First, the definition of film and television culture
The definition of "film and television culture" includes two aspects: the definition of "film and television" as an objective existence form and the definition of "film and television culture" as an influence on human life.
(a) film, television and film and television
What is film, what is television and what is film and television is the primary issue in the definition of "film and television culture".
There are some differences in the definition of "film", but the understanding of its basic objective existence form should be consistent. The Dictionary of Cinematography describes movies in this way: "According to the principle of' visual persistence', images (and sounds) of external things are recorded on film by photography (and recording), and moving images (and sounds) are produced on the screen by projection (and playback) to express certain contents. Film is the product of long-term development of science and technology to a certain stage "(Dictionary of Film Art, China Film Publishing House, 1986, 12 edition). This expression accurately grasps the basic objective existence form of the current film, and at the same time gives a detailed explanation of the historical evolution of the existence form of the film, such as the phenomenon of "visual persistence" and the discovery of theory, the development of photography, the invention of film, the invention of "movable film mirror", the creation of color films and audio films, etc.
The definition of "TV" is not easy either. Although TV is not necessarily more complicated than movies in terms of objective existence, the elements that make up TV are also rich. The Encyclopedia of Radio and Television in China describes "TV" as "a modern media that uses electronic technology to transmit images and sounds". It makes the images (including screen words), sounds and colors in the coverage area instantly reappear on the receiver screen through the photoelectric conversion system. This sentence further scans the whole process of TV transmission: 1. Television stations use television cameras and microphones to collect scene images and sound, and then edit and combine them according to a certain idea and order to make various TV programs. " Secondly, the video signal of TV program is decomposed by electronic scanning, that is, the image, sound and color of the program are converted into pulse signals by the camera tube at the sending end, and then sent out through the cable and antenna; Thirdly, the picture tube at the receiving end converts the received electric pulse signals into light and shadow images, sounds and colors, and completes the program on the screen after restoration "(see Encyclopedia of China Radio and Television, China Radio and Television Press, 1995, 1 version). This expression also pays attention to the "comprehensive" characteristics of television and absorbs various traditional artistic styles and other media styles.
The definition of "film and television" can be based on the above definition of film and television. From the perspective of objective existence, why put "film and television" together to express? This is naturally due to the similarity and * * * between movies and television, and their most concentrated, prominent and intuitive similarity or * * * is "animation by painting". Although the technical characteristics, artistic characteristics and communication characteristics of film and television are different, they are consistent in the morphological characteristics of "moving pictures with sound and pictures". This is an important foundation of "film and television". Although film and television has its own specific provisions, the broad concept of "film and television" will include all the production and dissemination of film and television.
(B) "film and television culture" three systems
In a narrow sense, "film and television" refers to the overlapping part of film and television; In a broad sense, "film and television" includes all the production and dissemination of film and television. And "film and television culture" can also see its characteristics and status from the three major systems.
1. From the perspective of mass communication system.
Since its birth, film and television are different from traditional print media because of its wide coverage. Traditional print media, whether it is communication channels, modes, acceptance channels, modes or communication mechanisms, all have strong individualization and individualization characteristics. With the development of modern science and technology, film and television have quickly become an important role in the mass communication system with its scientific and technological advantages. From print media to electronic media, the media in the mass communication system are constantly developing and changing.
Mass communication system
From the table, we can see that movies and TV have many advantages in terms of communication scope and communication ability, no matter compared with print media or radio. The text communication of newspapers and magazines needs a certain knowledge base, and the single sound communication of broadcasting will inevitably lose a lot of important perceptible information. The combination of audio and video and the combination of sound and picture of film and television make them gain a relatively "holographic" communication ability, which can cover a wider range of communication.
2. From the perspective of artistic system.
The main artistic forms created by human beings so far are mainly composed of three types: written form, non-written form and comprehensive form, which synthesize the human artistic creation system.
