Poetics and Aesthetics, Analog and Digital: a case study on the film’s photography direction Night Shyamalan’s Old Poética y Estética, Análogo y Digital: un estudio de caso sobre la dirección de fotografía de la película Old de M. Night Shyamalan

Abstract

This article is the result of a case study based on the methodological procedures of a focus group carried out with Cinema students, in São Paulo, in May 2024. The study selected a sample of six Cinema students, young people with more than half of the course degree already completed, therefore with some knowledge and practice of film production and with some repertoire of appreciation of cinematographic techniques and discourses. The primary purpose of the Study was to investigate whether these students would aesthetically perceive the language resources used in the poetic construction of director of photography Mike Gioulakis in the film Night Shyamalan’s Old. There were two language resources: the use of analogue cameras and celluloid film to capture the film's images. Based on the premise that the majority of students would watch the film on digital devices, there was a possibility that the language resources would not be completely grasped. As the premise turned out to be true, the Study resulted in important findings and even more important questions.