Prosodic Cinema

The underlying concept in Prosodic Cinema is that rhythm is inherent in any time-dependent medium and therefore film has a rhythmic potential that ought to be released. This is the principal of "Prosodic Cinema 1st Argument", one of the five arguments that constitute the Prosodic Cinema theory.
The Background
On rhythm
:Main Article Rhythm

Rhythm is the variation of the length/accentuation of a series of events (sounds, movements, etc.). Rhythm has been most associated with music, dance and poetry. When rhythm is governed by rule it is called meter. In poetry, metrical rhythm involves precise arrangements of syllables (based on stress or length) into repeated patterns called feet within a line.
On prosody
:Main Article
The rhythm of connected speech is called prosody, which may reflect various features of speech such as the emotional state of a speaker. In linguistics, there are three categories of prosodic rules which create rhythmic successions: Additive (same duration repeated), Cumulative (short-long), or Counter-cumulative (long-short). Cumulation is associated with closure or relaxation, counter-cumulation with openness or tension, while additive rhythms are open-ended and repetitive.
On 20th century cinematic tradition
:Main Article Film Editing
The cinematic tradition of the 20th century approached film editing with a focus on the continuity, arrangement and content of shots. Since Film emerged as a new art form in the late 19th century three major film editing theories/traditions have been in practice: Continuity Editing, Soviet Montage and Counter Theories. In those 20th century traditions, the focus has been on (1) transition of shots with a focus on continuity to create an illusion of reality (or a focus on disruption of continuity to destroy the illusion of reality), (2) arrangement of shots with a focus on collision/conflict to build a certain perception in the viewer’s mind, or (3) content of shots with a focus on remaining faithful to reality by ignoring the two editing traditions that manipulate shot transitions and arrangements.
Prosodic Cinema (summary of the theory)
Prosodic Cinema adds a new rule to the established film editing tradition, observing the rhythm of shots beside their continuity, arrangement and content. This new rhythmic rule in Prosodic Cinema aims to create a rhythmic succession of the film's shots as part of an overall metrical rhythm in the film. This is similar to the meter-based rhythm in poetry.
In Prosodic Cinema shots compose durational patterns that are described using terms borrowed from the metrical feet of poetry: iamb (short-long), anapest (short-short-long), trochee (long-short), etc. Consequently, the Prosodic Cinema vocabulary is parallel to that of poetry. The successive Shots (Syllables) of defined durational pattern constitute small rhythmic units called Steps (Feet), which are arranged into repeated patterns in larger metric units called Runs (Lines), which flow successively over time in the larger units of Scenes (Stanzas) to make up their characteristic metrical rhythm in the Film (Poem). The repeated pattern of the Steps composing a Run are also described using terms from the metrical rhythms of poetry. For example, a cinematic iambic pentameter means that the Run contains five iambic Steps i.e. ten shots of alternating short-long durational pattern.
Prosodic Cinema can be differentiated from previous literary/art movements such as Cinépoetry and Visual Poetry, as well as from the early Soviet metric and rhythmic montage. In Prosodic Cinema, rather than a “rhythmic gesture”, a Step is a “rhythmic unit” projected as a pulse or pulses on an underlying Run as a structure of temporal regularity - a metrical rhythm.
The Theory (the five arguments of Prosodic Cinema)
Prosodic Cinema 1st Argument
Premises:
* Rhythm is inherent in any time dependent medium,
* Film is a time-dependent medium.
Conclusion:
Rhythm is inherent in Film.
Prosodic Cinema 2nd Argument
Premises:
* Rhythm is the variation of the length/accentuation of a series of events,
* Rhythm involves patterns of duration, and when governed by rule, it is called meter,
* A rhythmic unit is a durational pattern which occupies a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level.
Conclusion:
The inherent rhythmic potential of film as a time-dependent medium can be released by composing the film using successive cinematic units of certain durational patterns to flow in time as part of an overall structure of temporal regularity.
Prosodic Cinema 3rd Argument
Premises:
* In linguistics, there are three recognised categories of prosodic rules which create rhythmic successions: Additive (same duration repeated), Cumulative (short-long), or Counter-cumulative (long-short),

