The new dimensions of the post-cinema era have welcomed many new forms of cinematic effects and visuals. The cultural and technological shift from traditional to more complex filmmaking styles can be observed through modern ways of conveying emotion and experience. Shaviro (2016) argues these techniques “were developed in order to intensify cinematic continuity” but “have ended up undermining it”. Therefore, it is arguable that post-cinematic effects have prioritised sensationalism over narration which may explain the low ratings and loss of order of many highly promoted new films.

The focus on visuals and spectacle rather than storytelling can be factored to cultural shifts along with technological shifts. Bukatman (2003) notes and observes the transformation of modern cinema into a “new mode of landscape expression” that tests our “perception of time and space”. New dynamics and the new affect theory, for example the ‘kaleidoscopic perception’, is understood by Bukatman to combine “delirium, kinesis and immersion” to generate a desired emotion from the audience which is skilfully depicted in Terry Gillam’s ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’, starring Johnny Depp.

William Brown (2013) further studies how CGI and immersion technology transforms the perception of new realism, a term coined by Andrew Darley that characterises the way filmmakers are able to, for example, “depict a dinosaur photo-realistically” which is illustrated well in ‘Jurassic Park’; it’s the way objects and forms have become subject to mutation, enabled to morph, stretch or dissolve. 

Furthermore, Shaviro’s concept of ‘post-continuity’ also explores the way space and time in film are no longer classical and have essentially become unhinged. Continuity structures unveil more than the narrative but also establish the flow of time through spatial orientation.

Action movies involving shootouts and car chases are displayed through “sequences involving shaky handheld cameras” and “impossible camera angles” with “rapid cuts frequently involving mismatched shots”, shown explicitly in the clip from ‘Narcos’ above. Shaviro (2016) explains how today “there is no sense of spatiotemporal continuity” and that the only focus of filmmakers is to deliver “continual series of shocks to the audience”.

This explains how filmmakers will engage with the audience by exploiting their emotions, using disorder and schizoid franticness, rather than intriguing their intelligence.

References:

Steven Shaviro, ‘Post-Continuity: An introduction’, Post-Cinema: Theorising 21^st Century Film, 51-64

Bukatman, Scott, ‘The Ultimate Trip: Special Effects and Kaleidoscopic Perception’, in Matters of Gravity: Special Efffects and Supermen in the 20th Century (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003).

Brown, William, ‘Digital Cinema’s Conquest of Space’ SuperCinema: Film-Philosophy for the Digital Age (Oxford: Berghahn, 2013).

By: Francesca Rodriguez-Broadbent 33752271