Moving Images

Prebles' ArtformsPrebles' ArtformsAn Introduction to the Visual ArtsAn Introduction to the Visual Arts

CHAPTER

ELEVENTH EDITION

Prebles' Artforms, Eleventh EditionPatrick Frank

Copyright © 2014, 2011, 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.All Rights Reserved

Moving Images: Film and Digital Arts

10



Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives1. Trace the development of motion pictures from

its origins in photography.2. Describe technical innovations and effects used

to make motion pictures.3. Discuss how political concerns about films'

popular influence has affected motion pictures.4. Identify and describe landmark films by directors

in popular and experimental cinema.5. Distinguish the commercial role of television

from art using video and other electronic media.



IntroductionIntroduction

• Circles, Oskar Fischinger First experimental color film Screened under pretenses of

advertisement during suppressive Nazi regime

• Cinema is a mass art closely monitored by those in authority.

• Creative people have been making experimental films for generations.



Oskar Fischinger. Circles. 1933–34.Film still.

© Fischinger Trust, courtesy Center for Visual Music. [Fig. 10-1]



Film: The Moving ImageFilm: The Moving Image

• Prior to movies in late 19th century Rapidly changing short sequences of still

drawings Magic lantern and flip book

• Cinematography The art of photography and camerawork

in filmmaking




• Eadweard Muybridge Commissioned to capture horse's legs to

settle bet made by Leland Stanford The Horse in Motion

• Proved Stanford correct• Documentation improved by faster

exposure mechanisms Zoöpraxiscope

• First primitive cinema



Eadweard Muybridge. The Horse in Motion. 1878.Photographs.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress LC-USZ62-45683 DLC. [Fig. 10-2]




• Film and visual expression Persistence of vision

• Brief retention of an image on the retina after stimulus is removed

• Illusion of motion made possible Designs of sequences working together

in time Each piece of film photographed is

called a shot.




• Film and visual expression Film uninhibited by clock time

• Constructed to represent how we feel about time

• New believable "reality"




• Early techniques Slow recognition of film as artform Silent until sound recording mastered 30

years after the earliest films Georges Méliès

• Pioneered dissolves between scenes• Voyage to the Moon

• Astronauts find a culture on the moon• Films enjoyed worldwide



Georges Méliès. Voyage to the Moon. 1902.Film still.

[Fig. 10-3]




• Early techniques D.W. Griffith

• Suggested moving camera from stagebound position

• Film editing• In which the editor selects the best shots

from raw footage and reassembles them into meaningful sequences

• Used parallel editing• First to use close-up, long shot



D. W. Griffith. Intolerance (The Modern Story). 1916.Film still (Belshazzar's Feast).

The Museum of Modern Art/Film Stills Archive. [Fig. 10-4]




• Directors and artists: a parallel evolution Sergei Eisenstein

• Further developed Griffith's techniques• Skillful use of montage

• Combining a number of brief shots to represent distinct but related subject matter

• The Battleship Potemkin• Realistic portrayal of tragic event



Sergei Eisenstein.The Battleship Potemkin, frame from Odessa Steps sequence.

1925.Film stills.

The Museum of Modern Art/Film Stills Archive. [Fig. 10-5a]

Closer Look: Sergei Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin

http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/shared_hss_assets/art/WPSGlobalModules/guided_tours/FB_42/FB_42.html




• Directors and artists: a parallel evolution Dalí and Buñuel, Un Chien Andalou

• Silent with musical accompaniment• Sequence of seemingly irrational events• Overall theme of unrealized sexual desire• Inspired hallucinogenic feel of later music

videos



Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel. Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog). 1929.

Film still.AF archive/Alamy. [Fig. 10-6]

Video: Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel: Un Chien Andalou Commentary

http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/hss_janson_historyart_7/film_and_audio_clips/Salvador_Dali_and_Luis_Brunuel_Un_Chien_Andalou/un_chien_commentary.html




• Directors and artists: a parallel evolution Hollywood

• 1930s film capital of the world• Motion Picture Production Code Authority

• Attempt to regulate moral content of film• Gone with the Wind fined $5,000 for

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."• Films lacking MPPCA approval had no

chance of wide distribution.




• Directors and artists: a parallel evolution Citizen Kane, 1941

• Orson Welles coauthored script, directed, played leading role

• Thinly veiled biography of William Randolph Hearst

• Unprecedented cinematic devices• Extreme angles• Clever editing



Orson Welles. Citizen Kane. 1941.Film still.

The Museum of Modern Art/Film Stills Archive. [Fig. 10-7]




• Directors and artists: a parallel evolution Film noir

• Brooding black-and-white films usually dealing with murder

• Popular in 1940s Hollywood• The dark side of the American Dream• Detour

• Main character ends up a murder suspect



Edgar G. Ulmer. Detour. 1945.Film still.

[Fig. 10-8]




• Directors and artists: a parallel evolution Federico Fellini, La Dolce Vita

• Foreshadowing today's critiques of mass media

• Advent of the world paparazzi, from character Paparazzo

Further separation of artists and directors in the 1960s



Federico Fellini. La Dolce Vita. 1961.Film still.

© INTERFOTO/Alamy. [Fig. 10-9]




• Directors and artists: a parallel evolution Kenneth Anger, Scorpio Rising

• Experimental but influenced mainstream• Rituals of a Brooklyn motorcycle gang

• "Biker movie" genre Decline of Production Code in 1960s

• Directors re-thought old genres• Robert Altman, The Long Goodbye



Kenneth Anger. Scorpio Rising. 1964.Film still.

