Ausdrucksbewegungseinheit 3

Metadata

In this unit the antagonistic spaces—the creation of which opens the scene, followed by the development of their collision—are united into a single space. This unit goes through three stages. 1) the triumphant fighting unity of the group that moves into this space; 2)  desire and ease and then 3) fear and difficulty of the battle: killing and dying; into which this space of battle disperses in the end. This takes place in corresponding stages: 1) framing the soldiers together; 2) connecting the soldiers through lines of sight and connected actions and finally 3) the soldiers fragmentation into unconnected spaces. Formulated abstractly, the fighting unit begins as one plane that covers the space, becomes connected lines and is finally segmented into individual points in space. This development is accompanied on the acoustic level by thinning out the background noises.

1. When the group jumps up together into the shapeless depths, this movement is repeated three times, whether it is a jump into fog or into the thicket of the jungle. In prolonged long shots made up of a stage-like space and micro battle scenes, accompanied by indistinct cries and irregular gunshots, volleys and explosions, a chain of actions is shown in which new figures—Japanese from the background of the frame, the Americans always in the foreground—continually appear from off screen and attack. The individual characters in the American group are always shown from the rear, so that they do not appear as individuals but as elements of a group body in which one movement meshes with the next.

2. In separate spaces that are however connected by lines of sight and by actions, the individual members of the group each have their own appearance. The clear direction of the action—powers that collide frontally—is dissolved and an unpredictable, antagonistic environment is established in which the individual characters are threatened by enemy attacks from all sides and themselves act in all directions and need good timing, enjoying their success. The antagonism of the environment increases and enjoyment gives way to pain as the second perspective is no longer connected to a figure from the group, but to a Japanese machine gun post in the palm trees. The controlling and deadly line of sight is also conveyed by much brighter lighting

3. The end of the battle takes place in spaces of action that are separated from one another. Individual shots make up the background noises. This stage is dominated by an alternation of highlighted moments of repetition and variation. This creates a closed ending, a concluding stage that cannot have a continuation. As a bracket, there is a correlation between the circular form of two vectors of attention: Todd (right, at the back, at the front, left) and the Sergeant (back, left, right) and the conclusion of their actions with prominent gestures and the body language of exhaustion. Inside the bracket is a moment of bad timing—Sailor’s hesitation—and an opposing image of Eeps’ quick death.