RUSSIAN FORMALISM

Russian Formalism is the name for a group of literary scholars and linguistsin Russia from the 1910s to the 1930s.The leading members were OsipBrik,Boris Eikhenbaum, Roman jakobson,ViktorShklovskii, Boris Tomashevskii, and JuriiTynianov. They developed a series of innovative theoretical concepts, claims,models, and methodological norms concerning various aspects of the literary system and its study.

Russian Formalism was never a school with a uniform principle, whether theoretical, historical, ormethodological.Russian Formalism’s major contributions can be approached in terms of basic perspectives and majorresearch areas.The literariness orartfulness of a work of literature, that which makes it an aesthetic object, resides entirely in its devices,which should also form the sole object of literary studies.RussianFormalism was a constantly evolving and changing originality in which concepts, hypotheses, and modelswere formulated, deeply discussed, and modified or replaced as soon as insufficiencies were discovered ornew questions arose that the Formalists could not handle.It was more an ongoing process of self-conscioustheorizing than a finished theory.

A school of literary theory and analysis that emerged in Russia around 1915, devoting itself to the study of literariness. The literary historical processis a key concern for the Russian Formalists. Russian Formalism made a difference between sjuzet (plot) and fabula (story). The plot is strictly literary, whereas the story is raw material awaiting the organizing hand of a writer. The plot is not merely the events of the story; it also encompasses the literary devices used to narrate the story.Russian Formalism formally ended in early 1930s.

THE MYTH OF TOTAL CINEMA- ANDRE BAZIN

Andre Bazin co-founder of magazine cahiers du cinema started writing about films in 1943. Bazin observed and analyzed the current scenario of development of technology in cinema was merely for monetary gain. He stated very few ‘savants’ use technology to make a real hype in cinema. He was in constant argument. Bazin who was in support of realism has wrote the book ‘The Myth of Total Cinema’. He argued for the inventors of photography and cinema were not just enough with getting technology for sale. He does admit that few were largelyapprehensive with this – but they were determined for the imitation and reproduction of the “real” world.Bazin states that The Real primitives of the cinema, existing only in the imaginations of a few men of the nineteenth century, are in complete imitation of nature. Every new development added to the cinema taking it nearer to its origins.

Realism means getting imaginative idea in to existence. Technology was an ad on to achieve realism. Bazin explains ‘The cinema is an idealistic phenomenon. He argued that no technology or monetary investment can make it look realistic.

Bazin theories explained that even though new technology will come up in the future, the height and volume of realism will be infinite. Technology will only help to make it look more real. But the aesthetic value will still remain the same. He believes the desire for realism is the natural, organic start and end point of the cinema.

TRANSFERENCE AND SYNESTHESIA

Transference was first described by Sigmund Freud, who acknowledged its importance for psychoanalysis for better understanding of the patient's feelings.Transference can also be described as a reproduction of emotions relating to repressed experiences, especially of childhood, and the substitution of another person for the original object of the repressed impulses.  Its gets transfer from one to other. In love and in psychological growth, the key to realization is the ability to sustain the tension of the counterparts without leaving the process, and that this tension allows one to grow and to transform.

There are four major type of transference:-

1.     Paternal Transference: - In this state we turn the other person to be as our father.

2.     Maternal Transference: - It’s develops at early stage when we are mostly attached with mother. It’s most deep and emotional transference.

3.     Sibling transference: - This is mostly seen when parents are missing or busy. We replace them with sibling i.e brother or sister who stays with us at that point of time.

4.     Other Transference: - We classify people. For eg policeman, fireman, doctor.

Synaesthesia – the transfer of information from one sensory modality to another, or mingling of the senses – is often used to enhance imagery in writing. The word “synesthesia” or “synaesthesia,” has its origin in the Greek roots, syn, meaning union, and aesthesis, meaning sensation: a union of the senses.Synaesthesia is a perceptual condition of mixed sensations. There are various form SynaesthesiaGrapheme- Synaesthesia, Sound - color synesthesia.

Synaesthesia is the subjective sensation of a sense other than the one being motivated. Synesthesia may also be useful in deciding the question of how mental processing can be so efficient given the abundance of mentally stored information and the wide variety of problems that we meet, which must each require highly specific although different, processing solutions.

FEATURES OF RUDOLF ARNHEIM'S THEORY OF FILM

Rudolf Arnheim is best known for his famous book on silent cinema film as art. He is one of the famous scholars in the fields of art and art history; he gave completely his work on the theory of cinema. His theories described form, perception, emotion and their role in contemporary film and media studies. He also contributed in the works on the visual arts to bear on film and media. His theories on the film help us to refine our grasp of film as art.

