PHI PHENOMENON BY MAX WERTHEIMER

Max Wertheimer was an Austro-Hungarian-born psychologist who was one of the three founders of Gestalt psychology, along with Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler. He is well known for his productive thinking and his idea of Phi Phenomenon and his contribution on Gestalt psychology. He began formulating in 1910 on phi phenomenon. He published his experiments in a paper which was tilted as experimental studies on the perception on movements. Phi phenomenon was a movement caused by light positions. Wertheimer illustrated his phenomenon on the objects which he built that had two lights on different locations. The lights were stationary; flashing at intervals caused the retina to catch it as a moving ray. He along with his partners started collecting the data and then started with the Gestalt movement.

            The quality of the data was quiet different from other parts of the elements. Phi phenomenon was the movement which had the total concept of eye being at the central position. As the eye it moves in response to the flashes of lights. The experiences of the observer are totally based on feedback from the moving eyes. Phi phenomenon is an illusion where certain perceptions of motions are produced in a succession of certain images. Phi phenomenon is used to refer an illusion which is not fully understood, as it’s a visual perception. Max Wertheimer led perception and gave birth to new ideas through discovery. Illusions entertain people, reflect their curiosity and also appreciate for creativity regarding human nature. The cinema has changed and even the audience wants something new, but with the blend of culture. Due to the increase in technology and all 3D cinemas came into this world. Cinema gave birth to illusions of motion picture where one can explore illusions as a medium to cinema.

            Its is popularly known for the motion illusion it creates and in reality the black space that comes between real movie frame are not seen, which makes phi phenomenon true for motion illusion in cinema and animation. Phi phenomenon can be observed when an audience is watching something on a screen where the projector projects two images at the same time. Due to the same timing and same spacing the viewer will experience a sensation of motion between those images.

CONSTRUCTIVISM

Constructivism was a philosophy in artistic and architecture which was originated in Russia during 1919 which had rejected the idea of autonomous art. The agitation or the movement was in favour of art as a practise for social purpose and had a great effect on modern art movements and also influenced major trends during the 20^th century. Like Bauhaus and De Stijl movement was regarding architecture, music, dance, graphic, theatre, fashion, etc. Constructivism in film explains how people might acquire knowledge and then learn. It is directly application ton education. The theory is all about human acquiring knowledge and meaning from their experiences, which is not a specific element. Constructivism has also influenced the teaching techniques with some research and certain results for this research.

            It’s the idea that learning does not just happen by traditional methods of teaching by standing in front of their class. People such as Jerome Bruner, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky etc also contributed for this theory. Constructivism is an epistemological belief about what knowing is and how one comes to know. They believe in individual interpretations about realty. Constructivism in film examines certain experiments of early Soviet film makers with special features regarding constructivist film to literature, painting,     architecture, design. It is not concerned with the knowledge, but with the mechanisms of knowledge which is constructed.

            Many scholars have put forth there explanation regarding constructivism, as Von Glasersfeld describes it as, theory of knowledge with roots in philosophy, psychology and cybernetics. Constructivism is all about instruction. Like discovery learning, experimenting, collaboration, basically based on teaching and learning process. Didactic approach towards constructivism as behaviourism and program instructions is all about learning is an active process which slowly and gradually increases the knowledge. And knowledge is based on personal experiences and in our surroundings. Learners continuously check these hypotheses through social negotiations. As each and every person has different interpretations and knowledge; level. The learner is not in a blank state but connects his past experiences and other factored for a situation.

            Constructive discards certain philosophy such as: knowledge is an individual person with some truth in it, meanings can be transferred via symbols, signs, learners can take copies of notes for their own use, concepts can be broken into sub concepts and learning can be in the form of complex, realistic, provide social negotiations, self-awareness etc. Constructivism is basically a model of research in cinema that uses concepts like theoretical construction, development, effects in cinema and there historical experiences.

FEATURE OF RUDOLF ARNHEIM’S THEORY OF FILM

Rudolf Arnheim was a German-born author, art and film theorist, and perceptual psychologist. In all was the best personality in film studies, best known for his landmarks book on silent cinema film art. He wrote major books on art, creativity which was known widely. He slowly and gradually became scholar and the most famous person in fields of art, history and gave tremendous contributions in the field of cinema. Later in the field of aesthetics, perception and emotion proved to be an important element in the field of film studies.

