Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Pictorial Space
There is a great scene in the live-action fi lm
The Abyss
1989, twentieth Century Fox. The
screen is shown as if we are looking through the side of an aquarium. The aquarium is
fi lling with water and our human character is drowning. The camera keeps moving closer,
the water keeps rising, and the ceiling keeps dropping until there is only a narrow strip of
air space. Our character struggles to push her mouth into the narrow airspace to stay alive.
The audience is watching, often with their necks fully extended and their chins pushing up,
as they feel the space fi lling up and the anguished character fi ghting for her last breath.
This is a great example of how the director makes the audience feel and on some levels
experience the anguish of drowning through the manipulation of pictorial space.
Drowning Scene from the fi lm
Abyss
