Formalism

Question 1

Who invented formalism?

Answer 1

A group of progressive Russian critics who desired a formal way to produce an objective and scientific method of analysing literature.

Question 2

Who were some of the key literary formalists?

Answer 2

Vladimir Propp, Viktor Shklovsky, Yurl Tyanov and Boris Eichenbaum

Question 3

What were formalists interested in?

Answer 3

The form of a text

Question 4

Why was the Bolshevik revolution important to cinema?

Answer 4

The uprising caused many Russian filmmakers to flee, taking with them their equipment and film-stock. Blockades on foreign imports resulted in celluloid being unable to be brought into the country to replace the missing stock. Filmmakers began to experiment by editing footage from existing film stock in order to create new films, and they began to realise how important the editing process can be as a manipulative device

Question 5

What were the Russian filmmakers who operated under the Bolshevik Revolution called?

Answer 5

The Soviet Montage - leading practitioners being Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertor and Lev Kuleshov

Question 6

What are the key ideas that underpin formalism?

Answer 6

1) Placed form over content - they focused on the physical putting together of the film (editing, narrative, structure etc), as opposed to the topic of the film itself
2) Used science to explain aesthetics
3) Formally analysing disparate texts in order to assess quality - looked at the differences and similarities of a variety of films, interested with things such as aesthetics, narrative, cinematography and mise-en-scene

Question 7

What was formalism?

Answer 7

The looking for insight into art via the analysis of a system of signs and conventions, as opposed to looking at inspiration and aesthetic style. Formalists saw art as a process to be studied, taking into consideration the forms and devices needed to create a work of art

Question 8

What was one of the most important things to come out of the formalist debates, specific to the art of film-making?

Answer 8

The systematic approach to reading cinematography

Question 9

Which style of editing did Hollywood opt for, pre-Soviet school of filmmakers era?

Answer 9

Continuity editing (or the industrial mode of representation)

Question 10

What is continuity editing and why did Hollywood adopt it?

Answer 10

It is a non-intrusive approach to editing, that results in the audience remaining entirely unaware of cuts being made. It is made up of some basic editing devices:

1) Establishing shots - helps orientate audience
2) Eye-level shot - camera equivalent to actor’s eyes, standard shot as there are no connotations attached to this level
3) Reframing - moving the camera to keep points of focus central to the frame
4) Matching eye-lines - dictating that when the character looks off screen, the following shot should reveal the object of their location
5) Shot/reverse shot - used in a conversation between two characters, typically either point of view or over the shoulder
6) 180-degree rule - important for continuity, related to the imaginary line that one must envision between the action. All filming should take place on one side of this line, as to cross it would disorientate the audience

Question 11

What was the Soviet school’s position on the bourgeoisie?

Answer 11

They were anti-bourgeoisie and sought to radicalise film, dissociating it from any elitist connotations

Question 12

What was an example of Sergei Eisenstein’s dedication to the anti-bourgeoisie ideology?

Answer 12

His typage casting technique, where he would choose members of the public to star in his films based purely on whether or not they had the right ‘look’ for the role. He didn’t care whether they had little or no acting experience.

Question 13

How did Eisenstein attempt to move cinema away from the static viewpoint offered in theatre?

Answer 13

Through use of montage

Question 14

What was Eisenstein’s viewpoint on editing?

Answer 14

That it had a psychological dimension and that if an image was placed alongside another image, a new meaning could be created.

Question 15

What is the five types of montage that Eisenstein identified?

Answer 15

1) Metric montage - follows a certain number of frames/length of time, cutting to the next shot regardless of what is happening on screen in order to build suspense
2) Rhythmic montage - based on the rhythm of movement within the shot, enhancing or contradicting the image, can be used to keep up the pace of the film
3) Tonal montage - focus on the emotional content rather than the duration of shots, used to elicit an emotional reaction
4) Overtonal - Synergy of metric, rhythmic and tonal, synthesises the three types effect on the audience for a more complex result
5) Intellectual montage - a conceptual relationship between images and visual metaphor

Question 16

What is the Kuleshov effect?

Answer 16

It demonstrates how audience perception can be altered based on the which images are paired with which. In his example, Kuleshov took an image of the actor Ivan Mozhukhin, and juxtaposed the actor with three separate images: a bowl of soup, a woman dead in a coffin and a girl playing with a teddy bear. The shot stayed the same, but the audience interpreted his expressionless face as portraying the emotions of hunger, sorrow and joy.

Question 17

Who was one of the first to recognise the importance of deep-focus photography?

Answer 17

Andre Bazin (after viewing Orson Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland’s work ‘Citizen Kane’). The technique had been around since the late 1930’s (‘La Grande Illusion’/’La Bete Humaine’)

Question 18

What are the three implications of deep-focus photography?

Answer 18

1) Helps the audience experience the action as though it was a reflection of the real world
2) The longer take that the art-form demands more work from the viewer, as they cannot sit idly whilst the camera guides them through the scene. They must be active in order to decipher information
3) Produces ambiguity

Question 19

What is fabula and syuzhet?

Answer 19

Story and plot, respectively. They are the two types of narrative devices that are commonly used through the formulist study of literature

Question 20

What is fabula and what effect does it have?

