ANDRE BAZIN RIGHTLY CONSIDERED FILM TO BE A HIGHLY MANIPULATIVE MEDIUM. Because viewers are prepared to suspend disbelief and absorb themselves in the screen reality, filmmakers can readily produce a picture that elicits a mass response. Whatever a director chooses to include within a frame affects how one perceives the film. Bazin was concerned that individuals be able to form their own opinions and reactions without being forced to a singular point of view or experiencing the same emotion as the people sitting around them. By arguing for the use of specific techniques to convey real-life ambiguities, Bazin developed his own form of realism. As demonstrated by the films Smoke, Vivre Sa Vie and Throne of Blood, and the varied responses people display to these films, the techniques Bazin subscribes to can both strengthen and weaken his realist aesthetic. Deep focus and the long take can allow viewers to find their own way through parts of a film, but no film can adhere absolutely to Bazinian realism for the simple reason that a director must always pick and choose images, therefore guiding the audience.

Smoke has unobtrusive editing which seamlessly unites very long takes of mainly narrative scenes. Watching conversations between characters unfold naturally, without the camera leading one's eyes by cutting from speaker to speaker or emphasizing certain phrases by zooming in, gives a viewer uninterrupted time to observe and evaluate. Almost independent of the camera because it does not force itself on a shot, a person can gaze around the smoke shop and examine the contents of a shelf while listening to the continuing dialogue. It is easy to feel that one is seeing Smoke

B Beck s illustration inspired by Marc Riboud’s A Street in Old Bejing (1965)

differently from others; taking in whatever happens to be of interest and leaving some details for another day and another mood. Bazin would approve of the freedom viewers enjoy in this film. Even the sound, being dietetic, provides little emotional lead. Because Wayne Wang limits his manipulation, the film does harbour a strong realism that enables it to provide each audience member with personal reactions.

Like Smoke, Vivre Sa Vie, enables a viewer to sit back and look around the frame. Wide angle lenses show entire rooms so that each character can be scrutinized without eclipsing the behaviour of others. This is a definite strength of Bazinian Realism, because as in real life viewers can see an unbroken interaction between people and focus on one response while still being aware of everything else in a situation.

Although some directors employ Bazin's techniques and allow the audience to choose a focus, others use devices such as the long take to structure the viewers’ gaze. Jean-Luc Godard was inspired in his neo-realism by Bazin's writing, but the self-reflexive style of Vivre Sa Vie deliberately leads one's eyes. The manipulation is at times so obvious, especially when the camera pauses on an uninformative surface such as a blank wall or the truncated music halts, that relating the film to life is strangely apt. The process of achieving this relation however, runs contrary to a Bazinian ethic, and viewers can be quite divided on whether or not they like this oddly explicit reality. Overt manipulation occurs even with a "correct" technique, and therefore shows weakness in the model.

Probably the most probiematic aspect of Bazin's realism is that it can never be completely achieved.

And why should it be, given the nature of film? It is impossible to make a feature film without editing, simply because of the length of a reel (even Rope and Timecode have edited elements). Montage (considered by Bazin to be far too manipulative for proper ambiguity) and the flat, compressed images that result from telephoto lenses are extraordinarily expressive tools, as demonstrated by Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood. Kurosawa uses long takes and deep focus well, but his film would not be as striking if it did not incorporate many techniques to portray the theatrical fantasy of a Japanese Macbeth. An interesting trademark of Kurosawa's work is his use of several cameras to capture a given scene acted out in its entirety, which seems quite a Bazin-like approach if one thinks of being able to see a whole reality. Of course, Kurosawa did this for editing purposes, of which Bazin would not have approved.

