Film portrait

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A film portrait is a cinematic production about the life of a person, group of people or institution. A film portrait is more documentary than a film biography and usually only deals with a certain phase of a person's life. The term film portrait describes a certain form of representation of people, groups or organizations of public interest . In the case of a film portrait, the biographical events of a person (age, occupation, family, life path , etc.) as well as a description of current events are usually captured in chronological order on the eponymous medium. In addition to listing the most important life data, it is also important to emphasize the character of the person with the help of the film portrait. This is made possible through thorough research which reveals the most interesting characteristics of the person portrayed. A "dense description" includes strengths and weaknesses, opinions and motives, deeds and visions, hopes and doubts, successes and defeats as well as the past and the plans of the subject of the portrait.

history

After the invention of film in 1895, film portraits of Jesus were made as early as 1897 . However, this genre did not become a permanent element until the 1960s, at which time Andy Warhol, for example, also took film portraits.

term

The people portrayed or, more rarely, institutions have mostly influenced the passage of time and drawn attention to themselves through extraordinary deeds or characteristics. There are different reasons for creating a film portrait. The motivation can be commercial as well as artistic. The film portrait differs from the painted portrait, among other things, in its dynamism. Both forms have the goal in common of recording the characteristics of a person or an object, both in terms of character and appearance, and immortalizing them on an imaging medium. However, the film portrait is not static and can include the temporal dimension. This is why it is ideal for capturing a person in their entirety and not limited to a specific moment. Good portraits usually pursue a clearly defined goal such as introducing a person, explaining successes or failures, or creating understanding for “the person behind a decision”. A film is given a certain credibility on the occasion of its media-technical development, but its authenticity can be manipulated, for example through the narrative elements of the film. Nevertheless, authenticity is an important characteristic of the film portrait. On the one hand, authenticity serves to depict actual reality. Through the precise representation of reality in the form of a film portrait, it should be perceived as authentic. On the other hand, authenticity relates to the relationship between the person portrayed and the person portrayed. This mutual influence of the person portraying and the person being portrayed can result in different interpretations of the film portrait.

Similar to the report , the film portrait, for example, builds up tension and closeness to the recipient through original sounds, attention to detail, expressive lexis, present tense, content-related objects and a change of perspective . For example, by describing the physical appearance, gestures or facial expressions and the familiar surroundings of the person portrayed. From a visual point of view, the portrait can be steered in a predetermined direction using various camera settings , lighting and other stylistic devices. The sitter can be put in the right light, so to speak, in order to achieve a certain effect on the recipient, depending on the context. The intended effect can be, for example, sadness , happiness, empathy or the like. The auditory component, consisting of music and text, is used to convey information and provide emotional coloring. For the authenticity of a portrait, it is important that the overall style matches the character portrayal of the person being portrayed.

Because of their indexicality , film portraits are particularly suitable as an expression of the memento mori . According to Peirces , photographic and filmic images have an iconic, indexical and symbolic relationship between medium and referent, which in its entirety makes up indexicality. The recording of the person portrayed, which is brought into connection with the events depicted, creates a visual and often just as emotional closeness to the reference person. The latter depends on the symbolic reference of the interpreter . Portrait films sometimes do not use any real image or film material, but use actors, for example, as speakers for important personalities. There are many reasons for this, it is possible that during the lifetime of the person to be portrayed no media storage of events was possible, that data was lost or that a representative representation of the entire life of this person is not given. In this case, understanding the symbolic reference is essential for the interpretation of the portrait film.

Forms of the film portrait

  • Documentary portrait: This genre is a form of documentation in which the representation of a personality or a group is central. These people or groups of people are illuminated by personal testimonies , interviews with witnesses or records. This reconstructs the personality (character, biography) in a multifaceted way. This type of portrait is one of the standard television formats . For cinema screenings, portraits of particularly popular personalities are mainly used.
  • Artist portrait: The artist portrait is a subspecies of the documentary portrait. This filmic portrayal focuses on artists . The tone of the portrait is determined by the filmmaker's intention. In this way, for example, a laudatory, positive presentation can arise. But portraits can also critically examine the existence of an artist. In this case, mostly political aspects flow into the documentation. In Germany in the 1920s, Hans Cürlis in particular created a series of artist portraits with his series "Schaffende Arbeiter", including those of Joachim Ringelnatz and Max Oppenheimer .
  • Film portraits on the Internet : The simple possibilities of filming something and distributing it on the Internet via video portals mean that countless videos appear every day in which people present themselves. This is also a variant of a film portrait, even if it is often produced in an amateur manner. Because the mostly short videos contain little plot and simple backdrops , the performance of oneself in front of the camera comes to the fore. In this situation, the person filmed represents himself, but often only certain aspects of his personality that he has chosen himself.
  • Self-portrait in film: The self-portrait in film represents a special position of the portrait, which moves closer to autobiography, essay and diary film. The person portraying directs his gaze at himself and thus represents his own perspective and perception of identity . The artist represents his own person. This makes itself visible through the narrative and mimetic principle, looks at itself and reproduces this view for the viewer. The portrayal and the portrayed are one, this refers to the explicit authorship. An essential part of the self-portrait is the goal of wanting to convey a picture of oneself in which one points to one's own, mostly problematic, identity. Therefore the self-portrait implies the relation to oneself and the intention to communicate.

Examples

Famous film portraits can be found, especially in the music sector, since the beginning of silent films . Most of them come from the field of classical music . These include Ludwig van Beethoven , Franz Liszt and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . But her colleagues Mahler , Schubert and Wagner also have film depictions of their lives. For example:

From the concept to the finished film

There are a few steps to follow to produce a good film portrait. For one thing, a good concept has to be in place at the beginning. Because the better the film concept, the faster the implementation and the more regulated the processes on the film set . A film shouldn't be boring. Since the viewers are used to being entertained by films and not just informed, the film has to tell a story, whether in a conventional or unconventional way. With actual film it is advantageous to think in terms of individual image settings . It is not about just implementing a written text. Since the images trigger much stronger emotions and retention in the audience , the respective visual representation should be carefully thought through, this also applies to interviews . In addition to the picture, the sound also plays a decisive role. It is not only the quality of the recording device that is decisive, but also how to use it correctly and must be practiced. Furthermore, as an author or director , you should also be able to intervene in what is happening and not passively watch what is happening. When filming some sequence rules must be observed then, it must be clear who the set the director leads.

literature

  • Navarro, V. (2012). Nonfictional Performance from Portrait Films to the Internet. Cinema Journal, 51 (3), 136-141, doi: 10.1353 / cj.2012.0047
  • Kiel Contributions to Film Music Research 5.2 (2010), pp. 185–197

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bakker, FL (2009). The Challenge of the Silver Screen: An Analysis of the Cinematic Portraits of Jesus, Rama, Buddha and Muhammad. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16861-9
  2. ↑ http://filmlexikon.uni-kiel.de/index.php?action=lexikon&tag=det&id=7767