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FUNCTION OF SOUND IN THE SHOT 207
and unsubstantial, for what we merely see is only a vision. We accept seen space as real only when it contains sounds as well, for these give it the dimension of depth.
On the stage, a silence which is the reverse of speech may have a dramaturgical function, as for instance if a noisy company suddenly falls silent when a new character appears; but such a silence cannot last longer than a few seconds, otherwise it curdles as it were and seems to stop the performance. On the stage, the effect of silence cannot be drawn out or made to last.
In the film, silence can be extremely vivid and varied, for although it has no voice, it has very many expressions and gestures. A silent glance can speak volumes; its soundlessness makes it more expressive because the facial movements of a silent figure may explain the reason for the silence, make us feel its weight, its menace, its tension. In the film, silence does not halt action even for an instant and such silent action gives even silence a living face.
The physiognomy of men is more intense when they are silent. More than that, in silence even things drop their masks and seem to look at you with wide-open eyes. If a sound film shows us any object surrounded by the noises of everyday life and then suddenly cuts out all sound and brings it up to us in isolated close-up, then the physiognomy of that object takes on a significance and tension that seems to provoke and invite the event which is to follow.
DRAMATURGICAL FUNCTION OF SOUND IN THE SHOT
If dramaturgy is the teaching about the laws of dramatic action, is it possible to speak about dramaturgy in connection with a single shot? Does not the most energetic action manifest itself only in the sequence, in the interrelation of varying conditions following each other? Well, the film has nothing to do with the classic problem of the ancient Greek philosophers who asked whether movement consisted of a series of distinct conditions and whether a series of static conditions could ever become motion. For although each frame of the