Destinat, în principal, studenților Departamentului Cinematografie și Media al Facultății de Teat... more Destinat, în principal, studenților Departamentului Cinematografie și Media al Facultății de Teatru și Televiune din cadrul Universității Babeș-Bolyai, dar în egală măsură oricărui pasionat de scriitura cinematografică, manualul își propune să familiarizeze cititorul cu variante de compoziție narativă relevante în peisajul actual al filmului destinat marelui și micului ecran, cu scopul fie de a-i ghida identificarea lor corectă, fie de a-i oferi opțiuni diversificate pentru dezvoltarea unei idei într-un proiect scenaristic.
Review of: John YORKE. Into the Woods. How stories work and why we tell them. London, UK: Penguin... more Review of: John YORKE. Into the Woods. How stories work and why we tell them. London, UK: Penguin Books, 2014.
Sound cinema arrived on Romanian screens in 1929 to a moderate response. Critics and artists alik... more Sound cinema arrived on Romanian screens in 1929 to a moderate response. Critics and artists alike pondered over their status as an altered version of silent cinema, filmed theatre or a new art form. All three alternatives were further confronted to the status of the actor, as delineated by theatre, in an attempt to clarify the uncertain future of the film actor who used both his body and voice. This paper conducts a survey of articles on these issues published by Romanian interwar newspapers. Their authors reached various conclusions, from predicting the imminent failure of sound cinema and, thus, the disappearance of the spoken film actor, temporarily subjected to enacting on celluloid a shadow of his defining stage performance, to examining solutions that conciliated spoken dialogue with the sound dimension of film.
In 1920, Hungarian artist Jenő Janovics directed Menace, a film that would become the last title ... more In 1920, Hungarian artist Jenő Janovics directed Menace, a film that would become the last title belonging to the Transylvanian silent cinema industry. On a comparative note, its script bears similarities to The Blight, an adaptation of Eugène Brieux’s play Damaged Goods, produced two years prior by Janovics. While both films were written by the same scriptwriter and shared the operator and most of the cast, Menace remains in film history as a Romanian achievement. It was ordered by the Romanian Ministry of Health as a social hygiene drama warning on the devastating effects of syphilis, an effort integrated into the international health campaign of the post-World War I era. The paper explores the screenwriting morphology of The Blight and Menace by means of two complementary approaches. An examination of the figure of Janovics based on archival documents demonstrates his affiliation to the Hungarian generation of 1900. An ensuing comparative script analysis explores the conflicting status of Menace in his silent film portfolio in the light of this fundamental finding.
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae: Film and Media Studies, 2021
As a complementary condition to narrative, the notion of pictorialism in film is rooted in the fi... more As a complementary condition to narrative, the notion of pictorialism in film is rooted in the first decades of the medium. In their quest to demonstrate the capturing and restoring of images with various devices, early filmmakers selected views with pictorial qualities in the long-standing tradition of painting, transferring them on film in the form of non-narrative shots. The evolution of fictional narratives in silent cinema displaced the source of inspiration in theatre, assimilating its nineteenth-century tradition of pictorialism. Thus, the film audiences' appeal for visual pleasure was elevated with balanced elements of composition, framing and acting that resulted in pictorially represented moments actively engaged in the narrative system. The paper explores the notion of "pictorial spirit" (Valkola 2016) in relation to that of "monstration" (Gaudreault 2009) aiming to describe the narrative mechanism of provoking fear by means of pictorially constructed cinematic images in a selection of short-length horror silent films belonging to the transitional era, consisting in The Haunted House/The Witch House (La Maison ensorcelée/La casa encantada, Segundo de Chomón, 1908), Frankenstein (J. Searle Dawley, 1910) and the surviving fragments of The Portrait (Портрет, Vladislav Starevich, 1915).
SCIA.TMC - Studii și cercetări de istoria artei. Seria Teatru, muzică, cinematografie, 2020
As architect of the Transylvanian silent cinema industry, the name of Jenő Janovics is associated... more As architect of the Transylvanian silent cinema industry, the name of Jenő Janovics is associated as director, screenwriter, or both to more than half of the 67 known films 1 he produced. From the worldwide successful 1913 drama The Yellow Foal (Sárga Csikó) to the rather abrupt ending in 1920 with Menace (Világrém), his foray into film has attracted growing academic interest in recent years. However, a particular project Janovics developed as a young theatre director has remained largely unknown. The Moving Pictures performance dates back to 1899 and offers valuable insight into both his creative vision on the possibilities of film projection in theatre and the cultural scene of Kolozsvár/Cluj/Cluj-Napoca 2 at the advent of early cinema.
The 1918 Great Union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania had direct consequences on the t... more The 1918 Great Union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania had direct consequences on the theatrical landscape of the province. The present paper reconstructs the controversial transfer of the building that at the time hosted the Hungarian National Theatre from Kolozsvár/Cluj (currently Cluj-Napoca) to the newly formed Romanian state, as recounted by its manager, Hungarian theatre and film director Jenő Janovics, and by Ștefan Mărcuș, Romanian opera singer and arts historian.
