8.2 Formalist Approaches to Filmmaking

Formalist filmmaking prioritizes artistic expression over narrative, using cinematic techniques to create meaning and evoke emotions. Directors manipulate camera angles, lighting, and editing to challenge audience perceptions and convey abstract ideas through visual symbolism.

This approach offers creative possibilities but can be challenging for audiences and filmmakers. Influential formalist directors like Eisenstein, Hitchcock, and Godard have pushed the boundaries of cinema, using innovative techniques to create powerful, thought-provoking films.

Formalist Approaches to Filmmaking

Core principles of formalism

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• Emphasizes artistic and expressive qualities of a film over its content or narrative
• Manipulates cinematic techniques to create meaning and emotional impact
• Views filmmaking as a means of personal expression and creativity for the director
• Challenges audience's perception by presenting familiar subjects in unfamiliar ways (defamiliarization)
• Relies heavily on editing (montage) to create meaning and emotional impact through juxtaposition of images

Creative possibilities in formalist techniques

• Allows for unconventional camera angles, lighting, and staging to create unique visual experiences
• Uses formal elements to convey abstract ideas, emotions, and themes through symbolic representation
• Manipulates cinematic techniques to evoke strong emotional responses from the audience
• May lead to a lack of narrative clarity or coherence if formal elements are overemphasized
• Can be challenging for some audiences to engage with if the film is highly experimental or abstract
• May require substantial resources or technical expertise, limiting feasibility in low-budget productions

Visual elements of formalist filmmaking

• Framing deliberately emphasizes or isolates specific elements within the shot
• Depth of field manipulated to guide audience's attention or create visual tension
• Lighting used expressively to create mood, atmosphere, or symbolism
• Montage juxtaposes images to create meaning, emotion, or intellectual associations
• Rhythm of the edit manipulated to influence audience's emotional response
• Discontinuity intentionally disrupts spatial or temporal continuity to challenge audience's perception
• Asynchronous sound used to create tension, irony, or symbolism by not matching visuals
• Sound montage edited to create meaning or emotional impact independent of visuals
• Silence strategically used to heighten tension or draw attention to specific elements

Influential formalist directors in cinema

• Sergei Eisenstein pioneered montage and intellectual cinema in films like "Battleship Potemkin" (1925) and "October" (1928)
• Alfred Hitchcock masterfully used visual composition and editing to create suspense and psychological depth in "Vertigo" (1958) and "Psycho" (1960)
• Jean-Luc Godard challenged conventional narrative structures and cinematic techniques in French New Wave films like "Breathless" (1960) and "Contempt" (1963)