* Cumulation is associated with closure or relaxation, counter-cumulation with openness or tension, while additive rhythms are open-ended and repetitive.
Conclusion:
Rather than a single shot, the basic unit of film language in Prosodic Cinema is a succession of shots called “Step”. The rhythm of a Step is governed by the prosodic rule that determines the variation of the length (duration) of the successive shots that constitute it. The emotional impact of a Step (relaxation, tension, etc.) depends (beside the known traditional factors of shot content, arrangement and continuity) on the prosodic rule that governs the rhythmic succession of its shots.
Prosodic Cinema 4th Argument
Premises:
* In poetry, meter-based rhythm is founded on the pattern of successive stressed and unstressed syllables (in Modern English verse) or the pattern of successive long and short syllables (in classical languages),
* The precise arrangement of successive stresses/syllables (foot) into repeated patterns within a line is core to the concept of metrical rhythm in poetry (many meters use the foot as the basic unit to describe the underlying rhythm structure of a poem),
* The rhythmic succession of stresses/syllables gives the foot certain feel. For example, the iamb (short-long) generally produces a subtle but stable verse, while the dactyl (long-short-short) almost gallops along,
* Durational patterns in various contexts are sometimes described using terms borrowed from the metrical feet of poetry.
Conclusion:
Prosodic Cinema employs meter-based rhythm like poetry. The successive Shots (Syllables) of defined durational pattern constitute small rhythmic units called Steps (Feet), which are arranged into repeated patterns in larger metric units called Runs (Lines), which flow successively over time in the larger units of Scenes (Stanzas) to make up their characteristic metrical rhythm in the Film (Poem).
The durational pattern of the shots composing a Step are described using terms borrowed from the metrical feet of poetry: iamb (short shot - long shot), trochee (long shot - short shot), pyrrhic (short shot - short shot), dactyl (long shot - short shot - short shot), etc.
The repeated pattern of the Steps composing a Run are also described using terms from the metrical rhythms of poetry e.g. iambic pentameter means that the Run contains five iambic Steps i.e. ten shots of alternating short-long durational pattern.
In Prosodic Cinema, as in poetry, variations to the established meter are employed, both to provide emphasis or attention to a given Step (foot) or Run (line) and to avoid boring repetition. For example, the durational pattern in a Step may be inverted, a pause of a black screen may be added (sometimes in place of a Step), or the final Step in a Run may be given a feminine ending to soften it or be replaced by a spondee (long shot - long shot) to emphasize it and create a hard stop. Some patterns (such as iambic pentameter) tend to be fairly regular, while other patterns, such as dactylic hexameter (the Run contains six dactylic Steps), tend to be highly irregular.
Prosodic Cinema 5th Argument
Premises:
* Cinépoetry and the concept of cinematic poetry that emerged in the late nineteenth century aspired to merge poetry and film. Poems were taken off the page and put on screen, allowing a traditionally textual art form to come to life with moving images and sound,
* Visual Poetry (also has been known as concrete poetry) is poetry or art in which the visual arrangement of text, images and symbols is important in conveying the intended effect of the work i.e. incorporating text that may have primarily a visual function,
* Metric Montage is an old Soviet technique of editing, which followed a specific number of frames, based purely on the physical nature of time, cutting to the next shot no matter what is happening within the image (this was the weakest on the Soviet’s scale of audience impact),
* Rhythmic Montage is another Soviet editing technique, which also included cutting based on time, but using the image composition and sound elements in the shots to induce more complex meanings than what was possible with metric montage.
Conclusion:
Prosodic Cinema can be differentiated from previous literary/art movements (Cinépoetry, Visual Poetry) that attempted to merge poetry and film in the same way that poetry, music, and dance had intersected. Prosodic Cinema acknowledges and accommodates all the traditional and contemporary techniques of narrative filmmaking and storytelling. A prosodic film can observe all the traditional and modern rules of shot continuity, arrangement and content. However, a prosodic film also observes an additional new prosodic rule to create a rhythmic succession for its shots as part of an overall metrical rhythm, which pans over its scenes and sequences.
In other words, a classical narrative film can also be a prosodic film if the filmmaker manages to exploit the inherent rhythmic quality of film as a time-dependent medium to enhance the expression of meaning/feeling in the visual narrative via a rhythmic (prosodic) cinematic language.
Similarly, Prosodic Cinema can be differentiated from the old Soviet editing technique of Metric Montage. This new concept of Prosodic Cinema does not conflict with shot continuity, arrangement or content (as opposed to Metric Montage, which does).
Furthermore, by observing an underlying metrical rhythm structure (iambic pentameter, dactylic hexameter, etc.) throughout the entire prosodic film, Prosodic Cinema can be differentiated from the old Soviet Rhythmic Montage (and Metric Montage as well). The durational pattern of shot succession in Metric/Rhythmic Montage is a mere “rhythmic gesture” rather than a structured “rhythmic unit” that is projected in Prosodic Cinema as a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level.
The Application (Anaphylaxis)
:Main Article
Anaphylaxis is the first prosodic film, applying the new rhythmic rules and metrical structure principals of Prosodic Cinema. The film was shot in 2007 at the historical Ealing Studios in London, England. Anaphylaxis is a narrative feature film, which achieves its prosodic goals via an editing focus on shot length (to define a metrical rhythm for its various scenes) while still observing shot continuity, arrangement and content necessary for storytelling. As a prosodic film, Anaphylaxis relies on the inherent rhythmic quality of the time-dependent (film) medium to express meaning/feeling in its (visual) narrative in a rhythmic/prosodic (cinematic) language.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu