{"id":18460,"date":"2012-06-18T19:59:46","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T00:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/?p=18460"},"modified":"2020-07-26T16:57:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T21:57:26","slug":"cognitivists-storm-big-apple-big-apple-asks-whats-a-cognitivist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2012\/06\/18\/cognitivists-storm-big-apple-big-apple-asks-whats-a-cognitivist\/","title":{"rendered":"COGNITIVISTS STORM BIG APPLE! BIG APPLE ASKS, &#8220;WHAT&#8217;S A COGNITIVIST?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Party-view-600.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18465\" title=\"Party view 600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Party-view-600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Party-view-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Party-view-600-150x86.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Party-view-600-500x288.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>The final SCSMI 2012 banquet, held on the tenth floor of the NYU Kimmel Center for University Life, Rosenthal Pavilion.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>DB here:<\/p>\n<p>Most years I offer an entry recording some events at the annual meeting of <a href=\"http:\/\/scsmi-online.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image<\/a>. We did hold\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/scsmi-online.org\/conference\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">our conference<\/a>&#8211;and a swell one it was, starting Wednesday at Sarah Lawrence College and wrapping up at the Cinema Studies department of New York University last Saturday. I heard many excellent papers and panel discussions. (The schedule is on a pdf <a href=\"http:\/\/scsmi-online.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/program2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.) The event was also graced by keynote lectures by <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alva_No\u00eb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alva No\u00eb<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Noel_Carroll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">No\u00ebl Carroll<\/a>, and a night of splendid, eye-warping films by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.starspangledtodeath.com\/mainfiles\/main.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ken Jacobs<\/a>, no stranger to this blog (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2008\/04\/06\/lines-of-sight-and-light\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2009\/04\/04\/yes-we-like-it-here-at-the-wisconsin-film-festival\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2010\/01\/25\/paris-berlin-brussels-express\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>).\u00a0<strong>Malcolm Turvey<\/strong>\u00a0of Sarah Lawrence and\u00a0<strong>Richard Allen<\/strong>\u00a0of NYU did an excellent job of coordinating the SCSMI event.<\/p>\n<p>But\u00a0I can&#8217;t offer my usual conference roundup this time.\u00a0Kristin and I just got back last night, and we have only three days in Madison before taking off for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinetecadibologna.it\/cinemaritrovato2012\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Il Cinema Ritrovato<\/a>. In those three days we have a hell of a lot to do, including setting me up for Medicare (!), as I&#8217;ll turn 65 during our trip. But I did want to supplement\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2012\/05\/30\/in-cognito-we-trust\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a small runup piece<\/a> to the conference a couple of weeks back.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/jnl_cover_proj-250.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18470 alignright\" title=\"jnl_cover_proj 250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/jnl_cover_proj-250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/jnl_cover_proj-250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/jnl_cover_proj-250-117x150.jpg 117w, https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/jnl_cover_proj-250-235x300.jpg 235w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>A few days after that post, I received the most recent issue of <em>Projections<\/em>, a journal with which SCSMI is affiliated. It&#8217;s stuffed with worthwhile pieces: Gerald Sim&#8217;s overview of the digital revolution (if any) in cinematography; Barbara Flueckiger&#8217;s essay, &#8220;Aesthetics of Stereoscopic Cinema&#8221;; Mark J. P. Wolf&#8217;s study of imaginary worlds on film; and James E. Cutting, Kailin L. Brunick, and Jordan DeLong&#8217;s correction of one claim they made about\u00a0shot lengths and film acts.\u00a0(Kristin discusses their project <a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2011\/06\/09\/cognitive-scientists-1-screenplay-gurus-0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in this entry<\/a>\u00a0from last year.)<\/p>\n<p>As if all this weren&#8217;t enough, the issue includes a lively and probing roundtable on Continuity Editing, with a superb synoptic article by Tim Smith summing up his eye-tracking research. (His study of <em>There Will Be Blood<\/em> is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2011\/02\/14\/watching-you-watch-there-will-be-blood\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">our now-classic guest blog<\/a>.) Tim&#8217;s article is an ideal introduction to his wide-ranging research program. Several other scholars comment on Tim&#8217;s &#8220;attentional theory of continuity editing&#8221;: Paul Messaris, Cynthia Freeland, Sheena Rogers, Malcolm Turvey, Greg Smith, and Daniel T. Levin and Alicia M. Hymel. Tim replies to their criticisms in a follow-up piece. This sort of dialogue occurs very rarely \u00a0in film studies, and it&#8217;s to be applauded. I think such serious and courteous exchanges are the mark of a mature, or at least maturing, discipline.<\/p>\n<p>You can learn more about Projections <a href=\"http:\/\/journals.berghahnbooks.com\/proj\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>\u00a0and read a sample issue\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/journals.berghahnbooks.com\/proj\/index.php?pg=sample\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If your library doesn&#8217;t subscribe, maybe you can hint that it should. Although it&#8217;s hard to determine the image format of the swirling filmstrip on the cover (image ratio and perfs are puzzling), note that at least it <em>is<\/em> film.<\/p>\n<p>I learned so much from this year&#8217;s get-together that you shouldn&#8217;t be surprised if pieces of it float into upcoming blog entries. And in 2013, there&#8217;s always Berlin.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baby-brain-500.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18466\" title=\"Baby brain 500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baby-brain-500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"368\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baby-brain-500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baby-brain-500-150x110.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baby-brain-500-407x300.jpg 407w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>From Sam Wass, Parag Mital, and Tim Smith&#8217;s paper, &#8220;Cutting through the blooming, buzzing confusion: Signal-to-noise ratios and comprehensibility in infant-directed screen media.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The final SCSMI 2012 banquet, held on the tenth floor of the NYU Kimmel Center for University Life, Rosenthal Pavilion. DB here: Most years I offer an entry recording some events at the annual meeting of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image. We did hold\u00a0our conference&#8211;and a swell one it was, starting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,34,290],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-theory-cognitivism","category-people-we-like","category-society-for-cognitive-studies-of-the-moving-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18460"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45151,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18460\/revisions\/45151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}