Virtually Real: Cinematographic Verisimilitude within the Construct of Artistic Referentiality

Maddock, Daniel (2021) Virtually Real: Cinematographic Verisimilitude within the Construct of Artistic Referentiality. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 38 (1). pp. 61-83. ISSN 1050-9208

Text (Accepted Version) Virtually Real_Daniel Maddock_Chicago V3.pdf Restricted - Available after 12 November 2021.

Abstract

The creation of so-called realistic images is seemingly incongruously a key aspiration for many feature film cinematographers creating dramatic films today. This may be, as theorised by Charles Pierce, that the lens-based imagery of photography, and by extension cinema, is connected to reality in a way unlike any other artform. Prince refers to the cinematographic form as a tension between perceptual realism and referential artifice. He uses the term perceptual realism in reference to Peirce’s claim of the photograph as icon. With the term referential artifice though, Prince is suggesting the artificial proposition of film making is in reference to the subjects and object within the frame. This concept can be extended when connected to Bordwell, Thompson and Smith’s claim that stylistic choices are made in reference to the film’s content, its script. For example, a period film may be captured on celluloid film negative whilst a science fiction narrative may be captured with the newest digital cinema camera. Realism, however, does not necessitate the same or even a similar cinematographic form response for feature filmmaking. This essay will explore how feature film cinematographers interpret realism or verisimilitude within the construct of artistic referentiality as a response to narrative content.

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Item Type:	Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C)
Refereed:	Yes
Item Status:	Live Archive
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre:	Current - Academic Division - Office for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (1 Jan 2018 -)
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre:	Current - Academic Division - Office for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (1 Jan 2018 -)
Date Deposited:	16 Jul 2020 00:13
Last Modified:	22 Apr 2021 03:28
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Cinematography; Authenticity; Realism; Verisimilitude; Impressionism; Referentiality; Documentary; Direct Cinema; Cinéma Vérité; Cinematographic
Fields of Research (2008):	19 Studies in Creative Arts and Writing > 1902 Film, Television and Digital Media > 190201 Cinema Studies
Fields of Research (2020):	36 CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 3605 Screen and digital media > 360501 Cinema studies
Identification Number or DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208.2020.1762476
URI:	http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/38658

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