Fms 530 Reading Report

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The connection between art, physiognomy, and humanity brings me to my next point of interest with modest confusion and analytical interpretation, of body and significance. Balász says that, “if the close-up lifts some object to some part of an object out of its surrounding, we nevertheless perceive it as existing in space; we do not for an instant forget that the hand, say, which is shown by a close-up, belongs to a human being. It is precisely this connection which leads meaning to its every movement” (Balász 306). While there are many ways one might interpret this statement, to me this quote means that if the human hand were to be isolated in a close-up shot of a film, (not knowing that this hand belonged to a human) the hand would lose its meaning or expression because we do not know its significance. For example, in the film The Skin I live In (Almadovar 2013), Vicente completes his transition to a woman, Vera. She now has many different features, all features a woman has, however her breasts and genitalia are much more significant in the story rather than those of a God given women in the film. This is because we know the story that transformed her into becoming a woman - the audience has insight of the Vera’s feelings about her new identity because of her facial expressions. One could generate many examples of this in and outside film and with or without human significance however Balász’s intentions and meanings didn't provide a clear interpretation. With that being said, my personal interpretation of this quote is likely not correct and requires close examination before determining what it means.

Although Balász’s essay, is consistent I find myself finding difficulty understanding the phenomenon of melody having relation to facial expression, physiognomy, and space….or anything to do with a close up, or the face of man. “…the first note is made an element of melody only because it refers to the next note because it stands in a definite relation to all other notes down to the last” (Balász 307). Does physiognomy have a melody pertaining to the context of a film or sequence? To me, this quote makes sense when determining musical terms however it doesn't signify anything that has to do with the topics discussed in the essay or there rhythmic form.

In conclusion, I believe that Balázs thoroughly explains the close-up as the first new world film quite strategically. Ultimately, the close-up has given the creation of film a substance of art to others who may not believe that film is art. Because of the moving visuals and soul generated within man kind the close-up shot gives the audience a small substance of dramatic relocations on what is happening without dialogue. Dialogue highly used in the film industry today, however with the significance of human expressions using close-ups of face, physiognomy, body, gestures, is what reveals the meaning and core of what we thought we already knew.

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