            Later on his work on visual arts brought change in films and media, and also reassessing some changes in film theories, which proved to be a help in refining the film as art and related concepts. His topics on film writings in modernism, antipathy to sound and colour in film, formation of his early ideas on films against social, political, methodology, digital media had a wide discussion. Arnheim used to believe that most productive idea comes during early twenties. And then they think on that idea and try to explore it. His idea regarding life and the world was in patterns, shapes and colours of the world. And hence he believed that to understand them in a better way, we need to explore them.  He gave lots of importance to artwork and said it’s the visual thinking and ways to express and help people understand the world and to show that the world changes according to one’s mind.

            There were certain innovations he had dreamt of which includes: special camera that films scenes in five language that to at the same time, technique of recording sound on a thread, for editing by a dress-maker or tailor, a telescope that radiated invisible ultraviolet rays you discover violations of public moral built in cinema, discovery of film bacteria that infected the audience and led to screen phobia, invention of close-up. Despite of his geographical and cultural aspects, Arnheim was a famous person in the Italian cultural during thirties. He was forced to take new escape leading to stop his passion for cinema; however his contribution was much better.

            Due to his different perspectives, he had a humanistic approach and was not opposed to scientific thought. He had a wide knowledge regarding technical innovations in film making which them broaden lots of borders to aesthetics films and there experience. He has helped the new generation of critics and directors to broaden their horizons and move beyond idealism towards realistic.

RHETORIC KEEPING FILM INTO PERSPECTIVE

Rhetoric is the art which aims at improvement of writers, speakers who attempt to inform, persuade, and motivate the audiences. Rhetoric basically came from Greek around late in 19^th century, which means public speaker. According to Aristotle, rhetoric is ability, of each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion." He described three main forms of rhetoric: Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. During those eras there were hardly such movements which were run on a single basis. Threes something substantial which goes on after rhetoric effect. There are few trends like increase self consciousness about cinema history, lowered film making, film production etc.

            So then whets the point in these new waves, it’s the new aesthetics of directions. Rhetoric has several types in it such as ethos, pathos and logos. Ethos is the ethical appeal by way of convincing the character. Pathos means emotional way of appealing the readers or the viewers. Logos means logical by means of persuading by way of reasoning. Logos has been derived from Greek word which refers to word of internal consistency of messages. It has the greatest impact on the audiences. Ethos has been derived from Greek word which means character and also refers to the trust worthiness of the writer. Pathos means suffering or experience. Generally it’s associated with the emotions led out.

            Those films which are used as an example are due to their styles of presentation. Horror movies are currently in fashion now days. Are there any rhetoric devices which the film makers untie, so that they have less work during narration? Story is classy one no doubt about that, but what the film makers lack in is that they try to make the audience feel that whatever they are showing is pretty much true, whereas the audience knows the difference between reality and reel cinema.

IF CUTTING IS PROSE, THEN MONTAGE IS POETRY

‘If cutting is prose, then montage is poetry’ to understand this line we first need to understand what is montage? Montage is a way of understanding and creating cinema which is totally dependent upon editing. In 1920 Soviet film makers used to view the montages marks a new note in the approach of film cinema. Montage can be called as the nerve of cinema and determining the nature of montage. Eisenstein’s view regarding montage was that it arises from collision of thoughts where there is element perceived not in the next but on the top of other. Editing in graphic qualities, violations and creation of the impossible nothings gave birth to new technologies. There are changes in the shots which are mostly used in the Hollywood to grasp the attention of their viewers. It’s all about storytelling and poetry.

As there are lot of variations in the prose same way in poetry there are lot of decorative rhymes which has a greater meaning. Story is a long one compared to a poem. It’s just an art if adding and a new revolution in film studies which gives the viewers a chance to learn, interpret and create a better world of understanding. Montage can be seen in almost every films of today’s era, it’s used to make the story attractive and consume less time. Montage includes all i.e. story, prose, poetry which has certain meaning and which speaks more with the feeling.

            There are five methods in montage namely metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtone, intellectual. Montage is said to be a conflict as there are new ideas emerging, a totally new perception of individual gets explored.

