The soundscape as time capsule: A creative project based on the sounds of the first train station of Cuenca

This article reflects on the changing environment through the passage of time and how certain technologies for a creative proposal allow the preservation and transmission of a significant part of that ephemeral heritage for future generations. The general purpose of this particular project is aimed to achieve the sound synthesis of a specific and representative cityscape as the old train station in Cuenca –located in the heart of the city– that could be preserved and reproduced as an unique document of a present time, ascertainable in the future: a memory that interpret sound as a time capsule. This soundscape was made to mark the arrival of the high speed train in 2010 to a brand new station in the outskirts of the city. Therefore, the goal of this research was focused on achieving a synthetic document that provided a sound memory capable of reflecting the significant social, cultural and logistical features, of what was until then the only railway communication symbol in the city of Cuenca from 1883 to the first decade of the 21st century.

The portrait of the first poster artists of Spanish cinema: From the genre scene to the realistic portrait

The article, which is part of a more detailed piece of work, aims to highlight the use of the portrait on the film posters of the first Spanish poster artists before the Star-System was introduced in Spain. For this it is posed the evolution that occurs in the representation of the characters in the film poster from the second decade to the beginning of the thirties in the twentieth century, a historical period of profound influences of the artistic and advertising vanguards in our poster artists´ work. However, in the late twenties moving from the simple inclusion of the scene based on the picture of a film, to the chromatic and realistic representation of the star´s face. These were the years when the influence of the major North American studios began to show in Spain. Nevertheless, it highlights their technical and compositional freedom and their influence on subsequent poster artists, as many of them will integrate the portraits and settings on their posters, following the guidelines of the major studios or the independent ones. But without forgetting their own personal way of painting the film stars’ faces on their posters.

Short reflections on the history of African communication

This article aims to propose a chronological subdivision in the history of African communication. African communication today is one of the most important axes for implementing development strategies, sustaining education, health, and schooling programmes, and so on. However, many of these programmes fail due to a lack of or ineffective communication between international organisations, local elite and lay people. The reasons for this situation must be found in Africa’s history of communication, which has undergone radical transformations in its different phases. Using the functionalist analysis drawn up by Jakobson, this article proposes a new chronological subdivision of Africa’s history of communication, reflecting on the current contradictions in contemporary communication in Africa.

Cine policíaco del tardofranquismo: El thriller en el “Período Oscuro” del cine español (1969-1975)

Definición de la etapa de crisis del aparato cinematográfico franquista, llamada aquí “Período Oscuro” (1969-1975), discusión de la etiqueta de subgéneros aplicada al cinema bis de la época, y caracterización histórica del thriller español y de sus corrientes estéticas y conceptuales internas en dicho período. La acotación del período 1969-1975 es clarificada previamente ante el vacío historiográfico al respecto. Se caracteriza la crisis que tiene lugar en el “Período Oscuro”, desde su comienzo oficial en 1969, que supuso el definitivo cierre de las políticas proteccionistas emprendidas por el Director General de Cinematografía García Escudero en 1962. Después se define y discute la etiqueta de subgéneros aplicada tradicionalmente al cine español de género de bajo presupuesto. Luego, se especifican, definen y analizan las diversas categorías dentro del thriller español de 1969-1975: se trata de categorías temáticas y argumentales, estéticas, o bien relacionadas con corrientes internacionales del policíaco europeo. Por último, se extraen las conclusiones pertinentes.

Clear hero and dark hero in the cinematographic narration

The role of the hero is changing, slightly irregular, but it’s purpose is constant. The line that separates good from evil is frequently so thin that sometimes the main hero can act in a negative way, casting doubts about his own nature in the pursuit of good. This paper aims to inquire into the character’s heroic condition showing two variations of this archetype in the context of postmodern cinema: the “clear hero”, and the “dark hero”. The former keeps the most traditional values of the hero, while the latter provides a dimension which distinguishes it from the previous one: his experience executing evil as a part of his process to heroici­ty. Postmodernity implies an ambivalence in the character’s identity which can be comparable to the hero’s role, and to his way of making good. The “clear hero” does not imply negative features in the active nature of the hero, whilst the “dark hero” does include them. Through the protagonists of Gladiator (Scott, 2000) and Batman Begins (Nolan, 2005) are offered both heroic perspectives based on a selection of their principal ac­tions which have been subjected to analysis according to some parameters: behavior, implication, and cause. The decisive action will also be signalized, according to the narration’s teleonomy in reason of the favorable or unfavorable sense for the hero. Finally, each character will be observed from its archetype. By analyzing their actions from these perspectives, we observe the clear hero and the dark hero as affordable categories for the heroic role.

