Anthropometric chronotopy

5

ANTHROPOMETRIC

CHRONOTOPY

Man is the measure of all things

Protagoras

5.1. THE HUMAN SCALE OF THE TIME AND SPACE OF FILM

We are scientists who examine memories

Friedrich Murnau

Man is not interested in the abstract harmony of the universe – for instance, in the fact that the entire world behaves in a musical way – as modern Pythagoreans would claim. For all the loftiness of such notions, the man is egocentrically fixated on himself and his problems. He is interested in the universe, but always in search of himself within it. As such, “the cosmic harmony” leaves him indifferent. Therefore abstract cosmic harmonies cannot be the ontic essence of art. This essence undoubtedly has roots in purely human perception and harmony of the universe. If the universe exhibits musical behaviour, it is because the man imposes such a pattern.

In primitive cultures, at the onset of self awareness, man had the sense of existing at the centre of the world and his limited knowledge of the surrounding world increased his anthropocentric perception manifold, in the inverse proportion to his knowledge. Alongside with gaining historical and geographic experience and widening of horizons, the central position of man is becoming more and more insecure. Copernicus’ theory and discovery of the galaxies dealt a deathly blow to anthropocentricism as a universally accepted approach to the way the world functions, so much so that nowadays, at the time of natural sciences’ absolute domination, an attempt at restoring an anthropocentric perspective in any field may seem problematic.

However, in art, such an approach need not lead to rejecting scientifically objective methods of enquiry, or their results, or embracing obscure subjectivism. Anthropocentricism does not discredit the scientific character of the universe but it endavours to restore to man his central position in the world of emotional and spiritual values. The idea is to make an attempt at crossing the abyss between the anthropological world of notions and the data of empirical sciences, and emphasizing the significance which this basic human aspect has for art and its reception. Fascination with achievements of exact sciences has left such deep traces even on the theory of art that this human aspect has now disappeared in favour of ontological concepts about entities in and of themselves.

Nevertheless man has his own perspective of time and space from which he detects the temporal and spatial phenomena. Due to that limited and unchanging perspective he cannot detect sensations from another time-spatial world perspective. A glimpse of “another world” is possible though, using various man-made technical instruments. When the objective is a different spatial perspective those could be: a microscope, a telescope, spherical mirrors, etc; when both time and space are at stake – a film camera. The perspective which is different to our own can be transformed into the human outlook by technical instruments. We still perceive those phenomena with our cognitive apparatus but through another perspective, as might an optical, mechanical or electronic instrument (a microscope, a camera, etc) tuned to a different scale which it transforms into ours. A microscope transforms a smaller perspective scale and a binocular, or a lens – a larger one.

The question of time is similar. Man’s temporal perspective is also pre-determined and man normally perceives and senses sequentiality of phenomena within this framework only. Technical instruments will make it possible to observe reality in a time frame that is different than the human time scale. The instrument which renders change of time perspective and its manipulation possible is film.

In a slow motion film (accelerated during the shooting) we observe motion in a time perspective different to our own. Within the slow motion of the altered time perspective we can notice details which our perception normally cannot capture in the normal, human perspective. Or we can now acknowledge motion which normally does not exist for us, even though we are aware that each transformation implies the idea of motion. Film (stop frame or slow motion) make it possible for us to observe how a butterfly evolves from the larva, or a flower from a bud. That motion, transformed accelerate, we may notice that such modification of the time pinto our perspective by means of a technical device is now revealed as true motion.

“Horses fly over the precipices, plants gesticulate, crystals pair off, reproduce, heal heir wounds, lava crawls, water becomes oil, gum becomes tar, man vanishes into a cloud, vapour, become a true aerial animal with grace of a cat and nimbleness of a monkey. All natural systems in force get distorted. Only one empire remains – life.”[1]

Such movements, when observed from another time perspective appear eerie, as if from another world. This reception offers many opportunities for time manipulation.

If we reverse the situation and accelerate we may notice that even slight modification of the time perspective can completely deform our perception of reality. The well known example are old silent movies that were shot at 18 frames per second, which nowadays are projected at the standard speed of 24 frames per second. Even that small difference (just ¼ increase in tempo) suffices to produce a mismatch of information systems, manifested by the artificial appearance of the world shown. Hence arises the well known comical quality of old movies, the madcap panic with which that world seems to be taken. We observe a different reality, a different human species, somewhat similar to ours but different, comically tottering around.

The centre of the direct present of our normal time perspective which amounts to – as will be discussed later – a little less than ¾ s (about 660ms, 80 – 90 MM) is shifting in the film acceleration into a different timing – ca 440ms (136 MM). In the language denoting tempo of music we would say that our moderato becomes the film allegro, our allegro would transform into presto etc. In that time scale our 24h would register as 16 hours and a century – 25 years. If we apply the same operation to sound films, human voices also become unnatural. The difference of one fifth makes male voices resemble the feminine ones, while the latter are transformed into the highest soprano registers of a shrill timbre. The word zone in an accelerated film moves towards the syllable zone, the syllables- towards phonemes, while phonemes are partially reduced because some of them evidently go beyond the psychological present.

