Introduction
In 2009, Pixar Animation Studios produced a montage called The Married Life, a brilliant five-minute masterclass in narrative exposition (Bradshaw, 2009) from their multi-award-winning feature film, UP (Pete Docter, 2009). The Married Life uses the application of “trajectory phrasing” (Pearlman, 2016) in its rhythmic construction.
Trajectory phrasing is a technique that is theorised by film writer, director and editor, Dr. Karen Pearlman. It is used to shape the direction and energy of movement phrases in film editing (Pearlman, 2016). Trajectory phrasing can be achieved through careful composition of a mise-en-scene, cutting, and transitioning, which results in a harmonious and rhythmic flow of energy and an overall cinematic experience.
To visualise this theory is an excerpt from Goddard’s conversation with Agns Guillemot from the article, Montage My Fine Care (Cahiers du Cinéma, 1956), in which he says, “.. You notice a young girl in the street who attracts you. You hesitate to follow her. A quarter of a second. How to convey this hesitation? Mise-en-scene will answer the question, ‘how shall I approach her?’. But in order to render explicit the other question, ‘am I going to love her?’ you are forced to bestow importance on the quarter of a second during which the two questions are born.”
Trajectories within a mise-en-scene
Figure 1: Young Ellie and Carl in The Married Life
In Figure 1, the audience is introduced to a young and cheerful Ellie who expresses her fondness towards a young, introverted Karl. In the next shot, Karl walks to his bedroom window and leans on his blue balloon as he looks out the window, trailing Ellie off.
In Carl’s shot, the lighting composition and character’s actions and reactions are the main contributing factors forming the presentation of an effective mise-en-scene. It is the shot that highlights Carl’s ‘look’, with reference to Goddard’s example mentioned above, and it behaves as a nexus to the chains of trajectories that follow, which sets the audience’s expectations of The Married Life’s overall theme.
To create a suitable mood for Carl’s “look”, he is lit by two sources of light: a diminished warm fill light in the background, and a moonlight that serves as a key-light. The soft quality of both lighting sources creates a dream-like atmosphere which represents Carl’s state of mind. The moonlight being the key-light, shifts the audience’s attention onto Karl’s face and forms anticipation towards his actions. This shift of attention is caused by a natural tendency of the human eyes to be attracted to the brightest point on a screen (Landau, 2014). Following a suitable lighting environment is Carl’s actions which begins with a surprised look for the audience to anticipate his reaction, and ends with a look of admiration that sets up the premise of The Married Life.
Trajectories between two shots
Figure 2: Colliding trajectories between two shots.
Figure 2 shows the pivotal, climactic part of the montage. The first shot on the left is a shot with a mise-en-scene that is designed to draw the audience in with the prominent feature that is the mural of a stork delivering a baby, a culturally famous symbol of a pregnancy made popular by Hans Chrisitan Andersen’s “The Storks” (2001). Combined with a primary use of the colour yellow, which according to Goethe (1810 , p. 307), is a colour that conveys excitement; this mise-en-scene that is further enhanced by the natural daylight coming from the window is crafted with the intention of conveying the emotional excitement that Carl and Ellie are experiencing as parents to be.
However, the high energy radiated in the first shot dramatically drops into a low energy as the camera pans into a shot of Carl and Ellie on the right, who are situated in front of their gynaecologist, in a dimly lit clinic room. This low-key lighting technique, commonly used to light negative scenes, effectively breaks the audience’s initial idea of Carl and Ellie’s venture into parenthood. It offers the audience a new perspective towards the narrative direction and simultaneously increases their curiosity, causing them to make their own reasoning and predictions of what is to come.
The seamless flow between these two contrasting energies are what Pearlman (2016 , p. 55) refers to as a “colliding trajectory”. Regardless of whether two shots are linked together with a transition as smooth as the dolly pan used in this scene, the colliding energies between the two shots are what creates a shock factor that moves the audience’s emotions to create an impactful and unforgettable scene.
Trajectory phrasing as a tool to convey time.
Figure 3: Two scenes that use the same editing style: fast cutting.
Figure 3 shows two scenes that are examples of the application of fast-cutting used to create trajectories that convey the passing of time in The Married Life.
The first scene begins with an establishing shot of the character’s primary goal of pursuing Paradise Falls, which is followed by a rhythmic series of fast cuts that highlight Carl and Ellie’s life hurdles. The second scene comprises a series of close up shots from Ellie’s point of view (POV) as she tightens Carl’s tie on a daily basis. The tie design changes with every shot, emulating her daily routine of tightening Carl’s tie. There is also a gradual change in Carl’s overall look throughout the entire scene to show Carl’s process of ageing.
These two scenes, each respectively showcasing a series of fast cuts, are comprehensively cut and arranged in chronological order to maintain a cohesive trajectory that conveys the passing of time. The implementation of elliptical editing, a transitioning technique used to decrease a duration of a plot (Bordwell, 1985) in these two scenes, aids with cutting out a considerable amount of time to allow for a concise plot delivery for The Married Life montage without having to compromise the audience’s interest towards the plot development.
Relating to Murch’s lecture (2001 , p. 16) in which he had mentioned, “If you are in an actual fight, you will be blinking dozens of times in a minute because you are thinking dozens of conflicting thoughts a minute— and so when you are watching a fight in a film, there should be dozens of cuts per minute. This would make the audience participate emotionally in the fight itself”, similarly in the two scenes mentioned above, the editor arranges approximately 10 cuts per 10 seconds, activating what Restak (2008) refers to as the “mirror neurons” in the audience’s brains which allow them to feel personally and emotionally involved in Carl and Ellie’s within a short period of time.
Conclusion
In short, when a scene and narrative is delivered through a combination of a well-composed mise-en-scene, cuts, holds and transitions, it is able to create a consistent flow of trajectories that contributes to an indelible cinematic experience.
Goddard (1956 , p . 2)’s ingenious quote can be used to conclude the application of trajectory phrasing in The Married Life, to which he says, “cutting on a look is, in effect, to bring out the soul under the spirit, the passion behind the intrigue, to make the heart prevail over the intelligence by destroying the notion of space in favour of that of time”.
Word count: 1195 words
Bibliography
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