Representación fílmica del Derecho del Trabajo durante el Franquismo

El mundo del trabajo no ha gozado de una amplia representación a lo largo de la historia del cine. No obstante, un análisis de los films que han tratado directa o indirectamente dicha temática durante un período histórico determinado puede contribuir a arrojar importantes conclusiones sobre la manera en que se hizo frente social y jurídicamente a esta importante actividad humana. En concreto, el análisis del cine durante el franquismo nos posibilita contemplar aspectos tan importantes como la incorporación de la mujer al mundo del trabajo, la represión del hecho sindical o la crisis de empleo en el primer franquismo

The redemption of the gaze: the crisis of observation in the "fin de siècle" and the advent of cinema

The intention of this article is not to affirm, but rather to question wether it is possible to speak of a loss of the ability to gaze in the context of the nineteenth century and especially in the context of the fin de siècle, in the bosom of the epistemological crisis that beset the Turn of the Century. And very especially, this article tries to question about the impact this crisis had, perhaps, in the birth of cinema. Is in this context that arises the work of Marey and the advent of the cinematograph of the Lumière brothers in the fin de siècle Europe, both of them showing a deep faith in a mechanical apparatus that would allow the redemption of a battered gaze. And it seems to be a dream that continues over time through the tradition of shooting the everyday life.

Analysis about the society of 'Pa Negre' (Agustí Villaronga, 2010)

This article has developed with the intention of analyzing how the stereotypes, prejudices and lies can influence the education of the children. Formation, that usually comes from family and teachers, who sometimes move for extremist ideologies. There exist multiple fictions in which we observe these social archetypes, but it is the case of the movie Pa negre (Agustí Villaronga, 2010), where the principal personage evolves psychologically, because of that its eyes observe and the ideas that the people transmit him on its family, in the rural environments, where the tradition of the rumors coexists.

Super-villains of the "real world": the political use of the characterization of villains in Chistopher Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy"

It is almost a tradition that celluloid (or digital) villains are represented with some characteristics that remind us the real political enemies of the producer country of the film, or even enemies within the country according to the particular ideology that sustains the film. The case of Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight trilogy, analyzed here, is representative of this trend for two reasons. First, because it gets marked by political radicalization conducted by the US government after the attack of September 11, 2001. Secondly, because it offers a profuse gallery of villains who are outside the circle of friends as the new doctrine “either with us or against us” opened by George Bush for the XXI century. This gallery includes from the very terrorists who justify the War on Terror (Ra's al Ghul, the Joker), to the “radical left” (Bane, Talia al Ghul) including liberal politicians (Harvey Dent), and corrupt that take advantage of the softness of the law to commit crimes with impunity (Dr. Crane, the Scarecrow).

Reading of audiovisual productions of contemporary art in art education

This article focuses on the reading of audiovisual productions of contemporary art as a creative process, seeking to analyse which effects of meaning the articulations between the visual and sound systems produce, and the meaning that children give to then. It describes a video art, identifying the languages that compose it and the relationships that link them. Such reading exercise had as corpus of analysis the Chair video art, by Masaru Ozaki, and counted with the theoretical and methodological support of the discourse semiotics, especially with studies on assembly procedures that articulate visual and auditory languages. Also, it presents a focal study with the meanings that a group of children gave to the video art. The findings indicate the importance of including the reading of audiovisual productions of contemporary art at school through the problematization of effects of meaning produced by the interrelation between different languages. And they suggest some subsidies that allow teachers from different areas of knowledge to reflect about the visuality in their pedagogical practice; the choice of the audiovisual materials taken to the classroom and other ways of seeing these texts edited.