Understanding cinema : a psychological theory of moving imagery / Per Persson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Persson, Per, 1970- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion pictures--Psychological aspects.

Motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 281 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Understanding Cinema, first published in 2003, analyzes the moving imagery of film and television from a psychological perspective. Per Persson argues that spectators perceive, think, apply knowledge, infer, interpret, feel and make use of knowledge, assumptions, expectations and prejudices when viewing and making sense of film. Drawing psychology and anthropology, he explains how close-ups, editing conventions, character psychology and other cinematic techniques work, and how and why they affect the spectator. This study integrates psychological and culturalist approaches to meanings and reception. Anchoring the discussion in concrete examples from early and contemporary cinema, Understanding Cinema also analyzes the design of cinema conventions and their stylistic transformations through the evolution of film.

Contents:

1. Understanding and dispositions

Psychology: understanding and dispositions

Parameters of dispositions

The psychological model of reception

Discourse and meaning

Some specifications of the model

2. Understanding point-of-view editing

Historical context of point-of-view editing

Spatial immersion begins

Editing between adhacent places: movement

Editing between adjacent places: gazing

Functions of point-of-view editing

Deictic gaze

The structure deictic-gaze bahavior

How does point-of-view editing work?

Explaining the presence of the point-of-view convention in mainstream cinema

3. Variable framing and personal space

Personal space

Visual media and personal space

Personal space and variable framing

Early cinema

Variable framing in mainstream narrative cinema

Voyeurism

4. Character psychology and mental attribution

Textual theories of characters

Reception-based theories of characters

The psychology of recognition and alignment

Why Mental States?

"Subjective Access" versus "Mental Attribution"

Mental attribution in everyday life

Mental attribution processes in reception of cinema

The emotions of cinematic characters

Text and mental attribution

The narrativization and psychologization of early cinema psychology as complement?

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-275) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-13322-X

1-280-41975-X

0-511-17966-9

0-511-06474-8

0-511-20364-0

0-511-30660-1

0-511-49773-3

0-511-07320-8

OCLC:

252498259