This document discusses three techniques of constructing time in film editing: parallel editing, temporal ellipsis, and temporal expansion. It provides examples of films that utilize each technique, including Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train which uses parallel editing to tell two stories simultaneously. Temporal ellipsis omits parts of an event through techniques like fades and swish pans. Temporal expansion stretches out time through extended scenes like explosions in contrast to ellipsis. Specific scenes from The Birds and The Maltese Falcon are given as examples of these techniques.

1. CLASS 3
THE CONSTRUCTION OF TIME
Shannon Walsh / sm2002 / Spring 2014
School of Creative Media, City University Hong Kong

3. •
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Parallel Editing
Temporal Ellipsis
Temporal Expansion

4. •
Alfred Hitchcock, Strangers on a Train (1951)
Parallel editing or "crosscutting" means "two stories
told simultaneously with
inter-cutting

5. Parallel action is a powerful
technique because it invites
the viewer to draw thematic
connections or make other
kinds of comparisons between
the areas of actions.
(Hurbis-Cherrier, 2007, pg. 75)

7.  Temporal expansion: stretches out time, and
is the opposite of temporal ellipsis; examples
are evident in Serge Eisenstein's classic
Potemkin, Kevin Kostner'sTin Cup, and
Silence of the Lambs.
 Explosions, falls, and fights are often juiced up
with temporal expansion, but such are often
ridden with clichés.

9. Elliptical editing or temporal ellipsis means "omitting
part of an event," and almost all editing is in fact elliptical.
 Fades often signify "temporal ellipsis"--a break in time
going forward, while dissolves often signify flashbacks or
suggest future action (Casablanca).
 Swish pans (flash pans, zip pans, or "wipes") are used to
signify a series of events--as in the "marriage sequence"
in Citizen Kane.
 Sometimes elliptical editing is combined with dialogue to
create a long break in time, as in the famous sentence in
Citizen Kane that begins "Merry Christmas. . . and ends
twenty years later. . ."and a Happy New Year."


10. THE BIRDS (1963)
Graphic & Temporal Relations:
Fire scene

11. THE BIRDS (1963)
Graphic & Temporal Relations:
Fire scene

12. TEMPORAL ELLIPSIS
MALTESE FALCON (1943)

13. 
What happens when the cut only happens for a change of scene?

Film grammar is disrupted when we cut less because we are use to quick cutting and a certain
language of cinema
http://www.fandor.com/blog/daily-venice-toronto-2013-tsai-ming-liangs-stray-dogs

15. • Action Continuity Assignment Workshop & Shooting