Different transitions and effects can be used to manipulate the diegetic time and space in a film. There are many transitions you can use. For example; Straight cut, dissolves, fades, wipes etc.
Straight cuts are the most common and 'invisible' form on transition. One shot moves instantaneously to the next without attracting the audience's attention.
Straight cut helps retain reality. They do not break the viewers suspension of disbelief. Dissolves are what fades one shot off the screen while another is fading in. The audience will be able to see both shots on the screen at the mid point of the dissolve. It is used if the film maker wants to show a connection between two characters, places or objects.
Fades are a gradual darkening or lightening of an image until it becomes black or white. One shot will fade until only a black or white screen can be seen. It is used to indicate the end of a particular section of time within the narrative. It can show the passing of time.
Wipes are when one image is pushed off the screen by another. Images can be pushed left or right. It is more common for the image to be pushed off the left hand side as this movement is more consistent with the sense of time moving forward. It is used to signal a movement between different locations that are experiencing the same time. For example; it was used extensively in the Star Wars films.
Graphic match is when they will match similar things together and use a transition in the middle, for example; Psycho - matches the circular image of the plug hole with the next image of Marion's eye.
Following the action is when there is movement, or in an actions scene, the camera would follow the event that is taking place. In the extract from Mr & Mrs, the camera rotates around the gun battle to show more of the action instead of staying at one angle.
Multiple points of view is where the actors are showing each side of a particular point of view. It is where one character will show what he/she is seeing and then it will change to the secondary character and do the same.
Shot variation is when a shot is uninterrupted by editing and the shot distance changes. The shot can be either static or mobile, but it must be a continuous motion. For example; the shot begins as a long or wide shot and ends in a close up. In 'The Matrix' it begins in long shot, the camera moves in a circular motion and ends in a mid shot.
Manipulation of Diegetic Time and Space is when a film uses effects to show an age or time change. It can be something as simple as using a colour filter, or the desaturation of an image to show a different point in time. There are many films which uses this technique but an example is 'The Time Machine'. The time traveller enters the time machine and the environment changes as he travels through time. A more modern version of this effect is in the third of the Harry Potter films, Harry potter Time Turner.
In the video that my piers and I created, I edited a few transitions and effects in to show the manipulation of diegetic time and space. This is shown when I used a transition called a fade after the anonymous eye witness is talking about the weekend before. This shows that she is talking about the past, and it seems as if you are going back in time. I then used a fade out which led us back to the news reporter and the eye witness. This shows that we are back to the present. I also used an effect which blurred the edges, so it seemed as if we were back in time and it is a blur, but not completely. The effects and transitions used really helped the audience to be able to tell they were in the eye witnesses mind, as if they were going back in time.