Answer 20

It is audience-led and relates to the entire story, even the aspects which are not explicitly shown on screen. The audience must be active in order to fill in the gaps in the story

Question 21

What is syuzhet and what effect does it have?

Answer 21

It is writer/director-led and relates to the information and organisation of material presented on screen (the plot). The director can build suspense by neglecting to inform the audience of something that the character knows (‘The Usual Suspects’)

Question 22

What were the seven characters that Vladimir Propp identified?

Answer 22

1) The hero - character who seeks something
2) The villain - opposes or actively blocks the Hero’s quest
3) The Donor - provides an object with magical properties
4) The Dispatcher - Send the hero on their quest
5) The False Hero - Disrupts the Hero’s success by making false claims
6) The Helper - Assists and rescues the hero
7a) The Princess - Acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villains plots
7b) Her father - looks to reward the hero for his efforts

Question 23

What is a criticism of Propp’s functions/archetypes theory?

Answer 23

That it is a bit dated, as plots don’t tend to end with marriage being the climax anymore

Question 24

What are Propp’s functions?

Answer 24

1) One of the members of a family absents himself from home
2) An interdiction is addressed (the hero is told not to do a specific thing)
3) The interdiction is violated (hero breaks the command)
4) The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (searches for information)
5) The villain receives information about the hero
6) The villain attempts to deceive the hero in order to take possession of him or his belongings
7) The hero succumbs to deception and thereby unwittingly helps his enemy
8) The villains causes harm or injury to a member of the hero’s family/one member of the family either lacks something or desires to have something
9) Misfortune or lack is made known: the hero is approached with a request or command; he is allowed to go or is dispatched
10) The seeker agrees to or decided upon counteraction
11) The hero leaves home
12) The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, which prepares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or helper
13) The hero reacts to the actions of a future donor
14) The hero acquire the use of a magical agent
15) The hero is transferred, delivered or led to the whereabouts of an object that he seeks
16) The hero and villain join in direct combat
17) The hero is branded
18) The villain is defeated
19) Initial misfortune or lack is liquidated (resolved)
20) The hero returns
21) The hero is pursued
22) Rescue of the hero from pursuit
23) The hero, unrecognised, arrived home or in another country
24) A false hero presents unfounded claims
25) A difficult task is proposed to the hero
26) The task is resolved
27) The hero is recognised
28) The false hero or villain is exposed
29) The false hero is given a new appearance
30) The villain is punished
31) The hero is married and ascends the throne

Question 25

What are the three sections in Joseph Campbell’s ‘Progression of the hero’ theory?

Answer 25

Departure, initiation and return

Question 26

What are the stage of Campbell’s progression of the hero theory?

Answer 26

DEPARTURE
1) The call to adventure
2) Refusal of the call
3) Supernatural aid
4) The crossing of the first threshold 
5) The belly of the whale (hero nearly dies and is reborn ready for adventure) 
INITIATION
1) The road of trials
2) The meeting with the goddess 
3) Woman as the temptress/temptation away from the true path
4) Atonement with the father 
5) Apotheosis (the hero enters a new state of being) 
6) The ultimate boob (the hero's objectives are accomplished)
RETURN
1) Refusal of the return
2) Magic flight
3) Rescue from without 
4) The crossing of the return threshold
5) Master of the two worlds
6) Freedom to live

Question 27

In the context of film studies, what do the terms connote and denote mean?

Answer 27

Connote - the symbolic representation

Denote - the literal representation

Question 28

Which approach does Viktor Shklovsky think have more impact - connotative or denotative?

Answer 28

Connotative, as he viewed poetic forms as being essential to seeing ordinary things in a different way.

Question 29

What did Shklovsky refer to as defamiliarization?

Answer 29

The act of making ideas and objects seem unusual or new to the viewer or reader.

Question 30

What are some examples of defamiliarization?

Answer 30

1) Foreigners arriving in new country and experiencing a culture for the first time (‘Lost in Translation’)
2) Characters becoming intoxicated or dizzy (‘Requiem For a Dream’)
3) The everyday being transformed by magical, alien or scientific means (The Harry Potter franchise)
4) The narrative takes an unexpected turn of events, leading the audience to reassess all their information (‘Fight Club’)

Question 31

What is an example of technique driven defamiliarization?

Answer 31

The most common types of defamiliarization tend to be character or narrative driven, but cinematography and soundtrack can have defamiliarising effects on the audience too. An example of this would be ‘Apocalypse Now’, where a ceiling fan is juxtaposed with the sound of helicopter blades to initiate a flashback and defamiliarize the hotel room in the audience’s minds

Question 32

What is Verfremdung?

Answer 32

Translates as ‘to make life strange’, and relates to Brecht’s techniques to remind passive audiences that they are watching a play by drawing attention to the setting that they are in. Devices used to create this effect includes:

• Actors playing more than one character (‘Dr Strangelove’)
  -Actors directly addressing the audience (‘Fight Club’)
  Lighting rig and other technical equipment in view (‘Dogville’)
• Scene changes undertaken by cast in the full view of the audience
• Experimentation of new technology
• Advising the audience of what is about to happen (‘House of Cards’)