cinemetrics ch4

8/7/2019 Cinemetrics Ch4

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We are now at the midpoint in developing the Cinemetricdrawing system"We previously discussed how to framearchitectural space as immobile cuts in flowing matter-fluAdditionally, we started to practise connecting the newsensori-motor relationships experienced when usingthecomputer with intervals in matter-flux. We explored hoeven the simple act of waking up involvesthese intervalsIn Shooting we began to learn the power of mobilising thcamera asa drawing tool through shooting any-instant-whatever' rather' than thinking and drawing privileged poWe also connected this new know..how to drawing themultiple feelings and sensations experienced in socio-sparelations" Master'ingboth of these techniques - the camasa moving drawing tool to shoot any-instant-whateversocio-spatial relations - will help usdevelop digital drawiskills asa process of creating buildings responsive to thenew know-about of architecture in an expanded fieldrelations. vvords in bold are Keywords found on pages26


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146 Cinemetrics emphasises the creation ofthe 'new' , not to encourage novel ty for i ts own sake, but to support drawing anarchitecture cognisant of the dynamic cultural and ecological relations evident intoday's globalised world The next threechapters introduce additional tools for"drawing architecture within these complex relations Some ofthese tools mayalready befami liar to you, others you may beencountering for the first t ime Some you may want to explore inthe form ofthought-exercises

inthe sequence that Pei rceclassi fiedthem When we experience them, we put them together inconstantly changinassemblages ofsignaletic matter As you become aware of how you scrutin ise' "di rect appearances', you may wantdown the speci fics ofyour own order"

One ofthe objectives ofth is chapter isto introduce you to agenerative process for making spacethat engagesthe mul tiplecul tura l and ecological relations ofthe bui ld ing you are drawing Keyto the Cinemetr ic moving drawing system arethecybernetic relationships between our body's involvement inthe dynamic physicalworld of everyday life and our experienceswhi le we are drawing inthe vir tual d ig ital world This cybernetic web isa cri tica l part ofthe fie ld of relations that enables usto consciously make moving drawings embodying cultural and ecological connections This process iswhat will facil itate anarchitecture, not of privileged poses, but of any-instant-whatever"

But how do we begin to observe these cybernetic relations asany-instant-whatever? We wil l adapt for use in (Jnemetr icsthe semiosis of Charles Sanders Peirce, whose phenomenology we introduced in Framing Semiosis isa system forclassifyingour non-verbal body awareness of our autopoietic world Pei rce invented the word semiosis, bywhich hemeant any form of activity, conduct, or process that involves non-linguistic signs- allthose feelings, gestures, actions, andthoughts associated with becoming aware of the 'direct appearances' that he developed in his phenomenology Examplesare our" facia lexpressions and body posit ions, the clothes we wear; the placeswe go, the food we eat - that warmed-upfavouri te muffin with hot coffee These are all s ignsthat, when we notice them, give usagreater understanding of how werelate to ourselves aswel l asparticipate inmaking the world around us They give usasenseof how we ourselves are 'asignamong signs' IPeirce's phenomenology andsemiosis inspired Deleuze's sixmovement images What ifwe began to understand, not justourselves, but architecture, asDeleuze did cinema, assignaletic matter, ' which includes allkinds of modulationfeatures, sensory (visual andsound), kinetic, intensive, affective, rhythmic, tonal, and even verbal (oral andwritten)?" Withthis understanding, we can note not only the sensori-motor process of drawing, but also itsrelational implications forarchitectural spacesandthe placeswhere we build Through semiosis, we candevelop an architectural drawing system thatenables usto generate spacefrom any-instant-whatever rather than privileged poses We can begin to designarchitecture assignaletic matter ina relational contextPeircedeveloped hissemiosis from hisphenomenology of firstness, secondness and third ness by making each signa composite of these three basiccategories He also constructed signsastriadic combinations of objects, representationsand interpretations rather than dyadic linguistic relationships between sign andsignified Peirce's semiosis canhelp usunderstand our relationships to the world assignaletic matter when we do something asordinary asgoing for awalk Itcan help usto understand how we create both movement imagesand mul tiple spacesaswe walk Then we can connectwhat we observe about ourselves walking to the new processes ofdrawing dig ital ly that we are developing Semiosis isthusa deepening ofour experience of ourselves that helps usto understand how we become aware ofthe relations betweenour"own personal inter ior world, the outside realm and our drawings This awareness can prevent our drawings and thusarchitecture from becoming frozen abstractions when we consciously incorporate this knowledge into our moving images