Whether it is artistic variety in written form, artistic variety in non-written form, or even comprehensive drama, it has experienced thousands of years of historical accumulation and written an important chapter in the history of human culture. Although film and television is the most elementary art system, it has absorbed many factors created by human art in the past as its basic elements with great inclusiveness, and creatively integrated them into new art varieties-organically combining words with non-words, time and space, vision and hearing, and created new achievements and achievements of art in the 20th century with its powerful communication advantages, which greatly influenced human social life.
3. From the perspective of entertainment and leisure system.
Entertainment and leisure are indispensable contents in human life. Entertainment and leisure have different ways and forms of expression in different historical periods of various ethnic groups. Only by comparing some modern popular entertainment and leisure methods can we see the characteristics and status of movies and TV.
Entertainment and leisure system
As a way of entertainment and leisure, fitness includes skating, Fan Yan, equipment training, ball games and so on. Entertainment includes playing chess, playing cards, dancing, karaoke, painting and calligraphy. Travel includes sightseeing, shopping and so on. As a way of entertainment and leisure, film and television are the most daily and convenient, whether it is the convenience of capital investment or consumption. Moreover, due to the large amount of information in movies and television, or the strong imagination and artistic charm, people can completely get information services or artistic enjoyment in entertainment and leisure.
(C) the differences between film and television culture and * * *
From the above analysis, we can make a brief summary and definition of "film culture". The so-called "film and television culture" is the film and television culture style created by human beings with the help of modern science and technology. Specifically, "film and television culture" is an important way of human communication, as well as an important artistic style and entertainment and leisure way of human beings. In a narrow sense, "film and television culture" refers to the same "moving pictures with sound and pictures" as film and television, that is, film and television art and its influence on social life; Broadly speaking, "film and television culture" refers to all cultural creation by means of film and television.
What needs to be pointed out here is that the above text mainly focuses on the similarities and differences of "film and television". In fact, the difference between movies and TV is also obvious. From the main form, movies mainly exist in the form of feature films, and TV mainly takes documentary information as the main form; Film is devoted to the creation of artistic "works"; Television is committed to the transmission of "life information flow"; From the perspective of aesthetic principles, movies mainly deal with fictional artistic information (focusing on artistic expression), while television mainly deals with non-fictional original ecological information of life (focusing on the realization of "life realism"); Movies pursue artistic originality and classic value, while TV pursues unique exploration and practical value of real life information flow; From the perspective of cultural orientation, in addition to the dominant position of mainstream culture, movies seem to be more inclined to the value orientation of elite culture, while TV seems to be more inclined to the value orientation of mass culture. In addition, in the process of film and television communication, there are many differences in the significance, position, value, function and characteristics of technology, art, disseminator, mode of communication, mode of production, audience, communication environment and acceptance environment. To put it simply, although "film and television culture" has many similarities, similarities and similarities in communication system, art system, entertainment and leisure system, they also have many differences and differences. Comparatively speaking, for movies, perhaps art is the first and communication is the second. For television, perhaps communication is the first and art is the second. Therefore, film culture and film art are closer; TV culture and TV communication are inseparable.
(4) Summary
As a whole of film culture and TV culture, their similarities and differences are as mentioned above. As a whole, "film and television culture" can be further defined from narrow and broad perspectives. In other words, the narrow sense of "film and television culture" should be embodied as "film and television art", that is, the film and television existence forms with relatively complete and independent film and television art works as the main body, including film feature films, TV dramas and art film documentaries, as well as art TV "screen works" (such as art TV literature works, TV art films and art TV documentaries). The broad sense of "film and television culture" should be embodied in all existing film and television forms. Although there are many differences between movies and TV, their uniqueness should be paid more attention and studied. On the one hand, the significance, value and status of communication system, art system and entertainment and leisure system are quite close; On the other hand, through the comparative analysis of material (including technology and form), system (including production and dissemination) and concept (including various values), we can find out their relative existence.
