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THE FILMIC COMPONENTS 139
pie, of course, to ignore these and to throw in a time lapse without considering them. But the result will always defeat the purpose of time lapse as a vehicle of transition, for, instead of flowing smoothly from one scene to another, the audience's attention will be broken by the introduction of a foreign element.
An hourglass time lapse in a slum sequence, for instance, would be as out of place as a grandfather clock in a preclock historical sequence. Here, a flickering candle inserted in a beer bottle would be more in keeping with the locale.
This does not mean that the writer should confine himself to a literal interpretation of the injunction. The character in the slum sequence may be in a situation in which he is being inundated with woes that engulf him sporadically, much as would the waves of the ocean. The use of ocean waves as a time lapse would be an entirely legitimate poetic extension, provided, of course, there were some indication in the dialogue or action of the symbolism of the waves.
The most effective type of integrated time lapse can come in a situation in which the manufacture of a certain product is seen to be started and then completed. Here the dissolve can come immediately after the product— say, a model boat— has been begun. The dissolve through would be to the model boat completed. This would avoid the tedious details required to show the various steps taken and, at the same time, would carry forward the action.
Use cutaways for short time lapse. In certain situations where the time lapse is only a matter of a minute or so, and where the continuing action is not interesting enough to warrant showing it in its entirety, a time-lapse device is inadvisable. Thus, when a longish letter is to be written or read, or when a new costume is to be doffed and another donned, or when a narrow river is to be swum, a more effective filmic device to use would be the cutaway. Here a reaction shot of an onlooker would be intercut immediately after the uninteresting action is begun. Then, when the action has been supposedly completed, off screen, it can be brought back just as it is being completed. This cutaway need not be a reaction shot of someone on the scene. It could be a cutaway to some action— related, of course— in some other locale.
When a time-lapse device is essential to establish the exact period of elapsed time, as when a manufacturing action is to be shown,.