Expressive movement unit 1

Metadata

An image of despair and salvation is created in the interplay of sound design and shot composition by means of a contrast between flowing movement and standstill, closeness and distance.

The cathartic salvation from despair is realized in a two-phase movement in which principles of sound design and shot composition make up different audiovisual dynamics.

In the first phase there is an interlocking of a) flat shots with very limited depth of field, b) a repetitive loop of a musical melody and c) the structure of the movement within the frame. The close-ups of Waco are enclosed by the desert sand that makes up the image’s background. The closed nature of the space does not allow a perspective beyond the situation of the figure of Waco. The musical theme is made up of repetitions of a short melodic phrase. The quick repetitions create a feeling of atemporality, at the same time the step-by-step transposition to a higher key adds a dramatic dynamic to this atemporality. The music and the movement in the frame—the constant trickling of the sand—come together in a movement that leads nowhere, creating an audiovisual motif of despair.

The introduction of loud brass instruments marks a change in the dominating principles of the audiovisual composition. The following shots are mostly long shots or medium long shots, their openness is highlighted on the level of shot composition by the horizon now over the desert. The melody of the brass instruments develops into a musical theme in the true sense of the word and end the state of atemporality, the return of time and spatial opening make up an audiovisual figure of opening, realizing a temporal figuration of salvation by withdrawing the motif of despair.