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

THE CINEMA AS A GRAPHIC ART means contradicts the conception of a single style. A simple comparison of the individual manner of work of various masters cannot serve as the starting-point i for analysis, inasmuch as creative manners are not comparable. In Tisse's work linear dimensional treatment, multi-plane compositions with great depth and clearly expressed expressionist tendencies predominate. And this is the peculiarity of his creative manner, which has just as much right to recognition as, say, the creative manner of Moskvin or Demutsky. Moskvin's work, on the other hand, is distinguished by its tendency towards light-plastic treatment and two-distantial plane constructions. Emotional nuance is much more natural to his work than to Tisse's. Finally, Demutsky more clearly perceives composition in space than composition in time. This gives rise to monumentalism and a certain static quality in his group shots. But this is not to be regarded as a negative quality. When speaking of the creative manner of a camera-man artist we can only say to what degree the given creative manner i satisfies the needs of the definite genre in which he works. The conception ' genre ' undoubtedly exists in the camera-man's art. We say that every genre ought to find its expression in the peculiarities of the representational treatment of the film. I So far Soviet cinema has not embraced all the variety of genres possible in cinema art. The genre of revolutionary emotion has predominated hitherto. Only now are we seeing the first beginnings of comedy, fantasy, slapstick, romantic drama and other genres. And the first works to show mastery of the new genres i have shown that the very nature of each of them demands special representational treatment, and different manners of shooting. It is difficult to imagine, for instance, a successful lyrical comedy with shots taken in heavy, monumental distortions, with low, sombre tone and harsh effect lighting. The light, merry i comedy should obviously be shot with the main motives taken into account. In this direction the camera-man is called upon not only to obtain a clear under I standing of the physiognomy of the genre, but also to find corresponding representational resources, ensuring easy perception of the narrative. In essentials it would be correct to supply only such methods of composition as assist the narrative dynamic of the comedy. It is highly important for the camera-man to have a perception of the difference in genres. Generally speaking, the most correct of all methods would be for him to be educated in a definite genre. Of course that does not mean that every camera-man should work in one genre chosen once for all. But, given the presence of an established creative method, a predominant tendency towards one or another genre reveals itself. The greater the development of varied genres in Soviet cinema, the more i sharply will the problem of genre confront us in the camera-man's art. In fact, the same landscape can be optically and tonally treated in quite different ways. By applying a dense light filter we can give it a pessimistic tinge, thickening and lowering the tone. Or it may be rendered as sunlit landscape with a broadly deployed depth of perspective, or, finally, elements of aerial perspective can predominate, which will completely change the character of the perception once more. Such distinctions are especially striking in the treatment of a portrait where, as we have already remarked, essential modifications in the transmission of the facial proportions can be optically achieved. We get one or another visual effect in dependence on the camera-man artist's creative perception and manner of work. And here we have to decide the extent to which the genre characteristics of the given representational treatment correspond with the genre of the film as a whole. 224