Let us now imagine our world perceived from the time perspective of an accelerated film. Day and night would be 6hrs longer. Our voices would be unnaturally deep, the bass would fall outside the normal scale of human voices, while high pitched voices would be transformed into deep ones. Our speech would be slow and blurred, movements sluggish and soft etc. Those slow movements would be perceived as lack of effort or weakness of a character, or as an effect of strong resistance of the environment in which the object is moving etc.

The existence of natural zones of human time and space is indisputable. Discovering their physiological and psychological conditioning and examination of the ways they are made use of in works of art is undoubtedly one of the more important tasks of the theory of art as well as other sciences.

5.2.ANTHROPOMETRIC TIME MODULES OF FILM[*]

A valued artist does not possess a single idea which would not be hidden inside marble

Michelangelo Buonarrotti

The subject of a creative film is the medium in itself.

Our starting premise is the notion of each expression being contingent upon the medium through which it is expressed. The material shapes the primary energy of the experience into a specific art form.

The modern artist is not subordinate to the matter and its requirements but he creates it as needed for his communication. Rather than merely exploit the natural attributes of the medium, the creator designates them. It follows that significant problems are no longer in the shaping of the material, but in creation of the substance.

Because film is an art which connects several arts whose form is accomplished as an aftermath of cooperation of miscellaneous elements, the vital question arises on how it might be possible to achieve in that complex film structure a coherent, homogenous system.

The essential task is identification of the basic components of the film as well as rules of their mutual interaction. The substance of a film is a sum of all kinds movement, moving images of people and objects, movements of the camera, forms and colours, movement obtained by editing and punctuation, movement of sounds, tones, voices, words, music etc. By compiling those elements of which each functions within a specific system, we may build a homogenous sound image of sound, expression and meaning.

When we break down a film phenomenon into simple, elementary units of motion, the material obtained will be an abstract matter.

Primary, simple elements of motion – those occurrences, when considered separately, out of context, do not have real existence for us, because they are devoid of the vital attributes. Only the complex form of motion will endow an occurrence (an element of motion) with specific features, functions and meanings.

They determine motion on two qualitative levels: the first, where it is an abstract metamorphosis (movement) of a specific medium and the second, where it is seen as a phenomenon equipped with a set of characteristic features (categories). Categories are complexes non-decomposable in immediate perception.

Put in the simplest way, film is a series of sound photographs of material objects in motion. The time and space enters as a factor which establishes relations between the elementary particles of the film matter, and in whose coordinates their real properties are determined. That means that only in a specific time perspective can elements be subject to individualization and valuation. The movement situated within builds artistic entities as a reflex of the creative spirit. Outside the coordinates of a chronotopy only homogenous, shapeless mass of matter in motion exists.

The time division establishes relations between elementary particles of matter. Their properties are created depending on their position in space and sequence in time. Thanks to time and space it is possible to perceive phenomena with their individual, real properties. Away from the time and space there exist only elementary, shapeless movements-occurrences, not possessing in and of themselves any noticeable, qualitative differences. They gain value and distinctness only depending on their position in the time and space of the film.

Let’s be more specific here. What is in its essence of the duration of a film? Simply speaking it is a continuance of a specific dramatic action from a certain starting point, through culmination until the final moment. From the technical aspect it is the time in which a given length of tape will pass through the projector, i.e. will be projected on the screen. For instance, in a full feature film about 2500 m with frequency of 24 frames per second, on a 35mm tape. Those 2500m of tape can be broken down into, say, 700 shots Those 700 shots are of differing length and differing speed of the moving objects photographed there; the shots are in different relations to neighboring shots or groups of shots, they may be characterized by different tonalities, keys, scales, textures, colour dominants, colour palettes, plans, angles, and all that complex structure of shots is also underpinned by sound. In those relations movements can achieve varying dynamic values, building up in their course into certain organized kinesthetic entity. This kinetics is inseparable from the narrative progress and the action – drama line, which is temporarily organized and shaped into the kinesthetic formation – rhythm.

To achieve the time form that brings on sensation when perceived, the occurring movements should take lace at definite, systematically regulated intervals. Therefore it is necessary to design the inner metric network of a film. A film network is an external schematic division. It does not explain the course of elements, but it presents a stable scheme, a frame into which a sequence of events will be written in. As every external and schematic division this metric is in and of itself non-temporal and indistinctive. The function of a metric can be compared to this of a calendar or a frame of a still in the spatial aspect.

