The cinema as a graphic art : on a theory of representation in the cinema (1959)

THE CINEMA AS A GRAPHIC ART filming details which, despite the static quality of individual shots, in their repre sentational form have a sharply expressed dynamic quality, linked by the genera editing composition of the film. The decision as to the foreshortening to be given to any object when composing the shot is closely connected with the choice of camera viewpoint. Here we musi ditstinguish the three most typical kinds of motivation for any given foreshortening To begin with, one motivation for foreshortening construction is found ir the necessity for the camera viewpoint to reveal the viewpoint of the actor. Hen we have a direct connection between the viewpoint and the ascertained fore shortening of the subject. Figs. 19 and 20 show such a connection. In Fig. 19 the foreshortening of the details of the building is determined b) the viewpoint of the actor as he stands gazing at the building from below. His viewpoint motivates the choice of this form of foreshortening. In Fig. 20 we have the same motivation, but the foreshortening is that of a side viewpoint determined by a side glance of the actor. Secondly, foreshortening may be conditioned by special psychological needs, involving an associative juxtaposition of two objects. By employing foreshortening we confirm the resemblance between two different objects. Fig. 21, a shot from " The End of St. Petersburg " (Pudovkin and Golovnya), gives such an instance. In the great majority of cases this type of foreshortening juxtaposition arises out of the editing tasks of the scene. Thirdly, the necessity for severe foreshortening construction may arise out of the specific peculiarities of form appertaining to the object shot. An instance is provided by Baroque achitecture. In order to display the structural features of this architectural order we must resort to foreshortening construction from one side. Foreshortening of the object in the shot as a factor in composition is in inseparable functional inter-action with the choice of camera viewpoint, its perspective, and the optical characteristics of the lens, which also influence the nature and degree of the foreshortening. (d) PERSPECTIVE UNITY Perspective in all its various forms is at the basis of a realistic perception and organisation of seen space. The essence of realistic organisation of space in representational technique consists in the last resort in transmitting, on the twodimensional plane of the image, the optical impression of objects distributed at varying distances from the eyes. In their general form the laws of construction of perspective correspond with the laws governing our physical sight. The farther the object is situated from our eyes, the smaller and less distinct it appears to us. And this conditions the system of the perspective view of space. As in pictorial art, we recognise two main forms of perspective construction : linear perspective, the effect of which is achieved by organising the graphic elements of representation, and aerial perspective, achieved by the tone of the image, and the distribution of light and shade. We must consider certain factors involved in the transmission of linear perspective in the cinema. If we imagine a series of parallel planes distributed in the order of their successive distances from us, and project parallel lines through those planes, we get the impression of a gradual convergence of those parallel lines upon a single point, which is called the point of convergence or vanishing point. All the horizontal, vertical and sloping lines distributed over the plane of the image undergo an illusory abbreviation as they approach the horizon and the vanishing point. 48