FREE Film School: Passage of Time Assignment

Film schools often set assignments to help students master certain techniques. But you don’t need to go to film school to do these assignments, you can try them yourself. I have already suggested a few in previous articles, but let’s look at some others.

So this week’s FREE Film School assignment is to illustrate the passage of time. However, you’re not allowed to use fast motion or time lapse photography. But before you start, let’s look at some ways you can do this.

Montage

As soon as I wrote the word “montage” I immediately thought of the sequence in Team America (2004). The montage sequence became a trope of blockbuster action movies in the late 70s and 80s. Hence, Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to make fun of it in their classic puppet action movie.

In movies such as the original Rocky (1976) – and many others, including the Rocky sequels – a montage shows the main character/s training to get ready for whatever action had just been decided on. Rocky gets into shape to take on the world’s best boxers.

When used in this type of film, the montage shows characters going through some kind of self-improvement regime. But the montage can be used to depict all kinds of story beats, ideas and feelings.

However, the montage is particularly useful for compressing story time. Another example is in the film Up. At the very beginning, the film shows the couple going from childhood to retirement age in about 20 minutes.

A montage is usually made up of a series of images with no (or very little) dialogue. But the montage doesn’t just contain random moments, it depicts certain moments that are key to the story. For example, in Rocky it’s mostly Sylvester Stallone training, becoming fitter and practicing boxing skills.

They haven’t included shots of the other events that presumably took place during the same time period. For example, Rocky having breakfast, Rocky doing his washing, Rocky buying groceries have not been included. That’s because the montage is not used only to show the passage of time, but the personal development taking place in that time.

The montage breaks down the idea of time

Filmmakers often turn to the montage for the purposes of time-compression in storytelling. Why do you think the montage is so effective for achieving this task? Because, instead of showing a clear progression of action, the images are generally disconnected in time.

For example, we go from a shot of Rocky running, to a shot of Rocky working with a speed ball, to a shot of Rock doing push-ups, and so on… In other words, we have no idea when these moments are happening or how Rocky got from one action to the other. We also don’t know the length of time the montage is depicting. It could be the same day, a week or it could be a year. There’s no day-to-night progression, for example.

To do this, the montage deliberately breaks the action into key images and moments. But if you listen to the words of the song which accompanies the Team America montage clip, they explain why a montage is necessary, almost like a film school lesson.

A ticking clock

Showing the passage of time isn’t just about compressing it. Many, many thrillers end (or contain) with a sequence which includes a ticking clock. The first thing that comes to mind is a Bond movie and a bomb that needs diffusing.

Of course, using a countdown clock is the perfect way to rack up the tension. The audience can see the clock ticking down, as the hero struggles to diffuse the bomb or escape the spaceship before it explodes. I don’t think there needs to be much explanation, but the ticking clock usually involves a close up of the ticking clock cut into shots of the hero struggling.

Can you think of any other ways ticking clocks have been used in films?

Other ways to show passage of time

What happens when time passes? That’s right – things change. So showing that change indicates that time has passed.

1 Day

An office worker enters the office, bright and fresh, carrying a cup of coffee. Then we see her working at her computer, concentrating. Next shot, another coffee cup on the desk. She’s checking watch – is it lunch? Next shot eating lunch at her desk, browsing the web. Next shot, 2 more coffee cups on the desk, used food boxes, and she’s getting tired. She also looks a little less fresh, hair not quite as tidy as it was in the morning and so on. Next, it’s night, she’s exhausted barely keeping her eyes open, her co-workers have left office…

So, this could all be shot in 2 hours and take up 2 minutes of screen time, but yet depict a whole day at work. This is done by showing change.

1 Month

If you’ve seen any lost on a desert island or stranded in the wilderness type films, you will see the passage of time is again depicted by change. The characters change appearance: wear on clothes, beard growth, messier in general. Surrounding change appearance: what started as a few logs and some palm leaves is now a solid looking hut. And so on…

And obviously this technique can be used to depict varying lengths of time. There’s also ageing of a character, for extended periods such years or decades. But obviously this requires some extra skill to accomplish convincingly.

Using change within the image is often accompanied by the good old montage. For example, a montage of the stranded survivors on the desert island getting themselves sorted, building huts, hunting, foraging and so on.

Change within the image can be very powerful. For example, you could show the passage of days compressed into a few seconds. Take a 2 seconds shot of someone walking through the desert, cut to 2 second shot of the same person dishevelled, staggering, lips and skin burnt and cracked under the burning sun. Immediately the audience would understand days have passed from one shot to the next.

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