Editing technique · used in 3 films
Cutting between a letter or interview and the scenes it describes. The words and images play against each other.
Examples
Steven Spielberg · 1985
Celie's sister Nettie writes to her, but Mister hides the letters. When Celie finds them, the film takes you to Nettie's world far away. The letters are Celie's only window onto a life she thought was lost.
Where to see it: The discovery of the hidden letters. Celie and Shug search Mister's house and find Nettie's letters under the floorboards, and Celie learns her sister has been writing for years.
Woody Allen · 1992
Characters give documentary-style interviews to an unseen interviewer, and the clips are mixed into the story. They explain themselves and the story contradicts them. The gap shows how people see their own behavior.
Where to see it: The final shot. Gabe asks the unseen crew if he can leave, and the film ends.
Mike Mills · 2011
Mills cuts from Oliver's present to still photographs and archive images of earlier decades, often with Oliver's voice explaining what the world looked like then. The pictures place his parents' lives inside history, and the words and images play against each other.
Where to see it: The history montages: Oliver narrates over still images of past years, describing his parents' world. They give his father's late coming out a larger backdrop.
Questions