the ellipse
the ellipse….It’s it is back to school ! The holidays are over, everyone takes the path of office or trays ;o) I hope you have had a good holiday, you have the opportunity to write and relax ;o) For this first article of September I you plunges directly into the bathroom with the ellipse. I realized in the course of the school year that just passed, that many of you are not familiar with this magnificent tool that is the ellipse. Let’s be clear, I don’t blame you. I remember that it was a time or the secrets of the ellipse to me were completely foreign. the ellipse will allow you to get to the essence and rhythm of your scenario.
Yes, but an ellipse, what is it ?
the ellipse is a lack, or, if you prefer, it is something that does not exist. Yes… right there I feel that I’ve lost ;o) At the same time if I had explained it like that, I would have been in the same situation ;o) I’ll rephrase, l’ellipse, this is the time (a plane trip, for example) or actions which are not to be shown to the spectators or readers between the two sequences. the ellipse, in fact, allows to shorten the story. If your character takes the train or the plane, you’re not going to show X hours of travel ! You will ellipser !
I’ll give you a very simple example of an ellipse :
Sequence 1 : Int – Office – Day
Luke concludes to sign documents. He slips into a pouch that he hides in his drawer. His cell phone rings.
LUKE
Yes… ?! I’ve just finished, I come immediately. Command what thou wilt, I trust you…yeah… everything’
He hangs up and leaves.
Sequence 2 : Int – Hallway – Day
Luke runs through the corridors and headed towards the elevator. The doors open, he enters.
Sequence 3 : Int – lift – Day
Luke looks at himself in the wall mirror. He adjusts his tie.
Sequence 4 : Int – Parking Lot – Day
The elevator doors open. Luke plunges his hand into one of the pockets of his pants and takes out his keys. He unlocks the car, takes the wheel and starts.
Sequence 5 : Int – Car/ road – Day
Luke rolls quietly. He takes his phone on the passenger seat and pianote a sms.
SMS
I’m there in 3 minutes
Luke raises his eyes from the road from time to time. At the time of pressing “send” a horn made him raise his eyes on the road…
Sequence 6 : Ext – Crossroad – Day
A Truck collided with the full force of the car of Luc, who came on in the left lane. As you can see, all of these sequences show the journey of Luke from his office up to the accident. Some of you may have noticed the ellipse ! Not ? the ellipse is located between the sequence 4 and Sequence 5 because we don’t see Luke getting out of his car in the parking lot and embark on the road. Omit this part because it brings nothing to the film. The spectator will thus be understood that the time elapsed between the two sequences. the ellipse is not something that one shows to the spectators, but rather something that is being removed without disturbance of the narration and the viewer. the ellipse is, therefore, perceived (or understood) with a time delay. Here the viewer understands that the time goes by the fact that Luke is in the process of driving on the road while in the sequence before it was even parked in the car park.
But frankly you do not think that we could do better ?
Obviously that if you are correct ! There is a way to use the ellipse to generate sequences. Let
Sequence 1 : Int – Office – Day
Luke concludes to sign documents. He slips into a pouch that he hides in his drawer. His cell phone rings.
LUKE
Yes… ?! I’ve just finished, I come immediately. Command what thou wilt, I trust you…yeah… everything’
He hangs up.
Sequence 2 : Int – Car/ road – Day
Luke rolls quietly. He takes his phone on the passenger seat and pianote a sms.
SMS
I’m there in 3 minutes
Luke raises his eyes from the road from time to time. At the time of pressing “send” a horn made him raise his eyes on the road…
Sequence 3 : Ext – Crossroad – Day
A Truck collided with the full force of the car of Luc, who came on in the left lane.
So what ?! Nothing to see isn’t it ? We have, therefore, hang up to Luke and we find it in the car riding because all the sequences that were in before were only used in fact to nothing… except perhaps to slow down the scenario and make bayer the cornelius our viewer loved it ;o)
In each series or film, you have ellipses : all the time. How many times have you looked at the expert , or Castle , or Breaking bad, Dexter and the list goes on where the character is on the phone and then the next second he finds himself on the scene of a survey or in his lab ?
Recently I went to see Man of Steel. An ellipse has made me laugh a lot and surprised me. To see it, HERE it is.
Be aware that there are ellipses temporal that we watch. This can be part of the staging. Sometimes the director needs to show as time goes on because the flow of time is part of the story, the narration, or the voltage.
There are several ellipses , which are fabulous. I think the signs where at the end of the film Night Shyamalan made a dolly back when you leave the three characters. We are in the summer and then the camera does a panning from right to left and shows us a window barricaded, and then another window where outside it is winter, there is snow. Mel Gibson comes out of the bathroom, he found faith. Shyamalan could very well use the ellipse total, that is to say that at the end of his tracking back he could have cut and re-open the following sequence on the door of the bathroom where Mel Gibson comes out. But in showing us that the time goes by, it keeps us in ” tension “.
We ask ourselves questions like : “what has become of the family ? But it also gives us indications implied : the snow and its white colour immaculate. In short, it tells us that everything is quiet and that a new departure has taken place. All of this the viewer is not said, everything is suggested. The vision of Mel Gibson coming out of the bathroom as the pastor concludes the fact that everything is back in order (no pun intended ;o)). the ellipse can also be used to hide information.
Finally, I’ve found on the net an excellent short program that explains what is the ellipse and the different types. It lasts less than 7 minutes, so it is short and funny.
Of course this video does not explain everything but it is still a good starting point and simple to understand ;o) it is nice, is not it ?!
I hope that this first article of the season, dedicated to the ellipse, you enjoyed it ;o) if you have any questions please do not hesitate to leave me a message at the bottom of the article.
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Soon,
Tom Weil