his reason. Faust. He then uses an example from the film Where No Vultures Fly to demonstrate how much more effective depth of field is than parallel montage. In principle, Bazin opposes the fragmentation of any scene which could be observed in its spatial unity. Wiley-Blackwell Manifestos The montagists are also broken down into two camps, distinguished mainly by a time frame: 1920- 30 (Abel Gance, D.W. Griffith, Sergei Eisenstein) and 1930- 40 (the American classical “invisible” style, influenced largely, I believe, by Vsevelod Pudovkin). … an indirect means in which to place value in the shot which is being focused; it transcribes in the frame the dramatic hierarchy which montage expresses in time. Produced by Rudolf Meinert and Erich Pommer and directed by Robert Wiene. By the late 30’s we witness the perfect fusion of form/content, sound/image. This “myth” which grew out of cinema’s beginnings stands as the touchstone cinema has progressively evolved toward. Any element of criticism is a residue of the rigorous thought process propelled by his writings. Editing implies the formal construction of the film from one shot to the next and is not nec­essarily expressive. Bazin sees cinema as “an idealistic phenomenon” and only consequently technical. It can be more or less relatable, it can push its message forward in an obvious, metaphorical, or subtle way, but the message is still always there. This is trickery; it removes the freedom on the part of the spectator to select for him or herself and removes whatever existential ambiguity may be present in the scene. With the meaning of decoupage in mind, we must consider the other means by which depth of field appropriates montage: the moving camera, especially the reframe, the zoom, lighting, props, and the use of off- screen space. Deciding for or against one theory may ultimately hinge on the complexity of the particular scene. In Pudovkin’s illuminating and influential film theory the natural way for a filmmaker to constitute a scene is to assume a hypothetical “perfect” observer, an imaginary, attentive, sensitive eye which captures the scene not the way everyone would see it but the way an acutely intense, analytical, and probing observer would. revolting against this obsession with realism. Later, in his now famous essay “The Evolution of the Language of … Although the potential for human intervention is always present, even granting the mechanical intervention, Bazin believes that the filmmaker owes it to the complexity of reality to refrain from false subjective manipulation and overwrought formalist mediation. He serves as an endpoint to this section because Henderson exemplifies the by-product which can result from the constant need to reevaluate and think through existing theories. Cinema has over other arts restoring to objects their existential density a realism in an form... 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