Second, the composition of film and television culture (broad sense)
Broadly speaking, film and television culture is composed of material (including technology and form), system (including production and dissemination) and audience (including various values).
(A) the material level
On the material level, film and television culture is embodied in the materialization of technology and form that people can directly feel and see. This level of film and television culture changes rapidly. Due to the continuous innovation and improvement of film and television technology, the form and communication mode of film and television are constantly changing.
The development of film technology is cumulative. /kloc-in the 7th century, Newton first discovered the important phenomenon that the image reflected on the human retina would not disappear immediately. 1824, Peter Mark Root of England published his theory of "visual persistence" in London. The so-called "visual persistence" means that when people's eyes are watching moving objects or images, every object and image will stay on the retina for less than one second after disappearing. This visual feature of human eyes makes it possible to combine moving images on human retina. At this time, French Joseph Nippes began his photographic research. He took the first original picture at 1822, and the exposure time was 14 hours. Since then, Daguerre, a French stage artist, cooperated with Nippes, using the iodophor photosensitive method invented at that time, and finally fixed a specific image with the help of mercury evaporation. This complete photography and printing method was first successful in 1839. The photographic technology called "Daguerre Photography" has developed rapidly. 185 1 year, the invention of the wet gong made it possible to print multiple photos on one substrate. 1888, george eastman invented the film. 1894, he cooperated with the inventor Edison to form the first "movable film mirror". "Movable film mirror" has basically possessed three basic elements of film shooting, developing and showing, but it shows15.24m (50ft) perforated film in a big box, and only one person can watch it at a time. By 1895, the Lumiere brothers in France made a film machine that could project images on a white screen, and a mature film was born.
In the early days, movies appeared in the form of silent films and black and white. European films mainly record real life scenes, while American films mainly show entertainment performances. In the first decade of film creation, some people have begun to explore adding sound elements to silent films. In many cinemas, bands and musicians provide both music and sound for silent films. German Tobies Company quickly introduced the optical recording and sound reproduction system based on the "Vitaphone" system invented by Bell Telephone Company in the United States, that is, the combination of large-scale recording and mechanical connection devices to synchronize sound and picture. At the end of the 1920s, the sound film was born. In the hands of Eisenstein of movie master and Claire of the former Soviet Union, he also tried to explore different forms of sound-painting relationship (such as sound-painting counterpoint and voice-over). ), and sound has really become an important artistic element of the film.
Similar to the development of sound movies, color movies are also operated manually in the initial stage. During the silent film period, many feature films tried to paint a certain color on the film of a scene or paragraph to enhance the effect, and some even added colors to the film one by one. 19 13 In the Italian film Diary of Pompeii, the scene of Vesuvius eruption was painted with red and orange flames and a deep blue sky, and the warship of the former Soviet Union movie Battleship potemkin, which was filmed by 1925, raised a red flag. Since the 1920s, this additive method has been replaced by subtractive method, which has been used in some color scenes in the American film Biography of Xu Ben and the previous Black Pirate (1926). By 1935, the tricolor system was declared successful, and the first real color film Vanity Fair was officially released. The widespread use of color in movies was postponed until 1950s and 1960s.
Since the birth of film 100 years ago, from black and white, silent to sound and color, from small screen to stereoscopic film and wide screen film, technological innovation and reform have been continuously carried out, which also makes the form of film constantly change and the elements of film art continue.
Rich, the forms and types of movies are constantly expanding. In the past ten years, modern high technology has entered the film, further changing and innovating the film form. Such as three-dimensional animation, computer special effects, modern recording technology and so on. , make the elements of film composition, the concept of time and space of the film, the visual acuity, impact and appeal of TV sound and picture.
If film is based on modern photography technology, printing technology (chemical industry) and other technologies, then television is born on the basis of modern radio electronic technology. The process of TV technology includes the production, broadcast control, rebroadcasting, emission and transmission of TV programs.