            

RUSSIAN FORMALISM

Russian formalism is an influential school of literary criticism in Russia from 1910’s to the 1930’s. It includes work of a number highly influential Russian and Soviet scholars like Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynianov, Vladimir Propp, etc. Who revolutionised literary criticism between 1914-1930’s by establishing autonomy of poetic language and literature. Russian formalism is a major influence on some great thinkers like Mikhail Bakhtin and Yuri Lotman. The term formalism was first used by adversaries of the movement and it also conveys a meaning which is rejected by formalists themselves. Russian formalism describes two different movements like OPOJAZ and Society for study of poetic language. This formalism was a diverse movement producing no unique doctrine and no proponents on central aim. This formalist is a sort of film study which is basically focused on the technical aspects like lighting, sound, shot, editing etc.

      Russian formalism is unique on its functional role of devices and its original concept of history. It has a scientific method for studying poetic language, traditional psychology and cultural historical approaches. It mainly focuses on the uniqueness like literature, music, dance, art, etc. There are two basic principle of formalism: literature itself and literary facts. Formalist’s main endeavour consisted of defining each property specifically to certain poetic language; it may be prose or poetry and analysing the same.

      There are lot of differences in there theoretical assumptions which is to place the study of lietarture on a scientific footing by defining its object and other procedures. They are pretty much untied to find the internal laws and certain principles that make a better piece out of literature literacy, or some art of literature. The literary historical process or literary evolution is a key to concern for Russian formalist. 

      There is no specific relationship between criticism and Russian formalism which was developed during the same time. But they still were independent and have several similarities. Developed during the same time. But they still were independent and have several similarities. 

FOREGROUNDING

Foregrounding is a common term which means a particular part or the scene which is nearest or in front of the audiences. This term has been taken from the paintings when an object from backgrounds brought in front to the limelight. It simply pushes the act of expression so that other elements draw attention. So that audience gets a chance to judge and focus on the art work rather than other things. It reveals the form of art other than hiding the stuff. It’s done by using elements of language and by using gamer mad patterns.

            Foregrounding theory must be applied and used in our daily life, so that the contributions, methodology, concept can be understood in a better way. And it also discovers a new and better way of understanding. There are two types of foregrounding: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative foregrounding is achieved by going beyond the set of patterns. It is just the practice of making something stand out from everything else. The term was first associated with Paul Garvin in 1960, was used it as a translation of Czech which means actualize, which has been borrowed from Prague School during 1930.

            Foregrounding is basically divided into two types: parallelism which is totally grammar and second one is deviation.

Let’s understand these terms one by one. Parallelism can be described as the unexpected regularity and deviation can be seen as unexpected irregularity. Both are the relative concepts, but sometimes something does can only be unexpected regularly or irregularly. The context or the concept can be lilt bit narrow like secondary element or even wider like a primary element. Even deviation is further divided into firstly most of the poems deviates from normal language i.e. primary deviation. Secondary deviation is the unexpectedly different from the rest of the worlds. Rhymes, slogans, adverts are parallelism as they constantly repeat. As parallelism can occur over longer texts itself. They often have three parts or elements in them, which were very similar to parallelism, constitute the two elements, whereas the third one is slightly similar. But the audience wants something unique or different which can be called as deviation.

            Foregrounding can take place in all languages. It’s generally used to show how important are the parts of text, or interpretation in one’s life.

TRANSFERENCE AND SYNAESTHESIA

Transference is a reproduction of emotions which is related to repressed experiences of past, or person for another object of repressed impulses. It’s basically general experiences of a variety of opposites that can be love and psychological growth, which can be determined as a key to success is the ability to endure tension of the opposites without disturbing the process. And then this tension allows an individual to grow and then transform. Transference refers to redirection of an individual’s feeling for a particular person. This term was first described by Sigmund Freud, who highlighted its importance for better understanding for the individual feelings. Carl Jung states that within the transference dyad both participants.

            There are various types of transference like paternal transference: this is when we turn to some male person and regard him as our father or fatherly figure. Maternal transference means roles as a female throughout her life such as a baby, daughter, sister, friend, wife, mother, grandmother. And we tend to develop great relationships with our mother and hence this type of transference is much deeper then paternal. Sibling’s transference means siblings relationships doing the critical time and other transference is that we often form stereotypes and transfer patterns to others.

            Let’s understand what is synaesthesia? It’s a theory of colour. It is a combination of information about frequency, location and certain sounds. There is a proper difference between individual instruments, singers, special effects, shape, colour, drums etc. This concept came from Greek where philosophers when they asked the colour chorea, is currently timbre of music was a quantifiable quality. Newton said that musical tones and colour tones had a common frequency as in the book of theory of colour.

