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

THE COMPOSITIONAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SHOT he light, reflection, and nature of the sources of the light. The camera-man tot only possesses means of arbitrarily changing the correlationships of linear erspective, but also can change the nature of the transmission of aerial perspective. Ve shall deal with this question in more detail in the section devoted to the light nd tone of the image. (e) THE OPTICAL DESIGN OF THE IMAGE The notion of the real world and its space obtained by direct visual perception 5 based on binocular vision. But the construction of the cinematographic image n the plane of the frame is achieved through the monocular action of the photoraphic lens. The optical system embodied in the cinematograph camera is an Intermediary technical means of constructing the form and outlining the details f the image in the shot. The character of cinematographic representation impends on the specific peculiarities of this optical system. So we may regard ptics in its various forms of creative exploitation as a compositional resource. Judged from the aspect of its technical attributes, the photographic lens assesses a number of technical constants. For the purpose of our present theme ve are interested in the focal length of the lens, its angle of vision, the degree o which the optical system corrects the chief optical defects, and the depth of ocus available to the lens. By changing the focal length we can bring the camera viewpoint nearer to he object photographed, along the line of the optical axis, in other words, the ocal length of the lens determines the size of the image in the frame. Without hanging the camera viewpoint, by selecting a lens with suitable focal length we can •ring the object nearer or shift it farther away, so changing the size of the image. An increase in the focal length involves a reduction of the lens angle of vision, nd this interdependence of two optical constants also determines the character »f the perspective transmission of the object photographed. A short-focus lens iattens the perspective, while increasing the height and breadth of the object >hotographed. A long-focus lens deepens the perspective, while reducing the teight and breadth of the objects situated in the foreground. The focal length and the lens angle of vision modify the projection of the etual object in the plane of the frame, for any change in the perspective distri>ution of the details affects not only the depth of the image, but also the appearance »f the individual objects themselves. Figs. 24 and 25 show the difference in the >ptical transmission when an object is photographed from the same viewpoint, >ut with lenses differing in focal length. In Fig. 24 the perspective diminution of the horizontal lines of the tower s insignificant, for a long-focus lens has been used. Here it is quite easy to ecognise the square form of the tower, whereas in Fig. 25, photographed with a hort-focus lens, the horizontal lines of the tower are sloped sharply towards the lorizon, and in consequence it is difficult at first glance to recognise the actual orm of the object. We will consider three examples of strong optical distortion of objects, ichieved solely by employing the appropriate lens. The first example shows an extension of the object along the frame verticals, "ig. 26 is a portrait taken with a long-focus lens. Here we get an optical transnission in close correspondence with the actual linear correlationships of the )bject. Fig. 27 gives the same object, but taken at a close distance with a shortbcus lens. Here the vertical extension is clearly evident, and the character of he face completely changes in consequence. 55