The appearance of television first benefited from the discovery of electromagnetic induction. The origin of television began with the invention of wired electronic media such as telegraph and telephone. The invention of radio and communication technology makes electronic media get rid of tangible wires, and wireless electronic communication becomes possible.
Radio electronic transmission first successfully transmitted sound, which was the birth of broadcasting. Since then, British engineers have discovered the photoelectric effect of selenium, and scientists in Germany, the former Soviet Union, the United States and other countries have invented the control system of TV transmission and reception, and solved the problem of image transmission channel by using the principle of image decomposition and scanning. On this basis, in the 1920s, mechanical television first appeared in Britain and the United States. With the invention of television cameras and receivers
The advent of electronic TV invented by American scientists has replaced mechanical TV, marking the arrival of real modern TV. In 1930s, BBC began to broadcast on a regular basis, and televisions from Britain, Germany, the United States and the former Soviet Union were born one after another.
Every change of TV form is accompanied by the promotion of new TV technology. Judging from the technological progress of production means, the great development stage is from analog stage to digital stage. In the simulation stage, the clarity and realistic way of sound and image will often change due to the change of technology. From the perspective of sound development, the hand-held phonograph, record player, tape recorder, tape recorder, compact disc (CD) and other means and methods have gradually improved, making the sound of TV more and more clear and realistic. From the perspective of image development, the gradual progress from black-and-white TV, color TV to HDTV, and from split video equipment to integrated video equipment (such as ENG) makes the level of TV image restoration life more and more clear and realistic. In the digital age, with the help of computer stunts and multimedia production, the expressive force and appeal of TV audio-visual images are increasingly enhanced, and the production of TV programs is increasingly simplified and convenient, so the production ability of TV programs is greatly enhanced, and the forms, varieties and types of TV programs are also more colorful.
From transmitting and receiving, from wireless microwave transmission, to wired or optical fiber transmission, and then to satellite transmission, the coverage is expanding, TV signals are getting clearer and clearer, TV channels are getting richer and larger, which makes it possible to greatly enhance the production and communication capabilities of TV.
The development of film and television culture is based on the development of material technology. The progress of film and television technology has brought about changes and richness in its forms, changed people's ways and habits of accepting, understanding and participating in film and television, and changed people's thinking and ideas about film and television.
Institutional level
The construction and development of system level or system is in a crucial intermediary position in the composition of film and television culture. The content of film and television culture system has both macro social system background and specific production system and management system.
1. Social system:
The macro-social system background of film and television culture is the biggest restrictive factor for its development. Generally speaking, the film and television industry under the background of capitalist social system often takes the maximization of commercial interests as the primary goal. However, under the background of socialist social system, the film and television industry often puts social benefits in the first place, with the primary goal of achieving better social benefits. Film and television products under the background of capitalist social system often have strong commodity color, while film and television products under the background of socialist social system generally have strong publicity and education color.
2. Production system:
Film production is the main component of film culture. In order to make film and television production effectively, coordinating a series of organizations in all aspects is the concrete embodiment of the film and television production system. On the whole, the film and television production system is consistent with its social system, and at the same time it has its own characteristics and idiosyncrasies. Under the capitalist social system, film and television production basically operates according to the rules of the capitalist market, with production companies and media companies as the main organizational forms. Under the background of socialist social system, film and television production generally operates in the form of studios and television stations owned by the whole people in accordance with the rules of planned economy. However, the establishment of a production system is not easy, and it is faced with various practical difficulties to transform the system. Especially for the film and television industry in China, which has lived under the socialist planned economy system for a long time, it is facing the transition to the socialist market economy system, and a series of complex problems under the traditional planned economy system cannot be solved at once. Some people put forward "institutional innovation" and "institutional innovation", which is expressed in this sense.
