Expressive movement unit 1

Metadata

Through the interplay of camera and sound design, an image of triumph is staged in four phases.

The first phase opens on the one hand the figuration of movement. On the other hand it forms the first part of a cinematic parenthesis that connects the expressive quality of triumph with a tension grounded in the plot. Three shots—a battleship quickly approaching, the interior of a Japanese command center and finally the Marines on the beach quickly boarding dinghies—together with dramatic brass and shrill, high-pitched strings create an audiovisual dynamic of movement. On the other hand the semantics of this montage—the race between the two armed forces—creates a fundamental tension.

The second phase continues and upholds the dynamic of the image through music, the rhythm of speech and movement, but it culminates in a moment of deceleration: The music changes to a melodramatic string melody, a shot/reverse shot series creates an image of intimacy whose melodrama is connected in the dialogue to the readiness for self-sacrifice and for battle.

The third phase conveys triumph on the narrative level—the demolition of the Japanese base—through creation of an audiovisual rhythm. A series of blasts filmed as long shots within which cuts and the sounds of explosions create an almost metric rhythm whose frequency of beats gradually increases towards the end.

The fourth phase finally closes the brackets of the cinematic staging and again takes up the audiovisual dynamic of the first phase. In combination with the sounds of, once again, dramatic brass and strings, the editing of the approaching battleships and the Marines’ preparation for departure are reminiscent of the “race” that ended with the submerging of the submarine to the sounds of triumphant brass.

Thus the motif of soldierly readiness for sacrifice becomes the direct motivation for forceful destruction whose triumphal finish is interwoven with the positive dénouement of a moment of tension.