<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Inherently connected to movement and to a sequential spatial experience in time, the picturesque has been considered as a precursor of the cinematic. In addition, the idea of the picturesque is closely connected to Heinrich Wölfflin’s notion of <italic>das Malerische</italic> or “the painterly,” which stands for a dynamic style of painting characterized by qualities of colour, stroke, and texture rather than of contour or line. Based on the keynote lecture delivered at the conference, <italic>The Picturesque: Visual Pleasure and Intermediality in-between Contemporary Cinema, Art and Digital Culture</italic> (Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, 25–26 October, 2019), 1 the essay disentangles the complex network of connections between image and landscape, painting and film, the picturesque and the painterly.</abstract>

Screening Landscapes: Film between the Picturesque and the Painterly

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><italic>Le Bonheur</italic>, perhaps Agnès Varda’s most beautiful film, is also her most perplexing. The film’s insistently idyllic surface qualities, overtly beautiful imagery, and psychologically impenetrable, improbably content characters mystify and confuse. Of late, feminist scholars have clarified the situation, noting Varda’s incorporation of advertising and pop cultural visual rhetoric to implicate the social forces framing the picture and those insistently “happy” people: more like advertising ciphers than dramatic characters. Varda herself referenced Impressionist painting as a source of the film’s aesthetics. The purposes of this vivid, chromatic intertextual and intermedial source, in relation to the rhetoric of commercial and popular culture, demand attention. Varda studied art history and connected the milieu of <italic>Le Bonheur</italic>, the Parisian exurbs, their petit-bourgeois and working-class populace, and bucolic leisure, artisanal and industrial settings, to the modernity of 19th-century Impressionism. <italic>Le Bonheur</italic> uses an Impressionist picturesque dialectically, in relation to a pop contemporaneity, to observe and critique an ideological genealogy of capitalism and its oppression of women.</abstract>

“Show the Clichés:” the Appearance of Happiness in Agnès Varda’s <italic>Le Bonheur</italic>

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The 18th-century notion of the picturesque is somewhat lesser known as compared to the more celebrated categories of the beautiful and the sublime, even though it may not only help us critically reflect upon modern perceptions of the landscape, but it may also provide us a unique way to link the field of aesthetic speculation with questions of technology and economy. The article will focus on two of the major theoreticians of the picturesque (William Gilpin and Uvedale Price) and will examine their ideas in relation to Edmund Burke’s aesthetics on the one hand, and contemporary tendencies in landscape gardening (as represented by Lancelot “Capability” Brown and Humphry Repton) on the other. Such an investigation may shed light on the multiple shifts in the perception of nature and the sense of naturalness during the long 18th century, as well as on the pictorial and theatrical aspects of landscape design. But examples of the Claude glass, the ha-ha, and Humphry Repton’s Red Books may also indicate the role of technological innovations and economic interests, and thereby the relevancy of the very discourse of the picturesque to more modern or even postmodern artistic, cultural, and medial developments.</abstract>

Screens of the Picturesque: Aesthetics, Technology, Economy

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Within early non-fiction film, the Italian travel or scenic films of the 1910s may be considered the most picturesque. They are remarkable for their presentation of landscapes and cityscapes, their co-existence of modernity and nostalgia, their accent on beauty – at times at the expense of geographic veracity and indexicality – and their focus on the transformed gaze through the use of special masks, split-screens, and other devices. The transmedial roots for this aestheticization can be found both in art (painting) and popular culture (postcards, magic lanterns, etc.). While the author was one of the firsts to write on this subject decades ago, today there is a need for radical revision and a deeper approach. This is due to the influx of recent literature first by Jennifer Peterson’s book <italic>Education in the School of Dreams</italic> (2013) and her scholarly articles. Secondly, Blom’s co-presentation on Italian early nonfiction at the 2018 workshop <italic>A Dive into the Collections of the Eye Filmmuseum: Italian Silent Cinema at the Intersection of the Arts</italic> led to the recognition that revision was needed. Finally, the films themselves call for new approaches while they are being preserved and disseminated by, foremost, the film archives of Bologna, Amsterdam, and Turin.</abstract>

