Movement enhanced the realism of
the image, captured on film to the extent of blurring the
borderline between reality and the newly established convention
of cinematographic expression. In the movies of the silent era,
the literacy-based realism of the image- actually an
illustration of the script-successfully compensated for the
impossibility of providing the sound of dialogue. The experience
of literacy and that of writing movement onto film were tightly
coupled. Short scenes, designed with close attention to visual
details, could be understood without the presence of the word,
because of the shared background of language. The convention of
cinematography is based on sharing the extended white page on
which the projection of moving images takes place. Humor was the
preferred structure, since the mechanical reproduction of
movement had, due to rudimentary technology and lack of sound, a
comic quality in itself. Later, music was inserted, then
dialogue. Everyone was looking forward to the day when image and
sound would be synchronized, when color movies would become
possible.
It adds to the arguments thus far advanced that cinematographic
human experience, an experience dominantly visual, revealed the
role of language as a synchronizing device, while the mechanics
of cameras and projectors took care of the optical illusion.
Cinematography also suggested that this role could be exercised
by other means of expression and communication as well.
Pages:
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475