Pigott, Michael (2009) Time and film style. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis proposes that the temporality of the moving image is not just its basic
condition, but also an alterable stylistic parameter. By analysing three broad stylistic
categories of cinema - Classical Continuity-editing, Montage, and Long Take - it is
demonstrated that the time of a sequence or shot operates as an active element within
the formal fabric of the work. Beyond this, it shows that these film styles may in fact be
defined by the characteristic ways in which they treat time.
Methodologically, it adapts concepts from the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze, Henri
Bergson and Hans Georg Gadamer, fusing them with close textual analysis to allow the
theory to grow around the practical instance of its object. One of the primary goals is to
establish a critical idiom capable of dealing appropriately and sympathetically with this
neglected aspect of film aesthetics, to uncover a suitable vocabulary for talking about
the expressive use of time in cinema.
This study contributes to the existing body of research on cinematic time (which is
primarily concerned with ontology and ideology) by addressing the distinct lack of
critical and theoretical work that engages with the temporality of cinema at the
microscopic level of the moment to moment passage of a scene, that is, the temporal
stylistics of cinema.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Time in motion pictures, Motion pictures -- Aesthetics
Official Date:	June 2009
Dates:	Date Event June 2009 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Film and Television Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Dyer, Richard, 1945- ; Constable, Catherine
Extent:	ix, 275 leaves : ill.
Language:	eng

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