Cuts in a film are very precisely determined time frames. Every movement placed between them is in a specific relationship to both. If the cuts are regulated by specific proportions, a modular film network will be obtained. It has the entire course of motion written in – action implying rhythmic and dramatic aspects. Material thus organized gives the film the aspect of orderliness and clarity, which is the primary attribute of an artistic creation.

Each motional motif also assumes regularity in such a system of reference: within a shot, there are cuts, within frames – frame boundaries. This is the first level of the system’s complexity. It provides a foundation for regulation of the basic structural elements. The system is then enriched by regular repetition of elements or their series, and then by their symmetry or asymmetry, based on similarities or opposition. All structural elements are therefore spread out in definite, proportional relations to those distinctive “points” of reference (cuts, frame boundaries, compositional keys etc).

“How many among us actually know that in the visual sphere, in what pertains to length, our civilization has not yet reached the point already achieved by music? Nothing that has been built, construed, transformed into lengths, widths and volumes has yet received an equivalent of the measure possessed by music, the measure which is the working tool in the service of musical thought”[2]

Such a measure which would be a practical tool of film thinking, a tool which enables adequate action in planning and executing films and makes their perception more enjoyable, is, in my opinion, much needed. And this work is an attempt to establish it.

Again, the most important aspect is the human aspect of space and time. That human point of reference is what is missing in measure systems introduced as objective tools of science and practice. The human factor has always been present in measures used by man spontaneously. Measures however have lost their qualitative expression and became instead abstract symbols. One metre is a one forty millionth of the equator. What does such a measure actually mean for man? Nothing. There is no need to argue what significance may spring from applying such units in those areas in which man is the only essence and measure. None! In each field in which the man is brought into closer contact with time and space, the human scale ought to be applied It is clear that in restoring the importance of human scale the objective is its qualitative character, optimal human values with which we infuse our products, no matter if of the material or spiritual provenience.

Only man concerns himself with art; he is its eternal subject, he creates it, he performs it and he is its audience and therefore the measure must suit man.

Man organizes his world best when he uses measures determined by properties of his body and spirit as well as his activity. Elementary surface measures have always been of human origin: a hair (breadth) a nail (thickness or width), a finger (the finger’s width or length), an inch (a segment of a finger), a palm or a fist, the hand, i.e. the distance from the thumb to the baby finger, the cubit (distance from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow joint), foot (length of a foot), step (length of a step) etc. Distances used to be determined in other ways as well, but always employing the anthropometric quality: a stone’s throw, within the range of vision, within the range of voice, a day’s walk etc. Other determinants of measures are also defined in relation to man. Various heights are similarly measured and defined as “toe deep, ankle deep, knee deep, hips deep, waist deep, up to the breast, up to the neck, up to the mouth, up to the ears, up to the nostrils, up to the eyes, up to the top of the head”.

“Parthenon, the Hindu temples and cathedrals were built according to measures constituting a code, a coherent system which introduced a proper homogeneity. The primitive man in all times and places, just as those representatives of high civilizations: the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Greeks used to build, and therefore to measure. What were the tools they used? They were ancient, unchanging and precise, because they were associated with man. The names of those tools are cubit, digit, inch, foot, step etc. Let’s say it at once: they constituted integral parts of human body and therefore were an appropriate measure for building huts, houses, temples. Moreover, they were infinitesimally rich and precise for they formed a part of human body’s mathematics, graceful, elegant and secure, were a source of harmony which touches us and of beauty (judged – let it be clear – by the human eye, according to human notions, because there were never, nor could there be, other criteria)”[3]

5.3. THE SETUP – A MODUS[*] OF THE FILM SPACE

The word with which everything began as they say

was most likely a number.

Leszek Kołakowski

The size of the setup in film is an element of the visual layer which defines the field of vision of the frame i.e. its visual –spatial content. Definitions of setups are the director’s filmmaking tools and one of his key parameters. And yet no universal, precise, commonly accepted size scale has been adopted for setup sizing. It differs from case to case.

I am going to propose a tempered anthropometric setup scale based on the quality of human measure, precisely regulated by a logarithmic size scale composed of 12 modi.

Setups are visual, tempered, anthropometric modi of the film space.

From the twelve steps scale we select appropriate modules (sizes). The act of choice and composition will infuse them with a particular meaning. The setups are also spatial signs of a specific type. When they combine in a specific sequence and context, they reveal their full meaning. The selection and arrangement of setups is the fundamental spatial key to a film.

Zooms and pans enrich the film with their smooth setup changeovers in infinitesimal number of combinations, emphasizing, alongside the three spatial dimensions, also the fourth one – the time dimension.

