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THE COMPOSITIONAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SHOT
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Fig. i. — Proportions of rectangles ; groups of ' static ' and dynamic symmetry.
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Fig. 2. — Calculation of the proportions of rectangles based on 1 square roots.'
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Fig. 3. — Calculation of the proportions of rectangles based on the ' golden section.'
one aspect of the task of compositional construction, by providing the director and camera-man with new creative possibilities in the sphere of mass scenes, landscapes, and battle episodes. The proportions of the ' wide frame ' are obviously not perfect, since they render the construction of portrait and group compositions very difficult. Such a shape will not allow of a single compositional centre, and in such conditions the planning of a close-up presents considerable difficulties.
This tendency towards widening the frame has so far been resorted to in cases where the director and camera-man were faced with the task of compositional planning of mass and battle scenes.1
Perhaps the suggestion made by Eisenstein in 1930 was the most rational of all. He proposed to make the frame limit circular in form, and to change the sides in the course of projection. Rectangles of various proportions introduced into the circle would then completely satisfy the varied compositional needs that arise in the course of successive shots.
By reducing the height of the sound-film frame, the cinema has been able to return to the former ratio of four to three for the picture. However, as we have said, this shape is not likely to prove a satisfactory standard, and it is highly possible that it will again be revised.
Once more we must emphasise that we have by no means disposed of all our problems arising out of the frame limits when we have established their general proportions, for the possibility of exploiting those limits in compositional construction makes them one of the essential means of organising the shot to achieve maximum expression.
The margin of the image not only acts as a restriction of the field of vision, but is also an important resource in compositional construction. When the camera-man isolates a section of the general field of vision within the limits of the
1 The ' triptych screen ' of Abel Gance in " Napoleon", for example. — Ed.
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