Expressive movement unit 1

Metadata

In the interaction of shot composition and sound design an image is created of the radical collectivization of individual civilian bodies into a unified, military body. 

The soldierly mass shown in a progressive depth of field is divided into visual categories in a rhythmic sequence of shots of calisthenics. The framing always captures the numerous bodies in a strict geometric order. Additionally, the soldiers are shown doing identical exercises from multiple perspectives, edited into a spectral order of different directions of movement. The ritual of drill is stressed here as a potentially infinite structure of repetition. Supported by bright light and brash bugle calls, these images highlight the incorporation of young men into the sphere of the military as a moment of euphoric initiation. The four close-ups of the faces of individual soldiers visually mark the final point of a collectivization that does not stage the individual in contradiction to the body as a whole. Rather appearance, expression, and the direction of the gaze of the faces of individual, different recruits are seen in complete congruence.

The voice-over already establishes its authoritative character though use of a historical reference in the opening sentence: “Pearl Harbor is history now by two months!”If at the beginning the camera mostly shows the calisthenics from a static position, later short pans are increasingly aligned with the battalion’s line of approach thus anticipating a first turning point in the compositional structure.