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The truth-machine: continuity and the ontology of the moving image of cinema

Charalambous, Charalambos (2012) The truth-machine: continuity and the ontology of the moving image of cinema. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent. (doi:10.22024/UniKent/01.02.86497) (KAR id:86497)

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https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/01.02.86497

Abstract

The analytical nature of representation is inconsistent with the homogeneity of the continuum. This inconsistency determines the moving image of cinema; for, the cinematographic apparatus employs photographic still images to reconstitute the appearance of motion of the real world.

Bergson claims that this cinematographic perception is also characteristic of our understanding of the real world; the qualitative essence of movement and time is spatially abstracted through representation for the demands of differentiation and quantification. Ensuing an overturning of time's relation to movement in modern philosophy, Deleuze's theory for the image rectifies the misconception of cinematic movement as discontinuity. Considering the novel representability of continuity in the cinema, this thesis proceeds to a rethinking of the image's significance for an understanding of worldly being by defining a new ontological account for the moving Image.

The study of the technological genesis of the moving image discloses its ontological difference from the photographic image. Scrutinizing representation of movement in chronophotographic practice, the spatial abstraction of continuity caused by photographic seriality Is revealed thus enabling a departure from the traditional understanding of cinema's temporality. The practice based research - which is also concerned with the issues of continuity's representability and the falsification of perception of the moving and still Image - produces formal cinematic

devices used for the making of the feature length documentary an Anthology of Easter. Challenging the conventional poetic and aesthetic modalities of non-fiction film, it addresses the question of the continuity of movement, time and space and engages with the intelligible

perception of the real world as a referent of the moving image. Finally, the thesis proposes that the moving image of cinema enhances the notion of indexicality; for, it provides us the unique representational sign that retains the continuous nature of time, in the image of the real world.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD))
DOI/Identification number: 10.22024/UniKent/01.02.86497
Additional information: This thesis has been digitised by EThOS, the British Library digitisation service, for purposes of preservation and dissemination. It was uploaded to KAR on 09 February 2021 in order to hold its content and record within University of Kent systems. It is available Open Access using a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial, No Derivatives (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) licence so that the thesis and its author, can benefit from opportunities for increased readership and citation. This was done in line with University of Kent policies (https://www.kent.ac.uk/is/strategy/docs/Kent%20Open%20Access%20policy.pdf). If you feel that your rights are compromised by open access to this thesis, or if you would like more information about its availability, please contact us at ResearchSupport@kent.ac.uk and we will seriously consider your claim under the terms of our Take-Down Policy (https://www.kent.ac.uk/is/regulations/library/kar-take-down-policy.html).
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
SWORD Depositor: SWORD Copy
Depositing User: SWORD Copy
Date Deposited: 30 Oct 2019 13:54 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:27 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/86497 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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