Comparison Essay

In the Basic Concepts article from Siegfried Kracauer, he discusses two different ways of thinking about and making films. He calls these realistic and formative tendencies. These tendencies were modelled after three filmmaking innovators of the 19th century, the Lumiere Brothers and George Melies. While both sides of these filmmaking techniques are vastly different in theory, they share some similarities as well. To further unpack this, it is necessary to learn the history of the filmmakers involved.

Auguste and Louis Lumiere are famous and well documented for their early film work. They took the art out of filmmaking and used film as a way of documenting real life events. They were essentially photographs that had movement in them. This

The realism in the films being shown were not captivating the audiences like they used to. Enter George Melies. The text explains this further, “Georges Méliès took over where Lumière left off, renewing and intensifying the medium’s waning appeal” (Kracauer 151). Melies was one of the first to witness the Lumieres screenings and he too was shocked by the technology and realism. However, he took note when the style began losing audiences attention. He “ignored the workings of nature out of the artist’s delight in sheer fantasy” (Kracauer 152). This is Kracauer’s way of saying George Melies changed film by using stage and play aesthetics, he started making large, fantasy films to compete with the realistic works of the time. He adapted and created many stories and was innovative in his use of many technical solutions. These include, but are not limited to: double exposure, fade in/out, narrative editing. These can be seen in many of his films such as Cinderella and A Trip to the Moon. This is where the formative tendency school of thought

I was the editor on the project and it was up to me, and the director Mikey Tachuk, to make many of the formalism elements work within the realistic film. Like most modern films, it takes from both the realistic and formative tendencies to engage the audience in a pleasing way. It is in the comedy genre, set in present day, in the “real world”. The comedy aspect gives the film it’s formative style with its use of whip pans, cutaways and visual gags. These are techniques that would not be seen in the “real world”, but they work within the realistic world because of the modern day audience's perception of the comedy genre. They are able to suspend their disbelief better and longer than the audiences of the late 19th century where everything was shocking and hard to root in reality unless watching a early Lumiere Brothers realism film. In Smooth, the set dec, dialogue, characters, and setting are all done in a realistic tendency which roots the story and makes it relatable and easy to get into for the audience. Then when a comedic formative element hits, it makes the audience laugh since they know what kind of film they are watching. There is careful manipulation of the images through editing, story and pacing to get the audience on board and make a believable comedy. In other words, a realistic formative piece. Without the realism, the film would not be relatable and susceptible to comedic moments, but