The Choreo-Cinematic Functions from Laban Movement Analysis. A Method for Studying the Movement Language in Movies

Monda Letizia Gioia, The Choreo-Cinematic Functions from Laban Movement Analysis. A Method for Studying the Movement Language in Movies, in Sandra Adiarte (ed. by), LMA/LBMS in Various Professional Applications, Logos Verlag, Berlin, going to be published in 2026. The present contribution discusses the core outcome of research I performed at the University of Turin as part of a group of scholars involved in the PNRR-funded project Living Cabiria. It introduces a method based on Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) for decoding the compositional strategies of moving images in the silent film Cabiria by the Italian director Giovanni Pastrone (1914-1931). The approach led to creating a system that reveals how movement is deliberately structured in film to shape the viewer’s experience. Using the Motion Bank Web System — a digital tool for choreographic annotation developed by the Motion Bank Institute at the University of Mainz – I identified three choreo-cinematic functions that define how bodies are organized in the cinematic space. These functions vary according to how their components are expressed, creating expressive patterns and field of actions that influence the viewer’s emotional and sensory engagement.