Aesthetics – The overall style and feel of a film including the lighting, mise en scene, colour palate and cinematography.

Aesthetics Terms 1 – Realism

• Verisimilitude – believability within the film; how convincing the world is to the audience.

Dune is a good example of verisimilitude as the sci-fi environment feels very fleshed out which makes it feels like it could be an existing world.

• Social realism – films that aim to depict the effects of environmental factors on the development of a character.

This Is England demonstrates how children can be very naïve and impressionable, especially when faced with something tragic like a father dying in war, which is ultimately what attracted Shaun to Combo’s views in the first place.

• Magic realism – depicting magic systems in a realistic way.

While Harry Potter is very much a fantasy series, the magic system doesn’t really feel like it has any flaws, as well as being very vast in terms of what it can do.

• Hyperrealism – a dramatic depiction of reality/gives it a ‘perfect’ feeling.

The Barbie film depicts life in a dramatic and exaggerated way, with the beginning of it suggesting that life in Barbie world is perfect.

Aesthetics Terms 2 – Visual style

• Iconography – the use of recurring symbols, visual motifs and themes to convey meaning and evoke emotion

Water is a recurring theme throughout Moonlight, that appears throughout all three parts of the film.

• Intertextual referencing – the use of ideas or themes from other pieces of media or literature

Alice Cooper is seen in Wayne’s World, appearing as himself. This happens again in Wayne’s World 2, where Aerosmith appear.

• Visual/sound motifs – a recurring story element acting as a way to highlight a film’s meaning.

The Imperial March is an iconic sound motif that occurs throughout the entire Star Wars franchise.

• Colour grading – manipulating the colour, tone and mood of a film to enhance the impact of the story.

Though Schindler’s List was filmed in 1993, they consistently film it in black and white. However, one little girl is shown to be wearing a red coat to represent children’s innocence, though it has been interpreted in many different ways.

• Auteur trademarks – when a filmmaker has complete creative control over a film and implements their visual style in other pieces of their work.

Wes Anderson’s iconic colourful style is recurring throughout a large majority of his work.

Aesthetic Terms 3 – Tone

• Pathos – a persuasion technique that aims to appeal to the audience by evoking the intended emotions, mainly sadness.

Up utilises pathos at multiple points throughout the film, but the most famous would be the montage scene of Carl’s life with Ellie before she dies.

• Bathos – an absurd or ineffective climax.

The ending of Monty Python and the Holy Grail could be considered bathos because it leads to a very unsatisfying climax.

• Suspense – a state of anticipation towards an outcome.

The Silence of the Lambs uses suspense throughout the film effectively.

• Comedy – a genre of film where the main emphasis is on humour.

Shaun of the Dead is a very highly rated British Comedy directed by Edgar Wright starring Simon Pegg.

• Dramatic irony – a situation in which the audience or reader has a better understanding of something than the characters themselves.

Everyone watching the film Tangled knows that Mother Gothel is not Rapunzel’s mother, but she’s managed to convince her that she is.

• Distancing effect (verfremdung) – techniques designed to distance the audience from emotional investment.

Dogville uses a distancing effect/alienation to prevent people from getting too emotionally invested.

• Postmodern humour – aims to undermine highly regarded expectations.

Pulp Fiction tells the story out of the ordinary and flips our expectations of film structures.