Presenter: Yago Paris
Registration Number: 052
Institution: Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, Budapest, Hungary
Abstract: This study delves into a very recent tendency in film, which is the use of electronic-device footage (mostly, but not reduced to, phone footage). This tendency is paramount to understanding one of the many mutations of mainstream cinema. Specifically, I will study the new use that has appeared since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. To develop this study, I will establish a comparative analysis between the most representative commercial films of the pandemic, and I will extract the conclusion that the use of electronic-device footage has acquired a new meaning, and that the use of phone footage has different implications than the other types of electronic-device footage. One of the most representative aspects of the fictions about the COVID-19 pandemic is the insistent appearance of electronic devices to allow virtual communication. Here it is important to realize that the use of this footage is diegetic; that is, not only it is filmed by the cameras of these devices—phones, tablets, and laptops, mostly—but they are also integrated in the narrative itself. The appearance of electronic-device footage in film, as a source for the development of new narratives, was born many years before the start of the pandemic, usually used either as an immersive experience—it creates the impression of subjectivity and impersonation—or to create a sense of immediacy and documentary-like style. Nevertheless, I claim that, in the films that address the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of these devices and the images they produce is different from those that appeared in pre-pandemic cinema, and, as such, conveys different meanings to the filmed images. The first main difference is the change from the character filming the environment, to them filming themselves —which is represented by the switching from the use of the lens on the back of the device to the so-called “selfie-camera.” The second difference relates to the meaning each device conveys. Whereas in many fictions—such as Locked Down (2021)—conversations take place through laptops and tablets, which transmit the idea of isolation and stillness inside the house, in others—especially Songbird (2020)—the use of the phone is attached to an idea of more freedom and movement, not only inside the house, but also around the area where the film takes place. By analyzing the most relevant films that have been produced so far, I intend to prove that in these fictions phone footage—as opposed to other electronic-device footage—addresses the desire to find some freedom in a scenario of confinement.
Bio: Yago Paris (Tenerife, 1989) graduated from the master’s in film studies (Film Theory) at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), in Budapest. He wrote his thesis on the aesthetics of Michael Bay’s transformers and its influence over the representation of CGI robots in American big-budget commercial cinema. He has published an article, about the use of the documentary format to heal trauma, in Studies in Eastern European Cinema, and has presented a paper on cultural trauma and political taboo in the 4th Trauma and Nightmare Conference. He is preparing his access to the PhD program, while also developing a monographic book on the oeuvre of American animator Bill Plympton.
Registration Number: 052
Institution: Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, Budapest, Hungary
Abstract: This study delves into a very recent tendency in film, which is the use of electronic-device footage (mostly, but not reduced to, phone footage). This tendency is paramount to understanding one of the many mutations of mainstream cinema. Specifically, I will study the new use that has appeared since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. To develop this study, I will establish a comparative analysis between the most representative commercial films of the pandemic, and I will extract the conclusion that the use of electronic-device footage has acquired a new meaning, and that the use of phone footage has different implications than the other types of electronic-device footage. One of the most representative aspects of the fictions about the COVID-19 pandemic is the insistent appearance of electronic devices to allow virtual communication. Here it is important to realize that the use of this footage is diegetic; that is, not only it is filmed by the cameras of these devices—phones, tablets, and laptops, mostly—but they are also integrated in the narrative itself. The appearance of electronic-device footage in film, as a source for the development of new narratives, was born many years before the start of the pandemic, usually used either as an immersive experience—it creates the impression of subjectivity and impersonation—or to create a sense of immediacy and documentary-like style. Nevertheless, I claim that, in the films that address the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of these devices and the images they produce is different from those that appeared in pre-pandemic cinema, and, as such, conveys different meanings to the filmed images. The first main difference is the change from the character filming the environment, to them filming themselves —which is represented by the switching from the use of the lens on the back of the device to the so-called “selfie-camera.” The second difference relates to the meaning each device conveys. Whereas in many fictions—such as Locked Down (2021)—conversations take place through laptops and tablets, which transmit the idea of isolation and stillness inside the house, in others—especially Songbird (2020)—the use of the phone is attached to an idea of more freedom and movement, not only inside the house, but also around the area where the film takes place. By analyzing the most relevant films that have been produced so far, I intend to prove that in these fictions phone footage—as opposed to other electronic-device footage—addresses the desire to find some freedom in a scenario of confinement.
