Synopsis of section De Sica Metteur En Scene of What is Cinema by Andre Bazin
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According to Andr Bazin, in volume two of his book What is Cinema?, neorealism is about respect. It is defiant against the traditional aspect of cinema, namely expressionism, in order to consider a subject in the style it merits. In respect of its subject, neorealism prefers the actual to the artificial.
Beginning with acting, Bazin lies out the groundwork for neorealism. Actors are preferably non-professional to "guarantee against the expressionism of traditional acting." He moves onto settings, which are natural, not in studios, and then to the photography of the narrative, which allows for the "actual duration of the event". These three technical aspects form the groundwork for the reverence to subject he will later discuss. But this groundwork does not necessarily produce neorealism, it is the essence of the work's being that truly labels it: "Thus, neorealism is more an ontological position than an aesthetic one. That is why the employment of its technical attributes, like a recipe, do not necessarily produce it"...