THE PERFORMING ARTS

Dance

Dance consists of a succession or arrangement of steps and rhythmic

movements to musical and/or rhythmic accompaniment. It may be
performed for several purposes, such as entertainment, as part of rituals, or
the expression of inner thoughts and emotions.

In primitive cultures, dance was a form of social expression and religious

ritual. Mating and courtship dances served as a means of communication. As
ritual, dance expressed and ensured the unity and strength of the members
of the tribe. And because it was used as a means of communicating with the
supernatural beings whom the primitive man believed controlled the
weather, fertility, and other important phenomena, it was also an aid to
survival.

Dance can be a means of enriching life when it expresses mankind’s deep

moods and emotions. It gives us an experience similar to that which we gain
from plays: the expressive movements and gestures of the dancers can bring
us pleasure and satisfaction or release from tension which the dance itself
creates in us.

The Elements of Dance

Dance exists only when the performer executes movements in time and
space, in conjunction with music, stage sets, and props. Hence, it is
transitory and is difficult to describe and analyze. There are, however,
certain elements we can keep in mind as we watch a performance, so that
we will have something definite to think about when we try to understand
our reactions to the performance.
CONTENT (THEME)

Dances usually attempt to tell a story, convey or evoke an emotion, or

express an attitude. We thus see a resemblance between dance and drama,
and even literature in general. But instead of using dialogue, dance uses
bodily movements and gestures to achieve its intentions. It thus uses a
language which we must become familiar with if we are to understand what
it attempts to communicate.

Classical ballet deals with romantic stories about mythical characters and
situations. On the other hand, modern concert dances revolve around
themes from folklore and poetry, as well as current events and social
problems.

The theme or idea of the dance provides a unifying element to the

movement of the dancers. But a dance may not always have a story. It can
be simply an exhibition of the virtuosity of the dancer for the audience to
admire. It can also be a presentation of beautiful designs — patterns of
movement in combination with the costumes and rhythmic movement of the
dancers.

MOVEMENT

Movement is the fundamental element of the dance. It is the means by which

the dancers can externalize an inner state or condition and thus
communicate with an audience.

If we try to examine our own movements as we go about our daily activities,

we will note that our motions are either practical, meant to accomplish
something, like picking up a piece of paper, reaching for an object, and
changing our position or location, or expressive of emotional states,
conditions, or reactions. We jump for joy, we hug a delightful pet, we bow our
head in grief, we shake a fist at someone in anger.

These latter are the movements that the dance makes use of, but they are
stylized and intensified in order to be expressive, so that the audience,
perhaps unconsciously, associates them with their own impulses and manner
of reacting to certain conditions or situations. Thus, a basis for
communication is established.

Movements result from the need to express an emotional or physical state or

condition.

Dance movement must convey a kind of quality purposive or emotional

otherwise it will be devoid of any human association. It must be dynamic. In
dance, dynamics refers to contrasts of speed and energy forces, for the
movement of human bodies need to be caused or motivated by certain
forces.

Movements then may be slow or fast, they may accelerate or retard. Energy
forces, manifested in pushing or pulling movements, may be light and
effortless, or heavy and labored; they may be tense or relaxed, sharp or fluid.
These may be combined as in swaying or swinging motions, suspensions
(temporary stopping of motion), falling, or turning.

The movement of dancers occurs in space. Hence, we also note, aside from
the expressiveness or grace of movement, how the dancers use or move
about in the space they occupy. The path of the dancers creates a pattern of
line which may be curved or straight, or a combination of both. Dancers may
move within a very small space, as when a dancer turns in her place, arms
close to her sides, then gradually “increases in size” as she extends her arms
and whirls all over the stage. The term crescendo is applied to such
movement, and decrescendo is used to describe movement which starts by
being large or using large space and then gradually becomes smaller.
Dance movements are given form and structure by a choreographer, which
are then performed or executed by dancers. There is balance and contrast,
as in all works of art, a progress toward a climax showing proper
relationships among the different movements, and proper sequences
between one movement and the next.

MUSIC

Music is closely related to the particular dance for which it was created. It
should not be regarded as merely an aid to the rhythmic movement of the
dancers. When we move as a result of strong physical or emotional impulses
or reactions, we do not do so silently. We sometimes scream in fear, laugh
with joy, or cry out in pain. We make sounds even as we move. Music in
dance has a similar role to play. It motivates the movement of the dancers.

