CINEMATIC LANGUAGE OF TURKISH FOLK DANCES; AN İNVESTIGATION OF VISUAL AND SEMANTIC ELEMENTS IN THE MOVIE “BİTMEYEN YOL”

Abstract

Cinematic language refers to the techniques and methods that filmmakers use to convey meaning and emotions through visual and auditory elements. These elements include camera angles, lighting, sound effects, music, dialogue, and editing. Turkish folk dances are also presented as an area in which cinema language can be reflected in every dimension. So much so that Turkish folk dances add semantic color and mobility to films in that they reflect Turkish traditional ways of life and reveal the richness of Turkish culture. In addition, it is seen that Turkish folk dances add a plus value to films in areas such as costume, choreography, music, space, emotional meaning, symbolism. Therefore, the academic study of films in which Turkish folk plays are exhibited can contribute both to the development of cinema and to the realization of the importance of Turkish folk dances. For this purpose, the film “The Endless Road”, one of the historical Turkish cinemas of the 1960s, will be examined in terms of visual and semantic elements.

This work basically consists of two main parts. The first is the section where the visual elements in the selected film are examined and in this part the analysis will be made in the context of costume, choreography, music, and space. In the second part, the semantic elements in the selected film will be examined and in this part the analysis will be made in the context of historical and cultural context, emotional meaning, symbolism. The thesis of the study is that the film “The Endless Road” is very rich in cinematic elements and is an important work in the promotion of Turkish folk dances with this aspect.