Jen McPherson – 10733424
JUXTAPOSITION
Visual storytelling is an important part of the film medium. Images can be used independent of dialogue and formal narrative, allowing the viewer to make links between different images. There are many different elements that influence visual storytelling; effective visual storytelling requires “depth, story structure, subtext, suspense, emotional arcs, metaphor” (Minds Eye Media 2004) and juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is one of the most important of these elements, as it determines the overall mood and context of the narrative.
Juxtaposition is “the deliberate use of proximity for the creation of an implied relationship between discrete objects” (WebComics 2005). This implied relationship allows the audience to create a whole picture from incomplete or unrelated images. In early film theory, particularly that of the Soviet Union, juxtaposition was essential in the development of montage. The meaning that the viewer gains from the combination of shots does not necessarily exist in either shot when they are viewed independently; it is the viewer that fills the gap and makes a link between the two ideas.
Juxtaposition is central to storytelling in film. It is a concept of “the profoundest importance” (Reisz 1968, pp.143); one idea plus another idea creates a third, completely separate idea in the mind of the viewer. The reason montage is so effective is because context allows the viewers to infer meaning. The viewer subconsciously makes decisions about the relationships between each shot, coming to an understanding of everything as a whole. The relevance of the first shot is determined by the shot that comes after. Thus the way shots are organised into a sequence will determine the overall mood, context and meaning portrayed. At times these links are obvious, and at other times the meaning is more intellectual and requires the viewer to be discerning.
Juxtaposition is best exemplified by the Kuleshov Experiment, carried out by Lev Kuleshov in the early 1920s. He used the same isolated image of an expressionless man and intercut it with three contrasting images: a girl, a plate of soup, and an old woman’s coffin (Wikipedia 2008). The viewer gets the impression that the man is sad when looking at the coffin, or hungry when looking at the food, despite the fact that the image of the man remains the constant and unchanging. This experiment has been reproduced by many people including Hitchcock (See Figure 3). This highlighted that two different shots in succession were “not interpreted separately by the viewer” (Udhe 2002), instead being “integrated into a whole” (Udhe 2002). An example is a photo of roses accompanied by a photo of plants and a watering can (See Figure 1) in comparison with the same photo of roses with a photo of a wedding (See Figure 2); both pairs of images convey different meanings and contexts. Hence a larger sequence of shots creates a larger, more complex narrative and multiple meanings. The meanings the audience derives from the images may be intentional on the filmmakers part or completely unintentional, all the imagination of the viewer. The Kuleshov effect is evident in modern editing, highlighting the relevance of this experiment.
Examples of juxtaposition can be found throughout any number of films. The Great Train robbery is the early example of cross-cutting (See Figure 5). It represents a significant milestone in filmmaking, an early example of juxtaposition in which the director realised “that splicing together two shots creates in the viewer’s mind a contextual relationship” (Wikipedia 2008). The Battleship Potemkin, Fatal Attraction, and 2001: A Space Odyssey are further examples. The Battleship Potemkin’s Odessa steps scene (See Figure 4) is one of the most famous examples of montage; Eisenstein, the director, was once a student of Kuleshov (Wikipedia 2008) and was most likely influenced by his experiment. The various shots of the people and of the soldiers descending are fragmented and intercut together, encouraging the audience to interpretation the scene. The 1987 film Fatal Attraction features a scene in which the family returns home to find their pet rabbit cooking on the stove; but at no point is the rabbit ever shown in the pot. It is through the use of juxtaposition in the editing that the audience knows the rabbit is in the pot (see Figure 6) and understands the intended meaning. In 2001: A Space Odyssey Kubrick, in the tradition of the Kuleshov effect, uses juxtaposition to great effect, conveying emotion and humanity with HAL, a computer. Kubrick “skilfully carefully played off the actors performances, lending the perception of deeper ‘acting’ to the otherwise inanimate character” (Skyler n.d). The human characters in the film are quite unemotional, and, in comparison, HAL shows a wider range of emotion than any human character.
Thus juxtaposition is a crucial element of editing and film-making. It is an element that allows the viewer to create links between different ideas, thus understanding the context and meaning of the sequence as a whole.
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Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
(sourced from http://www.filmsite.org/grea.html)
Figure 6
(sourced from http://www.tfssartsnotes.ca/videonotes/framing.htm)
References
Minds Eye Media 2004, Digital Filmmaking, viewed 3 November 2008, <http://www.mindseyemedia.com/info/interview.html>
Wikipedia 2008, Film Editing, viewed 3 November 2008, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editing>
Web Comic 2005, The WebComics Examiner Glossary, viewed 3 November 2008, <http://webcomicsreview.com/examiner/glossary.html>
Udhe, J. 2002, Film’s Illusions: Kuleshov Revisited, viewed 3 November 2008, <http://www.kinema.uwaterloo.ca/ju-952.htm>
Skyler, R. n.d, Understatement and the Kuleshov Effect in 2001: A Space Odyssey, viewed 3 November 2008, <http://www.ambiguous.org/robin/word/kuleshov.html>
Reisz, K. & Millar, G. 1968, Technique of Film Editing, Focal Press
On Saturday I am playing polocrosse, and the weather has been so good that we might go to the beach on Sunday. Looks like it is going to be a good week!
Other than that not much going on, Max is still really cute, not crying at night now. He’s gotten into the bad habit of biting our feet, though, lol, so hopefully he stops doing that soon! Anyway im going to see a movie with David tonight so better go!
You have no idea how much I wish dad was healthy. 
