Unpacking Findings: Can the TikTok format be used to effectively emulate archetypical film aesthetics?

There are several archetypical film aesthetics that have helped shaped and build cinema to what we understand of it today. However, for the purpose of this inquiry, only two international film movements were explored. If I were to continue this inquiry, a larger variety of movements would be considered, and the question would be altered. The reasoning behind the reinterpretation of the inquiry will be discussed towards the end of this post.

German Expressionism

German Expressionism is a highly stylistic film movement that explores visual art aesthetics in moving-image media. The stylisation is visually captivating in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, 1920). As discussed in J.B.’s review of Dr. Caligari, which has been translated and included in Kaes, Baer and Cowan’s book The Promise of Cinema: German Film Theory, film expressionism was seen as the intersection of paintings and theatre (2016: 422)

“Before we saw this new world for ourselves, we were sceptical. We could not quite imagine the slanted lines, triangles, and rectangles of modern painting as three-dimensional forms in space; we expected an overwhelming sense of implausibility, especially alienating in the reality of film photography. But the impression has removed all doubt… The details are bizarre, but I have never gotten such a deep and immediate impression of oppressive bleakness, of tortuous loneliness from a set design as I did here,” (J.B., 1920, as cited in Kaes, Baer & Cowan, 2016: 422).

The set design in German Expressionism used sharp edges and stark contrast, giving an expressionistic understanding of the inner feelings being outwardly portrayed by the film. J.B. continues to write about their awe regarding the development of set design, which in turn was similar to sculptural elements in traditional art, once again proving the intersection of art and theatre within the film (ibid). The set design began to show its significance in expressionist film and is now a conventional mise en scene element.

Interpreting Dr. Caligari for TikTok required a few considerations to be made. TikTok exists in several categories of contemporary filmmaking: digital filmmaking, cinephilm (phone cinematography), prosumerism (consumers being a part of the production process), and short-form storytelling. Therefore, several elements needed to be considered for the adaption of Dr. Caligari, which in turn made me question the interpretation of my initial inquiry question. For the sake of both adaptions created for this process, I did my best to stay as true to the traditional archetypical film aesthetics as possible. This resulted in rather lacklustre production qualities and some compromises. Future inquiry into this question will consider reinterpreting the question as well as redefining the criteria in which the adaptations are allowed to abide by.

Considering TikTok’s maximum video length is 60 seconds, a sequence was adapted instead of the entire narrative. I chose to focus on Dr. Caligari’s introduction to Casere, his somnambulist, but I also included a short 15 second video of Dr. Caligari’s insanity. This was because TikTok users are more likely to engage in shorter videos that use a 3-act structure with a thrilling beginning and a surprise end (Bresnick, 2019: 7). Both sequences allowed me to utilise typical post-production techniques available on the app.

Bresnick has studied a cinematic understanding of TikTok with a strong focus on intensified continuity and post-classical editing techniques, which was originally discussed in 2002 by David Bordwell. In Bresnick’s paper, he discusses how TikTok has exemplified what Bordwell originally spoke about in regard to digital filmmaking. TikTok enhances the original intensified shot duration, camera motion, and visual effects (2019: 3). Due to TikTok’s maximum length being 60-seconds, but also due to the nature of the audience’s attention span, shot durations are significantly shorter, camera motion is quick and visible to the audience, as well as the visual effects (ibid). The audience is aware of the quality of the post-classical, mobile-phone visual effects. In Bordwell’s 2002 paper regarding intensified continuity, he writes how closer shot types encouraged editing to be faster. These tighter shots showed areas of interest successively rather than simultaneously in one shot with deep focus (2002).

In the creation of my TikTok adaptation, I struggled with the shot duration. I wanted to stay true to the shots seen in Dr. Caligari, which doesn’t necessarily work with the speed of TikTok’s format. I could have edited the shots down much shorter, allowing for the faster turnaround audiences of TikTok are akin to. For the awakening of Casere, I used the green screen effect found in the TikTok app to allow myself to be both Casere and Dr. Caligari. In doing so, the Dr. Caligari version of myself is much closer to the frame. The proportioning of both characters is off; however, these low-budget post-production techniques are a part of online filmmaking. As Stephen Groening details as part of amateur online video making “…the amateur is, therefore, an experimenter, someone aware of, but not bound by professional conventions and protocols,” (Groening, 2016). This is seen clearly in TikTok’s green-screen effect, especially considering an actual green screen is not needed to make the effect work. This amateur aesthetic is further found in poor eyeline matches between cuts, which can be seen in my Dr. Caligari remake.

For my insanity recreation, I used another variant of the green screen effect found on the app. Instead of a video background, as I did with Casere as the background to my Dr. Caligari, I used an expressionist set design. I found an image that looked like it was inspired by Dr. Caligari’s background, as it used similar brushstrokes to emulate the trees painted in the original film. I simply green-screened myself as Dr. Caligari as he roamed back and forth, seeing text appear on screen translated to “you must become Dr. Caligari.” This was achieved by adding text directly through the app as well.