Throughout film history, the regular return of 3D cinema has been discussed in connection to cris... more Throughout film history, the regular return of 3D cinema has been discussed in connection to crises caused by the advent of television or the competition of the Internet. In addition, the three waves of stereoscopic 3D (from 1952 up to 1983) and its current digital version have been blamed for adding a challenging technical distraction to the viewing experience. By discussing the films Dial M for Murder (1954) and Goodbye to Language (2014), the paper aims to analyze the response of recognized auteurs to the use of 3D techniques in filmmaking. For Alfred Hitchcock, the solution to attaining perceptual immersion paradoxically resided in restraining the signature effect of 3D, namely protrusion. In Jean-Luc Godard's vision, 3D techniques allowed him to explore perceptual absorption by means of depth of field, for which he had long advocated as being central to cinema. Thus, both directors contribute to the foundation of an auteur aesthetic in 3D filmmaking.
Forays into the origins of cinema have lead André Gaudreault to correct the use of the collocatio... more Forays into the origins of cinema have lead André Gaudreault to correct the use of the collocation “early cinema” in regard to the approximate period 1890-1910 with the term “kine-attractography”, thus designating the use of recording and projecting devices into already existing forms of popular entertainment. Nowadays, the narrative engagement standardized by the institutional cinema is infused with digital stereoscopy which promises audiences an immersive experience. This clash between “attractions” (as proposed by Tom Gunning and André Gaudreault) and narration could never be resolved by separating their dominance during various periods in film history. When confronted with technical innovations such as sound and color, cinematic storytelling strived to balance the re-acquired attractional dimension of the medium. The paper compares the post-cinematic intermediality of 3D filmmaking with that of kine-attractography and discusses the monomyth as its favored narrative solution.
The Transylvanian silent cinema industry revolved around Jenő Janovics whose expertise in theatre... more The Transylvanian silent cinema industry revolved around Jenő Janovics whose expertise in theatre directing and management translated into about seventy films produced in the city of Cluj-Napoca between 1913-1920. The present paper proposes its alternative history as told through the experiences shared by various artists whom Janovics, as cultural entrepreneur, introduced to the moving images.
Proceedings of The Bad Spectator – Performing Arts between Construction and Destruction International Conference, 2012
7 - 9 June 2012, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Regards sur le mauvais spectateur / Looking at... more 7 - 9 June 2012, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Regards sur le mauvais spectateur / Looking at the Bad Spectator Conference
Destinat, în principal, studenților Departamentului Cinematografie și Media al Facultății de Teat... more Destinat, în principal, studenților Departamentului Cinematografie și Media al Facultății de Teatru și Televiune din cadrul Universității Babeș-Bolyai, dar în egală măsură oricărui pasionat de scriitura cinematografică, manualul își propune să familiarizeze cititorul cu variante de compoziție narativă relevante în peisajul actual al filmului destinat marelui și micului ecran, cu scopul fie de a-i ghida identificarea lor corectă, fie de a-i oferi opțiuni diversificate pentru dezvoltarea unei idei într-un proiect scenaristic.
Review of: John YORKE. Into the Woods. How stories work and why we tell them. London, UK: Penguin... more Review of: John YORKE. Into the Woods. How stories work and why we tell them. London, UK: Penguin Books, 2014.
Sound cinema arrived on Romanian screens in 1929 to a moderate response. Critics and artists alik... more Sound cinema arrived on Romanian screens in 1929 to a moderate response. Critics and artists alike pondered over their status as an altered version of silent cinema, filmed theatre or a new art form. All three alternatives were further confronted to the status of the actor, as delineated by theatre, in an attempt to clarify the uncertain future of the film actor who used both his body and voice. This paper conducts a survey of articles on these issues published by Romanian interwar newspapers. Their authors reached various conclusions, from predicting the imminent failure of sound cinema and, thus, the disappearance of the spoken film actor, temporarily subjected to enacting on celluloid a shadow of his defining stage performance, to examining solutions that conciliated spoken dialogue with the sound dimension of film.
In 1920, Hungarian artist Jenő Janovics directed Menace, a film that would become the last title ... more In 1920, Hungarian artist Jenő Janovics directed Menace, a film that would become the last title belonging to the Transylvanian silent cinema industry. On a comparative note, its script bears similarities to The Blight, an adaptation of Eugène Brieux’s play Damaged Goods, produced two years prior by Janovics. While both films were written by the same scriptwriter and shared the operator and most of the cast, Menace remains in film history as a Romanian achievement. It was ordered by the Romanian Ministry of Health as a social hygiene drama warning on the devastating effects of syphilis, an effort integrated into the international health campaign of the post-World War I era. The paper explores the screenwriting morphology of The Blight and Menace by means of two complementary approaches. An examination of the figure of Janovics based on archival documents demonstrates his affiliation to the Hungarian generation of 1900. An ensuing comparative script analysis explores the conflicting status of Menace in his silent film portfolio in the light of this fundamental finding.
