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

THE CINEMA AS A GRAPHIC ART creative content into the dead forms of the old camera-man's art, and this conten radically broke away from the established tradition of the pre-revolutionary school An essential part in the reorganisation of the ranks of camera-men wh< had come into news-reel work was played by the specific nature of the news-ree itself, which made extreme demands on the camera-man. We must conside in more detail the specific peculiarities of news-reel filming, since it will helj us considerably to explain the sources of the creative tendencies which emergec in the camera-man's art of the succeeding period. Whereas in the making of an artistic (or story) film the camera-man's tasl is to find a unity in the representational treatment of artistic images, and a stvl< which organically arises out of the content and artistic intention of the scenario a news-reel film confronts him with a by no means less complex task. Owing t< the specific conditions of making a news-reel film a number of episodes an entirely handled by the camera-man himself, and completely depend on his artistic culture and ideological approach. He has no predetermined scenario distributor into shots, so he is compelled directly in the process of shooting to create his owr plan, and, following that plan, ' editably ' to shoot each shot, preserving the genera narrative and compositional succession. Here, in fact, the camera-man has t< undertake director's functions, and the quality of the film depends to an enormous extent on his artistic perceptions, craftsmanship, and skill. We have alread) said that in editing only those shots can be reduced to an artistic unity which, ir. the shooting process itself, have been taken with regard to the general guiding editing conception. The so-called ' news-reel ' increases these demands still more, since here the camera-man's social outlook, philosophy of life and creative understanding of his tasks play a decisive part. The ' news-reel ' demands a distinct understanding of the social essence o: the events taking place and being shot. It necessitates a radical ideologica reorganisation, and the resolute rejection of the neutral position of ' objective reporting. In the actual technique of filming it demands extreme laconism in the shot, expressiveness, ability to reveal the main and essential, intelligence to capture and transmit in a short narrative the chief features of the event shot and a basic clear social approach. Among the camera-men who played a great part in the creation of historical news-reel documents we must mention first and foremost E. K. Tisse, A. A. Levitsky and G. V. Giber. We mention them in particular because their creative! road is most characteristic of the first period of development of the Soviet cameraman's art. When they went back to story cinematography A. A. Levitsky and G. V., Giber took with them a high level of technique, enriched by their experience of news-reel shooting. We must give special consideration to E. K. Tisse 's creative work, since; his name is inseparably linked with the greatest productions of Soviet cinema, with films of historical importance to us. In 1 913 Tisse passed out of a commercial marine high school and entered Graenzing's studio of painting and photography. In 19 1 4 he began practical work, shooting nature pictures on expeditions organised by the Graenzing studio (fishing in Holland, travelling through Scandinavia, etc). During the war he was a war correspondent camera-man, and filmed the military operations on various fronts, frequently in conditions of immediate danger, for instance in the battle for Riga and the surrender of the Iskulsk fortress. After the October revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Government he entered