The benchmark of setup classification is the human form (see picture)

Tempered twelve step anthropometric setup scale:

1. Ch - Choker (enlarged) – enlarged part of human body or a micro object

2. ECU – Extreme Close up -a part of the head or another part of the human body, a small object or a part of it which fills out a frame (eyes, a hand, a pistol, etc)

3. CU – Close up - the frame is filled with man’s head only

4. WCU – Wide Close up (bust) within the frame there is head, neck and upper part of chest. The lower edge of the frame cuts across the form at the chest level.

5. C - Close Shot – the form in the frame is seen down to the waist

6. MC – Medium Close Shot – the form inside the frame is cut off at the crotch level

7. MF - Medium Full Shot – the form in the frame is visible from the knees up

8. F – Full Shot – the form fills the frame from the bottom boundary almost to the top. There may be free space overhead, to the level of a raised hand

9. L - Long Shot - some free space between the frame’s boundaries and the head and feet of the form inside (about half of man’s height or a man with a hand raised high – 85-90 cms). Comprises small interiors in entirety.

10. VL - Very Long Shot – it is possible to identify dominant features of a person or an object (a Negro, a one legged man, a soldier, etc). It comprises entirety of large interiors (a sports hall, railway hall) or outlined settings (a camp, a farm, etc).

11. GV – General View - it is possible to identify a human form. A setup of large, but still outlined settings (a field, an airport, a ship).

12. DV – Distant View - the human form is just a point inside the frame. It is not identifiable as human. Unlimited settings: mountains, seas, prairies etc. Most often shot from above, from a hill, from a plane or using special effects.

The scale of film setups fulfills two essential functions, that is: it limits the variety by dividing the continuous scale of film space into a set amount of regulated, but still discretional[‡] quantities (akin to a scale of sounds in music) and it introduces anthropometrics as an important quality in defining the film space. Handling these distinct quantities allows numerous compositional combinations in creating the image of film space.

The scale of plan setup can be described as a tempered sequence of 1:2 proportion, that is octave-like, which plays a profound role in composing temporal relations, as well as in other layers of the film. It creates a tempered (proportional, harmonic) twelve-step sequence. Similarly to the time scale, this space scale also has a logarithmic nature.

The size of the space setup is the size of a set area or a spatial code, not just an abstract number; this precise code and context, in which it appears, gives sense and artistic quality to the space.

The diagram shows anthropometric modular dimensions of a human or spatial object placed inside the film frame. The actual distance between the object and the camera and the nature of the lens utilised allow overall vertical orientation of particular dimensions. The starting point of the sequence of film setups is the height of a human head, which is about 22 cm.

The size of a frame on the film tape has a fixed size 16.5 mm x 22 mm. A simple equation defines in two dimensions the setup covered by a lens of given focal length in a given distance from the camera:

a : b = c : x

b – focal length

a – width (height) of the film frame

c – distance of the object from the camera

x – unknown height (width) of the setup

5.4 METRIC MODULE AND RHYTHMIC MODULE

The whole thing is a number

Pythagoras

There is an inclination in human nature to carry out movements in a way dictated by comfort, that is in a manner somewhat measured in relation to physiological tempo and anatomical capacity of an organism. This goes together with affinity to measuring time with units that reflect the tempo at which our organism normally functions and moves. For instance, a single step at average speed takes approximately as much time as does one heart pulse at normal level of exertion (72-80 beats per minute, 16-20 inhalations per minute), which, measured in time units would produce about .7s (a human .66s) that is 17 or 18 frames per second of a 35 mm film at frequency 24 frames/s. I propose 18 frames or .75s as the basic metric film module. A module, is given here in the sense of a measure, the simplest component of the system, a constant, repetitive factor serving to set forth proportions of other components of the whole.

The basic metric cell of a film contains the elementary rhythmic shape. We may assume 1.5s or 36 frames/second /.75 x 2/ to be the basic rhythmic module of a film. The rhythmic cell implies two phases: arsis + thesis. That is why the value of the basic module is multiplied by 2, which produces the rhythmic module 1.5s (.75x 2 – arsis and thesis) or 36 frames per second ( definitions and analysis of arsis and thesis notions are placed in the chapter on rhythm). This means that an average human step (step=75-85 cms – human metre), at normal speed and in normal circumstances lasts, on average, between 2/3 and ¾ s or between 16 and 18 frames per second.

A second contains 24 frames (1 frame = .04s). The human second = .66s, going by the logarithmic scale of human time: .66 : 04 = 16.5 (frames) per second.

It is my belief that it would be practical to move the module value from 16.5 frames/s and round it up to 18frames/s or 3/4s, because this value is more convenient for calculations – it is easier to multiply or divide: 18 x 2 = 36 (1.5s) x 2 = 72 frames (3s) etc.

By dividing the module value into two 18 : 2m = 9 frames/s we obtain the value of the basic mobile element of film at 9 frames/s. A 1/8 or 3 fs/s represent a human moment – the minimal time necessary for man to register an impression through the sense of vision. Between 1/8s and 8s there exists the zone in which man registers time proportions with precision.

