Renewal of the Elements through the Viewer’s Perception - Text 4
We can draw many observations from this “constantly created newness.” First of all, this concept explains why some music, with a more sustained tempo and, incidentally, a more striated time, tends to appear shorter than others. While such music has a greater capacity for renewal, it maintains the viewers in a state of strong cerebral intensity, preventing them from becoming aware of the passing time without tension necessarily entering into play.
Let us take as an example a particularly rhythmic scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark: the chase scene in the desert.[5] John Williams’ music, with its asymmetrical metre, matches the editing and dramaturgy while at the same time enhancing the image with an autonomous and singular rhythmic counterpoint (orchestral dialogues and responses), along with a thematic dimension with highly colouristic accents (modulations, modal fragments, polymodality, etc.). This musical lace made it possible for a sequence nearly eight minutes in length, with an elaborate mise en scène, to unfold with great fluidity.
