Frame, Shot, Movement, and Deleuzion

 December 30, 2024

The video attached above was shot at the ropeway line in Darjeeling. The ropeway system, or machinery, is visible on the top left corner of the screen, emphasising the movement of gears and levers which form the basis for the ropeway system within the frame itself.

The opening minute or so of the video refers to Gilles Deleuze’s idea of composition, where we familiarise ourselves with the different elements at play here (the ropeway car, the passengers waiting inside, the machinery of the ropeway system itself, the people waiting outside for their turn, as well as the layout of the location itself.) This shot, despite its stillness, depicts dynamism within it and creates a level of meaning through how the different elements find themselves arranged on the frame.

Deleuze’s concept of decomposition, or, a certain breaking point in a shot where the elements within a frame are rearranged or recontextualised, is evident in the video from 1:31 onwards. From the right of screen enters a second ropeway car returning from its journey. The passengers disembark, move towards the camera, and exit by it. The context of the video has now changed, we know more about the world now- there is a second ropeway line with which the cars return, and we are not merely waiting for the first ropeway car to start its journey.

The way the shot is framed, and its angle contributes to a sense of mild observation. There is a sense of centrifugality in the shot- we are aware that there is much more to the world than meets the camera as exemplified by how, at different points in the video, various people enter the frame and make themselves prominent. The ropeway employee at 1:02, and the couple entering the screen from 3:00 onwards are examples of this.

~ Ahan Sen

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