MIRACLE Research Centre Utrecht University
Moving Image Representations in Audio-visual, Cinematic and Light-emitting EnvironmentsFilm-related dissertations defended in UU
Eef Masson (2010) The Pupil in the Text: Rhetorical Devices in Classroom Teaching Films of the 1940s, 1950s and Early 1960s
ABSTRACT
Since the late 1990s, there has been a marked increase in academic interest in what are sometimes referred to as ‘utility films’: audio-visual texts intended not so much for the entertainment of an audience, but rather to inform it, train it or teach it a specific skill, or to convince it of the merits of a given service or product. This attention is long overdue, because such items form part of the collective memory of several generations of viewers – much like the feature films that have been part of the media studies canon for decades. However, the research carried out so far is somewhat restricted in scope: it primarily concerns the history of production and distribution, and questions concerning pedagogical or entrepreneurial success. Much less attention has been given to the films’ textual features: the means they deploy in defending their informational, educational or commercial argument. In the absence of such studies, the image survives of very ‘formulaic’ genres, which are thought to make use of a very limited number of (highly recognisable) textual ingredients. The purpose of this dissertation is to modify this picture.
The starting point for the research is a collection of (Dutch) classroom teaching films: a corpus of shorts designed to be used in support of the lesson programme of children in primary and early secondary schools. The analytical method employed is based on two conceptual pillars. The first is that films function, and therefore acquire meaning, as part of a wider configuration: the set-up of technology, text and viewing situation that some media theorists designate as a dispositif. In the case of teaching films, the screening is inextricably intertwined with the educational institution in which it takes place; therefore, this set-up is designated here as a ‘pedagogical dispositif’. The second pillar is that of textual implication, derived from the study of literary texts. Analysis in this work is based on the assumption that the rhetorical functioning of films is always a matter of somehow incorporating into the text itself the audience addressed.
The dissertation consists of two parts. The first, introductory section serves the purpose of positioning the study’s research object. It explores the concept of ‘teaching film’, both in a historical sense and in a theoretical one; subsequently, it (re)delimits it, with an eye to the rhetorical analysis that follows. The second part aims to find an answer to the question of how teaching films address their viewers. It starts off with a methodological section, which explains among others how the term ‘rhetoric’ is understood. Next, there are two analytical chapters. The first deals with the ways in which teaching films motivate their viewers to stay tuned (addressing them, in the process, as film viewers), and the second gives examples of so-called ‘references to the pedagogical dispositif’ (textual elements which help position the audience as one of learners, or pupil-viewers). The latter type of features, the dissertation also argues, do not occur in all (the) teaching films (discussed), but tend become more common over time.
Giovanna Fossati (2009) From Grain to Pixel. The Archival Life of Film in Transition
Britta Hartmann (2008) Aller Anfang. Zur Initialphase des Spielfilms
Stephen Bottomore (2007) Filming, faking and propaganda: The origins of the war film, 1897-1902
ABSTRACT
The origins of the war film, 1897-1902 In this thesis I present the first detailed treatment of war and early cinema, describing the representation of conflicts in film from the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 through the Spanish-American War, Boer War, and others up to about 1902. I show that in attempting to cover these events, early filmmakers faced a difficult task, for warfare at the end of the nineteenth century was changing, relying more on defence and concealment and less on highly visible offensives; there was also increasing regulation and censorship of reporting. With the new tactics making battle less visible, and with increasing official controls, how could wars be represented on film? Surprisingly, in just half a decade, filmmakers found ways to cope, by developing new ‘genres’ of films such as acted fakes, and new exhibition strategies, and in these ways managed to present wars to the public of the time fairly effectively.
Bregtje Lameris (2007) Opnieuw belicht: De pas de deux tussen de filmmuseale praktijk en filmhistorische debatten
ABSTRACT
What is the interrelation between film museums and film history writing? This question formed the starting point for this research into the history of film museum practice. Focusing on the history of the Amsterdam Film Museum (1946 – 1996), this study examines the ways in which the history of film museum practice parallels film-historical debates, and how museums participated in the (re)production of film-historical discourse.
The historical practice of film museums can be divided into three main areas of activity: collection, restoration and presentation. Collection is a process of choices, selection and thus of in- and exclusion. In that sense, collection or acquisition is the fundamental activity of the musealisation of film. What has been archived, collected and preserved automatically becomes part of the film museums’ film-historical discourse. Collection practice includes taxonomical practices like categorizing and prioritising, both leading factors in the shaping of a collection. The collecting of films – especially the silent films this research focuses on – often occurred outside of official film-archival institutions like the Film Museum in Amsterdam. In almost every case, silent films reached film museums as part of an already existent collection, brought together by distributors or plain cinephiles. The choices and categories of these first collectors form the starting points of most official archives. In addition to this extra-museological factor, film museums formulated specific collection policies and goals themselves, which largely influenced the shaping of the archives. These policies were often greatly influenced by prevalent film-historical discourses. The last collection shaping activity is the selection of films for preservation and restoration, which entails making films projectable and thus visible again. This is accomplished by making a duplicate of the already present (nitrate) prints. As such, preservation can be conceived as an act of acquisition.