French New Wave

In contrast to the heavily stylistic aesthetics of German Expressionism, I adapted Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960). French New Wave used a lot of realism throughout their films, which I found harder to adapt to the TikTok format than expressionism. Considering the visual effects on TikTok are visible to the audience, attempting to recreate French New Wave’s more realistic nature proved a challenge.

Fabe writes how French New Wave auteurs such as Truffaut used film language to translate subtle nuances of feelings and ideas (2014: 179). How can one be subtle and nuanced on TikTok? This led me to simply recreating the scene in which Michel is driving and consequently finds himself shooting a police officer. The driving scene uses the green screen effect again, to create movement behind an otherwise stationary me, acting as Michel, two hitchhikers, and the police officer. In part three, I decided to not worry about my eyeline in the way TikTok filmmakers and French New Wave filmmakers actively break the 180-degree rule.

There are a lot of moments in Godard’s Breathless that wouldn’t necessarily work with TikTok’s fast-paced editing techniques. This is because Godard’s chosen personal film language included a lot of long takes. This goes against TikTok’s fast-paced natured and established 3-act convention of thrilling beginnings and surprise ends, as described in Bresnick’s analysis of TikTok as a cinematic form (2019: 4). Breathless is still suited to cellphilming as described by Dockney and Tomasellis in Mandrona. They define cellphilm as an ordinary person’s ‘show and tell’ (Mandrona, 2016). If Michel was an ordinary person, Breathless could therefore be adapted to the aesthetics of cellphilm, but perhaps not a short form storytelling as short as TikTok. Other cellphilms such as YouTube, or simply a feature film made on a cell phone, would be more suited to Breathless.

Reflections

I feel more could have been done with these TikToks if I had more time to consider the plethora of effects available on TikTok. However, to do that more effectively, I feel a revision of the initial question is required. Or, at the very least, more established criteria are needed. I originally expected to simply recreate these archetypical film aesthetics to the short-form vertical video form that is TikTok, but there is a lot more to TikTok than those two factors. A future inquiry should consider a large variety of TikTok’s visual effects, as well as the camera movement and transtition trickery users actively engage with (for example, watch NickJ Tutorials for TikTok transitions here). The inquiry shouldn’t simply be about recreating these traditional techniques on TikTok, but adapting to use TikTok conventions. This could be done even further by finding current TikTok trends and challenges and using the duet and stitch features to collaborate with other users. This would further embody what it is to create TikToks, instead of simply replicating the style of traditional film aesthetics. Instead of using the original sounds from Breathless and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari like I have, I should spend time investigating the licensed music from TikTok or original sounds from TikTok users and use those to adapt within the format.

References

Bresnick, E. (2019). Intensified Play: Cinematic study of TikTok mobile app. Research Gate, available at: www. researchgate. net/publication/335570557_Intensified_Play_ Cinematic_study_of_TikTok_mobile_app (accessed 5 January 2020). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335570557_Intensified_Play_Cinematic_study_of_TikTok_mobile_app

Bordwell, D. (2002). Intensified continuity: Visual style in contemporary american film. Film Quarterly, 55(3), 16–28. Retrieved from https://www-proquest-com.saeezproxy.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/intensified-continuity-visual-style-contemporary/docview/1708936/se-2?accountid=145504

Chapman, Kristina. [@creating.popcorn]. (n.d.). Kristina [TikTok Profile]. TikTok. Retrieved 21 December 2020, from https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSnU2U9H/

Fabe, M. (2014). Auteur theory and the French New Wave. Closely watched films : An introduction to the art of narrative film technique. (pp. 173–181) ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Godard, J. (1960). Breathless [Film]. France: UGC.

Groening, S. (2016). Introduction: The aesthetics of online videos. Film Criticism, 40(2), E1-E8. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/fc.13761232.0040.201

Kaes, A., Baer, N., & Cowan, M. (Eds.). (2016). The promise of cinema : German film theory, 1907–1933. (pp 415–424) ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Mandrona, A. R. (2016). Visual culture, aesthetics, and the ethics of cellphilming. In What’s a Cellphilm? (pp. 183–198). Brill Sense. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=3827537655444542947&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

Wiene, R. (1920). The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari [Film]. Germany: Decla-Bioscop.

Bibliography

Astruc, A. (1948). THE BIRTH OF A NEW AVANT-GARDE: La Camera Stylo. Retrieved 21 December 2020, from http://www.newwavefilm.com/about/camera-stylo-astruc.shtml

Ganz, A., & Khatib, L. (2006). Digital cinema: The transformation of film practice and aesthetics. New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, 4(1), 21–36. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam_Ganz/publication/249918741_Digital_cinema_The_transformation_of_film_practice_and_aesthetics/links/0046353119ca3d234f000000/Digital-cinema-The-transformation-of-film-practice-and-aesthetics.pdf