The phantom referent : perceptual realism in cinema
We live in an age where photorealistic objects in films do not necessarily have physical referents — look no further than the dinosaurs in Jurassic World (2015), and the wormhole in Interstellar (2014). Every living person has neither seen dinosaurs in the flesh, nor an actual wormhole. Yet when pe...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Final Year Project (FYP) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66858 |
| _version_ | 1811695818067935232 |
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| author | Boh, Aloysius Chee Kai |
| author2 | Stephen Teo Kian Teck |
| author_facet | Stephen Teo Kian Teck Boh, Aloysius Chee Kai |
| author_sort | Boh, Aloysius Chee Kai |
| collection | NTU |
| description | We live in an age where photorealistic objects in films do not necessarily have physical
referents — look no further than the dinosaurs in Jurassic World (2015), and the wormhole in Interstellar (2014). Every living person has neither seen dinosaurs in the flesh, nor an actual wormhole. Yet when people watch Jurassic World or Interstellar, their typical response (“That looks so real!”) to the on-screen dinosaurs or wormhole is an implicit attempt to locate real-world referents of the aforementioned cinematic objects where there are, physically speaking, none. If we are to retain this persisting intuition that there is an indexical relationship between the photograph and the photographed object in the context of films like Jurassic World and Interstellar, then a new type of referent has to be posited — and it is what I call the “phantom referent”. Basically, my thesis offers an ontology of the phantom referent. Since I employed a qualitative and critical approach in writing this paper, my critiques and defences of arguments from various primary texts on film theory and philosophy of film, and my generalisation of everyday experiences constitute my theoretical stance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:29:30Z |
| format | Final Year Project (FYP) |
| id | ntu-10356/66858 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:29:30Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/668582019-12-10T14:52:40Z The phantom referent : perceptual realism in cinema Boh, Aloysius Chee Kai Stephen Teo Kian Teck Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information NTU Philosophy Group DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Visual communication DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Visual literacy DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film::Criticism DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film::Digital DRNTU::Humanities::Philosophy DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Photography DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Painting DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology::Affection and emotion DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films::Film theory and criticism DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Media effects We live in an age where photorealistic objects in films do not necessarily have physical referents — look no further than the dinosaurs in Jurassic World (2015), and the wormhole in Interstellar (2014). Every living person has neither seen dinosaurs in the flesh, nor an actual wormhole. Yet when people watch Jurassic World or Interstellar, their typical response (“That looks so real!”) to the on-screen dinosaurs or wormhole is an implicit attempt to locate real-world referents of the aforementioned cinematic objects where there are, physically speaking, none. If we are to retain this persisting intuition that there is an indexical relationship between the photograph and the photographed object in the context of films like Jurassic World and Interstellar, then a new type of referent has to be posited — and it is what I call the “phantom referent”. Basically, my thesis offers an ontology of the phantom referent. Since I employed a qualitative and critical approach in writing this paper, my critiques and defences of arguments from various primary texts on film theory and philosophy of film, and my generalisation of everyday experiences constitute my theoretical stance. Bachelor of Communication Studies 2016-04-29T02:33:14Z 2016-04-29T02:33:14Z 2016 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66858 en Nanyang Technological University 44 p. application/pdf application/vnd.ms-powerpoint |
| spellingShingle | DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Visual communication DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Visual literacy DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film::Criticism DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film::Digital DRNTU::Humanities::Philosophy DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Photography DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Painting DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology::Affection and emotion DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films::Film theory and criticism DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Media effects Boh, Aloysius Chee Kai The phantom referent : perceptual realism in cinema |
| title | The phantom referent : perceptual realism in cinema |
| title_full | The phantom referent : perceptual realism in cinema |
| title_fullStr | The phantom referent : perceptual realism in cinema |
| title_full_unstemmed | The phantom referent : perceptual realism in cinema |
| title_short | The phantom referent : perceptual realism in cinema |
| title_sort | phantom referent perceptual realism in cinema |
| topic | DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Visual communication DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Visual literacy DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film::Criticism DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film::Digital DRNTU::Humanities::Philosophy DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Photography DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Film DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Painting DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology::Affection and emotion DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films::Film theory and criticism DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Media effects |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66858 |
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