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae: Film and Media Studies, 2021
As a complementary condition to narrative, the notion of pictorialism in film is rooted in the fi... more As a complementary condition to narrative, the notion of pictorialism in film is rooted in the first decades of the medium. In their quest to demonstrate the capturing and restoring of images with various devices, early filmmakers selected views with pictorial qualities in the long-standing tradition of painting, transferring them on film in the form of non-narrative shots. The evolution of fictional narratives in silent cinema displaced the source of inspiration in theatre, assimilating its nineteenth-century tradition of pictorialism. Thus, the film audiences' appeal for visual pleasure was elevated with balanced elements of composition, framing and acting that resulted in pictorially represented moments actively engaged in the narrative system. The paper explores the notion of "pictorial spirit" (Valkola 2016) in relation to that of "monstration" (Gaudreault 2009) aiming to describe the narrative mechanism of provoking fear by means of pictorially constructed cinematic images in a selection of short-length horror silent films belonging to the transitional era, consisting in The Haunted House/The Witch House (La Maison ensorcelée/La casa encantada, Segundo de Chomón, 1908), Frankenstein (J. Searle Dawley, 1910) and the surviving fragments of The Portrait (Портрет, Vladislav Starevich, 1915).
SCIA.TMC - Studii și cercetări de istoria artei. Seria Teatru, muzică, cinematografie, 2020
As architect of the Transylvanian silent cinema industry, the name of Jenő Janovics is associated... more As architect of the Transylvanian silent cinema industry, the name of Jenő Janovics is associated as director, screenwriter, or both to more than half of the 67 known films 1 he produced. From the worldwide successful 1913 drama The Yellow Foal (Sárga Csikó) to the rather abrupt ending in 1920 with Menace (Világrém), his foray into film has attracted growing academic interest in recent years. However, a particular project Janovics developed as a young theatre director has remained largely unknown. The Moving Pictures performance dates back to 1899 and offers valuable insight into both his creative vision on the possibilities of film projection in theatre and the cultural scene of Kolozsvár/Cluj/Cluj-Napoca 2 at the advent of early cinema.
The 1918 Great Union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania had direct consequences on the t... more The 1918 Great Union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania had direct consequences on the theatrical landscape of the province. The present paper reconstructs the controversial transfer of the building that at the time hosted the Hungarian National Theatre from Kolozsvár/Cluj (currently Cluj-Napoca) to the newly formed Romanian state, as recounted by its manager, Hungarian theatre and film director Jenő Janovics, and by Ștefan Mărcuș, Romanian opera singer and arts historian.
Throughout film history, the regular return of 3D cinema has been discussed in connection to cris... more Throughout film history, the regular return of 3D cinema has been discussed in connection to crises caused by the advent of television or the competition of the Internet. In addition, the three waves of stereoscopic 3D (from 1952 up to 1983) and its current digital version have been blamed for adding a challenging technical distraction to the viewing experience. By discussing the films Dial M for Murder (1954) and Goodbye to Language (2014), the paper aims to analyze the response of recognized auteurs to the use of 3D techniques in filmmaking. For Alfred Hitchcock, the solution to attaining perceptual immersion paradoxically resided in restraining the signature effect of 3D, namely protrusion. In Jean-Luc Godard's vision, 3D techniques allowed him to explore perceptual absorption by means of depth of field, for which he had long advocated as being central to cinema. Thus, both directors contribute to the foundation of an auteur aesthetic in 3D filmmaking.
Forays into the origins of cinema have lead André Gaudreault to correct the use of the collocatio... more Forays into the origins of cinema have lead André Gaudreault to correct the use of the collocation “early cinema” in regard to the approximate period 1890-1910 with the term “kine-attractography”, thus designating the use of recording and projecting devices into already existing forms of popular entertainment. Nowadays, the narrative engagement standardized by the institutional cinema is infused with digital stereoscopy which promises audiences an immersive experience. This clash between “attractions” (as proposed by Tom Gunning and André Gaudreault) and narration could never be resolved by separating their dominance during various periods in film history. When confronted with technical innovations such as sound and color, cinematic storytelling strived to balance the re-acquired attractional dimension of the medium. The paper compares the post-cinematic intermediality of 3D filmmaking with that of kine-attractography and discusses the monomyth as its favored narrative solution.
The Transylvanian silent cinema industry revolved around Jenő Janovics whose expertise in theatre... more The Transylvanian silent cinema industry revolved around Jenő Janovics whose expertise in theatre directing and management translated into about seventy films produced in the city of Cluj-Napoca between 1913-1920. The present paper proposes its alternative history as told through the experiences shared by various artists whom Janovics, as cultural entrepreneur, introduced to the moving images.
Proceedings of The Bad Spectator – Performing Arts between Construction and Destruction International Conference, 2012
7 - 9 June 2012, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Regards sur le mauvais spectateur / Looking at... more 7 - 9 June 2012, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Regards sur le mauvais spectateur / Looking at the Bad Spectator Conference
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Regards sur le mauvais spectateur / Looking at the Bad Spectator Conference
Regards sur le mauvais spectateur / Looking at the Bad Spectator Conference