This book explores the question of realism in motion pictures. Specifically, it explores how understanding the role of realism in the history of title sequences in film can illuminate discussions raised by the advent of digital cinema.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Part 1 — Subjectivity
1. Ontology, Editing, Photography in Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974)
- Section 1: The Long Take
- Section 2: The Analytic Montage
- Section 3: The Kinestasis
- Articulating Realisms
2. Sublime, Uncanny, Marvelous in The Number 23 (2007)
- ‘Unreal Fantasy,’ Representation, Ontology
- Animation as Revelation
- Performing Interpretation
3. Subjective Desire in Goldfinger (1964)
- ‘Unreal Fantasy,’ Representation, Ontology
- Composite Realities
- Seduction
Part 2 — Objectivity
4. Narrational Naturalism in Bullitt (1968)
- The Discovery Process
- The ‘Reading-Image’
- The ‘Perception-Image’
5. Persuasion in The Kingdom (2007)
- Articulation and Enunciation in Collage
- Intertextuality and Archive
6. Allusion of Errors in Blade Runner: 2049 (2017)
- ‘Narrative Function’ and Indexicality
- Editing Glitches
Part 3 — Ideologies
7. The Medium
8. The Message
9. Realist Articulation
Afterword: Digital Movies
Index
About the Author
Michael Betancourt is a research artist/theorist concerned with digital technology and capitalist ideology. His writing has been translated into Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Persian, Portuguese, and Spanish, and published in journals such as The Atlantic, Make Magazine, CTheory, and Leonardo. He is the author of The ____________ Manifesto, and books such as The History of Motion Graphics and The Critique of Digital Capitalism, as well as three books on the semiotics of motion graphics: Semiotics and Title Sequences, Synchronization and Title Sequences, and Title Sequences as Paratexts. These publications complement his movies, which have screened internationally at the Black Maria Film Festival, Art Basel Miami Beach, Contemporary Art Ruhr, Athens Video Art Festival, Festival des Cinemas Differents de Paris, Anthology Film Archives, Millennium Film Workshop, the San Francisco Cinematheque’s Crossroads, and Experiments in Cinema, among many others.