The second aspect of film museum practice that actively shapes discourse is the way films are preserved and restored. Film restoration makes use of the fact that film is a medium that can be reproduced: it makes duplicates, and turns those into new and restored versions. From this perspective, a discussion of film as a material object is a necessity, especially because it has become a more and more prominent issue on film museums’ and film historians’ agendas. Furthermore, there is an interplay between film museums’ activities and film historiography where restoration ethics and aesthetics are concerned. For example, questions on restoration techniques and how to use them are of major interest. By changing colours, grading, shading and other factors of image quality, film images can be made to resemble their ‘original’ state. This means film museums produce historical interpretations of the film image even before film historians see these reproductions. This of course implies an influence of museum practice on film historiography. In the case of the reconstruction of editing structure, the same mechanism applies. However, film-historical debate and opinions on which parameters make a film into an important one – a work of art if you wish – also form an important factor in the shaping of new restoration versions of archival films. By these restoration and preservation activities, film museums shape film-historical discourse.
Finally, it is the film museums’ presentation that makes the collected and restored films visible. Therefore this is a very important last step in the musealisation of film, and in the shaping of film-historical discourse on a film museum level. Screening rooms and their furnishings are of major importance when it comes to the shaping of meaning. Film museums differ from commercial cinema theatres in their shaping of screening spaces and thus of cinema audiences’ expectations and production of meaning. This implies that they are part of the film-historical discourse film museums tend to shape. Also, the way films are combined into programmes is essential in film museums’ shaping of discourse. The main difference between film museum programming and film historiography is that for the latter, the survival of a film is less of an obligation, whereas film museums cannot make programmes without collected films. A final element of film display is its performativity. The way films are musically or otherwise accompanied or not, can make a huge difference in either presenting them as a modern ‘art’ in itself, or as a socio-historical performance art.
This research will give the reader insight into film-historical discourse production within film museum practice and the way this has influenced film historiography or has been influenced by it.
Thunnis van Oort (2007) Film en het moderne leven in Limburg : het bioscoopwezen tussen commercie en katholieke cultuurpolitiek, 1909-1929
Mustafa Özen (2007) De opkomst van het moderne medium cinema in de Ottomaanse hoofdstad Istanbul, 1896-1914
ABSTRACT
The first two decades of cinema in the Ottoman capital of Istanbul, 1896-1914 This study explores the development of cinema in Istanbul, starting from the first public shows in December 1896 till the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. This period marks the transformation of the medium from an entertaining technological novelty to the cinema as a fully recognised and valuable medium which could be applied for various purposes. In the beginning film shows were part of the existing forms of commercial entertainment in Istanbul which in general consisted of western forms of entertainment such as variety, theatre and circus, and of local or traditional forms of entertainment such as puppet theatre, story teller and Ottoman music and dance shows. The film shows were held in various venues such as cafes, coffee houses, theatres, parks, hotel lounges and schools. In this period there was hardly any local film production; almost all the material was imported from Europe. The films were of a very short duration (just a few minutes) and they demonstrated moving images without any linear storyline. The invention itself, the new apparatus cinematograph which could project moving images on a screen, was the main attraction. The shows were frequented by a very diverse public, from children to adults, from Muslims to Christians and Jews, from upper class to working class. From 1908 on, film shows were no longer part of other forms of entertainment. In this year the French firm Pathé introduced the concept of the so-called “Cinémathéâtre” which meant a show of film screenings only. This concept would lead to the emergence of movie theatres as we know them today. The moving pictures became longer and they told linear stories. The medium was not only used as a commercial form of entertainment, but one also began to use moving images in order to propagate certain ideological and political ideas. The attitude of the local authorities towards the new medium was ambiguous. On the one hand they were afraid of the physical and moral dangers of the medium, on the other hand they realised that the new medium could provide financial benefits by means of tax and could be used for their own purposes such as image building for the sultan or influencing the public opinion in times of war or during conflicts. So at the eve of the First World War, the medium was no longer just an amusing technological novelty anymore, but also an influential visual medium which could be used for propagandistic aims.
Rudmer Canjels (2005) Beyond the cliffhanger: distributing silent serials : local practices, changing forms, cultural transformation. Published as Distributing Silent Film Serials. Local Practices, Changing Forms, Cultural Transformation
Wolfgang Fuhrmann (2003) Propaganda, sciences, and entertainment : German colonial cinematography : a case study in the history of early nonfiction cinema
Nanna Verhoeff (2002) After the Beginning : Westerns Before 1915. Published as The West in Early Cinema. After the Beginning
Judith Thissen (2001) Moyshe Goes to the Movies : Jewish Immigrants, Popular Entertainment, and Ethnic Identity in New York City (1880-1914)