Inthe box on the next pagearethe most basic signposts, with brief defin it ions from Peirce'staxonomy, of our changingselvesaswe move through our everyday fie ld of relationships We havegiven a name to eachsignpost to make i teasierto identify with i ts meaning because Peircekept the signsabstract He alsoargued that a ll o fthem are necessary to beful ly aware of how we continual ly remake ourselves The exercise below wil l help usconnect h iswords to our ownautopoietic experience of creating imagesand spacesfrom signaletic matter"while out walking The signsare introduced

On thefollowing page isan exercise, usingPeirce'ssemiotics asinterpreted and charted by scholar Floyd Merrell, toto understand the signsof ourselves and their relation to the imageswe make and the spaceswe generate 14 Youwills imilar it ies to the first exercise inthe previous chapter We havedone this intentional ly not only to rei terate what wepreviously but to add more complex environmental relations ofsi te and landscape This may be anexercise that youto do asathought experiment, especia lly i fyou practise a sport regular ly, tra in for extended bike r ides, or participateother"activities that teach you greater body awareness


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Exercise 4" I: Go f o r a w a l k o u t s i de A s i n earlier exereses, f o cu s o n f r ami n g f l o wi n gmo t t e r- f lu x a nd s h o o ti n g anY -l n s ta n t -w h at ev er A f te r h a lf o n h o ur o r s o , s t o p and r e a d t h r ou g h t h e f o ll o w in g pa r a gr a p hs as a w ay to rev iewyour walk semlo t ica l ly aswel l as in relation to the six m o ve m en t i m ag e s a n d t h e ir a s s o ci a te d s p a c es , which wil lb e d i s cu s s ed in mo r e d e t ai l at t he e nd o fthis chap ter : We d e sc r ib e t w o a s se m bl ag e s o f s i g ns T ry t h e m b o th As y o u r e p ea t y o u rw a l k c o n sC i o us l y l oo k f o r d i ff e re n t w a y s o fmoving b et w ee n t h e s ig n s o f y o u rs e lf t he m o ve m en t images and t h e /( s p a ce s

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As you walk outside, perhaps you vaguely feel something You are really not sure At that moment, you are apre-sentientbeing (sign I) Did you spontaneously pauseto pay attention to the feeling?We now know when we pause we move from

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being acentre of indeterminacy to being al iv ingimage At the sametime, space started to curve around you, begform i ts nature inre lation to the set of information you chose, inth is case, the place to pause You, ineffect, madand your world byselecting both yoursel f and your world out of matter- flux - aself-creating, autopoietic act Igaseous space it can feel like we seeeverywhere atonce 15 Within the context of making moving drawings, the reperception image generated with agaseousspace"Now soakup the place Takein stimuli from the surroundings Feel through all your senses Heighten them: whatbody manifest propr'ioceptively asyou feel, hear, see and taste?You havebecome a sensor andformed anaffimage with anany-space-whatever, a spacewithout anydefinite link yetto a specific place, such asthe blur we einmost a irports What we are experiencing isaspaceof 'qual it ies and powers abstracted from speci fic coordinstil lenmeshed ina material, sensual medium' 16 From here you can move through the signsin either of two assemDoes either ofthem descr ibe the process you are accustomed to?

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14_0 I and 4_02 From Floyd Mer re ll a ;Can you Imagine the ten s ignso f you rsel f asany-instant-whatever in achanging semiothan asprivileged poses? Here we addten signsof ourselves to Merrell 5 diagram of Peirces semiosis The lettered arTOWS aroperators which show the transformative linksbetween signs;b: Merrell constructed this diagram to show the network or possgeneration andde-generation between the signsof ourselves Redrawn from Merrell Floyd Thought-sign Sign-events, Semiot ict h e I n te r na t io n al A s so c ia t io n f o r Semiotic )wd,es 1991 Volume 87-112 pp I-57

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150 R( REPRESENTATION) ( INTERPRETATION)

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Feeling the body stimuli asa sensor (sign2) stirs impulses, drives, anddesires; notice these sudden urges but don't acton them You are now witnessing yoursel f asa person with impulses (sign3), aperson who forms an impulse image,framing space asan originary world, which allows us 'to seeimpulses and energies permeating and possessingsettings andcharacter'Perhaps you feel anoverwhelming desire to befar' from work, on abeach, say,on a longextended vacation - no moredeadl ines! A largervision transforms your ini tial impulse to pause Ifyou act onth is impulse, you experience yoursel f asalarge-scale actor (sign5), forming a large-form action image with a respiration space This spaceemerges via'a globalcomposition of anencompassing ambient whole within which individual elements are already situated and structured' Todraw this space,we become like a painter who 'reflect[s] the vital breath, that is,create movement' 17

