31. |
32. |
33. |
34. |
35. Béla Balázs and the Haunting of Weimar FilmEszter Polonyi, unpublished invited conference lecture Abstract: We can all list the name of film actresses and film directors. Few of us will remember the name of a scenarist. And yet, the sce- narist might be responsible for every cut of every shot of every scene of a film. This talk is about the Weimar-era Béla Balázs, arguably the world’s most misunderstood film scenarist. In high demand for his world renowned theoretical understanding of the image, Balázs nevertheless is almost entirely unknown for his work in the film studio. Drawing on actual films by Balázs I have retrieved from archives, this talk hopes to recover not just the travails of the scenarist, but the aspects of the film image that he or she haunts.
Keywords: Weimar cinema, industry ephemera, media studies
Published in RUNG: 11.12.2020; Views: 3095; Downloads: 0
This document has many files! More... |
36. |
37. |
38. |
39. |
40. Béla Balázs and the Eye of the MicroscopeEszter Polonyi, 2012, original scientific article Abstract: This study explores the significance of the cinematic close-up to one of the earliest theories of film, produced by Béla Balázs, on the basis of a widespread technique of microscopy in the life sciences, notably in the work of his brother Evin Bauer, a theorist of microbiology. Balázs imagines that silent film records life in its immanence and spontaneity by virtue of what he calls the “physiognomic” nature of its signs. Rather than generating signs that must be passed through an alphabetic cipher, as had been required under the regime of the written or literary, Balázs presents film as liberating our access to the flow of optical data. Interestingly, however, Balázs retains the need otherwise characteristic of scientific analysis for dividing up the image into semiotic units, what he describes as “atomization.” He insists on returning the real to a symbolic order and making film into a language.
Keywords: film history, media studies, science and technology studies, Weimar cinema, media archaeology
Published in RUNG: 10.12.2020; Views: 3468; Downloads: 0
This document has many files! More... |
