Editing technique · used in 3 films
Squeezing long spans of story time into a few minutes of cutting, so you feel how years pass, routines harden or a relationship deepens without seeing every step.
Examples
Paul Thomas Anderson · 1997
After the diner and the first lessons, the film jumps two years ahead to Reno. John is now Sydney's protégé and works the casinos like him. You feel how close they have become without seeing it happen.
Where to see it: The jump to Reno. Two years after the diner, John is Sydney's protégé and has made friends of his own.
Park Chan-wook · 2003
The film shows 15 years of imprisonment in roughly 5 minutes. The speed does more than fill in backstory. It lets you feel what time is like in solitary confinement. The days blur, the routines become the whole world and the television is the only link to other people. You understand what imprisonment does to a person faster than you can take it in.
Where to see it: The imprisonment montage. Oh Dae-su's years go by as a string of meals, exercises and television broadcasts.
Darren Aronofsky · 2014
ILM created a roughly 2-minute sequence showing the creation of the world, from stars to life. Another effect shows a seed from Eden sprouting a forest in moments. You see time itself move.
Where to see it: The seed from Eden. Methuselah gives Noah the seed, and the next morning water spouts from the spot where he planted it and a forest grows around the Watchers.
Questions