FILM HISTORY AND THEORY ESSAYS
(Original work, not for distribution)
THE OVERLAP BETWEEN EISENSTEIN AND ARNHEIM: A NEW SYNTHESIS IN CINEMA’S THEORETICAL NON-REALISM
Through an analysis of the contrasts, logical fragmentations, and common ties between the theories of Eisenstein and Arnheim, an overlap emerges in the emphasis on film meaning-making through an associational non-realism of compositional perception within the uniquely cinematic frame. From this overlap is thus synthesized a renewed theoretical perspective which highlights the broadened applicability of the two compromised theories...
MOTION CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY:
THE FILM INDUSTRY’S CONTEXTUAL LENS OF AMBIGUITY
By examining motion capture technology’s origins, development, and debated relationship to modern cinema, it can be argued that its historical significance as a contextual element that influences multiple films stems from its provocative nature as a lens through which questions of technological media synthesis and the notion of realism in cinema have been raised. This ambiguity generated by motion capture’s conflicting realist and non-realist elements, functions, and status in the industry give a greater understanding of these increasingly blurred approaches in modern cinema, and to the technical and industrial intertextuality of the media world in which film has operated since the 80s...
THE “NEW NEW WAVE” AS A LIMITED, BUT ILLUMINATING AESTHETIC ASSESSMENT:
EXAMINING THE 1999 ‘TRANSITION’ WITHIN THE PHANTOM MENACE AND THE MATRIX
By comparing the formal qualities of The Phantom Menace and The Matrix, in addition to the ways in which they were critically received, the differences in aesthetics and critical interpretation of these films can be analyzed to interpret the “New New Wave” assessment as a theorized reaction and result of the particular melting pot of technical innovation, cyclical stylistic reactionism, and cultural shifts unique to the transitional checkpoint of 1999 and epitomized within these two films...
BROADENING THE BLACK AND WHITE SPECTRUM: THE ECONOMIC AND AESTHETIC SIGNIFICANCE OF PANCHROMATIC FILM STOCK
By examining supporting evidence such as the first feature films shot with panchromatic stock, the technological battle between Eastman Kodak and DuPont for this innovation’s control, and the radical changes to the artistic practices of black and white films, the introduction of panchromatic stock is revealed to be subtly significant as a niche tweak in film practice that played an important role in the stylistic and economic transitionary contexts of the 1910’s and 20’s...
EMBLEMATIC AND EXCEPTIONAL: THE INTERSECTION OF INDUSTRIAL AND AESTHETIC FACTORS IN SHAPING REAR WINDOW’S SIGNIFICANCE
The complementary interaction between industrial and aesthetic/formal sets of influences can be analyzed to have contributed causally to Rear Window’s significance at the time of its release – not only as joint contextual factors that circumscribed the significance of the film’s creation, but as a complex network of communicative historical conditions that worked to maintain the industry’s prowess in a time of change in American entertainment as well as to adapt to and anticipate the perceived needs of 1954’s straying cinematic audience...
RAY AS AUTEUR
Through an analysis of the Cahiers du Cinema critics' reviews of several of Nicholas Ray’s films, as well as a case study on his film Bigger Than Life, it can be argued that Ray’s focus on developing his characteristic range of themes through mise-en-scene – especially within the restrictions of studio production enforced on his craftsmanship – justifies for the Cahiers critics his qualification as an auteur...
OVERLAPPING TRENDS IN POST-WWII FILM REVIEW: TWELVE ANGRY MEN AS A COUNTER-STUDY TO STAIGER’S ARGUMENT
While Staiger’s ideas of realism and authorial expressivity are reflected in the holistic group of Twelve Angry Men reviews, they were not the exclusive functions of a “Highbrow” audience, and her argument is therefore overly simplistic. In contrast, my analysis suggests that film reception, instead of functioning as a site of 2 discrete avenues of meaning production, is a broader spectrum of reading strategies, and the difference between the two audiences is more a cyclical function of reviewers themselves than the audiences they attempt to reflect...