Marieke / Thesis Outline

Thesis outline

The uncanny – Defamiliarization

Psychological short horror (or) an uncanny video?

Uncanny; Strange, suspicious and unnatural

Uncanny Valley

When does the familiar become unfamiliar?

Unheimlich; Something that is at once frightening, yet familiar. Freud uses the German word unheimlich and its opposite Heimlich to illustrate this point. Unheimlich means both “familiar” and “unfamiliar” and translates into English as "uncanny."

Psychoanalytic theorist Jacques Lacan wrote that the uncanny places us "in the field where we do not know how to distinguish bad and good, pleasure from displeasure", resulting in an irreducible anxiety that gestures to the Real.

Plan to read a book/text by Julia Kristeva – Powers of Horror

The closer to reality the scarier? Slight offset from reality / The real world and its social order are more threatening to mind and body than the supernatural.

Making use of improvisation and a realistic setting without excluding the viewer. Focus on keeping the improvisation public instead of private. Films that employ a great deal of improvisation are more dependent on a clearly defined narrative structure than more traditional productions. (The Rhetoric of Cinematic Improvisation, Virginia Wright Wexman)

The audio Uncanny Valley: Sound, fear and the horror game, Mark Nicholas Grimshaw-Aagaard:

• Certain amplitude envelopes applied to sound affect perceptions of urgency.

• Familiar or iconic sounds can be defamiliarized and this can lead to perceptions of uncanniness.

• Uncertainty about the location of a sound source, its cause or its meaning in the virtual world increases the fear emotion.

Bullet Points Thesis:

• Theory on Uncanny / Unheimlich - Not in relation to Freud

• Sound in relation to Horror

• (Horror) Games - Interaction

• Japanese Photography (often described as provocative, grim, raw, odd and magical)

• Psychology of fear and trauma

• Films and series that blur the line between fiction and reality (the act of observation)

• Script and improvisation

• Gender roles in Horror (It Follows)

• Moral Philosophy

Infrageluid - Lage vibraties

I. Introduction

1. Background

This thesis will be a dive into the psychological and aesthetic areas of the uncanny. In this research I want to explore the parallels between the uncanny and psychological horror. A genre in which anxiety and fear is amplified. Related to this is Julia Kristeva's theory on abjection. Abjection literally means: The state of being cast off. As Kristeva puts it, "The corpse, seen without God and outside of science, is the utmost of abjection. It is death infecting life. Abject"

These two concept of the uncanny and abjection are both theories that deal with fear, dissociation and trauma. I want to relate these theories to my interest in the relationship between model, camera and director/operator. My interest in these concepts grew from my research into the (male) gaze and voyeurism in photography and filmmaking. This desire to figure out the voyeurist gaze has grown into an interest of what makes a gaze violating and when this gaze becomes intimidating and scary.

2. Thesis statement

The voyeuristic gaze with its violating tendencies are a reflection of the violence and power structures we deal with in our society. Violence is still preferred over empathy in cinema. I want to make a stand that it is possible to make a film about violence that does not depict any violence. I believe it is possible to make a lasting psychological and fearful impression on the viewer without the depiction of graphic violence.

II. Body

Point A: The relation between "the uncanny, abjection and the voyeuristic gaze".

1. Sexual violence in our society and its impact and trauma on the survivor. In recent years a big discussion has started on sexual violence. This gave me a lot of questions about responsibility. If you take the word responsibility apart it means: the ability to respond. Was it when the survivors came out with their stories in the #metoo movement their responsibility to tell their stories? Is that fair? Where does that leave me as an image maker? Now that this discussion is open and we are also becoming more critical of the images we consume, is it then my responsibility to produce images that deal with this trauma in an empathetic way?

2. In this part I want to focus on why in cinema whenever sexual assault is depicted it is mainly focused on the violence itself. Instead of the aftermath and its consequences for the survivor and their close ones. To find out what this approach in cinema does with the emotions of the viewer I want to have interviews. With friends, peers, family, strangers and preferably a psychologist and fellow filmmakers.

3. For Freud, the uncanny locates the strangeness in the ordinary. Expanding on the idea, psychoanalytic theorist Jacques Lacan wrote that the uncanny places us "in the field where we do not know how to distinguish bad and good, pleasure from displeasure", resulting in an irreducible anxiety that gestures to the Real.

