Realism as a third film practice

The concept of realism may owe much of its success to its vague definition. This article suggests that it can be useful as a term that covers a central, mainstream film practice in European and other national cinemas, located somewhere in between genre films and art films. The concept refers to a serious kind of film that does not obey classical genre rules, but nevertheless tells its stories in an accessible and often engaging form that, generally speaking, creates a more popular (yet serious) film than the art film. As a film practice, it cuts across well known but often vaguely defined sub-categories, such as social realism and psychological realism. Finally, it is argued that the dichotomy between Hollywood genre films and European art cinema ignores both national variants of basic genres and a tradition of realism as a mainstream film practice

Mediernes lyd. En multimodal analysemetode

Der er en voksende mængde af akademiske artikler og bøger om lyd i medier. Særligt filmen er velbeskrevet, men også andre områder er i vækst. Artiklen ser derfor udfordringen i at integrere forståelsen af lyd i den øvrige medieforskning, frem for at fastholde lyden med status af et særligt område. En væsentlig barriere for denne integration er manglen på konkrete redskaber til at analysere lydens rolle og funktion i audiovisuelle medier. Artiklen gør derfor tre ting: 1) Den peger på en række fundamentale træk ved lyd som kræver særlig opmærksomhed, 2) den ser på, hvordan lyden indgår i mere omfattende multimodale sammenhænge og 3) den giver en række anvisninger på, hvordan man med fordel og med præcision til følge kan inddrage det lydlige i analysen af medier

Making fictions sound real - On film sound, perceptual realism and genre

This article examines the role that sound plays in making fictions perceptually real to film audiences, whether these fictions are realist or non-realist in content and narrative form. I will argue that some aspects of film sound practices and the kind of experiences they trigger are related to basic rules of human perception, whereas others are more properly explained in relation to how aesthetic devices, including sound, are used to characterise the fiction and thereby make it perceptually real to its audience. Finally, I will argue that not all genres can be defined by a simple taxonomy of sounds. Apart from an account of the kinds of sounds that typically appear in a specific genre, a genre analysis of sound may also benefit from a functionalist approach that focuses on how sounds can make both realist and non-realist aspects of genres sound real to audiences

Introduktion

Introduktio

Cognitive film theory: A personal status – Interview with Professor Ed Tan

Ed S. Tan is currently (2016-21) affiliate professor at the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication at University of Copenhagen and honorary professor of the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR). Originally trained in psychology, he quickly moved into film, media, and communications studies. He is widely known as a central figure in the ‘second wave’ of cognitive film studies, which focuses on the interplay between cognition and emotion. His 1994 book Emotion and the Structure of Narrative Film: Film as an Emotion Machine placed emotions – triggered by the careful design of movies – as the driver of film viewing and engagement, and he has consistently argued that ‘interest’ is the central emotion. His work is wide ranging and equally theoretical and empirical: He has written about the fundamental connections between play, fiction, and emotion and has shown how changes in movement parameters by the simplest of figures is sufficient to trigger specific genre recognitions in test subjects. At present, he has a special research interest in the social nature of media perception. In the spring of 2017, Associate Professor Birger Langkjær and Associate Professor Andreas Gregersen, both at University of Copenhagen, wrote a series of questions for Ed Tan. What follows is the result of this exchange.