M AT I A S P I N E I RO

A cinema defined
more by what it
can do, than by
what it cannot.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1982

I was doing another Shakespeare, female comedy.

When you’re working with the same topic in a new
film, I think you have to provoke differences. I wanted
to work with the idea of repetition as rehearsal. The
idea of mantra and loop came to me, too, because I
like this idea of the text being more powerful than
people.
STRUCTURE

What am I going
to talk about?
First, what was the cultural, historical,
economical context in which Pineiro
came to beeing as and artist and film-
maker.

Afterwards I will try to say something

avout following aspects:
1. Cinematography (and Sound)
2. Mise en Scene
3. Editing VIOLA, 2007
4. Actors
5. Narrative structure
and how those elements interactin an in-
teresting way.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

New Argentine
cinema, renaissance
and funding
(problems).
In 1994 “The new cinema law” was
passed, what led to the renaissance of
the Argentin cinema. Several were
(re)established, of which the INCAA was
the most important one.
The policy of reviving the national
VIOLA (2012)
cinema has also led to establishing several
film schools (and consequentialy film stu-
dents), national festivals, film magazines
and other typ
A LT E R N A T I V E F I L M A K I N G

Unique poetry
of micro-budget
cinema.
Pineiro usually doesnt work with fully re-
sourced grips, lightning departments or
professional actors.

Pineiro didnt rely on INCCA funds. He

uses alternative ways of producing (or al-
ternative producers like Lita Stantic, cre-
ative screenwriting, and interesting inter-
play of mise en scene, camerawork and ROSALINDA (2010)
acting to achieve high quality movies
with minor expenses.
“Economic problems made filmmakers explore new
forms of aesthetic representation, as well as developing
alternative methods of film production.”

JOANA PAGE
CI N E M ATO GR A P H I C P ROP E R T I E S

Cinema of motion Shot size: Pineiro predominantly uses

and layers.
In his first two movies he used celluloid,
but in his later movies he uses digital
camera.
That is one of the reasons hea thought
that camera itself need to be moving,
what is not to be achieved only trough
camera movement, but also framing.
close ups and medium shots.
Shot duration: he often uses long takes,
and exploits the interplay between the
shot duration and mise en scene.
Off/on screen: “ Often a character will be
talking off-screen, or disappear out of
shot mid sentence, leaving the focus on
someone listening or reacting, rather than
talking.” (Di Rosso 2016)

Camera position: dynamic is achieved

trough unusual camera angles, slightly
above or bellow eyes camera height, using
various camera distances to capture more
layers.
 Celluloid vs.
digital movies:
rigid grid and
grains.
The Stolen Man, 2007 They all lie, 2009

Viola, 2012 Rosalinda, 2011 The Princess of France, 2014

Viola, 2012: unusual angle The princess of France, 2014: The princess of France, 2014:
camera above the eye level distance revealing texture
MISE EN SCENE

Free play between

mise en scene and
a long shot.
Cinema setting, then, can come to the
forefront; it need not be only a con-
tainer for the action, but can dynami-
cally enter into narrative action.
(Bordwell 1986: 122) CI N E M ATO GR A P H E R FE RN A N D O LO CK E T

Pineiros mise en scene is refered to as: 5. using bodies and objects as significant props
1. sophisticated 6. aresting images of landscapes and urbanscpapes
2. in a state of flux 7.sensual idea of the world souranding the character
3. elasticity 8. complex blocking of actor and positioning back and
4. filling and empying of the frame foreground elements
EDITING
Since his movies consist more
of a continuous flow then of
discrete elements, the need
for editing is minimal.
The way in which Pineiros shot duration,
mise en scene and editing interrelate re-
minds me of and old philosophical idea
of stream of conciousness introduces by
american pragmatist philosopher William
James in a book The principles of Psy-
chology.
The idea was already applied to narrative
structures (see for example novels of Wil-
lian Faulkner), but if we apply it to the
editing structure it also gives interesting
results.
“Consciousness, then, does not appear to itself
chopped up in bits. Such words as 'chain' or 'train'
do not describe it fitly as it presents itself in the first
instance. It is nothing jointed; if flows. A 'river' or a
'stream' are the metaphors by which it is most natu-
rally described. In talking of it hereafter, let us call
it the stream of thought, of consciousness, or of
subjective life.” (James 1987: 526)
“If recently the brain- tract a was vividly excited,
and then b, and now vividly c, the total present
consciousness is not produced simply by c's excite-
ment, but also by the dying vibrations of a and b as
well. If we want to represent the brain-process we
c
must write it thus: ab - three different processes co-
existing” (James 1987: 526)
ACTORS

Personal relation
to his actors and
their intrinsic
motivation.
He often works:
a) with the same ensamle of actors like
Marie Villar.
b) with non professional actors
c) actor with intrinsic motivation for
acting
d) with actor he personally knows AGUSTINA MUÑOZ IN VIOLA (2012)
e) and concieves characters with specific
actors in mind
N A RR AT I V E

Which
Shakespeare?
-Many, about
seven.
“They are not adaptations, because I’m
not interested in pursuing an entire work.
I am interested in the work of delimita-
tion, of decontextualisation, to operate
on that point, that element, focus on it, VIOLA (2014)
to obtain a synthesis of it to build my
movie. They are fictive provocations.”
The art of THEME

variation. Melody Rhythm

VARIATION 1
Example: Theme Key Chords
and Variations by
Ben Dunnet VARIATION 2
Time
signature Texture
SOURCE:
m u s i ct h e o r ya c a d e my. c o m
VARIATION 3