Formalist film theory

Template:Short description Template:Essay-likeTemplate:More footnotes Formalist film theory is an approach to film theory that is focused on the formal or technical elements of a film: i.e., the lighting, scoring, sound and set design, use of color, shot composition, and editing. This approach was proposed by Hugo Münsterberg, Rudolf Arnheim, Sergei Eisenstein, and Béla Balázs.<ref>Dudley Andrew, The Major Film Theories: An Introduction, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1976, Part I.</ref> Today, formalist film theory is a recognized approach in film studies.

Formalism in ideological approaches

Classical Hollywood cinema

Classical Hollywood cinema uses a style referred to as the institutional mode of representation: continuity editing, massive coverage, three-point lighting, "mood" music, and dissolves. The socio-economic ideological explanation for this is style involves Hollywood's desire to monetarily profit and appeal to ticket-buyers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Film noir

Film noir is marked by lower production values, darker images, under lighting, location shooting, and general nihilism. This is largely due to the pessimistic outlook filmmakers and filmgoers expressed during the war and post-war years. In the following decades, many German Expressionists<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> immigrated to America. Their stylized lighting effects and themes of disillusionment due to the war left an impact on Film noir and classical Hollywood films.<ref> Template:Cite web </ref>

See also

• Clement Greenberg
• Clive Bell
• Formalism (art)
• Medium specificity
• Neoformalism (film theory)
• Russian formalism
• Structuralist film theory

References

• Bordwell, David, Film Art: An Introduction; McGraw-Hill; 7th edition (June 2003).
• Braudy, Leo, ed., Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings; Oxford University Press; 6th edition (March 2004).
• Gianetti, Louis, Understanding Movies; Prentice Hall; 10th edition (March 2004)