Photofest. [Fig. 10-10]



Robert Altman. The Long Goodbye. 1973.Film still.

Photos 12/Alamy. [Fig. 10-11]




• Animation, special effects, and digital processes Walt Disney studio

• Fantasia integrates classical music, painting, dance, and drama with cartoon characters

• Storyboards• Laid out to visualize major shots

• 24 frames per second• Illusion of characters who think, feel



Walt Disney. Fantasia. 1940.Film still (The Sorcerer's Apprentice).

© Walt Disney Studios/Photofest. [Fig. 10-12]




• Animation, special effects, and digital processes Princess Mononoke

• Captures essence of Japanese animation• Meaningful characters combine with epic

storylines in visually stunning productions Special effects

• George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd.• Increased use of computers in editing



Princess Mononoke. 1997.Film still.

Dentsu/Nippon Tv/The Kobal Collection. [Fig. 10-13]




• Animation, special effects, and digital processes International co-production

• Collaboration to reduce risk• Pan's Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro

• Spanish-American production• Intersection of fantasy and reality• Exhibits imagination helping us cope with

adversity



Guillermo del Toro. Pan's Labyrinth. 2006.Film still.

AF archive/Alamy. [Fig. 10-14]




• Animation, special effects, and digital processes Shift from photochemical film to digital

process "Blockbusters"

• Films successful for luxurious special effects and fast-paced storyline

• Draw international audiences




• Animation, special effects, and digital processes Digital projection through DCP (Digital

Cinema Package) instead of heavy film cans

Prometheus, Ridley Scott• Shot using multiple digital cameras to

enable 3D projection• Blends human actors with digital animation



Ridley Scott. Prometheus. 2012.Film still.

Scott Free Prod/20th Century Fox/The Kobal Collection. [Fig. 10-15]



Forming ArtForming Art

• Ridley Scott: Visualizing the Story Trained first as a visual artist

• References to historical art works• Storyboards and drawing pivotal in

creative process Excels in films that demand imagination Alien and Blade Runner

• Influenced science-fiction film style Works with strong female characters



Ridley Scott.Steve Granitz/Getty. [Fig. 10-16]



Ridley Scott. Black Rain. 1989.Film still.

© Paramount. Photograph: AF archive/Alamy. [Fig. 10-17]



Television and VideoTelevision and Video

• Television "Vision from afar" Distributes advertising, news, and

entertainment• Video art

First portably video recording camera in 1965 by Sony

Early videos relatively simple Standardized 3/4" tape in 1972




• Video art Nam June Paik, Video Flag Z

• 84 television screens resembling American flag

• Old Hollywood films flicker across screens Joan Jonas, Volcano Saga

• Past and present represented through main character's journey

• Mythological Icelandic figure, Gudrun



Nam June Paik. Video Flag Z. 1986.Multimedia, television sets, videodiscs, videodisc players, and Plexiglas modular

cabinet.74" × 138" × 18-1/2".Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Gift of the Art Museum Council

(M.86.156). Digital Image Museum Associates/LACMA/Art Resource NY/Scala, Florence © Nam June Paik. [Fig. 10-18]



Joan Jonas. Volcano Saga. 1987.Performance.

The Performing Garage, NY. [Fig. 10-19]




• Video art New technologies of flat screens and

DVDs• CREMASTER Cycle, Matthew Barney

• Elaborately symbolic storylines• Apprentice passes through obstacles at the

Guggenheim Museum Outdoor space in Doug Aitken's Song I

• Plotless, nonlinear imagery with rhythm matching "I Only Have Eyes for You"



Matthew Barney. CREMASTER 3. 2002.Production still.

© 2002 the artist. Photo: Chris Winget. Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York.[Fig. 10-20]



Doug Aitken. Song 1. 2012.Outdoor digital projections on Hirshhorn Museum building, Washington, D.C.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest Fund and Anonymous Gift, 2012. Courtesy Doug Aitken Studio and 303 Gallery,

New York. [Fig. 10-21]



Digital ArtformsDigital Artforms

• Range of computer-linked equipment Creating finished works Generating ideas for other media Solving design problems

• Barriers between traditional and digital manipulation eroding

• Vera Molnar, Parcours in 1976 Early effort using computer to program

an image made with a plotter



Vera Molnar. Parcours (Maquette pour un Environment Architectural). 1976.Courtesy of the artist. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.

[Fig. 10-22]




• Advent of faster computers, color printers, interactive graphics further evolved early efforts

• Lynn Hershman Leeson, DiNA Issue of digital simulation Viewers interact with virtual woman who

is running for an imaginary office• Slogan, "Artificial intelligence is better

than no intelligence"



Lynn Hershman Leeson. DiNA. 2004.Artificially intelligent agent, network connection, custom software, video, and

microphone. Dimensions variable.Courtesy of Bitforms gallery. [Fig. 10-23]




• Nova Jiang, Ideogenetic Machine Uses motions of viewers (now

participants) Filters movements through software to

create a comic book in real time Viewers can download work in PDF form

at the end



Nova Jiang. Ideogenetic Machine. 2011.Interactive installation. Dimensions variable.

OK Offenes Kulturhaus/Center for Contemporary Art, Linz/Austria. Photograph: Otto Saxinger. [Fig. 10-24]




• Tal Halpern, Endgame: A Cold War Love Story Created for handheld tablet device

• Also available online Viewers assemble puzzle

• Interactive experience• Creates a narrative



Tal Halpern. Endgame: A Cold War Love Story. 2011.Digital work for the Internet and Flash-enabled touch-screen devices.

Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 10-25]

Art & Photos

Moving Images