Arnheim’s movie writings in relation to modernism, his strong dislike to sound as well as color in movie, the forming of his early ideas on movie against the social and political backdrop of the day, the wider uses of his way in which something is done, and the implications of his work for digital media.
1) a special camera that filmed scenes in five languages at the same time – the camera was equipped with to do with vision filters to select those elements that were compatible with different countries’ tastes; and the movie was developed using developing solutions flavored with tomato sauce for the person from Italy version, ‘bouillabaisse’ for the French, Bavarian amber fluid for the German, and tea for the English

2) A technique of recording sound on a thread, for editing by a dress-maker or tailor

3) The Erotoscope, a telescope that radiated invisible ultraviolet rays, through which a special guardian was able to discover any violations of public morality in the cinema during the projection; the guilty had to pay a fine, according to the gravity of the offense

4) the discovery of a movie singular form of bacteria that infected the the group most likely to be interested and led to ‘screen-phobia’ – the extreme dislike of movie screenings – which after further two weeks of period of time from egg fertilization until hatching becomes ‘screen-mania’, resulting in a considerable weakening of the pa-tent’s cash resources; in the third stage of this disease, the subject experiences an irresistible want to have to become an actor, director or production manager

5) Arnheim also reported the invention of the close-up, or rather, of the in concept belief of of ‘close-up’. The person from Italy for close-up is ‘primo piano’, which means. Not only ‘foreground’ but also, and without exaggerating, ‘first floor’: the ‘primo piano’ was invented by an old woman called Emilia Close upper in her old home

CONSTRUCTIVISM

Constructivism is basically a theory based on observation and scientific study about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we come across something new, we have to resolve it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. Constructivism is a learning theory found in psychology.

There are few guiding principles:-

1.     Learning is an active process in which the learner uses sensory idea and builds meaning out of it.

2.      People learn to learn as they learn: learning consists both of constructing meaning and constructing systems of meaning.

3.     Learning involves language: the language we use influences learning.

4.     One needs knowledge to learn: it is not possible to assimilate new knowledge without having some structure developed from previous knowledge to build on.

Constructivism is the idea that learning doesn’t just happen by traditional methods of teachers standing in front of the class and lecturing. Constructivism is a belief about what "knowing" is and how one "come to know." Constructivists believe in individual interpretations of the reality, i.e. the knower and the known are interactive and inseparable. Constructivism states that learning is an active, contextualized process of constructing knowledge rather than acquiring it. Knowledge is constructed based on personal experiences and hypotheses of the environment. Learners continuously test these hypotheses through social negotiation. Each person has a different interpretation and construction of knowledge process.

NATYASASTRA

The Natyashastra is an ancient Indian essay on the performing arts covering theatre, dance and music. While it primarily deals with stage art, it has come to influence music, dance and literature. It is very important to the history of Indian classical music because it is the only writing which gives such detail about the music and instruments of the period. Argument can be made that the Natyashastra is the foundation of fine arts in India.

Abhinaya is a concept in Indian dance and drama derived from Bharata's NatyaShastra.Bharata describes 15 types of drama ranging from one to ten acts. The principles for stage design are placed down in some detail. Specific chapters deal with aspects such as makeup, costume, acting, directing, etc. A large section deals with meanings allowed by the performance (bhaavas) get particular importance, leading to a broad theory of aesthetics (rasas). Natyashastra is a distinct absence of final evidence that classical Sanskrit dramas regarded the Natyashastra as a narrowscript. In sanskrit dramas suggest to things that seem to match with parts of the Natyashastra, but many Sanskrit dramas also include elements that the Natyashastra forbids.Four kinds of abhinaya (acting) are described – physical (angika), verbal (vaacika), that by costumes and makeup (aahaarya), and the highest mode, by means of internal emotions, expressed through minute movements of the lips, eyebrows, ear, etc. (saattvika).

The Natyashastra has been divided into 36 chapters, sometimes into 37 or 38 due to further bifurcation of a chapter or chapters. The title can be loosely translated as "A compendium of Theatre or A Manual of Dramatic Arts". The background of Natyashastra is framed in a situation where a number of munis approach Bharata to know about the secrets of Natyaveda.

The analysis of body forms and movements also influenced sculpture and the other arts in subsequent centuries. The structures of music outlined in the Natyashastra retain their influence even today.

FOREGROUNDING

Foregrounding is defined as an effect, it’s occur normally, Foregrounding means “to bring it front”. Foregrounding concept was initially started in literature and then adapted in films. Foregrounding is an expression to make people familiarize about the subject. The basic idea in foregrounding is that the clauses which make up a text can be divided into two classes. There are clauses which convey the most central or important ideas in text, those propositions which should be remembered. And there are clauses which, in one way or another, elaborate on the important ideas, adding specificity or contextual information to help in the interpretation of the central ideas. The clauses which convey the most central or important information are called foregrounded clauses, and their propositional content is foreground information. The clauses which elaborate the central propositions are called back grounded clauses, and their propositional content is background information.

The concept of foregrounding has been made use of most in textual analysis. It is a useful tool to describe particular characteristics of the text, or to explain its specific poetic effects on the reader. And it may fruitfully be employed to establish a link between purely linguistic description and the functioning literary texts in a culture at large.
Foregrounding has also been a useful concept in the study of visual arts and spectators' responses. In general the term is refers to drawing spectators' attention to some element in the film by means of unusual filmic devices. Examples would be fixed positioning of the camera, and the deformation of familiar objects through filters, mirrors, and extreme close-ups.
It will be apprehended that foregrounding devices may - because of their very use - lose their defamiliarizing potential, and thus stand in need of constant replacement. In this way history can be viewed as a continuous wavelike replacement and renewal of the devices and processes by which foregrounding operates.

Foregrounding theory was developed to understand responses to both literature and film, experimental research concentrated only on reader response, till now.