            Synaesthesia is a subjective concept which is sensitive to the sense of being motivated. Sound provokes sense of colours. In medical stream many neurological aberration does not synesthetic themselves through their experience as a handicap. It is a [program that provides you with lot of graphical auxiliary to music. There are many buildings of colour organs like clavier a lumieres on which there is music hall to perform concert. David Hockney was famous synesthetes who used to perceive music as colour, shape. And used to use them with certain paintings of opera stage sets, but not while creating other artworks.

ANDRE BAZIN’S MYTH OF TOTAL CINEMA

Andre Bazin was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. He had a kick start with his career in films around 1943 and was also a co-founder of Cahiers du cinema magazine in 1951. He played a major role during post world war 2. He wrote an article which was another entitled as The Myth of Total Cinema and had everything about the evolution and future of cinema. He was of the thought that some investors were just making money out of the profit gained through fills, while some were really of a vision to create great films. According to him cinema never shows the realty and is complex in nature. And everything which is being added to cinema takes it further and further to cinema, which means cinema has still not been invented.

            His theory tries to explain that due to the emerge of new technologies there is high amount of realism that is achieved through cinema which is great. He also argues for the inventors of photography and cinema as they were not satisfied with the production of technology as sale.  His myth of total cinema was that cinema is a mixture of illusion of life which guided and inspired the invention of cinema. He mainly talks about the freedom of interpretation of various artists and not of picture only.  He not only highlights the negative aspects but also points out the positive aspect by praising cinema by the qualities of editing, focus long shots, which gives the audience freedom of interpretation.

            Bazin says if the origin of an art reveals something of its nature then some aspects of technologies may consider as the new aspect of cinema, which is the reality put of the total myth. According to him, as said earlier cinema has not been invented as it was born from the converging of various elements out of a myth.

Until now I explained everything right from Andre Bazin till his theory, but I feel that Bazin’s predictions were pretty much true. As movies today are becoming very much true or real. His theory regarding the total cinema after 50 years from his death is being reviewed by various film theorists. His boldness of putting cinema in the history of arts. But if Bazin was in today’s world then he would probably be surprised by seeing that how much close we have reached to his myth, in achieving the ideal inventors and thinkers dreamed of during the birth of cinema.

CINEMA IS MERE GADGETRY WITHOUT NARRATVITY HUGO MUNSTERBERG

Let’s understand fist who was Mr. Hugo Munsterberg? Hugo Munsterberg was a German – American psychologist and who was one of the scholars in psychology.  He gave a wide contribution in regards to film studies by publishing book called The Photo play: A psychological Study which was the earliest example of film theory.     The topic mainly focuses on how cinema is the film of the form. The book includes everything about picture, emotions which are at the peak level and in interest of the audience.

The film refers to the most complex relationship between all aspects including plot, character, personality, quotes, etc. It is important to say that the film and other forms of art will exist till the time its viewer or the audience depends on one another.

            There are several studies of cinema like hermeneutic which means explanatory i.e. it’s all about what the film is trying to convey, genre studies meaning finding out more about film joners. Auteur theory or importance of the director in film making, it’s the primary importance. Historical which includes film movements, comparison between film and other arts, feminist, cultural studies, post-colonial theory, cognitive theory, structuralism which includes semiotics, Marxism, psycho analysis etc.  Cinema is comparatively an art form which focuses on young people. And was a medium of illusion. Munsterberg had a central argument that film had a capacity to imitate mental state due to the various technologies, flow of images, the way our mind worlds. He also claims that the mental activities are modelled through cinemas. It moulds the objective world and takes the audience on the ride of an imaginary cinema world.

            Cinema contains aesthetics art forms wh8ich includes dance, music, theatre. Cinema or film theory has been emerged just after the silent era after knowing that films are a part to our culture. While Munsterberg showed as different kind of relationship between the theory and practise during those eras.  And was of the opinion that he did not direct any films but instead gave the audience new links about films and other emerging art forms.  He was just of the thought of showing how cinema is different from theatre and was identifying essential qualities. And he was finally succeeded in showing that film is an art or a general aesthetics which did not show reality. Film theory tends to favour one most important factor or the quality of films is that the means of creating or manipulating etc.