I hope I may be forgiven a short foray into mysticism, because it is often the source and an important component of artistic phenomenon. Kabbalah has its own way of defining the meaning of certain numbers which denote the hidden sense of the world, and consequently of the artistic phenomena.

Number 18 symbolises the letter ytes which means haj – life. 2 x 18 is “two times” haj, or, “two times” life in the philosophic plane and in the world hereafter. Numbers 18 and 18 produce 36 and that number stands for words: lamet, waw, cadikin which denote tradition. Therefore the number 36 describes the world in its traditional form. Number 18 is obtained from 1 and 8 which add up to 9, and number 36 – from 3 and 6 which also add up to 9. Nine denotes emes – truth.

The basic metric module of a film is contained in each take a definite number of times. It breaks down a take, a sequence, a scene and a film into identical units of duration. We may call it a step of the progression in time, because by each such unit the film moves forward, while at the same time modifying motion, giving it a certain definite, noticeable time frame, which serves to establish relations, proportions and harmonies.

Therefore one could perceive the metric unit – the module – both as a measure of division and as a basic step with which a film creation progresses in time. That measure-module underlies the film as a “warp” on which the ornament of its form ( rhythmic, activist, story-telling and dramatic ) is woven. The modular step particularly emphasises those movements whose duration coincides with the duration of the module. They clearly mark the time division with which the film steps forward in its basic progression.

This division which is usually marked in the takes by movements of various kinds may often be indistinctive and amorphous. But when the spectator’s consciousness accepts this unit of measurement and accepts it spontaneously, then it will continue the measuring on its own, following an already ingrained reflex, which will place the motion within definitive framework, endowing it with organized attributes and therefore sublimating it.

The spectator’s sub- consciousness accepts the module and lines the take with it even when it is not clearly marked. An induced structure phenomenon arises. It happens with long shots with unclear action; the takes,, one might say, lost their metric character because the movement might be continuous and uniform and trajectory - invisible. For instance a plane is flying in the sky without clouds in a very wide set up, panoramically conducted, without changing position in relation to the frame borders. We shall ignore the sound, which may well influence the illusion of rhythm.

Metric module which keeps prolonging the course of film by a specific unit makes for its development in homogenous and regular time. The modular metric step with which the film progresses is not consciously distinguished by a viewer. The development of kinetically, isometrically organized notions becomes perceptible for the viewer on the subconscious level of nomophilia and commodulation, order and proportion.

If a two-phase rhythmic movement at normal speed cannot be contained inside a frame, it is transformed into a single phase kinetic element, which enters elementary rhythmic relation with neighboring shots, presenting arsis or thesis depending on the context.

The need for conscious control of tempo as one of the most distinctive elements of film expression also warrants the necessity of consciously organized metrisation of films. Aprecise regulation of tempo without a distinctive and regularly reappearing kinetic metric module is impossible. Its value determines the tempo of a take, scene or sequence.

5.5 ACTION QUANT

The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre

Observe degree, priority and place,

Insisture, course, proportion, season, form

Office and custom, in all line of order

William Shakespeare “The Tempest”

The next step beyond the level of the basic anthropometric and rhythmic module in the time aspect is basic module of action or, in other words, a quant. Through multiplication of 4 modular elementary metric units of 18 images oer second (.75s) we obtain 3 seconds (75 images), which, according to psycho-physiological research presents the psychological present, that is the basic unit of action – the action quant.

A Munich physiologist Ernest Peppel studied human speech in four languages and concluded that regardless of nationality people make short pauses distanced by approximately 3 seconds. The same is true for poetry recitations regardless of metrum.

This phenomenon can be experienced by listening to the noise of train wheels on old rails when moving at a constant speed. The tapping noise of the weels makes for a sui generis sequence of a rhythmic phrase, repeating every 3 seconds, beause it is in that time that the brain integrates impressions and crates amalgamated rhythmic form.

Since the anthropometric module (.75 s – 18 images) is the basic quant of time in film and the rhythmic module (1.5s – 36 images) the basic quant of a gesture, then four anthropometric modules (3 seconds – 72 images) represent a module of action or an action quant, that is the basic unit in the sphere of human activity.

What we call the present only lasts for us a 3 seconds; anything more distant than 4s or more belongs to the future.

Based on many years of research, psychologist Margaret Scheidt maintains that this phenomen comprises all peoples, regardless of geographical latitude, nationality, culture, race or civilization, which justifies a claim that it is a ingrained characteristic of human nature.

A sentence uttered takes on average 2.5 – 3s. Repetitive ritual activities also lasts about 3 seconds, beginning with a handshake, dance steps, and various gestures, up to military orders (e.g. “company to attack, forward”) the launch in a competition (“ready steady go”) or director’s requests on the set (attention, camera, action”).

