Contrast and Montage

In the clip below, made of Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard's piece - Now We Are Free - there is superb use of montage effect and equally fine use of contrast. In fact the whole video is a treasure trove of sophisticated visual language.

Note how most of the shots feature a key contrast:

• size - large against small
• motion - movement against stillness

That level of contrast allows successive shots where there is minimal movement, but the key elements in the shot are moving against each other. This is an important facet of any form of storytelling, movement is always in relation to something.

I sometimes see student work where everything is moving quickfire, tension rises to a fever pitch and holds it. But continuous rapid movement needs to be against something that isn't rapidly moving, or it's like glancing across at another car next to you on the motorway, going at the same speed. Even though you're moving against the background, you're not against each other, you're still. A story which is nothing but constant movement, can actually flatline.

At 0:08 in the clip our eye focuses both on the boy's face and the water, because of their contrast. The effect of each is intensified because of what it is and what it isn't.

A writer can apply this process of contrast to many story elements:

• light/shade
• movement/stillness
• dialogue/narrative description
• spoken dialogue/body language 
• a scene of intense emotionality/writing in extreme plainness
• present/flashback
• realistic representation/dreams
• text/subtext

In the video below the use of contrast reaches its peak with the exquisite sequence from 1:00 to about 1:17 with the children running beneath the elephant's face in the rain. It takes an eye of some discernment to spot the angle to shoot from that intensifies that contrast, and these film-makers possess it.

Another thing that strikes me is the use of montage, where individual shots are layered one after another, and the glue between them is in the viewer's experience, the carry-over from one scene to the next. This is a facet of the reality of modern film. In the silent movies of the 1920's each scene was joined together by inserting a piece of written text that told something of the narrative. (e.g. ... meanwhile, the dastardly villain had kidnapped the heiress and taken her to his lair...) These insertions are a form of transition, corridors and lobbies in the story to take the reader from one scene to the next. Writers often insert these moments into the text, between scenes. e.g:
  

• meanwhile, on the other side of town...
• two weeks later, once he'd returned home from his trip...
• the following year, they...

Or my particular favourite, from war stories:

• That night, somewhere in Germany...  (usually written in old fashioned manual typeface)

But as readers and viewers we're capable of constructing such transitional moments in our heads, almost unconsciously, by making our own connections. We can and should be given space to do this.

In the Now We are Free filmclip they use the continuous stream of the music to glue the individual shots together, accentuated by the use of a single colour palette (variations of sepia.)

There are clips available on the 'net now, often created via a montage of 'found' materials that feature more artistry in a few minutes than many films have in 2 hours. Here's another example - also using the music of Lisa Gerrard. The shot of the 4 elephants standing up out of the water is stunning.

This is film-making so alive it breathes. 

Lisa Gerrard - Now We Are Free

2011 BNZ Literary Awards - Novice writers' category

Here is a link to the judge's report for the Novice writers' category of the BNZ literary awards. The judge of this category was Rachel King and I have found her report worth reading for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is purely personal: I was lucky enough to gain third place in this category with a story called The Rings of Saturn and to get mentioned in the report. I am grateful for her comments on the strengths and weaknesses of my story, not just because I respect Rachel King as a writer and critic, but because she obviously took the time to reflect thoughtfully on the top four stories and give some constructive feedback on all of them.

The second reason is that she has made some general comments about the topics and themes of many of the fifty shortlisted stories she read in this year's novice section of the competition. She states her concern that the topics (often around grief and death) might be being used to elicit an otherwise unearned emotional response in the reader. This is a very interesting comment and one worth pondering in more depth. I'm inferring that she means by this that the writing (of any story) needs to be a stronger vehicle for transporting the reader and making them feel and respond than the topic (or plot?) of the story, not that there is anything wrong with these topics/themes themselves? After all, many truly great short stories have been based on these themes, but I guess what makes them great is that the emotional response of the reader has been earned by the quality of the writing and the skill of the storytelling. Definitely something to aim for.

Here is a link for those of you interested in reading my story, The Rings of Saturn.

ebooks, epublishing and how we read and write

Here is a link to an interesting article from the Independent on how the Internet and the development of ebooks (and epublishing) is changing the way we read. I'm not sure I agree with everything Johann Hari is saying but I think many of his points are worth discussing. His article reminded me how much we need to debate what we think the gains and losses of ebooks and epublising might be for those of us writing (and reading) novels and short fiction, given how much these literary forms have changed and evolved in their (short) history and what has influenced and caused these changes and developments.
For example, a large and on-going influence on contemporary fiction and written storytelling has been film and the film industry. Currently, Hollywood 'experts' like Christopher Vogler (The Writer's Journey) and Robert McKee (Story), who have written interesting but formulaic how-to books on the construction of narrative/story, have been held up by many as the new 'masters' to take note of and follow. While their experiences and opinions are fascinating and informative, they are culturally and industry bound and not the definitive summary of all that narrative is, or how it should work - in the end they are talking about what they think works in Hollywood.

A couple of weeks ago I attended another discussion on the woes of the current publishing industry. A claim was made that ebooks and epublising are as big a cultural revolution as the advent of the printing press. This may well be true, and if it is, then writers and readers, as much as publishers, book producers, booksellers, and Hollywood experts, need to have a say in what is written, what is valued, how it is produced and distributed, and who benefits.

How we respond to the changing nature of publishing and distribution is critical to our cultural and financial survival as writers - lets not leave it the hands of the very industries that have always made more money out of our labour than we have.