Spectatorship is:
- The process of aligning a spectator
- Passive or Active depending on the content of the film
- Dependent on viewing conditions
- The process of deducing how auteur cues relate to spectator response
- Preferred, negotiated, oppositional and aberrant readings of film
Difference between Audience and Spectator:
An audience refers to the collective where as spectator is an individual. Spectatorship is primarily concerned with the way the individual is positioned between the projector and the screen in a darkened space. Audience ceases to exist for an individual spectator. However, spectatorship generalises behaviour for all individual spectators.
Composition of the Spectator:
Draws from whole self including:
- Social Self (age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation etc)
- Cultural Self (knowledge of other films and texts)
- Private Self (own personal experiences and memory)
- Desiring Self (conscious or unconscious energies and intensities)
Passive Spectators:
- Are vulnerable to the manipulative qualities of film
- Have a critical and pessimistic approach - there is a lack of engagement in the subtext of the film
- They have a desire to recognise self on screen due to 'lack' (psychoanalytical theory about living vicariously through film)
- Gain pleasure by surrendering to the film and its meanings. See the people on screen as an idealised version of themselves
Active Spectators:
- Are less reliant on unconscious self as they actively 'read' film
- May use known structures such as auteur and genre to aid in their reading
- Are capable of playing or struggling with different readings and can form conflicting fantasies within themselves
- Are an active producer of meaning not just a passive receiver
Different readings of Film:
- Preferred - Spectator takes up/accepts intended meaning of the director
- Oppositional - Spectator rejects the intended meaning
- Negotiated - Spectator agrees with some aspects and opposes others behind the meaning
- Aberrant - unintentional/ atypical reading
Working With Character:
A good illustration of spectator response is in relation to characters:
- Recognition - accepts the situations of a fictional world and believes the characters to be credible
- Alignment - start to indenitfy with characters and situations but not necessarily endorsing character viewpoints or actions
- Allegiance - taking on the views and values of fictional characters. Strat wanting them to be successful even if it goes against our values in the real world
Mass Audience Response:
Filmmakers encourage a particular response from their desired audience using such things s soaring orchestral scores, close-up shots to encourages character identification and rapid edits to build tension.
The narrative in mainstream mass audience cinema also tends to use such technique as binary opposition to create investment in the characters and using archetypes to lead the audience to have certain expectations and create enigmas such as the 'ant-hero'.
Things that may effect a spectator can include where you're watching the film. Can depend on whether in a cinema and what kind of cinema (IMAX or 4D). If watching on a tablet or as a DVD the immersion can be very different or less effective. Other thing include the 'composition of a spectator'.
Audience Theory:
These help explain the relationship between the film and the audience. They allow you to theorise and comment on how the different audiences use and view film. Give you a framework for analysing the construction and reception of any film.
Hypodermic Model - every audience member is passive. Producers are all powerful. No interaction between audience and film. This theory is fairly outdated in modern cinema.
Uses and Gratifications - audience is active in process of understanding the meaning in film. Producers of the film are less powerful. Some interaction between audience and film.
Cultivation Theory - films cultivate the opinions of the people who watch them, Film has a 'mainstreaming effect' where everyone likes the same thing. May lead to desensitisation of taste or opinion. Persistent viewing may cultivate a passive or active appreciation of cinema dependent upon the individuals capacity for challenge.
Due to the different audiences the stylisation of independent and mainstream cinema differs greatly. This can be compared and contrasted through textual analysis such as sound and editing as well as meaning. How issues generate responses in the audience for each film.
Other things to Consider:
Enigma Code - something that isn't answered and doesn't need to be. (spinning top in 'Inception')
Binary Oppositions - the hero and the villain and the message they portray.
Genre - recognise and analyse the conventions of each film.
Narrative - discuss the way the story is structured.
Representation - comment on the differing representations of character. Ethnicity, gender and sexuality.
Production Values - technical aspects and how the scene is constructed. How this relates to the intended audience.
Own Views - your opinion and why you may take a preferred or oppositional view.
Key Terms:
Distanciation - Deliberately distancing someone from the object of scrutiny . Facilitates a critical attitude.
Self-Reflexivity - This is when a person looks back on themselves and realises their own artificiality.
Focalisation - creates a centre of meaning for a text.
Subjectivation - an ability to shape oneself as a person and form our own opinions.
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