CIN270Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Sensorium, Photorealism, Filmophile
11 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017
CIN270Y1
CLASS 22
Nostalgia and Consolidation
1977: Auteurs and Technology
• So much of what we call “blockbuster” filmmaking has its roots in 1977
• Lucas and Spielberg: visual dynamics
• A form of sensual engagement with film
• These filmmakers sought to “provoke the sensorium”
• And this entailed a renewed focus on SPECIAL EFFECTS
• This convergence of auteurism and tech is critical
1977
• Layered, composite mise-en-scène
- Live action photography
- Real actors (such as Harrison Ford) being photographed
- Stop-motion animation
- Traditional 2D animation
- Frame-rate manipulated and still artwork
- All were governed by photorealism (Ex. Star Wars - special effects accompanied by
flaring in the lens, similar to a documentary)
First sequence of digitally remastered version
Emphasizing the desire to create dramatic scenes
Very different from the original
Contemplation/Visceral Engagement
• Sensual and intellectual impact
• Close Encounters invites a form of IMMERSION
• We are immersed in light, intense colour schemes, sounds, music…
• The sensorium is stimulated
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
• Links the experience to the counterculture (use of drugs)
• Technology is serving that purpose/achieving that goal
• Variations in colour and sound
• Aligns with the era’s utopian thinking of technology
Star Wars
• Seems equally interested in creating this powerful sensory experience
• Seems contradictory with its aim at children, being family-friendly
• Invited a bodily response, Close Encounters is immersive
• A lot happens in Close Encounters, though it seems like nothing is happening
• Star Wars is more focused on movement – shot to shot, frame to frame, graphic qualities
which dynamize and invest the film in certain energy (the effects are increasingly rapid,
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