‘The truth is we’re watching each other’: Voiceover narration as ‘split self’ presentation in The Handmaid’s Tale TV series

Cognitive stylistics offers a renewed focus on readerly or audience interpretation, but while cognitive stylistic tools have been applied in the investigation of literary texts, their application to TV, film and screen has been more limited. This article examines the cognitive stylistic features of the voiceover narration in the first TV series adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale to explore the representation of June/Offred’s ‘split selves’ and how these are mediated through a prominent ‘filmic composition device’. Through analysis of voiceovers and corresponding production choices in series 1, this study explores, first, how the different modes of communication – both choices of visual production (such as shallow-focus shots) and linguistic features (such as ‘you’ address and container metaphors) – combine to show Offred’s split perspective; and second, how these stylistic elements work to foreground the key themes of the series, such as imprisonment, objectification and surveillance.

Researching of quasiperiodic variations in the amplitude of VLF electromagnetic signals from lightning discharges passing over strong earthquakes

The specific features of a method for radiosounding the lower ionosphere over earthquake epicenters using LF electromagnetic signals of thunderstorm sources (atmospherics) have been considered. The effects of shallow-focus earthquakes with magnitudes larger than 4.0 and their precursors manifest themselves in amplitude characteristics of atmospherics. It has been assumed that variations in the signal characteristics are related to disturbances in the lower ionosphere. According to the results of azimuthal scanning, cross sectional dimensions of disturbed regions, as a rule, correspond to the dimensions of the first two Fresnel zones for signals at a frequency of 10 kHz. Azimuthal scanning also indicated that the positions of disturbed regions during and before earthquakes could have a certain dynamics and differ from the projection onto the earthquake epicenter. Quasi-periodic variations of signal amplitude of lightning discharges passing over earthquake epicenters are in details considered. It has been obtained that the period of amplitude modulation makes up 2-3 hours, i.e. in the ionosphere D-layer the same values of the periods of wave phenomena are registered as which are observed in a higher F-region of the ionosphere. The results obtained during the work specify that, at least, in the part of events the seismic disturbances in the ionosphere can be caused by AGW, propagating upwards from the epicentral area.

Flat Film: Strategies of Depthlessness in Pleasantville and La Haine

In this essay I consider the device of depthlessness in film. I am interested in particular in the ways in which this device can determine, or at least raise questions about, the nature of the fictional world. Taking my cue from two films from the turn of the century – Gary Ross' 1998 film Pleasantville and Matthieu Kassovitz' 1995 La Haine – as well as, more broadly, arts historical and cultural theoretical debates, where rather more attention has been devoted to the issue of depthlessness, I focus on moments in which depth, that is, in Andre Bazin's oft-cited words, the “continuity” of the fictional realm, is flattened so as to trace the correlation between depthlessness and the ontology of the fictional world. The two strategies I look at are shallow focus and the dolly zoom. What I intend, here, is to offer some first, superficial (no pun intended), reflections that may allow us to begin thinking about this cinematic notion of the depthless as a device and concept in its own right, with its own rationales and implications, just as art historians and cultural theorists have found it an interesting concept by which to study and categorize artistic and cultural developments. There is so much discussion in film studies about depth – from Bazin's discourse about neorealism's “decisive step forward” re-introducing deep focus, to Gilles Deleuze's talk about Orson Welles' “freeing” of depth, it might be helpful to consider its supposedly backwards, “restrictive” antithesis as well.

Globally valid relations converting magnitudes of intermediate and deep-focus earthquakes to MW

An essential step in the compilation of homogeneous and complete earthquake catalogs is the thorough investigation of potentially robust relations between different magnitude scales. The vast majority of already published relations usually concerns shallow-focus earthquake data with depths up to 60-70 km. In the present study, several magnitude scales reported by 66 world-wide data providers in conjunction with published catalogs are examined within the depth range of 61-700 km, by applying least-squares regression analysis. Among other widely used scales, as body wave (mb, mB) and surface wave (Ms) magnitudes cited by International Centers (i.e. ISC, NEIC and IDC), the behavior of relevant magnitude scales determined by MOS (Moscow, Russia), BJI (Beijing, China), DJA (Djakarta, Indonesia) and the Japanese magnitude calculated by JMA, is also examined. By this way, robust calibrating relationships of 12 magnitude scales to the moment magnitudes provided by GCMT, NEIC and JMA are defined. From the obtained results important observations on the behavior of certain magnitude scales were made. Thus, a remarkable variation of mb scale cited by IDC could be noted for intermediate and deep focus events. Furthermore, a comparison with the Mw of NIED revealed an apparent lower “saturation” level around 5.0 below which the moment magnitude values published by GCMT and NEIC, are systematically overestimated.

The Touch of History: A Phenomenological Approach to 1960s Czech Cinema

The films of the Czechoslovak filmmakers, František Vláčil and Karel Kachyňa, employ distinctive formal features, such as shallow focus, action obscured by objects in the foreground and symmetrical image composition, that emphasise the experience of both spectators and characters. I map this haptic visuality onto the importance of phenomenology as the primary philosophical tendency during this period in Czechoslovakia, and particularly consider Jan Patočka’s work on history, freedom and the body. I also argue that this style is a reaction to the dictates of socialist realism. I consider three films in detail: Vláčil’s Marketa Lazarová (1967), often hailed as the most important masterpiece of Czech cinema, Kachyňa’s Kočar do Vidně (Coach to Vienna, 1966) and his Noc nevěsty (Night of the Bride / The Nun’s Night, 1967). All three films are linked by a consideration of Christianity as an institution of political freedom as well as oppression. I consider these films phenomenologically and argue that their concrete engagement with the experience of the spectator creates a strong connection between the historical and fictional plights of the vulnerable bodies of their characters.