Dance, of course, can be designed to music that is already existing. In this

case, the movements and gestures can either be an interpretation of the
emotional content of the music, or the music may function simply as an aural
background to set the mood for the audience and more importantly as a
rhythmic accompaniment to the movement of the dancers.

SPECTACLE

The dance by its sequence of movements and music creates a kind of spell
on its audience. The scenery and costumes play an important role in the
creation of that spell. We may compare these to the setting of a story, which
creates or reinforces the mood and atmosphere and provides the background
for the unfolding of events.

The dance and the play are very much alike in their utilization of costumes
and scenery. These may be stylized and symbolic, or realistic and
representational, depending on the intention of the choreographer, or the
content of the dance itself. Costumes help create the character of each
dancer in the role he plays, and the stage sets delimit the space where the
dancers move.

Music, stage decor, and costumes, as well as movement all combine to tell a
story or evoke an experience or communicate in some way with the
audience. They work together, along with the technical skill and expressive
power of the dancers to captivate the audience in the manner that all
theater art does.

BALLET

Ballet comes from the Italian word balleti, a diminutive of ballo, which
refers to ballroom dances. It is defined variously by dictionaries as “stage
entertainment” which enacts a story or expresses a dramatic idea through
dance, or “theatrical” storytelling by means of dance. We note that the
distinctive elements are a story or dramatic content and the fact that this is
conveyed through dance.

The date of the first ballet as designated by dance historians is 1581, when
Catherine de Medici, mother of Henry III of France, produced an elaborate
theatrical performance, Ballet Comique de la Reine, in honor of her
daughter-in-law. It is regarded as the first real ballet ever presented in
Europe because it attempted to confine itself to one major dramatic theme
that of the Greek enchantress, Circe.⁶

The basis for ballet technique was established toward the end of the 17th
century when Louis XIV of France, the “Sun King,” directed his dance master
Pierre Beauchamp’s to describe foot and arm positions and the patterns of
movement known at the time.

The composer, Jean-Baptiste Lully, combined the Royal Academy of Music

and the Academy of Dance, of which single organization he became director.
Ballet became “professionalized” after this, and it developed through the
contributions of individual performers, choreographers, and dance teachers.
Outstanding dancers began to appear, among them Marie Anne de
Camargo, who is also known, aside from her virtuosity, for having shortened
the skirt of female dancers to ankle length and for wearing slippers which are
the predecessors of the ballet slippers.

Dancers began to be very concerned with technique and soon began to

move not only horizontally, but also vertically in leaps and jumps. But when
ballet became “established,” it also became tradition-bound and
stereotyped, following strictly the pattern set by the Opera Ballet early in the
18th century.

It was only about the second half of the 18th century that Jean Georges
Noverre, who had been ballet master of the Opera Comique and had become
a leading choreographer and critic, succeeded in bringing about reforms:
technical brilliance of the dancers had to be matched by expressive power,
the story had to have unity, and music, costume, and scenery had to be
unified with the central theme of the ballet.

What we now call “Classical Ballet” is the product of the Romantic Period. It
was at this time that what are still “standard” works performed for
audiences, like Giselle and Coppelia, were produced. Ballet reached its peak
of popularity in the 1830’s, which is regarded by dance historians as the
Golden Age of Ballet.

⁶ Richard Kraus, History of the Dance in Art and Education (Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969), p. 70.,

Les Sylphides, which is typical of the Romantic ballets, deals with the tragic
love story of a nymph and a Scotsman. It was choreographed by Philippe
Taglioni for his daughter, Marie, one of the well-known ballerinas of the
period. It was for this ballet that the standard white filmy skirts which we
associate with ballet were first devised.
Shortly after it reached a peak, ballet once more went into a period of
decline. Dancers resorted to pantomime as a way of relating the story,
virtuosity again subordinated everything else, and choreographers did not
deviate from the routine patterns and format which Marius Petipa, the best-
known choreographer of the Russian Imperial Ballet, had developed for his
full-length ballets.

Through the efforts of Serge Diaghileff and Michel Fokine, ballet underwent
another reformation. New forms of movements and music were created to
suit the subject matter, period, and setting of every dance. If the character
was supposed to be a farmer, he would be barefoot and would wear a
costume that would be suitable for such a role. The story or theme was once
again developed through movement. In a way, it was a restatement of the
principles put forward by Noverre.