Study the overall urban skyline or panorama But rather than fulfi ll ing your initial urges by immediately acting, hesitate andnote what happens ifyou delay your spontaneous drives Letyourself think about experiencing the possibil ity offulfil l ingsome ofthe actions that impulsive ly occur: You are now a reflector on anexpanded fie ld (sign7) about what to do next andhave made a reflection image ina transformation space

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4_03a ( oppo si te p ag e) : F rom P ei rc e s b as ic t ri ad o f t he p ro du ct io n o f s ig ns _ t he obj ec ti tsel f i ts r epre sentat ion (or a s Peirce named it i ts r epresentamen) and i ts interpretat ion( or a sP ei rc e n am ed i t i ts i nt er pr et an t) - w e c an c on st ru ct a l ad de r i nwhi ch we c ansee the transformation of the s igns indif fe rent a ssemblages: 4_03b (above) IndexicalA ss em bl ag e: 4 _03 c ( ne xt p ag e) I co ni c A ss em bl ag e You m ay wan t t o r ec ogni se i nPer rces semiotic t riad: f ir stne ss or r epre sentamen secondness orthe obj ec t a ndthirdness or the interpretarrt

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Ie on ie A s sem b la ge (analternative to the first assemblage)When you are on your walk outside, after sensingthe surrounding stimuli , perhaps you feel a desire to focus onthe pavement or the branching of atree l imb, then, infact, you dojustthat You havebecome anactor on detaimaking a small action image and forming a skeleton space,a contracted space inwhich we seevectors for theuniverse The movement ofthe small action image isfrom action to situation to changed action No longer doesthe breath ofthe respi ration space, but ' the skeleton, the l it t le fragment of spacewhich must beconnected to thfragment' A usefu lway to conceive ofth isspaceisasa wrinkled' or a broken movement - 'step bystep, zig-bintensity to intensity', 18 for instance, the space you form when climbing or driving upa hil lon aroute with swi tchb

Ifyou are an an unfamiliar'street you mayhanker to look mare closely atchangingdetails, becoming a change-r(sign6), making a reflection image with itstransformation space A reflection image asa transformation of animage seems to interrupt the flow ofthe action Itgenerates with atransformation spacethat' pushes the actitslimit andtransforms Smalland Largeforms' 19

Bymoving through this second assemblage of signsyou next actas an artist (sign8), forming a relation imagewitspace that associates the previous signs iconically

Both assemblages of signsdescribed above converge inthe final two signsof yourself asa critic (sign9) and lastly(sign 10) Now you create acr it ical relation image wit h a symbol space of e ither or both ofthe above assemHow? byframing dig ital ly in afabr ic of relations' a ll the imagesin either Dr' both combinations 20 For Instance,the first indexical assemblage ofsigns,start where you left off when you were reflecting on anexpanded fie ldrelate critically the imagesof the first signassemblage From there you move to the final relation image, which emthinking about your experience

Or' you can intensi fy the second process inwhich you were assembl ing the images inan iconic pattern Now thinthese images critically The final step far the second, asthe first, combination isthinking about your experience owithin anexpanded fie ld ofsignaletic matter Note that the resul ting image isone of atleasttwo types of possiblerelation images, eachwi th their own symbol space The particu lar type ofthought-re lation image depends anwhnat you combine the signsin the first indexical or inthe second iconic assemblage We wil l see inthe next chaptexactly what both afi lm director and acybernetic archi tect do

Takenas awhole, these signsof ourselves inan expanded field help usto understand the images andspaceswe mon and offthe computer inrelation to the ecological, cultural, and SOCialupheavalsof our time We have already emany of them inearlier exercises Now semiosis helpsusto systemise our experiences sowe candeepen our awathe relationships between body involvement incomplex spatial relations off andon the computer Semiosis isfundhelping usto understand how we autopoietically generate spacefrom the signaletic matter of any-instant-whatevermoving images Semiosis alsohelps usto laythe groundwork for the multidimensions of drawing asa cybernetic arexpanded field

To reirforce understanding the interrelations between the signsof yourself, movement images andtheir spaces,weanalyse Casa Malaparte asanarchitectural spacegenerated in part through the responsiveness of aspecific person,Curzio Malaparte, to a particular landformation - a rugged peninsulaon the island of Capri Casa Malaparte isaddsite ofthe final segment inGodard's Contempt


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4_04 Sho t I The ca-ncra t il ts up to revea l ad ramat ic landscape dominated bythe long hor izon o fthe sea indist inct ly mee ting twri te r i sa t iny f igure a t the far top lef t o f the frame cling ing to ac l i ff s idewi th a few scrubby p ines The camera pansle ft and t il tshec l imbs down the h il l The camera holds ashemeets the f ic tional f im d irecto r o f the f ilm sho twi thin C o nt em p t - playedby theGerman director Fritz Lang The camera pans 110ftasthe wri te r and f ilm d irecto r beg in aconversa tion asthey walk down apa thholdssti l l for eight seconds after they disappear into the vegetation

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4_05 Shot 2 A stil i camera ispositioned at the lanalng o f aswitchback rarnp I t f i rs t holds and then t i l ts down to fol low the wr- iterdirector stil i inconversation asthey appr-oachthe landing andcamera The camera remains stil iwhile they turn around the bendcon tinue down the path now with the ir backsto the camera The t il t con tinues and then the camera holds asthey aga in d isappevegetation


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4_06 Sho t 3 The camera IS res itua ted wel l below the ramp which wesee in p ro fi le The two men con tinue to walk down the ramthe camera t il ts down to fol low the ir movemen t unt il i t , tops then inexp li cably pansr igh t and t il ts down Final ly the camera stopsframing a dramatic overview of Casa Malaparte Sitedon apromontory jutting into the Mediterr"anean A monumental wedge-shapsta irway and roo f ter race with acu rved sai l- li ke wal l command our f ir st impress ion o f the house Two t iny f igures can beseenonOne o fthe f igures descendsthe sta irway asthe sho t holds This IS anexample of a higher justification framing mentioned inthe fchapter The camera waspragmatically following the two men Inconversat.on befor"!it leached apoint where it could dramaticallythe architectural setting for the concluding sceneof the Casa Malparte sequence


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firstthree shots situate Casa ~1alaparte as intimatelylinkedto Itssite - a dramatic peninsulajutting intothe sea Atinyhrugged terrain ye t amonumental setting for 'human drama The elements of this set asopposed to the two Inter ior seque

s tudied include the vas tness of the sky the sea the mineral quali ty of the rocks and the specificcharacter of the v


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164 Any -S pa ce -Wh ate ve r G en er at es w ith a n A ffe ctio n Im ag eWe can imagine from the restlessmovements ofthe screenwri ter ashe runsup the grand sta irsto the roof ofCasaMalaparte, looks over the edgeof the roof terrace, and runsdown the sta irstowards the entrance to the house that heisfeeling deeply hisimmediate troubles andis unaware ofthe specificsof the place He ispreoccupied with hisown pressingthoughts andconcerns These shots constitute an affection image resulting from hisanxiety and the lackof orientation to

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4_08 Shot4 Now we are onthe roof terr ace of the house and we see the wifeof the writer one of the miniature f igures fromtheprevious shot The stillcamera isat her eye leveland pans left asshe gets upfrom recliningagainstthe sail-likewalland walksto the left ofthe frame The camera holds asshewaves to someone offscreen The pan continues lef tand ups lightlyThe pan s tops looking lef tat theeas t coast ofCapr is dramatic viewofthe cliffsmeeting the sea with the mountains ofmainland I taly in the dis tance The wife leaves theframe and the camera holds atthe viewfora moment The writer then enters the same heldfran.e The time that has lapsed IS too shortfor the couple to not havemet onthe s taircase but he seems to havenot seen her IsGodard tes ting our sense ofspace and time?Weknow the two actors would have hadto passeachother offscreen The camera pansbackto the r ightfo llowingthe husband lookingforhiswife I ts tops looking directly out to sea The camera tracks lef tas the husband s tops again this t ime near the lef tedge of the ten ace andlooks down at somet iing below

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166 spatialcoordinates (illus4_08 to 4_12) Affection images involving facesare easyto find infilms, such asshots 12and 13onthe Malaparte roof when Godard hasthe camera frame the facesof the screenwriter andhiswife inclose-up (illus4_16)Our objective here isto understand the affect image atthe scaleof architecture andsite, which the shots in Illustrations 4_04through 4_07 help usto achieve The affection imagegenerates with any-space-whatever when you arein the signof asensor

