Ausdrucksbewegungseinheit 2

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In this unit, the visual and musical rhythms, developments on the level of shot composition and the connection between the action and the observation of the action convey a sensory experience of the battle between the dynamic of the airplane and the presence of its physical weight.

In the first two prolonged shots, against a background of irregular hammering off screen, the pressing time and the need to act are verbalized and then the airplane engine is started.

In the faster sequence of shots that follows there is a repeated internal change of rhythm, a slight deceleration and acceleration of the lengths of the shots that generates a physiological tension. This tension is related to the interconnected complexes of the watching soldiers on the ground, the plane starting and the pilot. The decelerating element is connected mostly to exterior shots of the airplane; acceleration is connected to close-ups of the Lieutenant.  The reverse shots to the fellow soldiers are rhythmically integrated in the alteration between deceleration and acceleration.

Parallel to the metered generation of tension by means of shot duration, a similar tension can be found on the level of sound design. At exactly the moment the airplane takes off, music begins that is in a constant battle and exchange with the sound of the airplane engine. The first accelerating cut for example relates the lethargy of the airplane to a close-up of the Lieutenant and mirrors this on the level of sound design as a composition of high-pitched wind instruments that must fight to be heard above the deep bass of the airplane engine.

The telos of this creation of forward-moving impulses and tension is the sensory experience of a battle between the dynamic of the airplane and the presence of its physical weight. This battle is mirrored in the reverse shots of Sailor and Todd; in the contrast between Todd’s paralyzed position at the machine gun and Sailor’s excitement. The weight is created by the airplane’s constant appearance at the bottom of the frame in the long shots. Not until the second to last shot, underscored by the absence of engine noises, does the airplane appear in the top half of the frame. In this way it overcomes its weight and suddenly is characterized by a buoyancy that is echoed in Sailor’s joyful cries. In the act of overcoming weight, the direction in which the airplane is moving changes. It starts at the back right, picks up speed to the right and finally takes off in the right foreground following Sailor and Todd’s line of sight and flying in the direction of the eerie, irregular hammering.