MODERN DANCE

Modern dance developed in America at the beginning of the 20th century as

a rejection of the formalism and stereotyped choreography of classical ballet.
At the end of the 19th century, ballet was primarily concerned with visual
beauty and the virtuosity of the dancers rather than dramatic and expressive
movements. Emotions were dealt with in a remote and idealized manner so
that they had little connection with real life.

Isadora Duncan laid the foundation for the development of modern dance
when she broke away from classical ballet and insisted on using the dance as
a medium of personal expression through natural movements. Others soon
followed her, such as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and other “early
greats” of modern dance.

Modern dance is based on natural expressive movements by which means

the dancer expresses a wide range of emotions, thus rejecting not only the
techniques of ballet, but also its idealized and romantic content. The greatest
difference between the two lies in the use by modern dance of distorted lines
and shapes to achieve expressive power, in much the same way that the
distorted shapes and clashing colors of an expressionist painting give the
work a kind of emotional intensity.

It was Martha Graham who may be said to have “created” modern dance
technique, although no standardized terminology for it has been established.
It uses the breathing cycle of the body, with its principles of contraction and
release as the basis of its dance movements. The body contracts in the
process of exhaling; inhaling has a quality of release. These two are
exaggerated into “percussive” movements. The contraction of the body as
one exhales becomes an abrupt and convulsive movement which may
become a fall or a turn. The expansion of the diaphragm as one inhales can
be intensified into a dance motion to communicate or convey ecstasy or
intense joy.

Modern dance does not make extensive use of colorful stage decor. The
dance itself tends to be stylized and stark, even harsh, for it aims primarily
at the projection or communication of emotional experiences. Through the
dancer’s expressive power, the dance becomes a revelation of a basic truth.
It deals with subject matter that ranges from Greek mythology to folklore,
modern literary works, as well as social issues and historical events.

Ballet and Modern Dance in the Contemporary Period

Ballet emphasizes the dancer’s conquest of the forces of nature, as when he

exhibits his ability to overcome weight or the pull of gravity in his leaps
(ballon), or in his light, floating motion on his toes, or his ability to maintain
balance with ease and grace, as in an arabesque.
Modern dance, on the other hand, focuses on “externalizing” profound,
personal experiences through movements that seem to have a psychological
orientation. Any line or shape which the human body can assume in space is
deemed valid, if it expresses what the dancer wants it to express. But the
natural alignment of the body the straight line of the head and the vertebrae
is maintained in all movements.

Today, however, modern dance and ballet appear to have arrived at a point
of friendly co-existence. Modern dancers now recognize the value of
precision, form, and line that ballet training gives. They now use positions
and movements of ballet, aside from using fundamental ballet terminology.

Ballet, in its turn, now uses the approaches and choreographic ideas of
modern dance. It also uses music and stage decor as well as themes which
modern dance first used and explored. It has extended its range of dance
movements to include what it once considered awkward.

Figures 3-9 and 3-10 show members of the CCP Dance Company in ballet and
modern dance poses.

CINEMA

Of all the art forms today, the cinema appears to have the greatest appeal.
Cinema is a term that embraces many types of films or movies: cartoons,
newsreels, commercials, industrial films, educational films, social
documentaries, and even home movies.

The cinema is a way of expressing ideas, attitudes, feelings, dreams, and

fantasies to an audience through a series of images. These “images” or
pictures, photographed by a movie camera, are projected on the surface of a
screen. The art form is the result of a complex activity which, while involving
hundreds of movie personnel, intricate physical apparatus, and complex
technical processes, is completely controlled by one man, the director.
The cinema has a wide range of expression. It is like painting because it is
also a visual composition on a two-dimensional surface, the screen being the
equivalent of the painter’s canvas. It combines the essential elements of
music, literature, and the theater arts, such as plot, setting, character,
sound, and spectacle.

The Elements of the Cinema

1. TIME

Since the images of moving pictures move in time, time is the most
important element of the cinema. In the cinema it is subject to contraction,
expansion, breaks or leaps through the manipulation of the director. The
three aspects of time in the cinema are physical, psychological, and dramatic
time.