Indeed, in the era of digital existence of film and television production, film and television production is facing the era of network communication that integrates all traditional media and generates great energy. Traditional single, narrow, small and complete production system, traditional
The fragmentation situation between media and traditional fragmentation situation will face great impact. 1999 The merger of Warner Corporation, the traditional and most appealing entertainment group in the United States, and AOL, the most fashionable and modern media group in the United States, shocked the whole world. This "strong alliance" itself is to give the production system of film and television and related media more substantial and grand connotation. China's film and television industry is also facing another challenge, which is the impact of foreign media industry and film and television industry after China's possible entry into WTO. All these provide epoch-making opportunities for speeding up the reform of China's film and television production system.
3. Management system:
The management system of film and television production should be regarded as the concretization of the production system in its social system background, which refers to the management system of all links in the process of film and television production and dissemination (especially in the fields of people, finance and materials). The management of capitalist film and television production basically follows the law of capital operation, takes the maximization of interests and profits as the guidance, and implements the management of people, money and materials through the cost accounting of film and television production. The management of socialist film and television production is basically consistent with the socialist film and television production system, which is embodied in the parallel track of political mode (or means) and market mode (or means). From the perspective of China's film and television management system, on the one hand, the operation and use of personnel, funds and products are mainly administrative means (such as cadre appointment, capital investment, product inspection, etc.). ), on the other hand, integrate market means into macro-administrative management (such as personnel recruitment, multi-channel funding sources, products entering market competition-attach great importance to "box office value" and "ratings". ).
The macro-management and micro-management of film and television production can not be separated from the protection of specific laws and regulations. Film and television production itself is not only a public welfare undertaking that can produce great social benefits, but also a cultural industry that can make huge profits. How to make film and television production not only ensure the acquisition of its own interests, but also provide beneficial spiritual food for the society? If there are no laws and regulations specifically for film and television production, it is not enough to adjust it only by administrative means and market means. Therefore, making corresponding laws and regulations for film and television production, and forming a series of management regulations on this basis, will make film and television production more effective, and then guarantee the healthy development of film and television culture from the system.
(3) Conceptual level
The concept of film and television culture is embodied in the value orientation and concept of film and television, and permeates all aspects of film and television production and dissemination.
The concept of film and television is people's rational understanding, understanding and grasping of film and television, the embodiment of people's general social and cultural concepts in film and television, and the rational understanding, understanding and grasping of various value orientations and values in the actual production and dissemination of film and television.
From the comparison between people's general social and cultural values and film and television values, we can see that sometimes film and television values are ahead of people's general social and cultural values, and then film and television may play a pioneering role in social and cultural changes; Sometimes the values of film and television lag behind people's general social and cultural concepts, so film and television may play a conservative role in social and cultural development.
From the perspective of the change of film and television concept itself, in addition to the impact and influence of the change of social living environment and the impact and influence of large social and cultural concepts, it is bound to experience the evolution and evolution of the concept itself. Although the change at the conceptual level is much more difficult and slow than the change at the material level, the change at the material level and the system level will greatly stimulate and influence the change at the conceptual level. Once the concept of film and television changes dramatically. It is bound to have a huge reaction to the material level and institutional level of film and television, and make it undergo corresponding drastic changes.
Here, we only look at some situations on the conceptual level of film and television culture from the perspective of cultural role positioning and functional positioning of film and television.
The cultural role orientation of film and television includes mainstream culture, elite culture, popular culture and marginal culture. The role of film and television culture is located in the mainstream culture, which means that the production and dissemination of film and television will focus on the needs of the mainstream ideology and reflect the will of the mainstream ideology (China's film and television concepts such as "mouthpiece", "secondary element" and "main melody" typically and vividly express the role positioning of the mainstream culture). The role of film and television culture is located in elite culture, which means that film and television production and communication will focus on the personalized creation and thinking needs of the main body of film and television production and communication, and more reflect the will of the main body of film and television production and communication (so-called "creativity", "uniqueness" and "classicality"). The role of film and television culture is positioned in mass culture, which means that film and television production and dissemination will focus on the general and current emotional psychological demands of the public and meet their general and current emotional psychological needs (such as so-called "popularization", "popularization", "beauty" and "fashion"). The role of film and television culture is located in marginal culture, which means that film and television production and communication will focus on the extremely personalized ideas of those non-mainstream, non-public, and possibly non-elite film and television production and communication subjects. Sometimes it may be the perceptual expression of human survival situation by the main body of film and television production and communication, and sometimes it may be the exploration and exploration of their own means and methods (such as "experimental" and "pioneering").
