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

CREATIVE PROBLEMS OF THE ART OF THE CAMERA-MAN The splendid and moving shots of the " Conveyor of Death " [said Bela Balasz, in his review of this film] are like the flaming, feverish dream of a naive man, who has heard something of this reality. But that dream is represented with strong cinematic fantasy, with cinematic temperament. The camera-man M. Gindin is a great master. An interesting example of the way in which the expressive possibilities of pictorial treatment of the shot can be exploited is given in D. Feldman's latest film, " Petersburg Nights ". For this film, which suffers from a number of dramaturgic defects, pictorial treatment was chosen by the camera-man as the only sound way of resolving the representational tasks : a way conditioned by the scenario and the directorial prerequisites. In our opinion the picture suffers from two organic defects, which arise out of the actual scenario of the film. These are : a weakening of the dramaturgic core of the scenario, and the protracted development of the narrative. The immediate result of the vicious quality of the scenario construction is a lack of clarity in the editing composition as a whole, which hinders the dynamic development of the narrative, and therefore the dynamism of the compositional construction of the individual shots. Static, contemplative elements predominate in the picture, which fact naturally drives the camera-man also along the road of illustrative exposition of the scenario content, and not its dynamic revelation, which would be a genuinely cinematographic method of resolving the task. Such clashes between the camera-man and the scenario requirements, especially when historical films are in question, usually lead either to a reproduction fixation of the filmed object, or to a purely formalistic decision based on the external, decorative picturesqueness of the various shots. In the first case the camera-man's primitive ' photographism ' creates the finished ' living photography ' of a theatrical staging of the scenario. In the second case we get ' shots of genius ', formulated in accordance with the principle of mechanical imitation of models drawn from pictorial art. Taking into account the thematic requirements of the scenario of " Petersburg Nights " and the specific character of the film, which is not without elements of romanticism, Feldman chose pictorial treatment. And in our opinion he committed no error. The scenario and the directorial treatment of the film afford the camera-man no justification for transferring the centre of gravity of the composition to the dynamics of intra-shot action, for the development of the narrative takes indirectly parallel roads, not infrequently shifting to the material of the background or to auditory clues. The active opening, which determines the activity of the chief hero, is at times completely overshadowed by the detail and interplay of secondary situations. But a harsh, linear optical transmission of the object always directs the perception to the active factor of the compositional dynamics. Obviously Feldman's only correct way of resolving the problem, i therefore, was to exploit the possibilities of pictorial treatment, which would , conduce to a generalised perception of the shot, and so would not disclose the definite passivity of the directorial treatment (Fig. 128). With Feldman a general softening of the optical design, which demands tremendous creative flair and tact in its execution, never figures as a haphazard pictorial effect. Even a thoroughly hard-bitten spectator is scarcely likely to note anywhere any deliberate quality in the details compositionally introduced into the shot, or a strained character in the foreshortening, so plastic, and so imperceptibly constructed are the transitions from the main object to the surrounding background. Feldman also carries out his own lighting schemes to correspond with the optical transmission of the design of the shot. He 207