14:14, 13 October 2012 - Monoskop

278 Harun Farocki
act out a fight. The camera films them against the backdrop of the building
with a recessed wall, so that the walls envelop the two, and it seems as if they
are inside the building and not in the public space of the street. Unfortunately,
there is a splice in the film print available to me at this very spot. But it was at
least the original English-language version of the film and I chose that over the
German dubbed version, even if it had its limitations. In the case of Pasolini’s
Accatone, I had no choice but to use the German version; I had the same problem
with Antonioni’s Deserto Rosso and that is, of course, a scandalous state
of affairs. Financial and logistical problems were often decisive factors in the
selection of my filmic examples and I ended up using both a great deal of examples
from East German films since they were so inexpensive, and many silent
films since they are in the public domain in the US.
But the act of ‘leaving the factory’ or ‘entering into (or returning to) the
world of the family’ can be witnessed in many eras and national cinemas. I
mentioned that the tracking shots affect this transformation; they are also a
stylistic mode of amplification. In Zeche Morgenrot it is the light that removes
our couple from the world around them. In Clash by Night the couple
speaks of everyday things, and they are, as I have shown, slowly removed
from the social environment of the factory. A camera that is in such close agreement
with its hero and heroine, as the tracking shot demonstrates, transforms
an everyday walk into a ritual and thus establishes its stars. Monroe’s ability to
move is an additional factor. Her walk is as fine as hearing an aria or taking a
bath in milk. The ability to shine is the point, although just a moment before
she was standing along the conveyor belt of a fish packing plant, a nobody.
Towards an Archive of Visual Concepts
I return once more to the Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte, which serves as a template.
I cannot claim to be well-read in the area of political theory but I can
claim that there is a body of literature on terms such as ‘democracy’ or
‘isonomy’ that nearly defies assimilation. Anyone who is occupied with texts
in a professional capacity looks up words. Knowledge about film cannot be researched
in this fashion. One watches Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, in which
the two heroes are followed in a tracking shot as they walk through the cavernous
space of the office, together with other white-collar workers, and pass
through the revolving door in groups of two. If one shoots a similar series of
set-ups today, must one have seen this sequence or another, similar one? Or
does one arrive at such a sequence, because the inherent properties of a particular
medium tend toward such a staging? I do not believe that a sociology of
knowledge exists, which could answer this question. Twenty years ago in the
television industry one had to spend seven years as a camera assistant and the