Physical time. Physical time is the time taken by an action as it is being

filmed and as it is being projected on the screen. A film may actually show
what is happening in real life — a man walking, a horse running, a car in
pursuit of another. But the film does not capture these events in actual
motion. In the cinema, a series of still photographs are projected on the
screen, each “frame” visible only for one forty-eighth of a second. While one
image is being replaced by another, the screen is dark for another forty-
eighth of a second. Thus, in a sound film projecting twenty-four frames per
second, there are pictures for half the time and none at all during the other
half. But we do not notice the blank screen because our eyes hold the image
for a longer period of time than is required for the projection of a frame.

 Physical time in the cinema can be distorted through slow motion,

accelerated motion, reverse motion, and stopped motion. Slow motion
happens when the camera takes pictures faster than the projector can
show them on the screen. Accelerated motion occurs when the camera
 takes pictures slower than the projector can run them on the screen.
Reverse motion conveys an undoing of time. The end of an action I ins
shown first; then the motion is retraced to its beginning. We can take a
motion picture of a glass falling from a table to the floor and breaking
to pieces. If we reverse this, we would be showing pieces of glass all
over the floor coming together and becoming a drinking glass going to
the table top. Reverse motion is used for magic or comic effects.
Stopped motion is not often used. Instead of stopping the action of an
otherwise moving sequence, still photographs are used.

Time expressed within a shot in a film is fixed and cannot be changed. But
time can be altered between shots. It is possible to mix past, present, and
future in any order through the use of flashback and flash forward.

In flashbacks, where the chronological flow of events is interrupted by

images of past events, and in flash-forwards, where future events interrupt
the forward movement, several devices may be resorted to keep the
interruptions distinct from the present, and to provide transitions from one to
the other. An explicit reference to the past in the dialogue, changes in
costumes, or a theme or melody may precede each interruption.

 Psychological Time. Psychological time is our emotional impression

of the duration of the action that we experience as we watch a film. In
real life our mental state affects the way time passes for us. Time
seems to move fast when we are happy. Boredom, idleness, or tragedy
makes time lag. In the cinema, time also affects our mental state.
Rapid action or loud, lively music makes time go quickly and induces in
us a feeling of exhilaration and excitement, while a slow pace can
induce a melancholy mood or grief and slow down time.

Suspense consists of delaying the resolution of a situation so as to arouse

and maintain interest. Suspense is achieved by withholding something from
the audience or from one of the characters. The passage of time seems slow
because of our impatience or eagerness to get to the resolution.

 Dramatic Time. Dramatic time refers to the time taken up by the

events which are depicted in the film. The cinema may use a storyline
that covers a single day in the life of a character or the whole history of
a civilization. A story that embraces a long period of time may utilize
flashbacks, include a prologue or an epilogue, or exclude the
inessential since it can be controlled from shot to shot. A film that
depicts a brief period of time may be extended through repetition of
different aspects of the events or the inclusion of scenes which to us
may seem to flash across the screen when in truth it covers a few
minutes.

2. SPACE

Our experience of space in reality is very different from our experience of

space in the cinema. We can move about in the physical space that
surrounds us, but space on the screen is flat, and our perception of depth is
just an illusion.

The camera lens captures the images we see on the screen. When we look at
a desk, we see several of its sides and feel its volume. A picture of it reveals
what the camera has photographed. Unless an attempt is made to make the
three-dimensionality of the desk apparent, it will look flat on the screen. The
three-dimensionality and “realness” of the desk and other objects are
achieved through the use of scale, shooting angle, and lighting — the
rudiments of the art of the film.

Scale. Scale refers to the size of objects on the screen and their relation to
the surrounding area. Our perception of the size of objects on film is artificial
and very much unlike our everyday experiences. When we see only one or a
few trees on the screen, with no other objects near them, we unconsciously
assume that they are as tall as the ordinary trees we see around us. But if we
see a man’s foot which is as big as the trees, we are no longer sure about
their size. Are they dwarf trees? Or does the foot belong to a giant? If a
house which is smaller than the trees is shown, we conclude that a giant is
standing by the trees and the house. Film spectacles, whether about
prehistoric times or episodes of war, make use of models on a tiny scale
taken at close range to create an impression of actual dinosaurs and
battlefields. On the other hand, by making props and sets very large, human
beings as well as big animals can be represented as dwarfs.