A take in a feature film most often lasts about 3s or a multiple of this module (6, 9, 12…). So the action module or action quant underpins not only our perception, but our whole activity.

Modules are most often grouped into distinctive film sequences (takes, scenes, sequences) in ways suggesting preference for the 2 number and its whole powers (2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32 etc) because they produce closed, stable wholes. It is rare to see modules composed in groups based on 3s – unstable, “circular” and open. Either whole powers of 3 or groupings, such as, for instance 2+3=5; 2+2+3=7 etc. From the montage vantage point, division into three typically requires cuts on the movement.

The third possibility is a clean cut departure from the whole powers of numbers 2 or 3 into groupings of modules (or whole powers of other numbers), so that in given fragments we may distinguish groups of uneven lengths, containing sequentially for instance 2, 4, 5, 2, 6, 6 etc modules. In today’s film practice that last type is most often present. It is most often non-modular, but when it is modular it is also polymetric and polyrythmic.

It is easily verifiable that a modular rhythmic structure differs radically in perception from a non-modular structure even when the module appears in irregularly variable groupings or is of extremely small size.

My objective is not to debate superiority of one or another rhythmic system (non-modular vs modular) or their greater or lesser usefulness in the modern film. I am mainly concerned with showing the rhythmic possibilities of film that are at the disposal of present day directors, who most of the time are not fully aware of them.

Usually films consist of uneven takes, not reducible to any unit of duration. Their course prolongs itself movement by movement but it does not organise itself into a precisely shaped kinetic whole according to a definitive rule which might articulate the peculiar, expressive movement of film in time.

Introducing a module into the temporal organisation of a film we obtain a basis for creating special sensations. The film not only regularly develops in time but continually moves with a motion whose sharacter and expression spring from the very organisation of the film material.

Film may be monometric or polymetric. The monometric film is not, appearances aside, regular in a schematic way, because film possesses the time course of visual material that is so abundant in forms, that regularity of monometric warp will not make it rigid. One can say therefore that monometry as well as, undoubtfully, pomymetry, may be a highly constructive way of organizing the rhythmic material in film.

Juxtaposing elements of a different metrum side by side or one above the other is a polymetric arrangement. Simpler polymetric combinations create new, easily perceptible regularities or resemble regularity, not as exact but no less distinctive.

The metrum ought to be perceptible even in most complex polymetries. But its perceptibility and function are decided by general structure, its other elements (e.g. the line of action or a parallel sound medium, the tune of musical accompaniment in which a given metrum exists etc). When the metrum becomes a sort of a basic formal cell, then its function becomes “formogenic”, and the motoric pulse begins to play an essential role in the composition of the film.

Let’s turn our attention to the idea that underlies motion. It is motorics. Motorics is an impression of movement caused by sequencing of identical units, metric or rhythmic. It is actually uniform motion, with monotonous course. However it is but a part of the truth, maybe even the less important one. The uniform movement alone is monotonous, even in the fastest tempos, does not produce a sensation of a truly motoric course. There is a need for counterpoints, impulses derived from the organisation of film material itself. This is what creating motoric, impulse based film motion is about.

This is based on the principle of motion counterpoint. The uniform movement (such as the modular web or musical metrum in the audio layer) is juxtaposed against the motion arabesques of the film rhythm, attempting to break out of the order established by modular cuts. It follows that motorics is not a property of movement as such, but it is its organized composition under the time-spatial framework.

The next level of organizing movement, through which it becomes the pure form is a so called ostinato. It is a constant repetition of a motif or action-rhythmic theme intensifying suspense, endowing the movement with definite motorics and in that way emphasizing lucidity of the film composition.

Other forms of animation and motoric dynamisation are, among others, an inner dynamics metrum and variable medium. The inner dynamics metrum is based on a fixed module and irregularly arranged accents inside its course.

The second technique, the variable metrum technique depends on varying metric modules while retaining a constant rhythmic unit.

It must be borne in mind that regularity is always more or less hidden and therefore it must possess a distinctive pulse, which, however, is not easily perceptible under other layers.

Metrorythmic manifestations in a film may constitute an autonomous factor which is to serve objectives of energy (the vehicle of suspense and motorics), expression and creation of form. All the same, it does not mean simple regularity, uniformity and rigid schematic outlook, but introduction of certain principles or organizing and regulating of time course in order to emphasize its artistic potential.

“Harmonically” functioning time elements, modulations of time values, sui generis “melodies” of time values and proportions are further steps towards mastering time in film. Enlarging influence of time values and proportions through the rule of equivalence with other film factors opens further perspectives in constructing film structure. I am convinced that time measures and their skilful application will play an increasingly important role in forming the structure of modern film.

Movement in time has its distinct symmetry or other references in space which ought to represent one of the basic starting points for the unique esthetics of film as time-spatial art. That peculiar, complex, time-spatial film movement has different manifestations, nature, expression, meaning and ought to be an object of film creators’ special consideration.

