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

THE COMPOSITIONAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SHOT I. The yawls in movement. A smooth moveunt, parallel to the horizontal limits of the frame. 1 1 the field of vision is occupied by the first theme, re horizontal play of small, vertical sails. II. Intensified movement of the yawls of the 1st theme (also aided by the emergence of the second ieme). The second theme comes to the foreground 1 way of the strict rhythm of the motionless rtical columns. The vertical lines foreshadow Je plastic distribution of the future figures (in Jots IV, V, etc.). Interplay of the horizontal ive troughs and the vertical lines. The yawl erne is pushed back into the depth of the shot. ]he plastic theme of the arch emerges in the lower rt of the shot. III. The plastic theme of the arch grows itil it fills the entire frame. The play caused by iange in construction from vertical lines to the arch, he theme of the verticals is retained in the moveent of the people going away from the camera, he yawl theme is finally thrust into the background. IV. The plastic theme of the arch finally cupies the foreground. From formulation in rms of an arc it passes into the opposite construcpn, which is indicated by the contour of a group rmulated in terms of a circle (the umbrella pre*ures the composition). The same transition to mtraposed construction occurs also within the ;rtical construction : the backs of tiny figures issing into the depth are replaced by large figures ken fron tally, and retaining their places. The ieme of the yawl movement is retained in reflecon : in the expression of the eyes and their ovement along a horizontal line. V. In the foreground is a common compotional variation : an even number of people is placed by an uneven number. Two by three, 'his ' golden rule ' of change of the mise en sdne has ^hind it a tradition which can be traced back to the :alian " Commedia dell' Arte " (at the same time the irection of the glances also crosses). The arch lotive again emerges, with the arch this time bent in the opposite direction. It is repeated id supported by a new parallel arch motive in the background : the balustrade. The awl theme is represented in movement. The gaze of the eyes extends right across the orizontals of the frame. \ VI. Shots I to V give the transition from the yawls theme to the watchers' theme, eveloped in five editing pieces. The interval V to VI brings a sharp return transition om the watchers to the yawls. Strictly in accordance with the content, the composition Jects a swift transformation by all its characteristic features into its opposite. From the iepth the line of the balustrade is swiftly brought into the foreground, being repeated by ne line of the boat's gunwale. It is doubled by the boat's water-line. The main elements f the composition are the same but the treatment is contraposed : shot V is static, shot T is crosslined by the dynamic of the boat's movement. The vertical division into ' three * p retained in both shots. The central element is texturally similar (the woman's blouse, nd the material of the sail). The side elements are in sharp contrast : the black patches r the men on either side of the woman and the white gaps at the sides of the sail. The ertical distribution is also contrasted : the three figures cut off by the bottom horizontal ; f the frame undergo transition into the vertical sail cut off by the upper horizontal of the rame. In the background emerges a new theme — the battleship side, cut off at the top preparation for shot VII). VII. A new, sharp turn in the theme. The theme of the background — the battleship -is brought to the foreground (the jump in the theme from shot V to shot VI served as 117 Fig. 61. — Analysis of linear-dimensional composition in an episode of the film " The Battleship Potemkin ".