Cammack, Jocelyn;
(2013)
Aesthetic Illusion and the Breaking of Illusion in
Ambiguous Film Sequences.
In: Wolf, Werner and Bernhart, Walter and Mahler, Andreas, (eds.)
Immersion and Distance: Aesthetic Illusion in Literature and Other Media.
(pp. 293-313).
Brill: Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Abstract
Film’s extraordinary capacity for life-like representation and thus for aesthetic illusion operates by way of multiple levels of illusion-inducing devices. From concepts of narratology, such as focalization and diegesis, to the technical aspects of remapping three-dimensional, physical space into the two dimensions of screen space, the use of conventions such as plot, character, set, spatial and temporal continuity and ‘synchronous’ sound is motivated by and linked to our systems of knowledge organization and manipulation. Through such conventions, most commercial cinema offers a largely unambiguous and familiar representation of life, a compelling, imaginary film world into which audiences readily enter. Occasionally, however, filmmakers choose to fracture this illusory cinematic realism in order to serve their greater directorial concerns. This essay considers film sequences, from both commercial and experimental canons, that are ambiguous by design and whose immersive effect is intentionally disrupted by the filmmaker through a range of metafilmic techniques. I will argue that, in these cases, the techniques employed operate by destabilizing the relationship between the sensory (mainly visual) and cognitive (intellectual/emotional) registers of the receptive experience in order to fracture the initial illusion and (re)direct the viewer’s attention – perhaps paradoxically – toward a deeper level of engagement in an alternative illusory aspect.
| Type: | Book chapter |
|---|---|
| Title: | Aesthetic Illusion and the Breaking of Illusion in Ambiguous Film Sequences |
| ISBN-13: | 978-90-420-3657-4 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1163/9789401209243_011 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401209243_011 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Institute of Ophthalmology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1365302 |
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