Automavision

Automavision is a cinematic technique invented by Danish director Lars von Trier.

Developed with the intention of limiting human influence, in Automavision no cinematographer is actively operating the camera. The best possible fixed camera position is chosen and then a computer chooses framing by randomly tilting, panning or zooming the camera. In doing so it is not uncommon that the actors appear in the shots with a part of their face and head cut from the frame. With this technique then the blame for any "errors" are entirely attributable to a computer.{{cite book

| author = Morten Piil

| title = Gyldendals danske filmguide

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=caRYl94i7xUC&pg=PT112

| year = 2008

| publisher = Gyldendal A/S

| language = Danish

| isbn = 978-87-02-06669-2

| pages = 112–

}}{{cite book

| author = Alan Kirby

| title = Digimodernism: How New Technologies Dismantle the Postmodern and Reconfigure Our Culture

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yFHKBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT183

| date = 1 May 2009

| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing

| isbn = 978-1-4411-5416-3

| pages = 183–

}}{{cite book

| title = Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae4QqlUDt9wC&pg=PA399

| date = 31 August 2012

| publisher = Scarecrow Press

| isbn = 978-0-8108-5524-3

| pages = 399–

}}

Von Trier described Automavision as "a principle for shooting film developed with the intention of limiting human influence by inviting chance in from the cold (...) and thus giving the work an idea-less surface free of the force of habit and aesthetics."{{cite web

| url = http://film.thedigitalfix.com/content/id/67762/the-boss-of-it-all.html

| title = The Boss Of It All

| work = Film @ The Digital Fix

| accessdate = 21 January 2015

}} The principle was used during filming of the movie The Boss of It All (2006). Interviewed by The Guardian in 2006, von Trier said, "For a long time, my films have been handheld. That has to do with the fact that I am a control freak. With Automavision, the technique was that I would frame the picture first and then push a button on the computer. I was not in control — the computer was in control."{{cite web

| url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/sep/22/londonfilmfestival2006.londonfilmfestival

| title = Geoffrey Macnab talks to Lars Von Trier

| author = Geoffrey Macnab

| work = The Guardian

| date = 22 September 2006

| accessdate = 21 January 2015

}}{{cite book

| author = Nicholas Rombes

| title = Cinema in the Digital Age

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HAelVZDOI3QC&pg=PA139

| year = 2009

| publisher = Columbia University Press

| isbn = 978-1-905674-86-2

| pages = 139–

}}{{cite book

| author = Yvonne Tasker

| title = Fifty Contemporary Film Directors

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5BHJBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT385

| date = 4 October 2010

| publisher = Routledge

| isbn = 978-1-136-91945-9

| pages = 385–

}} And in a 2008 interview with The Daily Telegraph, von Trier said "If you want bad framing, Automavision is the perfect way to do it. It was rather pleasant to lose control. In this case, I wanted to lose control 100 per cent."{{cite web

| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3671331/Lars-Von-Triers-funny-turn.html

| title = Lars Von Trier's funny turn

| author = Sheila Johnston

| date = 22 February 2008

| work = Telegraph.co.uk

| accessdate = 21 January 2015

}}{{cite book

| author = Davina Quinlivan

| title = The Place of Breath in Cinema

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eaRvAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT138

| date = 1 May 2012

| publisher = Oxford University Press