NATYA SHASTRA – TREASURES OF DRAMA

Natya shastra is a Sanskrit word which means art of expression and ancient treatise on performing arts, theatre, dance, music etc.  Natya means drama and shastra means weapon. It came into existence during t6he period of 200 BCE in Indian classical form and contributed to sage bharata. It’s just an incredible way and has a wider scope. It is a wonderful blend of stage formation, design along with some beautiful ways of portraying India’s culture, literature, music. It’s an ancient form of fine art which gives a detailed meaning of music, instrument. Mostly the contributions were made by Abhinav Gupta. To perform natya shastra one needs good an ample knowledge, learning of science, yoga, music, dance, etc. Its prime focus is to bring out the emotions from the audience.

            There are four kinds of abhinaya which describes the body part motions which includes make up, acting, directing, bhavas like angika, vachika, ahara, sattvika. It underlines a detailed drama which adds a gist to the poetry which refers to bhavas. As said in rasa there are eight major elements like love, pity, anger, heroic mood, disgust, terror, awe and comedy. Natya shastra is brought by Bharat Muni was the first text to highlight music in a wide range. It is still remained as an important element in fine arts for many extras and is referred to as fifth Vedas. Major forms of dance and music were defined from it. These forms of statues can be seen in elephant caves where body forms, movement’s sculptures are there from centuries. The influence of music and dance can even be seen today especially in the Hindustani dance like bharatnatyam. Cinemas are greatly influenced by these rasas and natya shastra.

             Natya shastra has been divided into 36 chapters where there are hundreds of muni’s which approach to the secrets of Natyaveda. Natya shastra mainly involves chapters like drama where there is involvement of audience, theatre, architecture, rituals, emotion, aesthetics of rasas, dance, music, dhvani, make-up, philosophy, etc. And also the instruments used in Natya shastra were stringed instrument, windblown, cymbals, percussion instruments. There are questions and answers based on the topic and even lot of great information has been noted down. Natya shastra was first done in an open theatre where along with dance meaning was also being passed out.  Even natya shastra is somewhere or the other is connected to the roots of Indian culture and Indian religion. Without this, I don’t think the beauty of Indian dance is possible. In Hindu mythology, it is said that dance first existed in heaven itself. As we have heard that there used to be a constant conflict between Asuras and Devas for elements like power, wealth. It seems that Lord Brahma went into the deep meditation and made four Vedas, out of which he blended all ingredients and flavours and created a new and fourth Veda which was named as Natya Veda.

            There is no doubt in that these dance form can be represented and well defined by Bharat muni during that dynasty. Thus it is unique and valuable element which defines great dance tradition on the basis of dance performers. It glimpses into the art of dance and also gives a beautiful sight into its evolution through unique sculptures.

THE THEORY OF SUGGESTION - DHVANI

Rasa and dhvani are the two most central aspect of ancient India. Anandavardhana was the author of Dhvanyaloka, his work articulating the philosophy of "aesthetic suggestion". The philosopher Abhinava gupta had a significant contribution to it. He has been credited for developing dhavni theory. Dhvani basically means sound or the soul of any poem. This also creates emotions within the audience. It has a sensitive, but indirect connects the writer and its reader. It can be connected to semantic theory which consists of same sounds, signs, etc. Poems bring out that emotional factor or language from the audience. Dhavni relates to meanings and the power of words it has, so hence dhvani is the basis of all rasas.

            Basic principle of dhvani is sphota vada, meaning words which are separated by splitting a sentence. Sphota has derived from words like pada meaning word and vakya meaning sentence. It is basically from his last sound of the entire word which is derived together by producing a sound. In Sanskrit sphota means 'antima buddhi graahya' or what is known by the last word, sphota it is also 'antima varna graahya' , or what is known by the last syllable as even the last alphabet. Dhavni can be basically used for indicating symbol, meaning, power of word to convey certain meaning, certain meanings, etc. there are three classifications given to this dhvani by Ananda, and also adds certain meanings to it. Amongst the three the first one is 'loukika', 'kaavya vyaapaara gocara' and alanknara dhvani. Vastu dhvani is a part of dhvani with some rare facts and ideas. Alankaara dhavni figure outs the speech in it. And the last one includes every rasa in it. Poems or dhavni is an element of peace of mind where the person is consciously aware of things, which gives him the desired freedom, harmony, and state of peace.
            Poetry is basically a combination of verbal structure and verbal elements, which also constitute semantics in relation to the poetry. Along with semantics there also comes linguistic, philosophy, morphology and other subjects which relate to it. Dhvani is the backbone of all movies. Dhvani is nothing but sound just another medium of communication. Sound is the main factor through which we understand the basic needs. During 60’s there were hardly films which had sounds, but mostly there were silent movies. But they were using sub tilts or signs or expressions to indicate the things. But then as the technology emerged people started using it and utilising the technology. Like the movie which was made by Alfred Hitchcock – the psycho. In this movie the sound played a crucial role. Next is the exorcist where the screaming, insulting, ghost sounds had a great impact on the audience.
            Silent is also a sound which explains the intensity of every moment used for particular movie scenes. After all every surprising element comes with a sound which affect the person deeply. Poetry has that element of ancient culture that it has been marked in golden words and is important in understanding the concepts. Hence, dhavi is the highest joy in the nature of consciousness. The person needs t be completely freedom everything so that then he can enjoy the dhvnai. As then the person gets an experience in the divine way. It is caused by the degree of joy which is caused by the variations in the elements.

RASA – DIVINE IN INDIA

Rasa is a Sanskrit word which means essence or juice and basically is aconcept of Indian aesthetics, where there’s a blend of divine through music, dance, drama, poetry, etc. There is uniqueness in the poetry and it’s due to rasa as it has the worthiness. An individual who is expert in this field can experience it through eyes and ears and these rasas create sensations of happiness, sorrow that directly reaches the mind and automatically emotions are being awakened. It’s like the stronger the sensations the stronger is the emotion and are reflected on human body as well. When at such point the emotions are reached at the peak level then other organs also react to it. These rasas depict poets in such a way that it becomes the living experiences for the person who is listening. As the person also goes with the flow then. Then the rasa described in the form of poetry and experience of the person goes hand in hand.

            Bharat Muni gave eight rasas and it is believed that Natya shastra is the first work that forms the process of Rasa. Natya shashtra was an ancient work of dramatic theory and each rasa has a unique meaning with different colour. And each rasas are paired to one other. The rasas are as follows –

NAME OF RASA	MEANING	COLOUR
Srinagara	Love, attractiveness	Light green
Hasya	Laughter, mirth, comedy	White
Raudra	Fury	Red
Karunya	Compassion, tragedy	grey
Bibhatsa	Disgust, aversion	Blue
Bhayanaka	Horror, terror	Black
Vira	Heroic mood	Yellowish
Adbhuta	Wonder, amazement	yellow

            However while researching it has been found that before Bharata Acharya and Vasuki also gave birth to two different rasa traditions. Abhinav Gupta gave the ninth rasa and this had undergone great research - Santam (peace) – white. Later on more two rasas were also being added likewise Vatsalya (parental love) and Bhakti (spiritual devotion). That poetry which involves or evokes emotions within the person and determines the quality of rasa is called as rasyukt. Rasa includes specific emotions like anger, happiness which are treated as characteristics of mind. In India, rasa is the emotion inspired by the performer to the audience. these rasas are also called aesthetics which are used in Indian classical dances as well like Bharatnatyam, kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Kudiyattam, Kathakali and others.

Rasa’s have a great influence on the cinema especially in India. The element which differences Indian dances from western is only rasa, which is so unique and different. Rasa is a relish to create a better mood.

ITS ALL ABOUT DANCE, DRAMA, SKILL, SONG – ITS ABOUT KABUKI

Kabuki is a classical and traditional Japanese dance form with singing and drama performed in a great method. This style is basically known for its drama and the high five make-up worn by the performers. It’s a great mixture of music, dance, drama, costume, staging, choreography and thus is a major dance form in Japan which has been from centuries. ‘Kabuki’ this term has been derived from unorthodox and shocking character of this art form. The form has been formed with the help of three characters: Ka – which means song, Bu – means dance and Ki – means skill. The actors who perform this task have carried this form from one generation to other with not many changes. The performing styles of the earliest actors who used to perform kabuki add a generation number after their names to indicate there place in the long line of actors.

            Kabuki dance form was established around 17th century. When female dancer named OKUNI which means they perform at majestic place of worship. It was basically the era of female kabuki which was into him year 1603- 1629. The female lead used to perform with her group as it was the first means of entertainment and was designed for the Japanese people. Actors performing kabuki were known as kabuki’s and has a unique distinction between historical plays. It was basically separated by mere concepts like ghosts, fear, thriller, and usually used to end on with a dance performance. This form was established so that people get entertain and along with that the actors get chance of showing their skills.

