Digital transformation of cinematograph as a factor in forming a new visual aesthetic: an analysis of the foreign film discourse at the beginning of the XXI century

The purpose of the article is to consider the process of the digital cinematograph transformation as a factor in forming a new visual aesthetics through the analysis of the foreign cinema discourse at the beginning of the XXI century. The methodology of the research is based on a holistic approach, which involves formulating a picture of cinema in the digital world, based on different points of view of directors and film critics on the results of the impact of new technologies on reforming the foundations of cinema, resulting in the formation of a new visual aesthetic. This dictates the use of discourse analysis (a method of studying the content) of reviews, comments, surveys, etc. related to innovative approaches in the film industry. An attempt to define the influence of new media on cinematic aesthetics involves the use of the principle of techno(media)determinism, which helps to reveal the interconnections of technological, stylistic, programmatic, and socio-cultural processes. The results. It is confirmed that the computerization at the beginning of the XXI century actively contributed to the formation of new structures of representation and content, and also initiated a rethinking of the role of cinema in society. Digital technologies have freed traditional cinema from its aesthetic and stylistic tropes and languages, thus opening up cinematic aesthetics to the influences of automatisms integrated into digital tools and computer software. It is emphasized that, along with the choice of long shooting, deep focus and A. Bazin’s theory of the objective machine, where the filmmaker’s prejudices are minimized, proleptic editing and indexicality are also perceived as a choice, not as format-driven limitations. The computerization and dematerialization of the camera turns it into a co-creator and co-director, thereby dictating a new logic of seeing the mise-en-scene and the nature of authorship, and also determines the development of aesthetic styles that, thanks to the hybridity of digital images, go beyond the boundaries of visual realism. It is found out that the optimization and further spread of compositing, as well as digital intermediaries, changes the indexical nature of cinema and creates conditions for the consistent hybridization of visual forms and the transformation of aesthetic styles that become more similar in their characteristics to the visuals of video games and graphic novels than to photography. The scientific novelty. The article for the first time analyzes different points of view of foreign directors and film critics in the first decade of the XXI century on the consequences and prospects of the impact of digital technologies on reforming the foundations of cinema, and also considers several creative experiments within the framework of cinema 3.0 with new influences and genre hybridity that have influenced the formation of a new visual aesthetic. The practical significance. The results of this research can be used in the educational process when teaching a general course on the history of cinema and special courses on the digital transformation of audio-visual art and cinematograph in particular.