Aspects of Vision
Remediating Van Gogh: A Study of the Film "Loving Vincent"
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Colin A Rosewell
The historical relationship between painting and film is inextricable and ongoing. From the invention of pigment suspended in a medium to the development of perspective and the camera obscura, "traditional" mediums such as painting are continuously evolving. Just as painting’s historical trajectory was forever transformed by the nineteenth century invention of photography, and then by film and digital reproductive technologies during the twentieth century, it continued in defiance of continued declarations of its alleged "death," the expanded creative and historical problem field of painting continues to mutate into the twenty-first century. A good example of painting’s expanded potential can be found in "Loving Vincent" (2017) - an experimental animated biographical drama film about the life of celebrated Dutch Post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh. With a duration of 1 hour 35 minutes "Loving Vincent" is the world's first fully oil-painted feature film. Produced for the relatively modest sum of 5.5 million dollars, the film took six years to complete and employed a team of 125 internationally recognized painters. Working collaboratively from different locations around the world, the painters adopted and utilized the same painting techniques developed and used by Van Gogh to create each of the film's 66,960 frames, each frame being a purpose-created oil painting on canvas. This paper discusses 'Loving Vincent' with a particular emphasis on the theory of remediation (Bolter and Grusin), the formal logic by which new media technologies refashion and re-contextualize prior media forms, and new "poetic" potentialities in the practice of painting.
Symmetry and Power: Visualization of Power Dynamics in Cinema
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Suki Kwon
I analyze visualization of power dynamics focusing on symmetrical versus asymmetrical frame works in film. When an organization/person is yearning for power or are in power, they are framed in symmetrical composition, and the structure of hardware where they are situated such as buildings, interior design, clothing etc. tends to be symmetrical. An organization/person careless about gaining any type of power tends to be in an asymmetrical structure or in asymmetrically framed composition. Through this paper, I focus on compositional elements in films and analyze various architectural and plastic forms appearing in cinema, and then drew connections to how power dynamics are visually iterated between and among characters and entities in films. I pulled many visual examples from Wes Anderson, an American film director’s films, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, a Japanese film director’s films.
Ways of Wondering: Storytelling in a Double 360 ° Degree Context
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sofie Gielis, Patrick Ceyssens
Classic film provides the viewer with a straightforward view, an ideal viewing position connected to an ideal viewing experience. The newest image technologies do not only provide the possibility of a different position of the maker, but also (and this is revolutionary) for the viewer. This shift is comparable to what happened to narrative film footage due to the portable camera. Suddenly a whole different array of images and angles became possible. Now, with technologies such as 360° camera’s and projections, the viewer has the possibility to choose his or her own point of view. This paper analyses a case of 360° projection in an interactive installation: Round a Roundabout #2. Because of the 360° constellation and the use of a dual, translucent screen, there is no single angle from where a viewer can overlook the whole image. There are always elements escaping your view. Thus, there is no single narrative. Each viewer has to actively participate, rebuild the story from scratch. Which elements from classical image and film theory are still applicable to these new developments and which new focal points arise?
Film and Nostalgia: Techniques of Representation in Contemporary European Cinema
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tasos Giapoutzis
Contemporary European culture is characterized by mass movements of populations. A consequence of this increasing human mobility is the manifestation of the nostalgic condition, experienced either by those who have left their homeland or by those who decided to stay behind. Extensive research on nostalgia shows the significant impact it has on the formation and evolution of identity, especially in the case of a displaced human. As a cultural response to such developments, film’s preoccupation with the dialectics of displacement, emplacement, and thereafter of nostalgia, has significantly increased. Nostalgia and film are both spatiotemporal configurations. Hence, the examination of the film-making techniques used to represent the nostalgic feeling provides invaluable information on further understanding the multi-faceted nature of the nostalgic condition as well as the development of modern film aesthetics. In this paper, I will discuss the creative techniques through which nostalgia is expressed in Fatih Akin’s The Edge of Heaven (2007) and in Salome Lamas’ Extinction (2018). Akin’s film is a large-scale European co-production that follows the traditions of a fictional cinema. Its screenplay and narrative structure underpin the impact of classic forms of nostalgia in contemporary multi-directional and multi-reasoned migration. Salome Lamas’ experimental documentary, on the other hand, is a small-crew artisanal production in which nostalgia manifests, probably unexpectedly, and in an unconventional manner. Therefore, the two examples reflect on the ample possibilities the nostalgic condition processes in modern European societies as well as cultural production.
