Line of Sight; Vis Lang

(LEFT) Alexander Rodchenko; Morning Exercises, Student campus in Lefortovo, 1932 (RIGHT) Image with line of sights drawn on it

ANALYSIS

This example of line of sight by Rodchenko proves to be unusual in the way that he has used line of sight but to what ends is unknown. While many of the signifiers point towards the woman being the focus of the image, the bodies along the right of the pool lead your eyes out of the frame with their being only half of the closest man visible. Her head is also tilted at and angle and seems to block whatever many of the lines of sight are pointing at, meaning that while the image has an overall good flow, it's hard to understand exactly what the intended focal point is. This maybe have been his intention however, to create a strangely ambiguous photograph. 

Scamps for line of sight

'Making of' and final illustration 

WHAT LEARNT

Line of sight can be used to direct where the viewer's eyes look in an illustration; can guide them through the piece to the focus

Smooth and rhythmic line of sight create a sense of flow and calm, abrupt line of sight create a sense of conflict or danger

Can lead eyes into or out of frame

REFLECTION 

I found that through repetitive scamping this idea of line of sight began to make more and more sense to me. I began just doing some initial compositional studies of my chosen method of transport from reference, then chose one to push on further.

When further pushing this idea I found that each scamp provided me with a more refined final composition, and what I was doing was manipulating the initial scamp into something that served the purpose I wanted it to. And while the first scamp was very important in providing me with information, it was more of a study from reference, whereas in the later scamps I really felt as if I was learning and starting to understand the image and how I could manipulate it.

I feel if anything though, the line of sight maybe have been a little too obvious and thus not have flown as easily and well as I wanted it to