NA Unit 3 PDF

3- TIME Time in AV narration Two time references must be considered: Time of the story (a lifetime, three days, two weeks). The time of the story refers to the diegetic events. Time of the discourse or plot. The temporal duration of the exposition...

3- TIME Time in AV narration Two time references must be considered: Time of the story (a lifetime, three days, two weeks). The time of the story refers to the diegetic events. Time of the discourse or plot. The temporal duration of the exposition of the events (between 90 and 120 minutes in the feature film). Manipulations of duration, order and frequency. TIME OF THE STORY (TS) THE EVENTS (WHAT) TIME OF THE DISCOURSE (TD) THE TELLING OF THE EVENTS (HOW) The relation between TS & TD is variable along a movie. In terms of the whole movie, TD is commonly shorter than TS. In terms of a shot, TD and TS are equal In terms of a sequence or a scene, it can vary. Scene and sequence The scene is a unit of action, space, time. This is a general rule, although we can find some scenes where some of these parameters are different. By sequence, we understand a block of content or narrative block. They often have the equivalent of an introduction, middle, and end inside themselves. It can be made up of a single scene, several scenes or a single shot = sequence shots like Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958).  Duration There are 3 common possibilities of relation between the time of the Story (TS) and the time of the discourse (TD) -​ TD = TS. -​ Duration of story and discourse are the same. The event narrated in the diegesis lasts as long as the time needed to narrate it. -​ This equivalence is found at the level of the shot (effects as "fast motion" or "slow motion" are not applied) At the level of the whole story, the equivalence relation is rare. -​ 2 ways of accomplishing: -​ Rope (Hitchcock, 1948) or Victoria (Schipper, 2015) -​ High Noon (Alone in Danger (Fred Zinnemann, 1952) -​ TD < TS -​ Duration of the time of the story is longer than the time of the narrative. -​ Frequent relationship in audiovisual fiction, vast majority. -​ Dominant procedure: ellipsis TD > TS These levels can be considered respectively at the level of the shot, the scene, the sequence or the whole story. Elipsis Omitting or suppressing fragments of the story. Certain events which, according to the diegesis, have occurred, are suppressed. Can be explicit when an extradiegetic indication appears, such as a sign or a voice-over ("30 years later"]. It can also be implicit if there are no indications in the text. -​ 3 functions: Withholding information, in order to generate some effect Chiding information that the characters discover later, through anagnorisis, for example Cidade de Deus (City of God, Fernando Meirelles, 2002). Narrative economy. To lighten the narrative of irrelevant information. For example, climbing stairs. Omit large time lapses between two scenes. 2001. A Space Odyssey (2001 A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick. 1968). -​ Different formal means of establishing continuity: Sound riding. The sound of shot B starts to be heard over in shot A. Visual riding. The image of shot B starts to be seen before the sound linked to shot A ends. -​ Continuity of ellipsis: Spaces and characters after With spatial and character continuity. Million Dollar Baby_ (Clint Eastwood, 2004). With spatial continuity and without continuity of character (s). The space remains, but there is a temporal variation. A voice over can be the connecting element between the different moments.  Without spatial continuity and with character continuity- Space is modified, but the same characters are shown. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959). No spatial or character continuity. In this case, both time and space vary. This is the typical ellipsis that occurs between sequences and can mark major temporal changes. -​ different scales: Discourse level. Imposible. Scene and sequence level. Most frequent, normally introduced with the editing between two shots. Shot scale. Characters leave the space and return transformed. La vita è bella_ (R. Benigni, 1997). Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942). Summary A summary is a sum-up of a part of the story through a series of short fragments, or what Karel Reisz (1990) calls a montage sequence. This can only be done with the use of ellipses, linked by them. Rapid succession of short shots, sometimes linked by any effect, a voice-over, or music over. Temporal order To compare the order in which events are arranged in the discourse with the order of succession of these same events in the story. -​ Chronological: respects the diegetic development of the events. -​ Anachronisms: the discourse does not show the story chronologically and jumps to the past/future. Anachronisms can be visualised or not (flashbacks, flash-forwards). Alteration of the order of events in the story when represented by discourse. Past - flashback Future - fast-forward For Genette (1989:103) every anachrony has a scope and a range: Scope - temporal distance Range - how long the anachronism lasts It is important to take into account the reference time. Any modification of the order of the diegetic events in the story is necessarily articulated on the basis of the reference time, which makes it possible to refer to a past or a future in relation to a given moment. Through any extradiegetic narratorial function that explicitly performs the action of narrating and establishes a time of reference (time from which the story is told. Through the diegetic time at the beginning of the audiovisual narrative. By means of explicit temporal reference in the diegesis (character or situation as reference) Flashback (analepsis) A flashback is a return to the past with respect to the reference time that serves as the present in the story. Motivations:  Explain past/present. Illustrate the past of a relevant character. Cause/effect perspective. Roots of certain situations. Recover facts to understand some aspects of other events. -​ Types of flashback External analepsis. It begins and ends at a point in time before the starting point of the reference story. (Casablanca). Mixed analepsis. Begin outside the time frame of the main story, but end within the main story. The Shawshank Redemption (F. Darabont, 1994). Internal analepsis. Begin/end within the time frame of the main story. Extradiegetic internal analepsis. No relation or collision. Intradiegetic internal analepsis. Situated within the time frame of the base story. Can fill in the gaps, retell the same events from another perspective, another character… Complementary internal diegetic analepsis. Same as before, but they were omitted at the right time and then have been recovered to provide important information. They fill an earlier gap in the narrative, an ellipsis. City of God. Repetitive internal diegetic analepsis. The story returns to itself explicitly and alludes to its own past. This is the case of Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950).. Objective and subjective analepsis Flashbacks conveyed through a character can transmit his particular point of view of past events and introduce false data, or that everything is a lie. Discourse not adjusted by the narrator's exposition (meganarrator's control). Discourse semi-adjusted to the narrator's exposition (external ocularisation). Discourse fully adapted to the narrator's exposition (internal ocularisation). Prolepsis (flash-forward) Anticipatory movement. It implies a leap into the future with respect to a present time of reference. Key aspect: must exist a mechanism back to the present time. Otherwise, it would be an ellipsis.  It can be audiovisualsided, or not. It is always an intern. The last bit of the story puts an end to the temporal duration. It only works as an anticipation or prediction about future events of the discourse. Flash Sideway There is no explicit chronological relationship between the time of the story and the discourse. Events devoid of any temporal reference, and we cannot place them in relation to those that surround them. Lost, Fringe or Flash. Analepsis' audio visualisation Marks are needed for comprehension of the audience. -​ Extradiegetic Extradiegetic narrator to articulate the jump. Using labels with temporal indicators (ex: TWO DAYS BEFORE). -​ Diegetic Characters. Oral reference about the date. Memories. Discourses. Change in physical appearance. Elements that indicate temporality: calendars, clocks, etc. Ambience change and characters' clothing. Through letters, books, memories. -​ Formal elements Camera movements. Chained shots. Blurry imagen. Black and white or tonality. Freeze (to stop the image). Graphic semblance between shot A and shot B. Non-diegetic sound. "Riding" a sound/music, prolonging it over the beginning of the following sequence. Frequency Relationship established between the number of times an event is evoked in the story and the number that is supposed to occur in the diegesis. An event can be shown and later shown again from another point of view to offer new information to the viewer. -​ Singularity: 1 S / 1 D -​ Multiple frequency: x S / x D, they coincide. x S / y D, unequal. -​ repetitive frequency 1s/xD Link. A fragment of an action already seen is repeated, and the continuation that has not been seen before is offered. Same action from another optical point of view. Car explosions, doors opening, etc. Different lines of action participate in the same event. Events with the same approach, but different development and outcome. Bun. Lola. Run or About Time. Same event, with different development and same ending. Rashomon. -​ Iterative frequency: x S / 1 D Example: a character gets up every day at 8:00 to go to work (story) and is represented only on one occasion (discourse). Verbal - easier, or visual = more difficult. Usually, the acting is in charge of this significance. Paperman, Notting Hill. -​ Zero frequency: x S/ 0 D - Ellipsis Eluded events. Assumed events. Ignored events.