Picturesque Pictures: Italian Early Non-fiction Films within Modern Aesthetic Visions

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">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 <italic>The Haunted House</italic>/<italic>The Witch House</italic> (<italic>La Maison ensorcelée/La casa encantada,</italic> Segundo de Chomón, 1908), <italic>Frankenstein</italic> (J. Searle Dawley, 1910) and the surviving fragments of <italic>The Portrait</italic> (<italic>Портрет</italic>, Vladislav Starevich, 1915).1</abstract>

Voiceless Screams: Pictorialism as Narrative Strategy in Horror Silent Cinema

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The article discusses Raul Ruiz’s film <italic>The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting</italic> (1978). In the closed space of the house a parallel world emerges, where the filmic hypertext is constituted by a series of <italic>mise-en-abyme</italic> images that explore the multiple universe of <italic>tableaux vivants.</italic> The article analyses Ruiz’s appropriation of Pierre Klossowski’s concept of <italic>simulacra</italic>. The structure of <italic>The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting</italic> is based upon the infinite reproduction of meaning since each <italic>simulacrum</italic>-<italic>tableau vivant</italic> leads to another. The author explores the gesturality of the bodies and its relevance to the use of language and sound in the film. Furthermore, he argues that Ruiz orchestrates the placement of the <italic>tableaux vivants</italic> in the filmic space in order to reveal the thought of eternal return.</abstract>

Images in Suspension: <italic>Tableaux Vivants</italic>, Gesturality and Simulacra in Raul Ruiz’s film <italic>The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting</italic>

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The article focuses on the intermedial relationship between cinema and painting, viewed as a self-referential process, and tries to determine various ways in which this type of signifying process can be used to “encode” various messages (within the work itself), or become an integral part of this (meta)communicative operation. Starting from a broad definition of intermedial references and continuing with a brief recontextualized detour through Gérard Genette’s taxonomy of transtextual instances, the author narrows down a specific technique that exemplifies this type of “codifying” procedure, namely the <italic>tableau vivant</italic>. In accordance with Werner Wolf’s proposed terminology, he attempts to determine the metareferential potential of this extra-compositional self-referential technique. The case studies focus on films by Peter Greenaway and Lars von Trier.</abstract>

Decoding <italic>Tableaux Vivants</italic>: the Metareferential Potential of Painterly References in Cinema

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In the 2011 superhero movie, <italic>Captain America: The First Avenger</italic> (produced by Marvel Studios, directed by Joe Johnston) the main opponent of the title character is a Nazi officer, Johann Schmidt, who turns out to be a kind of superhuman entity, the Red Skull. Throughout the movie, viewers can follow the process of him gradually leaving behind his identity as a Nazi officer, and presenting himself as the leader of the occult-high-tech terrorist organization, the Hydra. At a certain point we can see him visited by one of the scientists working for him, Doctor Zola, whom he puts wise to his plans. During the conversation a portrait is being painted of the Red Skull, but we cannot see his face, only that the artist uses a huge amount of red paint. In the background, excerpts of Wagner’s operas are being played, which is very unusual in a Marvel movie. The question is, should the viewer recognize the diegetic music and notice the possible reference to the painting <italic>Las Meninas</italic> by Velázquez? How the detection of these intermedial references and the awareness of the act of trespassing media borders would affect the semiotic processes of interpretation? And also, how would the more precise identification of the cited materials change the semiotic modality of intermediality here? The article tries to answer these questions by interpreting the scene and the role of the references in question within the entire film through the prism of intermedial semiotics.</abstract>

Velázquez, Wagner and the Red Skull. Intermediality and the Genesis of Meaning in a Particular Scene of <italic>Captain America: The First Avenger</italic>

