The organization of space in narrative features is a major issue in film theory. How the space is divided, shaped, shot, and edited?
Cinematic narrative involves a constant dialectic between two fields:
On-screen space: Specular space
Off-screen space: Blind space
Film Theory: Space
Three types of space: M. A. Doane
Space of the Diegesis:
Space with no physical limits. It’s not contained or measureable.
A virtual space constructed by the film, and is delineated as having audible and visible traits.
Its objects can be touched, smelled, tasted.
The visible space of the screen as receptor of the image
It’s measureable and contains the visible signifiers of the film
The acoustical space
Sound is not “framed” in he same way as the image
It envelops the spectator.
Different cinematic modes–docus, narrative, avant-garde–establish different relationships between the 3 spaces.
Classic cinema works to deny the existence of the last 2 spaces for the credibiity/legitimacy of the first space.
In contrast of a character looks at and speaks to the spectatir; it’s considered transgressive.
