Pré Cinéma
As Pré Cinéma (also protokinematografisches letter ) refers to the use of movie-typical style elements in the literature of the 19th century, before the advent of cinematography. The Pré Cinéma is particularly common in works of poetic realism , for example in Theodor Storm's Der Schimmelreiter . The term Pré Cinéma was mainly coined by Harro Segeberg and Joachim Paech.
writing style
Pré Cinéma after Harro Segeberg
Harro Segeberg names the so-called photographic gaze as the main characteristic of Pré Cinéma. Certain visual impressions that are important for the protagonist are highlighted and the details that are important for the action are highlighted by the resulting depth of field . The reader "sees" a certain, predetermined image plane, while its surroundings remain rather unclear. At the same time, the narrator directs the protagonist's gaze like a camera , forcing the reader to look into ever different levels of the picture. In addition to this visual feature, Segeberg also describes the acoustic background of the scene as an important element. Texts from the Pré Cinéma often also contain a kind of "sound track"; the soundscape is described just as impressively as the pictures.
Pré Cinéma after Joachim Paech
When describing the Pré Cinéma, Joachim Paech concentrates on the stopped moment . Here the actual main story is supplemented or even completely replaced by pronounced detailed descriptions. This stylistic device is still common in feature films today and is used, for example, in love scenes when instead of the actual plot (namely sexual intercourse) a panorama of the landscape is shown, accompanied by melodious music. Paech says that a literary scene only becomes imaginable for the reader through an abundance of details.
Effect on the reader
The main difference between the literature of the Pré Cinéma and other literature lies in the ease with which the plot can be transformed into images in the mind of the reader. If a text contains many detailed descriptions, a lot of dynamics, different perspectives or even precise descriptions of the background noise, the reader can more easily imagine what has been read as a film. In addition, the reader can identify more easily with the protagonists and may even become part of the narrative in some way. So the ease with which the descriptions are easy to understand and the accuracy of the descriptions are of primary importance, which aroused similar enthusiasm among the readership of the late 19th century as the first cinemas a few decades later.
Pré Cinéma as a "role model" for cinema
The term protokinematographic writing, which is also frequently used, is somewhat misleading, as it suggests that the authors deliberately wrote protokinematographically (i.e. pre-cinematically). This is of course not possible as the film came out much later than these literary works were written. Strictly speaking, it was the other way around : the first film producers took poetic realism as a model for making their films. These stylistic devices were retained over time.
"'Cinematic writing' means [...] the preliminary literary staging of a perception and representation pattern that is later reorganized by the technical apparatus of the camera [...] film in a media revolutionary way."
literature
- Segeberg, Harro: Literature in the technical age: from the early days of the German Enlightenment to the beginning of the First World War . 1st edition, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1997.
- Segeberg, Harro (ed.): The mobilization of seeing: on the prehistory and early history of film in literature and art . 1st edition, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich 1996.