Due to the differences in values among mainstream culture, elite culture, popular culture and marginal culture, the role orientation of film and television culture plays a direct restrictive role in the presentation and embodiment of film and television concepts.
Of course, we should also see that the role orientation of these film and television cultures reveals an extremely typical state. In fact, in the process of specific film and television production and dissemination, these concepts are often intertwined, and we can only judge the tendency of their dominant concepts rather than simply judging them as a single value orientation of "either-or". Otherwise, how to explain the "taste for all tastes" that often appears in film and television production and communication?
The situation may be more complicated in the positioning of film and television functions. The functions of film and television include entertainment, publicity and education, information dissemination, aesthetics and cognition. The function of film and television is entertainment, which means that the production and dissemination of film and television will focus on the universal and pleasant sensory enjoyment at present, and strive to adapt, cater to or even surpass kitsch. Although entertainment itself has different levels, the above characteristics should be indispensable. Entertainment often excludes in-depth and personalized experience and thinking, and at the same time, because it is easy to meet some popular emotional and psychological needs, even sensory stimulation needs, it wins higher "box office value" or "ratings" and thus obtains greater economic benefits. It should be pointed out that this does not mean that this goal (the best economic benefit) can be achieved only by pursuing the "entertainment" function. Film and television products with high real economic benefits and "entertainment" functions often need a certain amount of ideological capacity, especially intelligent content. Popularity does not mean vulgarity, or even vulgarity. The function of film and television is located in propaganda and education, that is to say, the production and dissemination of film and television will be conveyed around the current mainstream ideology and some or some concepts that people generally agree and need. Here, it is particularly important to have the current political and moral concepts. Any nation, country and region will inevitably restrict the production and dissemination of film and television with different political and moral concepts in different degrees and ways. Although there are differences in the review and supervision mechanisms of film and television production and dissemination in different countries, there are also many similarities. The extreme "publicity and education" film and television products we are talking about here often show the characteristics that concept is greater than image and abstraction is greater than concrete. Some of these film and television products may not be seriously put into production and dissemination (or they may be perfunctory because they don't agree with this concept), and may be recognized by mainstream culture or some audiences and achieve certain social benefits. However, due to the "didactic taste" of these film and television products, they often fail to achieve the expected results. Of course, really good "publicity and education" film and television products should be "entertaining" in order to achieve satisfactory social benefits. Although most of these products have improved social benefits and poor economic benefits, excellent products should achieve both social and economic benefits (or "win-win"). The function of film and television is oriented to aesthetics, which means that the production and dissemination of film and television will focus on people's universal aesthetic taste and orientation and meet people's universal aesthetic needs. Aesthetic orientation, aesthetic taste and aesthetic demand are often both * * * and individuals, which can be expressed conceptually, unreasonable and inexplicable. The realization of the aesthetic function of film and television products is often difficult to extract separately, because it is always linked with the overall demand characteristics of people's thoughts, psychology and emotions in a specific environment. The function of film and television is to spread or understand information, which is a more rational choice. As a mass media, the production and dissemination of film and television can not be separated from its information dissemination and cognitive function, but can this rational function choice be realized independently? In fact, similar to the realization of aesthetic function (only "aesthetic" is more emotional), the realization of information dissemination and cognitive function of film and television production and communication can not be extracted separately, but requires certain external "packaging" and internal content display. (eg relying on touching stories or real events).
In any case, the concept of film and television culture plays a great role in restricting the development of film and television culture.