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THE COMPOSITIONAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SHOT
the aid of which we carry out the task of composition. We shall consider them in the following order :
(a) The limits of the shot. (The frame of the image in each separate shot.)
(b) The camera-angle.
(c) Viewpoint (set-up) and foreshortening.
(d) Perspective unity. \e) The optical design of the image. (/) The lighting and tone of the image. (g) The time factor. After briefly explaining the essence of each of these elements of composition,
we shall analyse their interconnections in the dynamic process, using a particular scenario outline as an example.
(a) THE LIMITS OF THE SHOT. (FRAME OF THE IMAGE)
The frame limit determines the spatial bounds within which the object to be shot is to be confined. As the frame limit effects a strict demarcation of the image from the general field of vision, it is a means of making a primary selection. When the camera-man includes any object within the spatial limits of the frame he is taking the first step in actively organizing the filmed object for expressive purposes. .
Our perception of any object bounded by the frame limits differs considerably from our direct perception of the same object under ordinary conditions. When we place the object within the frame limits we bring to the screen a presentation of that object in a definite spatial situation, as well as of the spatial extent of the image as a whole. Consequently, the question of the proportions of the frame limits, in other words, the correlation of its sides, is of extreme importance in the compositional task. .
The frame proportions have been the subject of unending, fierce discussions throughout the forty-odd years of the cinema's existence. These discussions, which from time to time have led to modifications in the frame format, have arisen not so much because of the question of technical standardisation as out ot the problem of cinema-frame composition.
In 1929 the scientific research laboratory of the Kodak firm published an article1 by Lloyd Jones dealing with the proportions of the frame rectangle from the aspect of shot composition. Despite the empirical character of the article, the material collected by the author is of great interest to us, for the proportions ot the frame limits are still not fixed at a constant ratio.
In comparing the various correlationships of the frame sides, Lloyd Jones expresses the proportions in an abstract dimension obtained as the result ot dividing the frame width by its height. This abstract dimension, or coefficient, vacillated from 1-25 to 2 during the early years of cinematography. During the following period the international format of the frame limits was temporarily standardised at a ratio of four to three, the coefficient being 133. But with the arrival of the sound film the sound track reduced the width by 2-5 millimetres, and the coefficient was modified to 1 • 1 5. In the opinion of many cinematographers such a format does not meet the compositional needs of the frame, and in 1933 it
1 Bulletin of the Kodak Scientific Research Laboratory, Rochester, U.S.A., 1929.
No. 410.
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