André Bazin

Can a movie's true meaning come from the whole picture rather than editing tricks?

André Bazin

Can a movie's true meaning come from the whole picture rather than editing tricks?

Imagine watching a movie where everything is in sharp focus, from the foreground to the background, without cutting scenes abruptly. It's like looking through a window at a whole scene, not just parts.

Bazin believed that a movie's meaning is clearer when you see everything at once, without jumping from scene to scene. This idea is called "deep focus."

Example

In a scene, you see a character's face, the background street, and a distant building all in clear detail, without cutting away.

Remember this

Bazin's theory suggests that a movie's meaning is enriched when viewers experience the whole image at once, not just edited fragments.

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