If the narrative of a film does not distinguish between bad and good, pleasure from displeasure, does that envoke uncanny and fearful feelings in the viewer?

Abjection was defined as a reaction to the confrontation with the "abject", triggered by disgust or phobia (in this context, it refers to the products of processes of elimination, corpses and insects) which nonetheless have no status as objects, and do not belong to the self, and thus are seen as a threat by the subject, who rejects them.

How does abjection relate to voyeurism and fetishism in images?

Point B: The role of interaction.

1. Moving image that blurs the line between fiction and reality (the act of observation).

How do other filmmakers play with the grammar of filmmaking? When is a director/artist breaking the conventional cinema rules to blur between fiction and reality?

This can be done in many ways: excluding elaborate special effects and technology (Dogme 95), an unreliable narrator (Joker), by taking a documentary approach while it is fiction (Man Bites Dog), through experimental modes of storytelling (Keren Cytter), by highlighting the act of observation (Funny Games) or by filming with an Iphone? (Tangerine).

2. (Horror) Games.

Do games envoke more empathy than a film and do they really encourage violent thoughts? There is a big spectrum from interactive film to virtual reality gaming. There has been criticism on how a virtual reality setting that shows the experience of war should invoke empathy. Do you really know what its like after being in a simulation for 15 minutes?

This makes me wonder if it is maybe not a realistic depiction that envokes empathy. Maybe it are the symbolic games that are subjective that would envoke more empathy. Like the game: The Last of Us which is a survival Horror game developed by Naughty Dog. It is one of the most awarded games in history, and is considered one of the greatest video games ever made, as well as an example of video games as an art form. It is a game that is very emotional and atmospheric. A beautiful story on how far a parental figure will go to protect their child.

Is it the interaction that plays a part in this "empathetic experience" instead of the simulation that is the case with Virtual Reality? Or could it be both? In this part I want to research what makes a game so immersive and what are the levels of this from an interactive film to a Virtual Reality experience with gameplay.

3. Sound in relation to Horror.

Sound plays of course an important role in cinema. In the Psychological Horror genre it is a great medium to envoke the feelings of fear.

A few examples on how to make sound uncanny:

• Certain amplitude envelopes applied to sound affect perceptions of urgency.
• Familiar or iconic sounds can be defamiliarized and this can lead to perceptions of uncanniness.
• Uncertainty about the location of a sound source, its cause or its meaning in the virtual world increases the fear emotion.

Gaspar Noé his film Irréversible is a great example of this. he intentionally used sound that registered at only 27 Hz, just above the 20 Hz limit for infrasound.

“You can’t hear it, but it makes you shake.”. “In a good theater with a subwoofer, you may be more scared by the sound than by what’s happening on the screen.” In Irreversible, deep rumblings and a swaying, otherworldly grinding sound increases in volume, causing the viewer to feel dread just before extremely disturbing imagery begins.

Abstract sensations cause anxiety due to the very absence of an object or cause. Without either, the imagination produces one, which can be more frightening than the reality.

4. Script and improvisation.

Does improvisation make a film more authentic and "real"? Often the films that don't use actors and apply improvised dialogue are the films that can feel close to ourselves. This does depend on the boundaries of the improvisation. A framework is probably a necessity so the dialogue is still understandable for the viewer.

A film that is only based on improvisation often does not really pull the viewer into the experience. This is because these films often become too messy and vague.

Moments of improvisation can have a potential to offer a moment of reflection in film. For example the dancing scene in Joker (2019). And the dancing scene of mr.Blonde in Reservoir Dogs (the script only said: Mr. Blonde dances like a maniac). Or the famous, You talking to me? Improvised monologue by Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver. In some cases a talented actor feels the story and script in such a way that the director might not feel as the director is not enacting the story but recording it.

Point C: Morals as a reflection of society.

1. Gender roles in Horror (It Follows).

2. Japanese Photography (often described as provocative, grim, raw, odd and magical).

3. Morals in relation to the uncanny.

III. Conclusion

1. Main Points: See Body of Thesis for now.

2. Final Statement: -.