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The article aims to analyse the <italic>tableau vivant</italic> in social media culture by emphasizing its intermedial relation to technical visual media, particularly digital photography and film. By focusing on the living picture’s specific mimetic qualities, the study traces back the <italic>tableau vivant</italic>’s history in a media archaeological perspective primarily regarding photography. It explores the current revival of the <italic>tableau vivant</italic> within social media. The article examines living pictures and the aspect of self-staging, relevant to contemporary digital culture. The <italic>tableau vivant</italic> develops between two polarities: a primarily analytical approach that allows a profound exploration of a particular artwork and the performative aspects of self-staging.</abstract>

The <italic>Tableau Vivant</italic> and Social Media Culture

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This article examines the temporality of ephemeral visual posts to social media with an emphasis on Instagram stories. Drawing on theories of the spectacle, it is my contention that interaction and user-experience design, as it pertains to social media platforms, highlights the contemporary conditions and motivations in our society of abundant visual consumption. This article investigates what it means for a social media user to attend to such time-related visual experience. Throughout this piece, I critically survey the relationship between ephemeral Instagram stories’ popularity and the high speed temporality of the social media sphere with emphasis on the digital “picturesque.” Perishable daily sharing on social media reflects a contemplative glimpse into a personal lifespan presented as an object of mass appreciation. I examine how ephemerality as a component of design impacts online sociality through the picturesque visual mode. Contemporary boredom and competitive engagement in high-technological communication networks inform how we might direct digital publics to find alternative pathways to sociality.</abstract>

Ephemeral Social Media Visuals and Their Picturesque Design: Interaction and User Experience in Instagram Stories

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Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies

 Film and Media Studies publishes papers in English in various fields of Film and Media. The printed and online versions of the journal are identical.   Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies was founded in 2009 and since then has published one or two issues annually. The Executive Editor of the journal is Professor Ágnes Pethõ, assisted by Lecturer Melinda Blos-Jáni. The journal has an international editorial board comprising prestigious scholars within the field coming from Romania, Hungary, The United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, China, and The United States. It operates on a system of double blind peer review and welcomes original, previously unpublished research articles by scholars from all over the world.   The journal publishes articles addressing the most exciting questions emerging from recent researches within the field of film and media studies, and its mission is to promote works of promising young researchers working on their PhD theses or on post-doctoral projects alongside prominent scholars and internationally acclaimed authors in the field of film and media studies. Throughout the years, the journal has disseminated results of several major research projects executed at the Sapientia Hungarian University and has also published selections from papers written for the widely acclaimed international film and media studies conferences convened by the editors and organized by the Film, Photography and Media Department of the Sapientia Hungarian University in Cluj-Napoca (Romania).   The journal publishes articles in all areas of film and media studies. Within this general area, however, we there is a special emphasis on the following topics either from a theoretical point of view or in the form of in-depth case studies:    newest trends in world cinema and the cinemas of Eastern Europe,   questions regarding intermediality or media convergence in cinema and new media,   the relationship between image, body and sound in moving images,   the relationship between fiction and reality in cinema,   moving images in the context of the called "post medium" condition.      Rejection Rate    30%      Archiving   Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.   Plagiarism Policy   The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.   Article Processing Charge (APC)   The journal does not have article processing charges (APCs) nor article submission charges. 

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies

Volume 19 (2021): Issue 1 (March 2021)

Screening Landscapes: Film between the Picturesque and the Painterly

“Show the Clichés:” the Appearance of Happiness in Agnès Varda’s Le Bonheur

Screens of the Picturesque: Aesthetics, Technology, Economy

Picturesque Pictures: Italian Early Non-fiction Films within Modern Aesthetic Visions

Voiceless Screams: Pictorialism as Narrative Strategy in Horror Silent Cinema

Images in Suspension: Tableaux Vivants, Gesturality and Simulacra in Raul Ruiz’s film The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting

Decoding Tableaux Vivants: the Metareferential Potential of Painterly References in Cinema

Velázquez, Wagner and the Red Skull. Intermediality and the Genesis of Meaning in a Particular Scene of Captain America: The First Avenger

The Tableau Vivant and Social Media Culture

Ephemeral Social Media Visuals and Their Picturesque Design: Interaction and User Experience in Instagram Stories

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