The six elements of time are: duration, tempo, intensity, scope, setting and
chronology. Film and other time-based art can be broken down and understood
through careful analysis of these various elements. Visit the Movie-List: Now
Playing site (http://www.movie-list.com/nowplaying.shtml), an encyclopedia
of recent movie trailers. Look for the trailer specified or one that best exemplifies
the concept below, and then answer the questions. a) Duration can be thought of in terms of the running length of a film, the
plot duration (the length of time the events in the film consume), or the overall
span of time the overall story encompasses. Find a movie trailer for a film
you have seen. See if you can find the running length of the film. Think about
the events depicted in the film. How much time do you suppose they encompassed?
Does the story extend beyond the scope of the film? If so, how long does it
take (years, months, days)? b) The speed at which time passes in a film is called tempo. Find a trailer
for a scene from a movie that has a very fast tempo (be careful, because the
nature of a trailer is to compress time). It is best if you have seen the film
before. Find a trailer for a movie that has a very slow tempo. What film editing
and/or acting techniques does the director use to establish the tempo? c) Intensity in a film can be affected by the performance of an actor or actors.
Find a trailer with an overly exaggerated or dramatic performance. Imagine the
actor in the same scene performing exactly the opposite (easy going, unemotional,
etc.). How would the change in performance affect the meaning of the scene?
d) The scope of a film can be extensive or narrow. When multiple narratives
happen at the same time and the director cuts back and forth between events
(crosscutting), the film generally extends our perception of the meaning of
the film. Find a trailer for a film you have seen that has a very broad scope.
Contrast this by finding a trailer for a film with a narrow scope. If the scope
is too large, how does it affect the viewer? What if the scope is too narrow? e) Setting can reveal information about a place or character in a film. It
includes the physical setting and the actual time the story takes place. Find
a trailer for a scary film that you have seen and carefully analyze how the
setting affected your emotional relationship to the film. What elements (objects,
sounds, etc.) did the director use to make you feel uneasy? Imagine this scary
film taking place in a carnival setting. Imagine it taking place in an old abandoned
house. How does the meaning of the story change, based on various settings? f) Chronology refers to the order in which things happened. Have you ever seen
a film where the order of events are mixed up? Find a trailer for a film that
you have seen that does not display events in chronological order. Explain the
sequencing of events. How does the reordering of events change the story? What
if you were to rearrange the events to be sequential? How would that affect
the story? | 
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education