Q: How do movies use time passage?
A: Time passage in movies is one of the most fascinating tools filmmakers use to shape how audiences experience a story. Because films are bound by a limited runtime, directors and editors must find creative ways to compress, stretch, or manipulate time to serve the narrative. Unlike real life, cinematic time is elastic—it can be sped up, slowed down, or fragmented to achieve emotional, thematic, or structural effects. Here are some of the main ways time passage is handled in movies:
1. Linear Time
Most films unfold in a chronological order, with events progressing in a straight line from beginning to end. Time passes naturally—minutes, hours, or days follow one another logically. This approach is especially common in genres like dramas or biopics, where realism and clarity are important.
2. Montage
One of the most recognizable ways to show the passage of time is the montage. A series of short shots—such as someone training, a city skyline changing from day to night, or children growing older—can compress weeks, months, or years into just a few minutes. The classic “training montage” in sports films like Rocky is a prime example.
3. Ellipses and Cuts
Directors often jump over stretches of time with simple edits. A cut from a character going to bed to waking up the next morning, or from a wedding ceremony to a scene with children years later, signals that time has passed without needing to show every intermediate moment. These time ellipses keep the story focused on only the most essential events.
4. Time-Lapse and Visual Cues
Cinematography itself can signal time passing. Time-lapse photography—clouds racing across the sky, flowers blooming, city lights flickering on and off—shows large spans of time compressed into seconds. Seasonal changes, shifting calendars, greying hair, or clocks ticking can also function as shorthand for the audience.
5. Flashbacks and Flashforwards
By breaking chronological order, films can jump backward (flashbacks) or forward (flashforwards) to show events from a different time. Flashbacks might explain a character’s past trauma, while flashforwards tease future outcomes. Citizen Kane famously uses flashbacks told from different perspectives, while Arrival plays with time by blending flashforwards into the narrative in unexpected ways.
6. Parallel Time
Some films present events happening simultaneously in different places, cutting between them. This creates a sense of real-time urgency (as in thrillers) or can heighten dramatic irony when the audience knows how two timelines will converge. For example, Inception layers multiple dream worlds, each moving at a different rate of time.
7. Slow Motion and Bullet Time
To emphasize a key moment, directors may slow down time. This technique is often used in action sequences—think of The Matrix’s “bullet time” or Zack Snyder’s superhero films. Slow motion exaggerates the perception of time so that the audience can savour details or emotions that would otherwise flash by too quickly.
8. Nonlinear Narratives
Some films treat time as fragmented or cyclical rather than linear. Pulp Fiction scrambles its chronology so that the audience assembles meaning from out-of-order events. Memento moves backwards in short segments to mimic the main character’s memory loss. These experiments highlight how storytelling can manipulate time to reflect themes or character psychology.
9. Real-Time Storytelling
At the opposite end of the spectrum, some films unfold in real time, with the screen time matching story time. Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and Sam Mendes’ 1917 are designed to appear as though they are happening in a continuous, unbroken span, creating a sense of immersion and tension.
10. Symbolic Time
Filmmakers may also use time metaphorically. For example, the relentless ticking of a clock can symbolise a deadline or mortality. Repeating days, like in Groundhog Day, reflect themes of growth and change. Time loops, frozen time, or sudden time jumps often serve as allegories about fate, choice, or human experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment