Statistical Approach to The Aesthetic Communication of a Narrative Film (Volume -II)

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Item Code: IDK377
Author: Subhash Chandra Ghakraborty
Publisher: Sagnik Books, Kolkata
Edition: 2008
ISBN: 8190333070
Pages: 269 (16 B/W Illustrations)
Cover: Hardcover
Other Details 8.9" X 5.8"
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Book Description
Preface

In the film world both the mainstream and offbeat filmmakers are driven by the motivation of film-making in order to fulfil their objectives of anesthetization of the imagery representation of manifold aspects of the realities of the world and try to fulfil and gratify almost totally the aesthetic needs of the spectators. But the probability of their successes in these pursuits is not encouraging. It is because there is serious lack of well-organized study and investigation to understand and know the principal controlling factors which manipulate the aesthetic needs of the spectators with reference to a particular kind of text. Sometimes their biased assessment and estimation induce them to think that the spectators' aesthetic needs would be gratified if they inject overdose of dramatic, melodramatic and fantasy elements into the text and the technology of the film. Their biased assessment was based on the argument that there are several instances of commercial successes in the film world by projecting such unrealities and fantasies on the screen. The idea prompts them to act accordingly but their blunt and blind act of the idea prompts them to act accordingly but their blunt and blind act of imitation results most often in eventual failure and frustration. In addition to their own failure they would also be held responsible for the aesthetic and cultural crises of the film industry.

The psychophysical model based on MAUT attempts to pay heed to this area and captures within itself all the essential dimensions, sources and ingredients wherefrom aesthetics of the Narrative film emerges and would be helpful to hunt out the troublesome and problem-some spot responsible for aesthetic crises and would suggest suitable remedial measures to get over the problems. The model assumes that aesthetics of the whole system depends on the aesthetics of the component subsystems. Each of the subsystems may further be partitioned into further smaller component subsystems and so on. The optimization process of the aesthetics of the whole system can be carried out by optimizing the component subsystems. Continuing the partitioning process in this manner we finally arrive at some indivisible basic units which demonstrate, display and reveal some indivisible basic units which demonstrate, display and reveal some characteristics, property and attributes which bear relationships the aesthetic motivation or the objective of the whole system.

After having the readers' feedback and response to the first volume, the second volume has been prepared in such a manner as to meet the need and the requirement of all the students, readers, technicians and the directors, film critics and research workers and general viewers and other interested readers and have attempted to encompass all the areas of film studies as exhaustively as possible.

The second volume has started with the chapter on Statistics, Truth, Beauty and Filmic reality and has discussed how strategy based on statistical methods has distinct advantage over other strategies like Narrative strategy Telos etc. in exploring and in extracting Truth of a system.

The eleventh chapter has discussed how the filmic variables or the aesthetic variables of the film are constructed and how they are measured.

Twelfth chapter briefly describes how the project work can be carried out and also the same has briefly been outlined. The detailed project work and report will shortly be published.

I am grateful to Professor S.P. Mukherjee, ex-professor of statistics of Calcutta University and to Mr. Dhiman Dasgupta, an eminent author, film critic and script writer for their help and guidance to carry on the research work on the subject and also to Professor Gopalan Mullick, professor of Saint Xavier's college, Kolkata, for his inspiring help.

I am grateful to Mr. Sandip Ray, eminent film director for providing me and giving me the permission to include the pictures of film 'Charulata' in the book.

I am grateful to Mr. Sabir Mitra of psychometric department ISI, Professor Anup Majumdar of S.Q.C. department I.S.I. and Professor Bikash Sinha Math-Stat division I.S.I. for their help, guidance and inspiration in the research work. I am also grateful to Mr. Subir Chakraborty, my brother-in-law and computer consultant for his help in different manners and particularly in computer matters.

I am also grateful to my dear wife Mrs. Mira Chakraborty for her help, inspiration, patience and tolerance during the progress of my work.

Introduction

Even hundred years after the birth of the motion picture, film presents such a challenge to mankind as to how to optimize the use of its technological capability so that it can convey adequate information, juxtapose images and words ingenuously, provide startling and contrastive mixtures of sight and sound, and thereby create analytic structures consisting of both the visual and aural elements for revealing the truth behind the realities of the society and finally generate intellectual, emotional and aesthetic experience of the imagery representation of that truth. Though this new media functions within the conventions and limitations of written history yet it opens up new possibilities for representing and highlighting realities and truth of the society in new form. And thereby it has succeeded enough to seize the power of aesthetic communication of the imagery representation of the realities and the truth of the society from the grab of the literary media.

A movie is not only the source of entertainment and the means of fantasy fulfillment to the spectators but it is also an institution wherefrom the spectators can delineate knowledge of the facts and the realities of the natural and the physical environments and also of the mundane, social and the psychological life of the people of the society and thereby they get enlightened with the knowledge and wisdom of the hidden truth underlying those facts and the realities. But the latter objective would not be fulfilled satisfactorily if the movie-makers and the spectators direct and concentrate their attention for analyzing those facts ad realities only through intuitive judgment. Rather it is also, perhaps, judicious and obligatory for them to continue to search, develop and devise analytical and ligatory for them to continue to search, develop and devise analytical and scientific instruments, method and technology of communication research for analyzing those facts and realities and then apply them in the process of imagery discourse of the text and technology of film in order to get enlightened with their true identity and maximize their aesthetic impact.

With this end in view, the two volumes of the book 'Statistical Approach to the Aesthetic Communication of a Narrative film' which are the outcome of my long and arduous study and research under the guidance and inspiration of Prof S.P. Mukherjee (Ex-professor of Statistics of Calcutta University), Dhiman Dasgupta (Eminent writer and Film Critic) and Gopalan Mallick (Lecturer, Film Studies, St. Xavier's College) are published. They are principally meant to develop and devise strategic statistical model of psychophysical planning based on the multi-attribute utility theory in order to determine, measure and optimize the aesthetic potential of a Narrative film. Like the first volume, in this volume also we have attempted to pull from the storehouse of film theories different recognized strategies of aesthetic communication like the ideological strategies, Narrative strategies, Semiotic strategies and Technological strategies and have tried to describe their vital conceptual and technological aspects and also have also shed light on their relative merits and demerits for aesthetic communication of Narrative film. The first volume has touched upon them very briefly and in a condensed manner but in this volume we have attempted to make elaborate treatment about those strategies emphasizing their relevance and validity for aesthetic communication and also as seeker and explorer of Truth from the disordered accumulation and scatter of realities of the social environment and have also pointed out how the aforesaid psychophysical model based on MAUT and statistical techniques would provide additional opportunities and open new areas for aesthetic communication and research of a Narrative film.

In order to fulfill the above objective, the first chapter has initiated the matter with the concept how Truth is defined in the culture of making and how it can be related to the concepts of fact, knowledge, realiaties, discourse and narrative and beauty and how the rhetorical strategies like Narrative strategy, Semiotic strategy, Cognitive strategy and Statistical technique attempt to unveil the Truth and maximize Aesthetic communication. The second chapter has focused how time, space and movement play their individual and joint role for that purpose. In the third chapter we have tried to expand elaborately the conceptual and technical aspect of Narrative strategy and thereafter have passed on to the fourth chapter to illuminate the different aspects and the concept-Aesthetics and Aesthetic experience.

In the fifth, sixth, eighth chapter we have discussed briefly the history of aesthetic revolution of the world film, critical review of different aesthetic strategies and the System concept, Utility concept and the Statistical concept in relation to film. In the seventh, ninth, tenth chapter we have discussed the different aspects of Characterization process, Imsign, attributes and the ideas different kinds of codes and different techniques of codification.

In the eleventh and the twelfth chapter we have dealt with construction and the measurement of the psychophysical variables of film and how the model is built up with the use of those variables and how the model can be fitted with the live data and how the parameters of the model are estimated and interpreted.

Back of the Book

After evaluation of the readers' feedback and response to the Vol.-1 of the book 'Statistical approach to the aesthetic communication of a Narrative film', first published by Bitarka in September, 2005, I have become interested to publish the second volume of the book. But as per requirement of the interested readers the author has incorporated in the book some the already established topics regarding the concepts, theories and strategies of aesthetic communication of film in a more detailed, objective and comprehensive and exhaustive manner and in order to advance and emphasise his argument in favour of psychophysical model of aesthetic communication for better and more effective aesthetic communication, the author has included the concept regarding the relevant part of the model at the end of each of the chapters.

Mr. Chakraborty is a an enthusiastic and well-trained reader and research student of film, sociology and statistics and has been engaged in research work for solving the problem of more effective and optimum aesthetic communication for a pretty long time under the well-directed guidance of Prof. S.P. Mukherjee, ex-professor writer, critic and script writer in the film world and professor Anup Majumder of I.S.I. Kolkata and has included the concepts of the application of statistics in film more elaborately in the volume In chapter-12 he has briefly discussed his research project work but as the detailed research project work and report is studded with more advanced technical and statistical matters, it is beyond the scope of general readers and so it is being published shortly in a separate publication.

Contents

STATISTICAL APPROACH TO THE AESTHETIC COMMUNICATION OF A NARRATIVE FILM
Volume -II
1Statistics, Truth, Reality & Narrative film1
2Space, Time and Movement in Film22
3Narrative and Narrativity34
a) Definition of Narrative and Narrativity. b) Functions of the Narrative c) How the concepts of the Narrative are related with the concepts of the structural attributes like Temporality, Spatiality, Continuity, Plot, Dramatis and Dramatic conflict, Disclosure, Rhythm, Structural unity b) Organization of a Narrative c) Primary and secondary components of a Narrative d) Narrative and code e) Different version and Variants of the Narrative and code e) Different version and Variants of the Narrative and also Generic classification of the Narrative f1) Narrative mode of presenting consciousness K) Historical evolution of the Narrative film theories.
4Further detailed discussion on the Aesthetics of an art form including that of a Narrative film specially the aesthetics from the intellectual experience, Emotional experience, Formal or Visceral experience of the discourse of the primary components of the film i.e. the characters and the environments67
5Historical evolution of the aesthetics of world films including Hollywood films, French, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Bollywood and third world films.80
6Further comparative discussion of the different Strategies of the Aesthetic communication and how Aesthetic communication based on Psycho-Physical planning and Multi-attribute utility theory overpowers or dominates all the other Strategies and captures the benefits and the essence of all other strategies as indicated in volume-196
7Further discussion on Action, Imsign, Attribute and idea belonged to a Narrative film and their individual characteristics and mutual inter-relationship.112
8Multi-attribute utility theory and the different conceptual tools cited in vol-1 redefined in terms of the Multi-attribute utility theory and the concepts of statistics and operations research.134
9Further discussion on character, characterization, environment and the interaction field.146
10Codes and the technological strategy of codification.162
11Measurement of the Film Variables : Detailed discussion of the scale of measurement, construction of the questionnaire items i.e. the test items to measure the variables and how to test the validity and the reliability of the test items.
12Project work on 'Charulata' which includes the construction of the model variables and the specification of the variable relationship and development of the model and the interpretation of each of the equations and the parameters of the model. Brief discussion on how to estimate the parameters of the model and fit the latter with the live data. 215
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