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The Wide Reverse, Cognition and Affect

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Steven Spielberg's Style by Stealth

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Abstract

This chapter examines how Spielberg constructs his narratives through the lens of cognitivism and related emotion ‘theory’. At the same time, this chapter is not designed to provide an exhaustive summary of current cognitive and affective theory. Rather, its purpose is to provide an introductory overview of some of the more pertinent concepts, debates and findings that are relevant to the consideration of style and its function in Spielberg’s films.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Berliner and Cohen describe the process of constructing shots to create perceptual coherence as analytical editing yet my understanding is that this term refers to the change from a wider view to a tighter one—as used in my explanation of their second point. The term constructive editing seems more appropriate to their definition of the third point (Bordwell and Thompson 2008, Ch. 6).

  2. 2.

    Almost in the sense that shot, reverse shot arrangements usually reverse the previous shot with oblique angles that are significantly less than the 180 degrees normally seen in the wide reverse.

  3. 3.

    My own anecdotal experience in teaching undergraduate production students is that, in the majority of cases, they fail to notice that they have crossed the line until the principle is explained to them.

  4. 4.

    Ozu’s style is examined in the following chapter.

  5. 5.

    T. J. Smith has developed a system of attentional cues into the Attentional Theory of Cinematic Continuity (ATOCC).

  6. 6.

    As the principle screenwriter of Jurassic Park, David Koepp should also be included in the narrative aspect as a participator in the creation of spectator interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charles Sturt University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    James Mairata

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  1. James Mairata
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Mairata, J. (2018). The Wide Reverse, Cognition and Affect. In: Steven Spielberg's Style by Stealth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69081-0_8

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