The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image Matthew Buckingham: a Man in the Crowd

A Mirrored Image of Reality Realism is a realm of art that focuses on an individual’s perspective of the real world through the use of varying mediums. In historical times artist have always and everywhere sought to expand the subject matter of their work as well as the media in which they work. It would be accurate to say that the history of political suppression of the arts from Egyptian times to Byzantium to Nazism and Zhdanovism is a manifestation of attempts to limit or abolish expansion of artistic subject matter or new forms or styles.The drive to break out of the boundaries of conventional representation arises from the need to express new experiences and perspectives. And as innovations in artistic media reflect parallel technical discoveries and inventions, so also does the drive to expand the horizons of subject matter reflecting fundamental changes in social relations, social needs, and social values and objectives. In the â€Å"Cinema Effect Illusions, Reality, a nd the Moving Image† exhibition the various artists seek to create works that integrate cinema into our perceived notion of reality.Amongst the artists featured in the exhibition is Matthew Buckingham. Matthew Buckingham does a twenty minute film based off of Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Man in the crowd† also the same name of his film. Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The man in the crowd† is a narrative and not an actual film. Buckingham after reading the narrative was struck with how the story could be a metaphor and paradigm for the question of nonfiction filmmaking itself, Buckingham’s film is a silent film produced in black and white.There are many parallels with Poe’s narrative and Buckingham’s film. Buckingham’s film provides the visual aspect of Poe’s narrative. But, Buckingham’s film is more contemporary, he changes the setting of the film from nineteenth century Paris to that of modern day Vienna. Poe didnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t know London and details are borrowed from Dickens, Poe’s London sounds more like New York versus nineteenth century London. The details that Poe uses come from a review that Poe did of a story by Dickens.Poe fictionalizes the story by saying, â€Å"they covered and crossed the edges of the city† which would have been impossible to do at that time, his description sounds more like modern day Vienna . With Poe’s â€Å"The man in the crowd† one man is following a complete stranger but it is unclear whether or not the follower is ever aware that he is being followed or if he ever acknowledges the man that follows him; the difference with Buckingham is that he adds another character, he introduces the camera as a character in the film.Edgar Allan Poe’s story is from one mans point of view, a man sits at a coffee shop and watches people walk by and describes them, of the people he sees walk by him he is intrigued by an elderly gentleman who walk s by him, and then the man in the coffee shop begins to follow him. A man simply becomes interested in another mans manner and then he commits himself to following him secretly for a twenty-four hour period in hopes to learn something about the man . In this time frame, the elderly gentleman goes through out London in a distorted fashion going from one place to another in no particular path or reason.Matthew Buckingham’s version begins with a young man dressed in a black t-shirt and dark colored pants in a cafe. In is the only portion of the film where there is some dialogue, which is heard. The young man sits at a table with a large window that pears into the downtown area of Vienna, there are many people that walk by him and catch his eye. While he sits an older man dressed in a suit walks by and catches his attention. From this point on the young man begins to follow the older gentleman in the suit.Throughout the duration of the film the younger man secretly follows the ol der gentleman. The older gentleman does not appear to sense that he is being followed, the man go to various places, there is no clear destination a parallel with Poe’s story but the older man of the two does not appear to be disoriented in any way whereas in Poe’s story the man is intrigued by the older man because of his distorted state. In the film most of the scenes only feature the older man, there are very few scenes where the man walks around crowed areas and spaces allowing the viewer to only focus on this man.There is one part in the film where the man being followed acknowledges his follower, the men are both walking through what appears to be a walking through a bush garden, at this point the man in the suit starts running as if he realizes that someone is following him, but he never turns around to acknowledge the man following him from this point on the man in the suit has disappeared from the film but he is then show in another scene. In the following sce ne this is the first time that the younger man is introduced in the film.Throughout the film only the back of the man in the suit is seen we never get a full view of either of the men, now, in this scene the camera is introduced as another character in the film. Before this point in the film is was ambiguous to know whether the younger man was also the camera guy but know it is clear that he is apart of the film as a character. The following scene begins to follow the man in the suit again but this time the viewer is able to get a closer view of him.Both men stand right next to each other and the angle of the camera shifts between the two men. There is a shift in the film the older man becomes a little more unaware and disoriented as the film continues. The man in the suit begins walks into a crowded area and he looks as if he is trying to find someone or something, at this point both men are close enough to each other to the point where they can physically embrace one another. The older man is preoccupied in his thoughts that he literally brushes past the other man and leaves the building they are in quickly.Transitioning in the film the older man goes to a train station and he at this point appears very disoriented and confused he walks in the station and looks as if he is going to board one of the trains but stops himself and leaves. At this point the man is back outside and the focus shifts from the older man as people walk in front of him and he seems lost within the crowd, night falls and the man is becomes the focus again and he continues to walk aimlessly. He then goes into a bar and he is amongst the many people in the bar, once he leaves it is completely dark and the film ends.This film exemplifies a type of realism because it depicts a realistic aspect of everyday life without exaggeration. The actual film is based on one man; the film follows him throughout one twenty-four hour period. The only unrealistic aspect of the film is the film itself, tha t someone is secretly following another person. The mans actions in the film follow everyday activity. Buckingham created a film that even allows the viewer to be superimposed within it. The film is displayed from two projectors. The projector is freestanding and has the appearance of a window, just like that of the window in the cafe where the film begins.So once we superimpose ourselves in front of the projector we are now apart of the film. The film becomes real and apart of the viewers reality because even the viewer can experience what is going on and be apart. The viewer now takes the role of the camera or the person following the man and experience what is going on. Also the man in the crowd is a relatable character we can all identify with the man in the crowd. The man that was followed was chosen randomly, he had no idea he was being followed and he had no distinguishable traits that would make he an obvious candidate. Buckingham’s film is similar to a performance by Vito Acconci.Vito Acconci does a performance similar to that of what Buckingham does in his film whereas Acconci follows a man around without his permission. Both artists push the boundaries of what art is and its interactions with life and its reality. Both artists with their work blur the line of artist and the perceived audience/subject. These works can be classified as avant-garde and how they move away from the considered standards and characteristics of art and what it should be art without a specific form and directed perception. In this same manner Matthew Buckingham’s film is similar to the photos of Jeff Wall.Jeff Wall uses photography to capture the different aspects of our reality and perceived real life. One of Jeff Wall’s photos is â€Å"A view from an Apartment†, in this photo Wall depicts an ordinary scene amongst two roommates, but he has altered the photo slightly to make the photo appear more realistic, he uses this image to depict two differ ent aspects of our reality. His work like that of Buckingham’s discusses our social ideas of the world. Like that of photography film is able to capture a moment as it happens, with technological advances in both there is the ability to go back and change or manipulate the imagery to something else.With both artist they are able to make their art appear as if it were natural and unchanged. Buckingham’s film appears natural and organic without any manipulation, but the characters of the film where all aware of each other and Buckingham’s concept and idea for this film thus making this reality artificial. There are interesting and informative accounts of art ranging from strict formalism to psychoanalysis, but that these had best be registered and tested against more general scientific theories of human society and culture.When this is done, the content of the work of art can be related to the means of scientific, realistic and empirical theories of culture and so ciety. This film addresses social concerns within society. The concept of the film and the film itself push the boundary of what is socially acceptable as art. Buckingham’s film does push the boundary of what is socially accepted for him to follow another person without their permission and to further document this as a film.