Expressive movement unit 2

Metadata

In this unit, the battle is conveyed as a direct experience on the level of sound design and camera, as well as in the shot composition in the form of a figuration of movement; the containment of movement into space along a vector. This takes place through a variation of the battle (small picture) which includes the movement of the enemy (expansion) and which generates an image of increasing tension (2) through the contrast with the Marines’ movement of containment.

The camera movement down the flag pole establishes the coordinates (x-axis) of a narrative space that is given vectors on the ground by the commanding enemy officer’s arm movement and made dynamic by the swarming of the squads and a camera pan. This expanding movement is supported on the level of sound design through shrill music and the screams of the enemy commander and is supplemented by the growing sound of marching feet. In a cut to the approaching Marines, the figuration of a movement of containment is introduced, accompanied by a change in music that conveys a threat. On the level of changes in perspective, an image of increasing tension is created through an increased frequency of cuts of the Japanese preparing for battle and the Marines converging on a bank.

The movement of containment, staged mostly as a movement from right to left, stagnates as the exchange of fire begins, underlined by the loud and continuous volley of shots from both sides that crash into one another. The noose can not be tightened. Accompanying the formative level of sound design, the stagnation is taken up on the level of shot composition: The squad, forming a diagonal line, gets stuck behind a sand spit, on which the waves are also breaking in the direction of the marching movement.