Post 2: A Discussion of the Formalist Theory in Film

A Discussion of the Formalist Theory in Film

Tom Wilson

The Formalist theory (in regard to film) is the study of the multiple components of a film's production, for example it's style, lighting, editing, cinematography etc, and the synthesis of those elements and the emotional effects they create. The most commonly used example is the continuity editing in Hollywood cinema, that creates a feeling of comfort as it helps lead the audience through a coherently edited narrative. This is juxtaposed to the jump cut editing of the French New Wave, and the stylistic editing styles of modern day art house cinema such as that in 21 Grams (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2003) or Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997). The Formalist theory focuses on the production of various forms of film, and often films that follow the theory will comment on the production of film within them, such as films by Michael Haneke or David Lynch. Both of these directors use the theory to see to what emotions a non-linear narrative, or new and interesting uses of the camera, will be created. For instance, Michael Haneke's latest and final film, Happy End (2017), uses a phone camera to both comment on the human dependency on mobile technology, and also as a comment on the new generation of filmmakers, and the ease of access to filming equipment in the modern day. Haneke uses his cinematography, special effects work, and editing to further these ideas within his film, for instance the various scenes that are entirely on Facebook further the idea of a dependency on technology to communicate. 

This idea of the synthesis of the various components of a film's production can be traced back to the 1920's with expressionist directors such as Fritz Lang and Sergei Eisenstein. For example, in Eisenstein's film Battleship Potemkin (1925) he places three different images of a stone lion consecutively to create the effect of a lion awakening, but also as a metaphor of the explosive revolution.  

Both of our short films shot for this module will follow this theory closely, both looking at the comfortable editing style of Hollywood films and the more experimental editing of art house cinema. This is because the theme and aims of our film is the criticism of Hollywood cinema and its overused tropes. By using the Formalist theory, we will be able to both use the Hollywood style, in an attempt to mock its oversimplified concepts and style, and juxtaposing that with an experimental style of editing. For example, in our five-to-ten-minute film we will contrast a fight scene, shot and edited similarly to fight scenes in The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012) and The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman, 2002) and then a non-linear loose narrative about the production of the film we are making. We believe that the contrast between the two forms will help emphasise our points and ideas, and we hope to achieve this through our production as opposed to narrative, using sound, and imagery similarly to Peter Greenaway's Intervals (1969) and editing similar to that of a David Lynch film such as Lost Highway with its looped narrative and its morphing of time.