Another way in which the screen and camera can “deceive” us about size of
objects is through the location of the camera in relation to the subject.
Depending upon the distance of the camera from the object being
photographed or upon the type of camera lens used, the size of objects can
be changed. Three different sizes of shots may be taken: long-shot, medium
shot, and close-up.

A long-shot is taken when the camera is positioned very far from the object
and therefore there is a wide view on a small scale. Its purpose is to show
the extent of the location and to show the relationship between the
characters and the setting.

A medium shot is taken from an average distance and is the view of

medium extent on a medium scale. A person’s medium shot would be his
photograph from his head to his waist.

A close-up results from the camera which is situated so close to the object
that we can distinguish the smallest features of the object.

 Lighting. This is another means used to give the illusion of depth in the
film. By the position of lights, a filmmaker can create areas of light and
dark, and increase or decrease depth.
  Shooting Angle. The camera may record scenes from different angles.
Angles are varied to allow the director to show his concept of the
object or the character in the film. Shooting angles can express
subjectively what things are like as they are seen from the point of
view of a character. We may see a scene from the eyes of a moving
person or one in a reclining position, for instance.

The director may take pictures from several angles: vertically upwards,
vertically downwards, and horizontally.

The camera may be directed vertically upwards. Taking the picture of a

building from below would show violent foreshortening. The building would
appear larger than reality. A person filmed from the same angle may seem
powerful, forceful, and majestic even if he is not so in person, since he
appears to tower over the audience.

A shot taken at an angle above the object is called a vertically downward

shot. It produces an effect opposite that of the vertically upward shot. The
object shown seems small and insignificant, since we seem to see it from a
great height. It makes us feel superior.

The third direction is horizontal. It creates an impression of closeness or

equality among the characters on the scene: it makes the viewer feel that he
is part of or on the same level as the characters.

CENTRAL TECHNIQUES OF THE CINEMA

In everyday life, we find very little difficulty in bringing our attention to

objects around us. We look at objects that interest us by unconsciously
moving our heads or eyes. In the cinema, however, the camera eye
controlled by the cameraman reproduces the whole scene which it faces. The
director then has to choose and frame scenes that are significant to his film.
The director chooses from a series of points of view and arranges his shots
so that they are coherent and unified. He makes use of cutting, camera
movement, and framing.

CUTTING (MONTAGE OR EDITING)

In real life, we see everything within our eye span. We learn to isolate
portions of space by focusing our attention on them and unconsciously
ignoring the rest. In a sense, our field of vision is limited by our movement.
When we walk, for instance, the things we see change, not abruptly but
gradually. We know very well that after we lose sight of what comes to our
vision, it would still be there.

In the cinema, on the other hand, we experience space and objects

continuously. Different parts of space appear before us. One scene succeeds
another without interruption although they may be oceans apart. Or a scene
in the past replaces one in the present. This is made possible by shot
changes called cutting or montage.

Cutting consists of joining one shot of a scene to a shot of another, both

having a logical connection. We may, for example, have a close-up of a
man’s face, followed by a shot of a basket of fruits, then of a group of
children playing in the park. This succession of shots could imply that the
man is looking at the fruits, then at the children. Depending upon the
expression on his face as well as the angle of the camera, this combination
of shots could mean that the man is hungry for he is looking at the fruits with
hungry eyes and that the children at the park will suggest to us that he has
children at home who are probably as hungry as he is. Montage then is
shooting pictures of objects or scenes and joining them together to produce
a particular sense or meaning.

Montage enables the director to show only the scenes the story requires to
further its action and provide variety. It helps him eliminate unwanted
scenes. He sometimes takes several shots of a particular scene and selects
only those that are important to his story. He uses cutting to build up a
picture of an object, an action, or a person. Cutting can also make space
seem larger. A number of shots taken of a crowd can exaggerate its size
while a half dozen shots of a small room from different points of view taken
in succession may make it look large and impressive.

The juxtapositions made by cutting are readily accepted because most often
cutting is made invisible. The director makes use of transitions so that we are
hardly aware of changes from shot to shot; or, if he so desires, he can make
these transitions from one shot to another very obvious to emphasize the
change.

Some of these transition devices are: fade, dissolve, wipe, iris-in, iris-out and
turn-over. A fade shows the old image gradually fading out and a brief period
of darkness comes to the screen before the new scene gradually becomes
visible. It is used to show a change of time and a change of place. Dissolve,
sometimes called mix, involves the superimposition of the last portions of
the previous shot over the nascent portions of the next shot to show two
events happening at the same time. Iris-in-iris-out, a favorite device in silent
movies, involves fades from the edges of the screen to the center after which
the image grows in a widening circle from the center of the screen. Turn-over
shows the whole screen turning over and continuing to the other side.

