1. Aesthetics of Horror

2. Postmodernism “Making Special”
Aesthetic Formalism is a Modernist perspective in contrast to Postmodern or “Making Special”
We have 3+ theories by which to judge something art. What are they? Explain one?

3. Aesthetic Formalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Look up formalism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
In art theory formalism is the concept that a work's artistic value is entirely determined by its
form--the way it is made, its purely visual aspects and its medium. Formalism emphasizes
compositional elements such as color, line, shape and texture rather than Realism, context,
and content. Formalism dominated modern art from the late 1800s through the 1960s.

4. Color
An element of art which has three properties. (1) Hue, which is the name
of a color. For example, red, yellow, blue. (2) Intensity, which refers to the
brightness and purity of a color. For example, bright red or dull red. (3)
Value, which refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.

5. Line
Line
You probably know what a line is, but just incase you don't, it is a continuous mark made on some
surface by a moving point.
There are mainly two types of lines, emphasizing lines and de-emphasizing lines.
Emphasizing Lines
Emphasizing lines are better known as contour lines. They show and outline the edges or contours
of an object. Contour lines separate objects from one another. When artists stresses contours or
outlines in their work, the piece are usually described as linear.
De-emphasizing Lines
Not all artists emphasize line in their work. Some even try to hide the outline of objects in their
pictures. The term painterly is used when describing works that does not stresses the contours or
outlines of objects.
Lines and Movement
Lines are also used to suggest movement in some direction. Lines are used in certain ways gives
people different feelings. Some lines may help you feel calm and relaxed while others could make
you feel tense and uneasy.
Horizontal Lines
Suggest calmness and usually makes people feel relaxed. Picture sitting on a beach and looking
down at the big flat ocean. Doesn't that feel relaxing??
Vertical Lines
Suggest strength and stability. Try thinking of a big tall vertical skyscraper or a tall lightest. What

6. Shape
Shapes are flat and has only 2 dimensions, height and width.
Forms are 3 dimensional objects with height, width and depth. Therefore
forms have mass and volume.

7. Texture
Texture
Texture is used to describe the surface quality of an object. It refers to how things feel, or look as if
they might feel if you were able to touch it.
Texture isn't always physical, could be suggested. You couldn't always feel a texture, but you could
always sense it with your eyes.

8. Composition

9. Balance

10. Diagetic Sound
Any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented as originating from a source
within the film's world is diegetic. If it originates outside the film (as most
background music) then it is non-diegetic.
A further distinction can be made between external and internal diegetic sound. In
the first clip from Almodóvar's Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
(Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios, 1988) we hear Iván speaking into the
microphone as he works on the Spanish dubbing of Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray,
1954). Since he is speaking out loud and any other character could hear him, this is
an example of external diegetic sound. This clip has no non-diegetic sounds other
than the brief keyboard chord that introduces the scene.
URL: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis
Last Modified: August 27, 2002
Certifying Authority: Film Studies Program
Copyright © 2002 Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520

11. Non-Diagetic Sound
Sound and diegesis gets more complicated in the next clip, from Dario Argento's
The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Italy, 1996). As Anna looks at
Paolo Uccello's famous painting of the Battle of San Romano (c1435), we begin to
hear the sounds of the battle: horses whimpering, weapons clashing, etc. These
sounds exist only in Anna's troubled mind, which is highly sensitive to works of
art. These are internal diegetic sounds (inside of a character's mind) that no one
else in the gallery can hear.
On the other hand, the Ennio Morricone eerie score that sets up the scene and
mixes with the battle sounds, is a common example of non-diegetic sound, sounds
that only the spectators can hear. (Obviously, no boom-box blasting tourist is
allowed into the Uffizi's gallery!)
URL: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis
Last Modified: August 27, 2002
Certifying Authority: Film Studies Program
Copyright © 2002 Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520

12. Mise-en-Scene

13. Setting

14. Costume and Make-Up
Costume simply refers to the clothes that characters wear. Costume in narrative
cinema is used to signify character, or advertise particular fashions, or to make
clear distinctions between characters.

15. Lighting

16. Figure Expression
and Movement
There is enormous historical and cultural variation in performance styles in the
cinema. Early melodramatic styles, clearly indebted to the 19th century theater,
gave way in Western cinema to a relatively naturalistic style. There are many
alternatives to the dominant style: the kabuki-influenced performances of kyu-geki
Japanese period films, the use of non-professional actors in Italian neorealism, the
typage of silent Soviet Cinema, the improvisatory practices of directors like John
Cassavettes or Eric Rohmer, the slapstick comedy of Laurel and Hardy, or the
deadpan of Buster Keaton and Jacques Tatí, not to mention the exuberant
histrionics of Bollywood films.

17. Paradox of Horror
• Why do we want to "escape" with a genre that
stimulates fear and anxiety as it considers horrible
events?
• Some people argue that horror causes people to
think and act in unhealthy, morbid ways.
• How would you respond?
• Could this be true of other genres too?
• What relationship, if any, do you see between
violence in real life as reported in the mass media
and interest in horror fiction?
• Between horror film and horror books?
• Is horror really more about shock value than telling
a good story?