5.6 A TAKE –KINETIC UNIT OF A HIGHER DEGREE

Only proportionality constitutes beauty

Lorenzo Ghiberti

We have assumed that in a film creation metric units are regularly repeated. Every take contains a definite number of them. Metric units are, as I defined before, units of time which divide a take ( a film) into definite modular elements. They are based on normal human motion and its regular multiplier. Slighter or longer movements are proportional to normal, medium ones. Remaining within regular borderlines of the metric “web” of a film, they enrich the structure of the piece.

When we have a precise metric web movements (human or any other ) will spontaneously enter into a framework of regular units in the viewer’s consciousness, because they function between cuts, regular and proportional time frames. Movements are therefore proportional between each other and in relation to the length of takes, since each take is a multiplicated anthropometric modular unit of a higher degree.

The beginning of a movement or a take is its strong, accented part, because it presents, firstly, a visual “shock” and secondly it carries a load of new information. The weak, (unacceptable) element of the take comes later, because interest begins to wane and new information is getting scarce. That unaccented part prepares a beginning of a new movement or take, their first, accented part.

Metric units are grouped in regular takes in groups of 1, 2, 3 and more units. Therefore we may consider each regular take as a larger metric unit similar to a bar in music or, better still, a verse in prosody. Metric units are divided by means of accents. Every beginning of a new take is, as I pointed out, the accented part.

In other words, when the director senses a need for introducing or accenting a piece of information, in order to give it significance he changes the setup and position of camera, or brings in a new element into the frame.

The beginning of a take undoubtedly carries an accent, which does not mean that it has to be the strongest accent of the take. Thanks to introduction of new elements of content or form, an image or a sound and their juxtaposition we obtain a possibility of countless rhythmic combinations. We may therefore say that accents do not always appear regularly in the same spot of the frame. Film is an audio-visual polyrythmics of exceptionally complex structure. Accented parts in it are usually longer.

The human step actually consists of two steps, carried out first with one then with another leg. One leg initiates the “two-step” while the other one serves the auxiliary function of “support”. That is what majority of binary forms look like. This springs from the fact that it is easier to initiate a “two-step” movement than to take each step separately.

The first step receives the strongest inertia impulse. When some order of movement establishes itself we notice that it is a regular recurrence of the “two-step” that is a cell consisting of two elements, two kinetic units. And so, walking consisting of steps is transformed into walking to the beat of music. Steps combine in a simple binary kinetic whole (rhythmic module).

Every take has a definite number of elements which divide it into a definite number of parts. What matters for us now is the basic division into even and odd takes. The binary rhythmic unit was already mentioned and takes consisting of a greater number of units divisible by two will separate spontaneously into binary cells anyhow. The juxtaposition of an even number against an odd one represents a twofold opposition, often occurring in old cultural traditions. In its essence it is a definite system of classification, which aligns all phenomena in two opposing categories.

Structural anthropology demonstrates that understanding of time as category unifying mythological oppositions (life, death, day, night) has existed for a long time. Ancient Chinese thinkers placed all phenomena in two opposing categories(jin and yang) which is akin to understanding of the dichotomy of even and odd numbers, especially 2 and 3 which permeat the old Chinese theory of numbers. It is one of the oldest examples of classification according to even or odd numbers, which can be still be found in many definitions of various time processes. Representing a number by means of a medium the artist organizes structure of the form in time and space.

Number is the universal key to understanding the world and art. Mathematics lies at the root of all creation. Numerical definitions present the essence of man’s spiritual creation, also the artistic, where the role of numbers often enters the domain of magic.

Odd takes are different in character, because a division into three is in a sense artificial (majority of natural phenomena is even). In the threefold form the second and third steps are connected to the first one, developing the movement forward. In this shape the first movement is almost always predominant and the strongest, which does not mean that in a rhythmic unit a stronger accent in another spot could not appear (this is one of the rhythm syncopation methods).

Almost every human movement contains preparation of the movement’s propulsion, time in which energy needed for execution is mobilized. Therefore, every kinetic form implies a “forestep”. In binary forms one element is always the forestep and the other – the main step.

In threefold form the first step is in most cases the principal one and the second is connected to the first as its simple extension, in which the propulsion of the first one ends and the “forestep” is not necessary because the third step in a threefold is the forestep of the next step. Owing to this characteristics the threefold forms are “circular”, unfinished, the cell movements overlap. For this firm typical editing is montage during movement, while for twofold forms – at the end of the movement phase.

According to some interpretations, the musical course, especially a threefold one, is round with accent on the first segment, while in a prosody accents can be found in many spots. Film may also have accents placed in different spots of the takes, although, as already established, in principle the strongly accented part of the take is its beginning.

