Download (12MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository

viewers towards a state of psychological abandon as regards time. This narrative strand
depicts the splendour of sunsets and dawns in the desert in such a way that a timeless
experience is created, fused with an allegorical impression of an original, unadulterated,
terrestrial existence. Apart from the extensive use of long shots, the underlying aesthetic in
these sequences is related to the construction of lyrical forms; drawing on Grodal's research,
two lyrical elements can be identified: light and rhythmic phenomena. Grodal explains that
when light is deployed to draw attention to itself, the evaluation of a film's reality status and
its temporal status is affected because the reality of the diegesis dissolves and the viewing
experience becomes more achronic (Grodal, 1997: 153). The spectacular light of the sunsets
and dawns on the desert's red sand removes corporeality from life forms - such as humans
and camels - within this landscape; in the intense daylight, they seem made of paper, and at
night, their movements resemble a theatre of shadows. The result is that these images elicit
pure contemplation from the film's viewers, a form of engagement that cancels the temporal
and the spatial dimensions of the sequences. On the impact of light upon viewers, Storaro
affirms:
Light is a physical thing. It enters the eye, and therefore the brains of the people who are looking at it.
The wavelengths of the various tones impart particular psychological signals, which the audience
absorbs. It alters their blood pressure, their metabolism, their physical input. It is my work to tell the
story of the script, in this case the story of Port and Kit, carefully employing my understanding of these
principles, while writing with the light (Storaro, 1990: 88).
Grodal suggests that rhythmic phenomena also have lyrical potential; rhythm within
films - whether in the form of beats on a soundtrack, montage patterns, or camera movement
- is connected with the 'autonomic processes of the body\ The abovementioned techniques
are most important for 'representing a non-telic, non-object directed activity', (Grodal, 1997:
153) because they can change how time is perceived, hi The Sheltering Sky, rhythm is created
by camera movement reproducing the swaying motion of the camels during the Tuareg
journey. Given that the camera is also the viewers' perceptual outlet into the filmic space, the
250