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At first g lance, you may think that the opening shots ofth is clipshow aprivileged space That is until you rememberthat a privileged spaceisjust anany-instant-whatever that follows another, instant by instant aswe discussedin Shoot ingWhat generates difference in asequence of any-instant-whatever isa singularspace Godard makesthis spacesingularforthe audience byjuxtaposing the anxious screenwriter with asculpture of a powerful Greek warrior, shown, against anindeterminate blue r ight before we seethe dejected screenwnter standing onthe rocky shore Shot I isasequence ofsingularany-instant-whatever, which wakes usup The spacebecomes a singularany-space-whatever because we havejustseenthe heroic pastof the Mediterranean embodied inthe Greek sculpture It letsusseethe modern world with new eyesThe signalofthe open whole isthe absolute out-of-field ofthe image Inthe distant background, seaand sky,water"and airmerge into aflow that expressesthe open whole moving within everything, anopen whole that endures because it changes,inthiscasefrom ancient Greek to modern times The field of relations inarchitecture includes history and culture aswell asspaceSomuch to pay attention to Itmayseem l ikea lot to take in, let a lone use Itmayalso seemat first reading that the Ideasareunfamiliar"ones, but ifyou keep relating them backto your own everyday experiences and to the film sequences you wil l f indyou already know them That isone ofthe benefits ofattentive recogni tion

Exet cise 44: E nc ir cl e t he h o us e i n y o ur m o de l W it h p a n ni ng , t dt ln g a nd t ra ck in g c lo s e- up c am e ro s t ha t f ra m e o n ly p o rt s of theh ou se a t o ne ti me c re at in g o n a ff ec t i ma ge W it h a n a ny -s pa ce -w ha te ve r D o nt f o r ge t t o i nc o rp o ra te p au s es I n c h an g es i n d i r ec ti oni n y o u r 'shots, as Godard does

4_09 Sho t 5 is taken from below lookingupa t the backWindow o fthe house withthe wri te r looking down from the ter race inthe top r ight corne r o f the frame The wifeimpossibly appears atthe window Examiningthe floor plan and the later fi lm sequenceshewould havehad to walk down the g randsta irs into the house up the inter io r" entrystairs through the great hall andfinallyMalaparte 5 bedroom to appear a t thewindow In the sho rt t ime her husband haswalked acrossthe roof

4_10 Sho t 6 frames the Window from theIns ide look ing out The wife looks upandseemsto notice herhusband iswatching hersoshe kissesthe producer The setting forthis scene is the study o fthe wri te r CurzioMalapar te the bui lder o fthis house which hecal led ahouse l ikeme

4_11The camera islocated below the monumental stairway leadingto tterrace The flame IS cut Inhal fby the z ig -zag p ro fi le l ineo f the sta irs Wwri te r shead asherushesdown the sta irs The camera t il ts down asheo ff f rame to the lef t As i t t i l ts down the f ilm d i-ecto r enters the frame,bythe translator who hasbeen leaning againstthe house brushing her hwri te r reappears in the frame and they a ll head to the entry doo r asthefollows them panning right It holds asthey enter the house


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4_12 While the previous apartrnent sequence wasdominated byhorizontal pans with these shots we beginto see sectional relations ofthe house thmugh the tilting upand down ofthe camera, andits repositioning at criticaljunctions inthe vertical circulation surrounding thehouse Through these four shots we see the panoramic viewfrom the roof ter race the relat ionto the prominent window atthe far end ofthe house and the relat ion between the monumental s tairwayto the roof terrace and the minor s ideentry to the house


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-170 Space of Or'iginary vvorlds Generates with an Impulse Im

When the stimuli that you experienced asyou pausedon your walk stirred impulses, drives anddesires, you experienyoursel f asa person with impulses You madean impulse image, framing spaceas anoriginary world. This isthe stof perception following beinga sensor but before beingan actor on details or at large-scale It isthe stagein the Malasequence Justbefore the screenwriter makeshisdecision not to rewrite the screenplay The scenetakes place inthe lroom of Casa Malaparte ashe pacesaround the huge central room with largewindows facingthe dramatic landscape4_13) Now the genesis ofspace IS originary worlds, which allow us to seeimpulses andenergies permeating andposettings and characters' - a signalof possibil ity 25 One composi tional signal isour everyday world - the sol id objects wthe film characters experience The other compositional signalisthe open whole asafunction of matter-flux - our awof what endures

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4_13Shot 8 isa long backand fo rth panorama g iv ingus a360-degree v iew o fthe mainha ll o f the house Large p ic tu re windows dominatethe room with the ir v iews towards the sea The il ' p ic tu re -l ike qua li ty i s reinforced bythe a rchi tectural detai l o f thei r mou lded frames Thecamera tum; backon i tsel f and t il ts down a tthe f irep lace - acentra l focus o f the mom - the surpr is ing fea tu re o f awindow in the backof the fireplace IS pointed out to the wri te r S Wife bythe fi lm producer, This pan isnearly five minutes induration andduring itsrotationwe seea l l the maincharacte rs move into the space and adramat ic momen t asthe wri te r f inal ly con fron ts the p roduce r and qui ts h is jobrewr'iting the script of T h e O d y ss e y

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cinemetrics ch4

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