            By the end of 17^th century, kabuki was looked upon as a taboo, not good art form, rigid framework etc. Even in this period kabuki performance are been staged in Japan. There were different stages of kabuki like honbutai which means true stage and was termed as the main performance. This style was basically enclosed from left and right by pillars which were painted with matte black colour. The second one was seri which means lift where the entire stage is set on a platform that was raised on lower basis. The third one is mawaributai means revolving stage, the next was hanamichi meaning flower path, suppon meaning terrapin in this only the supernatural power like ghost and all concepts are being used. Yuka is one more part of kabuki meaning floor, kuromisu means black bamboo curtain, kakesuji where aerial fight scenes is being shown. The first kabuki show was on the riverbeds. Kabuki is a variation of stage and platform and provides three sides to the audiences. There is a great relationship between the performers and the audience. Even audience take activate part during kabuki form is going on by shouting and encouraging them. Over the theatre the atmosphere or the ambience is quite spirited. The basic element of kabuki involves conflict between feudalistic system and the human element. 

            Kabuki has a unique feature is that keeping with the spirit do unusualness and there is not a single female actor. Female actors were banned because during the primitive stage of kabuki only female used to be the actors and later on began to attract undue attention from male admires. Kabuki has everything in it like the colour, glamour, excitement. Here the writers play a vital role in writing the scripts accordingly keeping in mind the strength and weaknesses of the actors. This form is all about various expressions and the lines and plots. Kabuki is based on the factor of representation and the actors have to do a thorough training.

            Japan enjoys a great versatility of westernization and hence kabuki is still being the central part of importance is just because t is crystal clear. And hence kabuki is a form which will place in the nation’s pride and affection. In kabuki art form the audiences understands the concept and even appreciate the staging. Kabuki was been established to express the human life. The gap between the audience and the stage is open which lacks the reality. As audiences experiences an illusion and they enjoy the play by participating in it.

IMPLICATED SPECTATOR – IN CONTEXT OF FILMS/CINEMA

What does the word spectator mean? Where is this being originated from? Let’s have a glance at the history to know in a better way. ‘Spectator’ this word is being derived from Latin word around 1580-90’s which means the frequency to look, observer, onlooker, etc. Spectator is all about how movies produce emotional responses, powerful impact on the watcher. Sometimes it’s possible to focus on particular theme – like horror, comedy, thriller or sometimes even melodrama. As all the focus is on the spectator, personality of the star, camera angles, choreography, casting etc. It’s all about to know how films create emotional responses or some reactions within the spectator.

            If an individual clearly understands the concept of spectatorship, then it can be directly related to some theories which are of same kind. Like, according to the researcher the appropriate theory which goes with spectatorship was Hypodermic Needle theory. As it determines the role of the individual spectator. As spectator is an individual member of the audience and is a link between the films and concepts. And spectator remains at the central position and thus the film is recognised by the pleasures had by the spectator gives it the meaning. Spectatorship is not only about watching films but also the way in which an individual takes pleasure during the film. Usually the spectator is the decoder who receives the message and then gives meaning to the same.

            During 1970’s there was no prior theory regarding the role of spectator. Spectators are the one who separates reality and realists who desired to develop film to know the reality, constructed this concept, who receives the unreality from the films. The film is made for the spectator’s vision and at times spectator acts like receiver and the sender. The films open to lot of illusions, scenes which has lot and different interpretations and different viewpoints. There are different angles which helps a film to be produces such as script, story boarding, camera angles, choreography, plot, editing. Basically a film is the mirror which reflects the thoughts and ideas of the director. To understand all these4 technical aspects we need to know more about film and cinema. Cinema provides us with different dimension which otherwise we are not able see in our real life. Cognitive theory can also be applied here, where the reaction is immediately to the outcomes of earlier films on the attitude and the behaviour of the person. We look at any movies or films with our organs, but we analyse it through our mind. As we simply follow them and jump to conclusions. Spectator is usually in a particular room where the movie is being played were nothing is specifically defined.

            Difference between Hollywood movies and Indian movies according to spectator would be in the form of realistic and that of modes do production. It’s always true that Hollywood films provide with realistic story and makes the viewers felt the same. But on the same side Indian films doesn’t gaze at the viewers and even doesn’t want the spectator. As they focus more on melo dramas and all and hence admit that they do not as how what is real, or truthful. So spectator is at the central position where he or she must judge on the basics of the impact which they had.

            I would conclude by saying that as the world is changing the film industry is gaining lots and lots of money. The more they gain knowledge about spectator – likes, dislikes, comfort zone the better chance they get to make profit out of their films.