1/07/2014

Context

Janusz Głowacki, the screenwriter of Wajda’s “Walesa - the man from hope” recently published a book that chronicles his involvement in the project.  Describing one (abandoned) version of the finished film he wrote: 

“Scenes stood next to each other indifferently, cold and a bit sad (because they were trimmed to fit a longer version and additionally related to each other only historically).”

This resonates with my increasing conviction that in storytelling context rules.  Filming may be “sculpting in time” but it’s the juxtaposition of elements that is the building block of narration.  It’s a banal statement but it’s in the quality and the aims of juxtapositions that films soar or collapse.  

That which appeared before defines that which comes after that.  That which comes now influences that which appeared earlier. Time is flexible.  Context changes the reality.   The meanings shift depending on what’s around the elements that define the meanings.   All depends. 

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