Essay Cinema of Attraction - 1656 Words

When one contemplates the concepts of cinema and attractions, the ideas of the modern day blockbuster film might come to mind. World disasters, car chases, and high profile police investigations are just some of the story lines that attract people to theatres year round. The term cinema of attraction introduced by Tom Gunning into the study of film is defined more precisely. To quote Gunning, a cinema of attraction: directly solicits spectator attention, inciting visual curiosity, and supplying pleasure through an exciting spectacle (p.230). This spectacle may be demonstrated through dance, song or offscreen supplements, such as sound effects and spoken commentary. Rather than a straightforward entertainment purpose, a film may seek to†¦show more content†¦The ending (or the beginning Ââ€" it was interchangeable) helped place the film in history books. The scene involved one of the bandits shooting his pistol towards the audience creating a spectacle as the viewers, seeing this for the first time, believed they were being shot at. Many audience members were startled by this cinema tactic and the action shot became a great innovation in film (Dirk, 2007). The Great Train Robbery used a number of inventive techniques; including parallel editing, minor camera movement and location shooting. The director was one of the first to utilize jump cuts or cross cuts which displayed two separate lines of action or events happening continuously at identical times but in different places (Dirk, 2007). For instance, the film is intercut from the bandits beating up the telegraph operator (scene one) to the operators daughter discovering her father (scene ten), to the operators recruitment of a dance hall posse (scene eleven), to the bandits being pursued and splitting up the booty and having a final shoot out (scene thirteen) (Dirk, 2007). Furthermore, The Great Train Robbery was also the first film in which gunshots forced someone to dance, which is now a clichà ©d action in many western cinemas. Additionally, the use of colour was a spectacle seen in some of the womens attire, the gun shots and the explosions in the train. Overall as the film worlds first linear narrative The Great Train Robbery made way for several future filmingShow MoreRelatedCinema of Attractions1670 Words   |  7 PagesThe cinema of attraction. ‘A matter of making images seen.’ This is what Fernand Là ©ger was writing in 1902 about the new art, trying to describe the possible changes in cinema, by emphasizing the fact that imitating the movements of nature is not necessarily the best way of defining cinema’s essence. This is only one of the writings concerning this topic which influenced Tom Gunning in characterizing the cinematic period before 1906 as that of the ‘cinema of attractions’. In this essay I amRead MoreCinema of Attractions vs Narrative Cinema1969 Words   |  8 PagesThis essay will discuss both the Cinema of Attractions and Narrative Cinema and their origins in order to better understand the differences found between them in regards to the criteria to follow. This essay will highlight the role that the spectator plays, and the temporality that both the Cinema of Attractions and Narrative Cinema exhibit. Tom Gunning proposed the Continuity Model in order to better understand the beginning of film and the making of film. Gunning proposes the following assumptions:Read MoreAnalysis Of Edward Rosss Cinema Of Attractions943 Words   |  4 Pagesmovie camera had the capacity not just to record reality but to reveal an unseen world to the audience; Cinema and the way we see it has become breathtaking and unbelievable to say the least. In Edward Ross’s Filmish, he talks about how much cinema has captivated audiences. A few things I found important and interesting that he talked about was what Tom Gunning calls the Cinema of Attractions, how George Mà ©lià ¨s â€Å"tricked† the eye with his illusory style, and lastly, how camera angles and differentRead More The Evolution of Film Essay example1185 Words   |  5 PagesIn the early times of narrative cinema there was litter pressure on the filmmakers for the evolution of film forms before nickelodeons (Salt, 31) as cinema had not become a mass cultural product and film was still just a novelty expected to die out like rock n roll. And so the demand was low and so the supply could remain unoriginal. Mary Janes Mishap was made in 1903 when ‘multi-scene films were becoming popular’ (Salt, 32). 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IMAX very quickly became a tourist attraction and a must see for all people living in the Sydney area. IMAX then saw a large chain of theatres open all over Australia in 4 years putting a great strain on the company. As a result Cinema Plus LtdRead MoreThe Appeal of the Horror Genre Essay856 Words   |  4 PagesThe horror genre has many lessons to teach us as an audience although being the genre most connected with that of ridiculousness. It is regularly associated with the reaction it seeks from its audience; both emotional and physical. In cinema success is measured by terrifying chills, bloody deaths and the volume of the audiences scream. The appeal of horror narrative in literature, film and theatre lies in the pleasures it associates with fear, suspense and terror; no matter what it is trying to