A take may be compared to the beat in music, but perhaps a better comparison is a verse in prosody, especially blank verse of rhythmic prose. Here is the distribution of accents in basic metric cadences which may serve as a model for respective models of a film metric.

Twofold:

- one strong, one weak (trochee)

- one weak, one strong (iamb)

- two strong (spondee)

Threefold:

- one strong, two weak (dactyl)

- two weak, one strong (anapest)

- one weak, one strong, one weak (amfibrach)

The phenomen of division of complex kinetic forms into weak and strong segments is characteristic for all kinetic manifestations consisting of separate elements of movement.

In every organized kinetic sequence of separate units of movement combined into a particular form, propulsion precedes beat.

It is in the nature of every movement consisting of separate units that its course becomes the lighter, more fluid, and, importantly, more distinctive, the better its elements are organized in greater kinetic whole.

Every take presents a particular kinetic form, by which the film “steps” forward. It also presents time-spatial framework in which dramatic-action building and rhythmic “gesticulation” of film is developed and formed. Kinetics is free in its development, but it remains in a constant relationship both to the basic metric module by means of which its movement is regulated and to the type of rhythmic scheme of the take which organizes the movement in a particular way, as well as the tempo which significantly complements the rhythmic expression. The action building film movement, through its metric-rhythmic organisation, is unified into a complex kinetic progression, which, when composed well, produces the feeling of order and expression.

Since the film content varies, the effect of regular repetition of elements is most often produced by a particular form of presentation, and more rarely by the fact presented. Regular relations are established between movement’s accented parts which attain similar dynamic intensities in spite of the fact that their carriers are different kinds of movement. Within a take the accented part may be for instance: the beginning of the take, camera or protagonist movement, appearance of a new character or an object in the frame, the actor making a stop, change of lighting dominant, or intensity of lighting, or of texture, colour, frame content, etc. Each one of those changes introduces a movement factor of particular dynamic intensity, constituting particular time-space with its kinetic course and elevating it to the level of a kinesthetic phenomenon.

5.7 TIME AND SPACE COMPOSITION OF TAKES

It is the repetitive that makes sense.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

The director does not reproduce reality, but he creates its appearance in film. The components (setups, angles, lengths etc.) are plotted into time-spatial film compositions.

Apart from freehand, there is a number of other methods of organizing setups into spatial compositions:

Repetition – repeating the same setup. There can also be conjunctions with groups of repeated shots, eg. 3 general, 2 medium in a certain combination, repeated two, three times etc.

Opposition – combining together drastically different setups, eg. a general shot with a close-up.

Progression – setups increasing in size. There could also be groups of progressively larger setups, eg. 2 general, 2 medium, 2 close-ups or 2 general, 3 medium, 4 close-ups etc.

Regression – setups decreasing in size, or groups of setups, as in progression, but in reverse direction.

Fluctuation – gradual increasing and decreasing of plans, followed by decreasing and increasing etc.

Thanks to combinations of basic types of spatial arrangements, we obtain more complex compositions, while by combining with organisation of other film factors (lengths, angles, movements, tones, colors, sound etc.) on the same patterns, a dynamic film structure is built.

Assembling a sequence of takes in chronological order is editing (montage) which takes into account the length of shots. Here too, as well as the free montage we have a few other patterns:

Uniform montage, mechanical (repetition) is piecing together takes of the same length.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x

or repeating a combination of frames.

x--x-----x--x-----x--x-----x-----x—x-----x----

Collision montage (opposition ) is a sequence of short an long takes next to each other

x------------x---x-------------------------x---x-------------------------x

Accelerating montage (progression, accelerando) is a sequence of progressively shorter shots

xx------------x----------x--------x----x—x

Decelerating montage (regression, ritardando) is a sequence of progressively longer shots

x---x-------x-----------x------------------x

Vaccilating montage (fluctuation) is an intermittent, gradual introduction of longer and then shorter series takes into the sequence

x---x-------x----------x---------------x-------x---x-x

Apart from those primary montage rhythms, other compound types can be built out of basic rhythm combinations.

Setup sizes and shot lengths are usually I direct proportion: the wider the setup, the longer the shot and the other way round: the narrower the setup, the shorter the shot. Deviations from that principle only affirm the rule. One also needs to take into account that the organisation under discussion is on the level of a sequence. On the level of a scene, for instance, composition may be more complicated and the proportional principles applied – more complex. Within a scene am important role is played by macrorythm (see the chapter Rhythm) and the golden division.

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[*] Module – a measure, the simplest component of a system. A constant, repetitive measure or a factor in setting up the proportion of other components of the entity.

[*] Modus – a pattern, measure, form of existence or representation of an object at a given moment; the variable feature of an image of a man or an object (as differing from a constant feature – attribute), repeated a given number of times in an orderly sequence of shots.

[‡] That is springing from arbitrary personal choice

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