Some Animal Died
Last night, I stayed up 'till about 4AM writing a two page paper. It was easily the hardest thing I've ever had to write. It was for my class: Seminar in Writng on Film. We had just watched La Jetee--a short french "film" composed entirely of still photos. The prompt was simple: Is it really a film?
Hence, when I tried to write it, i changed my mind every other paragraph. Then when I was done, it was perfect.
While almost everybody in this country watches films, most people, even the most movie-savvy would be hard pressed to come up with an airtight definition of what a film actually is. The main stumbling block is, artistically speaking, film is not unique. It carries the traits of still photography, theater, music, and just about every other art form imaginable at some time or another. The only definition that would probably satisfy most people would to say that films contain the illusion of motion.
This quasi-scientific explanation poses considerable gray areas. The most emblematic of these is the 1962 film La Jetée. Rather than having still photographs presented in a way that simulates motion, each frame lingers on the screen long enough for it to be comprehended as an independent image. While most people would unconsciously categorize La Jetée as a film, it defies such easy classification.
One cannot simply say that a film is a series of images shown in a preordained sequence without enveloping other media in that definition as well. Couldn’t this definition also describe a slideshow? Adding the criterion that the images are sustained for a choreographed amount of time doesn’t help either, as a slideshow could also fit this definition if it was automated.
One definition that one might be tempted to apply is that films are characterized by the presence of music synchronized to film. Even before technology existed to do this automatically, music was written that correlated to "silent" films and was performed live at the location of the showing of the movie. In addition to the fact that slideshows are often synchronized to music via software, if a silent film were to be produced without a score, most people would probably categorize it as a film.
Since the artistic parameters of film are purely subjective, it is rather tempting to pursue a specifically scientific route in finding a definition. There is a twist to this story, however. That is, science has not found a widely accepted explanation for why humans perceive rapidly projected frames as moving images. The commonly used term "Persistence of Vision" has been proven not to be the culprit behind moving pictures. Thus, in this case, the scientific reasoning is even more subjective than the artistic rationale.
If one tries to define film in terms of its psychological perception, one falls into a different pitfall. One could easily argue that La Jetée is a film, because, even though it doesn’t create the illusion of motion in the traditional sense, one’s mind fills in the action between the pictures, just as one’s mind fills in the action between the frames of a normal film. However, the problem comes from the fact that a comic book has the same motion suggesting effect between its frames as La Jetée does.
If this argument wasn’t convoluted enough, there is one element that makes it near impossibly difficult. Several websites that examine the film claim that, hidden among the stills, is a moving shot in which depicts a blinking eye. Does that make it a film? If not, would that also exclude 2002’s Personal Velocity: Three Portraits because of its brief sequences of still photos?
Perhaps this detail is not actually a setback, as it may actually hint at the true definition of movies. Maybe the art form commonly categorized as films does not actually exist. After all, isn’t film just a loose term for a certain style of mixed-media art? It would make sense, considering that it is comprised entirely of other media. Until science is able to give a solid answer to the questions of how ‘film’ is perceived, that is probably the closest anyone can come to a real definition.
I would reccomend seeing the film. You can probably find it on Kazaa. However, if you haven't seen 12 Monkeys, PLEASE see that first, as it was based on La Jetee, and has the same twist ending, but is much cooler.
Hence, when I tried to write it, i changed my mind every other paragraph. Then when I was done, it was perfect.
While almost everybody in this country watches films, most people, even the most movie-savvy would be hard pressed to come up with an airtight definition of what a film actually is. The main stumbling block is, artistically speaking, film is not unique. It carries the traits of still photography, theater, music, and just about every other art form imaginable at some time or another. The only definition that would probably satisfy most people would to say that films contain the illusion of motion.
This quasi-scientific explanation poses considerable gray areas. The most emblematic of these is the 1962 film La Jetée. Rather than having still photographs presented in a way that simulates motion, each frame lingers on the screen long enough for it to be comprehended as an independent image. While most people would unconsciously categorize La Jetée as a film, it defies such easy classification.
One cannot simply say that a film is a series of images shown in a preordained sequence without enveloping other media in that definition as well. Couldn’t this definition also describe a slideshow? Adding the criterion that the images are sustained for a choreographed amount of time doesn’t help either, as a slideshow could also fit this definition if it was automated.
One definition that one might be tempted to apply is that films are characterized by the presence of music synchronized to film. Even before technology existed to do this automatically, music was written that correlated to "silent" films and was performed live at the location of the showing of the movie. In addition to the fact that slideshows are often synchronized to music via software, if a silent film were to be produced without a score, most people would probably categorize it as a film.
Since the artistic parameters of film are purely subjective, it is rather tempting to pursue a specifically scientific route in finding a definition. There is a twist to this story, however. That is, science has not found a widely accepted explanation for why humans perceive rapidly projected frames as moving images. The commonly used term "Persistence of Vision" has been proven not to be the culprit behind moving pictures. Thus, in this case, the scientific reasoning is even more subjective than the artistic rationale.
If one tries to define film in terms of its psychological perception, one falls into a different pitfall. One could easily argue that La Jetée is a film, because, even though it doesn’t create the illusion of motion in the traditional sense, one’s mind fills in the action between the pictures, just as one’s mind fills in the action between the frames of a normal film. However, the problem comes from the fact that a comic book has the same motion suggesting effect between its frames as La Jetée does.
If this argument wasn’t convoluted enough, there is one element that makes it near impossibly difficult. Several websites that examine the film claim that, hidden among the stills, is a moving shot in which depicts a blinking eye. Does that make it a film? If not, would that also exclude 2002’s Personal Velocity: Three Portraits because of its brief sequences of still photos?
Perhaps this detail is not actually a setback, as it may actually hint at the true definition of movies. Maybe the art form commonly categorized as films does not actually exist. After all, isn’t film just a loose term for a certain style of mixed-media art? It would make sense, considering that it is comprised entirely of other media. Until science is able to give a solid answer to the questions of how ‘film’ is perceived, that is probably the closest anyone can come to a real definition.
I would reccomend seeing the film. You can probably find it on Kazaa. However, if you haven't seen 12 Monkeys, PLEASE see that first, as it was based on La Jetee, and has the same twist ending, but is much cooler.