[Link] MOVEMENT

A change of view may be made by the continuous movement of the camera

while shooting instead of switching from one shot to another. Camera
movement helps us experience the gradual growth of ideas or emotions. If
the whole camera is moved bodily while taking pictures of a scene, a
trucking shot is taken. The camera may move forward, backward, vertically,
diagonally, or horizontally. It may start off with a long shot of a scene and
then move forward, closer to the object, for further concentration. It may
show the window of a house and then move backward to show the entire
house and its surroundings. It may follow an elevator going up and down.

If the camera is kept in the same place but turned on its axis, the movement
is called panning. In a panning shot what is to come is un-known and what is
left behind is gone. For instance, we may see a series of faces as though part
of a crowd, then some buildings, and then other objects.

Camera movement gives rise to transference effects. The camera may be

moved in such a way as to create a familiar experience. Take, for instance,
an earthquake scene. We are shown a building swaying from side to side,
tables turning and glasses breaking into pieces. We know very well that it is
the camera that is actually being moved and yet we do not hesitate to
believe what we see.

A subjective effect may be given by camera movement, too. With panning,

the camera may catch the expressions, attitudes, movements, or
conversations of characters as they react to a particular person or situation.

C .FRAMING

The picture in a film is a fixed rectangle which shows only a fragment of

reality. Because of the cinema’s limitations, the director has to choose,
isolate, or limit the subject or show only that which is significant. Framing
brings about the balance and unity that one sees in a film for it is used as the
basis of the design. It can give a highly dramatic effect and can capture and
hold the audience’s attention.

[Link]

Real life is a world filled with sounds, but a film need not record all these
sounds to project its own reality on the screen. In fact, the film artist is free
to select only those sounds that he deems useful and relevant to the
unraveling of his thoughts and ideas. Just as he limits the focus of his camera
to only those scenes that he finds significant, so can he select sounds that he
feels are equally significant and purposive. The intensity, pitch, volume, and
texture of these sounds are recorded in their optical equivalent on the strip
of negatives parallel to the images. Then a light shining through the sound
tract as the film is projected turns these optical variations back into sound
waves which we hear through loudspeakers as we see the pictures on the
screen.

It must be remembered that it was not until 1927, in the film The Jazz Singer,
that the world witnessed its first film with sounds. But even before this, films
were not entirely without sounds. The so-called “silent films” were
accompanied by orchestral music to explain, heighten, or fortify the action
and emotions flashed on the screen. Before 1927, movies were in the real
sense moving pictures in that only pictures and movements, with the
exception of the sub-titles, were used to convey the story to the audience.

We must never confuse the dialogue in the film with that on the stage. Stage
dialogue is relatively continuous since it is dialogue, more than anything
else, that tells the audience the story of the play. Filmmaking has at its
disposal innumerable devices that would aid in the telling of the story so that
dialogue is minimized. Long moments may pass in a film without any sound
at all because it is precisely this silence that conveys the meaning more
forcefully or produces the impact which a sound might fail to do. There are
scenes, for example, where characters talk behind a glass window, inside a
closed car, or at a distance, and although we do not hear them, we are
somehow aware of what they are talking about from suggestions gleaned
from the preceding scenes and the scenes that come soon after. Sometimes,
sound exists to affirm these silences. This is a prevalent device in thrillers
and suspense pictures. The absence of all sounds except footsteps or the
gentle rapping of the wind against the window pane only stresses the
suspenseful progression of the movie.

The cinema is thus an art form which is entirely different from the theater in
its treatment of reality. It makes use of three elements: time, space, and
sound over the other elements present in theater arts. It can repeat, extend,
abbreviate, or reverse time and events on the screen without danger of
being labeled unreal.

Its space has a structure of properties different from theater space. It has
conventions of its own. It lacks the depth, expanse, and continuous existence
of real space but affords what real space cannot — it can divide space,
expand it, abolish distances or shorten them.

Sound, its third element, is also produced differently from sound in the
theater. Stage dialogue is relatively continuous while, on the other hand, the
film makes use of silence and theme melodies.