Giving an audience opportunities to recall personal experiences and truly digest a film, rather than having it thrust upon them in a pre-packaged, no-thought-required format, asserts Bazin's view of film realism. However, respecting a viewer's individual response is either admirable or ludicrous, depending on the type of film a director envisions. Afterall, there is a market for manipulation, or movies such as Jaws would not be so popular. The strengths and weaknesses of Bazin's theory lie more in how it is applied by directors and accepted by audiences than in a formula for rendering perfect film reality.

g the Reality of Bazinian Realism

by Bronwen Payerle

ANDRE BAZIN RIGHTLY CONSIDERED FILM TO BE A HIGHLY MANIPULATIVE MEDIUM. Because viewers are prepared to suspend disbelief and absorb themselves in the screen reality, filmmakers can readily produce a picture that elicits a mass response. Whatever a director chooses to include within a frame affects how one perceives the film. Bazin was concerned that individuals be able to form their own opinions and reactions without being forced to a singular point of view or experiencing the same emotion as the people sitting around them. By arguing for the use of specific techniques to convey real-life ambiguities, Bazin developed hiis own form of realism. As demonstrated by the films Smoke, Vivre Sa Vie and Throne of Blood, and the varied responses people display to these films, the techniques Bazin subscribes to can both strengthen and weaken his realist aesthetic. Deep focus and the long take can allow viewers to find their own way through parts ofa film, but no film can adhere absolutely to Bazinian realism for the simple reason that a director must always pick and choose images, therefore guiding the audience.

‘Smoke has unobtrusive editing which seamlessly unites very long takes of mainly narrative scenes. Watching conversations between characters unfold naturally, without the camera leading one's eyes by ‘cutting from speaker to speaker or emphasizing certain phrases by zooming in, gives a viewer uninterrupted time to observe and evaluate. Almost independent of the camera because it does not force itself on a shot, a Person can gaze around the smoke shop and examine the contents of a shelf while listening to the continuing dialogue. It is easy to feel that one is seeing Smoke

differently from others; taking in whatever happens to be of interest and leaving some details for another day and another mood. Bazin would approve of the freedom viewers enjoy in this film. Even the sound, being dietetic, provides little emotional lead. Because ‘Wayne Wang limits his manipulation, the film does harbour a strong realism that enables it to provide each audience member with personal reactions.

Like Smoke, Vivre Sa Vie, enables a viewer to sit back and look around the frame. Wide angle lenses show entire rooms so that each character can be scrutinized without eclipsing the behaviour of others. This is a definite strength of Bazinian Realism, because as in real life viewers can see an unbroken interaction between people and focus on one response while still being aware of everything else in a situation.

‘Although some directors employ Bazin’s techniques and allow the audience to choose a focus, others use devices such as the long take to structure the viewers gaze. Jean-Luc Godard was inspired in his neo-realism by Bazin’s writing, but the self-reflexive style of Vivre Sa Vie deliberately leads one’s eyes. The manipulation is at times so obvious, especially when the camera pauses on an uninformative surface such as a blank wall or the truncated music halts, that relating the film to life is strangely apt. The process of achieving this relation however, runs contrary to a Bazinian ethic, and viewers can be quite divided on whether or not they like this oddly explicit reality. Overt manipulation occurs even with a “correct” technique, and therefore shows weakness in the model.

Probably the most problematic aspect of Bazin's realism is that it can never be completely achieved.

' Bock illustration inspired by Mare Riboud's A Stroot in Old Bejing (1955)

‘And why should it be, given the nature of film? Itis impossible to make a feature film without editing, simply because of the length of a reel (even Rope and Timecode have edited elements). Montage (considered by Bazin to be far too manipulative for proper ambiguity) and the flat, compressed images that result from telephoto lenses are extraordinarily expressive tools, as demonstrated by Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood. Kurosawa uses long takes and deep focus well, but his film would not be as striking if it did not incorporate many techniques to portray the theatrical fantasy of a Japanese Macbeth. An interesting trademark of Kurosawa's work is his use of several cameras to capture a given scene acted out in its entirety, which seems quite a Bazin-like approach if one thinks of being able to see a whole reality. Of course, Kurosawa did this for editing purposes, of which Bazin would not have approved.

Giving an audience opportunities to recall personal experiences and truly digest a film, rather than having it thrust upon them in a pre-packaged, no-thought-required format, asserts Bazin’s view of film realism. However, respecting a viewer's individual response is either admirable or ludicrous, depending (on the type of film a director envisions. Afterall, there is a market for manipulation, or movies such as Jaws would not be so popular. The strengths and weaknesses of Bazin’s theory lie more in how it is applied by directors and accepted by audiences than in a formula for rendering perfect film realty

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