Heathen Camerawork: Crossing the Liminal Border with “The Third Day” Cinematography
Maciej Stasiowski
zibi46@o2.plindependent researcher (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3123-6027
Abstract
This article focuses on cinematography and digital enhancement of the image, exploring the role of visualization strategies in augmenting the fictionalized filmic space in lieu of an immersive (liminal) experience and the ideas behind the technical conflation of HD photographic indexicality and magical realism (through portrayal of radical subjectivity, estrangement of familiar settings, and supernatural occurrences) in the surreal environment of a Samhain-like ritual portrayed in Sky TV’s The Third Day: Autumn (2020). Whereas slow cinema’s use of long takes traditionally intended to create a contemplative mood in the viewer in order to draw attention to fleeting aspects of the image, while providing involvement with a supposedly factual place, the episode’s extreme “take” on the theme induces a trance-like state through disfiguration – firstly, by numbing attention through apparent boredom; secondly, by catching the watcher (who is most likely already well accustomed to the conventions of the livestream “genre”) off-guard – as the festival transgresses from ritualistic procedures to cinematographic staging of a delirious consciousness.
Keywords:
filmic space, long take, ciné-trance, slow cinema, livestreamReferences
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Authors
Maciej Stasiowskizibi46@o2.pl
independent researcher Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3123-6027
PhD in arts and humanities; graduate of the Institute of Audiovisual Arts at the Faculty of Management and Social Communication, Jagiellonian University in Cracow. His academic interests include time-based techniques of audiovisual representation (live action and animated film, installation art, new media), and their role in experimental architectural projects. He published articles in ARCH, Ekrany, TransMissions and Kultura i Historia; author of a book on Peter Greenaway’s literary influences entitled Atlas rzeczy niestałych [The Atlas of All Things Inconstant] (2014).
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