4 1. INTRODUCTION
e lmmaker engages in one or more photocution-
ary acts. Either by pre-planning or by making decisions at
the moment of recording, the lmmaker gathers together a
collection of images at the rodeo. e content of those imag-
esboth topic and production valueswill have been guided
by the lmmaker’s plan for the collection, as well as by the
lmmaker’s understanding of the intended audience. at is,
if the lmmaker wants to present the human athletic ability
of rodeo riders, then the majority of images in the collection
will be constructed to give more frame space to the riders than
to horses, clowns, or audience. If, on the other hand, the lm-
maker intends an ethnographic study of the rituals surround-
ing rodeo, then there likely will be many images showing
behind the scenes preparations, audience members reacting
to events, announcers, clowns, and all the other participants.
After all the images have been made, they will be ar-
ranged. Some of the original images will likely be discarded
for poor technical quality, duplication, lack of appropriateness
for the lm, length considerations, or any myriad of other
artistic and logistical reasons. e lmmaker may choose to
leave the images in more or less chronological order or to
re-arrange the images to suit the plan of the lm.
ere is no “grammar” of lm in the sense of a verbal
grammar. ere is no analog to the noun or verb. is does
not mean that there are no structures to movies, far from it.
However, the structures are built on the understanding of
viewer perception. Filmmakers learned long ago that struc-
ture is a powerful component; they also learned that there is
no one-to-one correspondence of lmic structural practices
to verbal practices. ere are some “tried and true” practices,
such as using “fast” editing to increase excitement. However,
there are other methods of achieving excitement and the
rapid intercutting of dull or inappropriate images will not
achieve excitement.
So, the lmmaker carries out photocutionary acts at
the image gathering and image ordering stages. In a general
sense, the lmmaker also conducts photocutionary acts at the