Passages of time are useful in films in order to show that the action has progressed in time. They are useful as they can move progress to any unit of time, such as hours, days, weeks, months or years, and still keep the narrative continuous and the keep the audience intrigued.
There are several ways a passage of time can occur:
Showing the date or time on the screen:
A good example is Love Actually's passage of time:
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The passage of time in Love Actually is something we have taken inspiration from in the beginning of our film where Sarah grows up. We thought it would be more appropriate to have Sarah being given the penny as a child and then having her as a teenager for the remainder of the film. This meant that we needed an appropriate passage of time, and one with the number of years past, is the most appropriate for our film as it is subtle and stylish.
Using transitions such as a fade, wipe, dissolve, cross-dissolve, etc:
This cross dissolve, in "One Day" is extremely effective as it quickly displays that a passage of time has occurred to alert the audience that the film has changed time periods. This would be effective in our film when Sarah takes Kandi out for a walk as we want to progress from the house to the park without the showing the action of her walking there. This was allow us to pick up the pace of the narrative, and portray what we want to show the audience in a much quicker time lapse, which is important as we only have 5 minutes.
Passages of time can occur in both linear and non-linear narratives as they are used to show the transition between two time periods. This can be achieved in either a chronological narrative, in which a passage of time could be simply used to speed up the events and link them all together, or can be achieved in a non-chronological narrative, in which a passage of time could be used to depict that the narrative has gone back or forward to another time period.
They are useful as they allow editors to put together two different scenes from different time periods without needing any information about what went on in between. It conserves time, especially when there is more than an hour gone by in the passage of time. This would be essential in our short film, as it would allow us to cut out irrelevant shots and still convey the message we want to, but in a shorter space of time.
What is a flashback?
A flashback is a scene inserted into the narrative to take the audience back to another point in time, which disrupts the chronological order of the narrative.
Flashbacks are often used to offer information to the audience that they wouldn't have been aware of. They are usually used to offer visualisation of events that a character is thinking about rather than the character describing the events. More than often, they are used to show information crucial to the narrative that would make the plot confusing without been shown.
Flashbacks can either be:
Subjective- where they show thoughts or memories of characters
Objective- where the show past events in relation to the present day.
The effect of flashbacks are usually established through a variety of ways.
- Showing the date/time of the scene through narration or subtitles.
- Using a transition such as cross-fade or dissolve to show the transition from present to past.
- The action may be shot blurred, or in monochrome so the audience is aware that the scene is a flashback.
- Borders are also used to show the difference between a flashback and actual time events.
- Sound may also be edited, uses of echoes and sound effects on voices are also used to alert the audience to the change in time.
Flashbacks are often used in non-linear narratives. Non-linear films involve the narrative be shown out of chronological order. The flashbacks usually lead to the audience feeling slightly disorientated and confused, as the plot usually jumps back and forth between the past and present day. An effective use of flashbacks can be seen in several films, such as:
We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011) - 15
The film, We Need To Talk About Kevin was shot in medias res, as a non-linear narrative. The film is extremely disorientated and follows a non-chronological order throughout. Throughout the film it's quite difficult to piece together the different pieces of information you are provided with, as the narrative constantly moves from the past to the present day. The main character Eva's (Kevin's mum's) perspective and interpretation of events are shown throughout the film, with her memories been shown as flashbacks.
The flashbacks are effectively portrayed throughout the film, and transition subtly. The flashbacks allow the audience to gain a deep understanding of the plot and piece together its narrative.
This is an example of the kind of flashbacks used in We Need To Talk About Kevin.
The frame begins quite unsteady, and remains so throughout. This unbalanced long shot creates the illusion that we are looking back into Eva's memories and alerts the audience to the fact that this is a flashback. There is very little happening in the opening of the flashback, mainly because it is allowing the audience to familiarise themselves with the location and understand what is happening. Diegetic sound is slowly building up, starting from a low level. This creates the idea that Eva is trying to recall these memories, and the low to high change in volume is showing her familiarising herself with the event again. We could use this method in the filming of our flashback in order to help the audience understand that this is in fact a past event. However, this would be too time consuming for our film as we only have 5 minutes to shoot it in and we don't want to lose the attention of our audience. We think it would be more appropriate for our flashback to be quick-paced as Sarah is realising the events that have occurred and, in a rush, is putting together the pieces of information. Therefore this kind of flashback opening would be unsuitable for our film. In our flashback we wish to include both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. We want the audience to use the diegetic sound of the past events to understand why Sarah was lucky. However, we also want our flashback to include non-diegetic narration of Sarah explaining what has happened. This will allow us to ensure that the audience fully understands what has occurred in our film. This would convey her inner thoughts and encourages the audience to sympathise with her, rather than Leah. 
The next shot gives the impression that Eva is invading her memories. This medium close-up shows her getting up close with her memories, as though she is trying to figure out where everything went wrong. Celia looks past Eva's character which suggests that although she is looking back, she is not actually there. There is a build up of diegetic sound up until Celia turns around, which suggests that Eva's memory ends there of this particular event. In our flashback we want to convey the idea that Sarah is looking back on her events, rather than looking from her perspective. This would be more beneficial for our film as Sarah doesn't know any more than the audience at this point (restricted) and therefore it will allow the audience and Sarah to piece the information together. The effects used in the flashbacks of WNTTAK creates too much suspense and conveys an eerie mood. Although it is effective, our film is a drama-fantasy film, in which the purpose of our flashback is not to create suspense, but rather tension. 
In this close up shot of Eva we can clearly see the expression in her face upon recalling these events. It creates the idea that Eva is desperately trying to look back into her past in order to figure everything out. The fogged up class suggests that whilst she is recalling key events in her past and piecing together everything that's happened, she still has much more to discover. The fog suggests that she is still ignorant to important information and that the only way to resolve this is to look further back into her past. In this close up shot we have a sound-bridge of non-diegetic narrative. She is almost reminiscing about what her past was like with her daughter and husband before Kevin destroyed it. How her life has changed since then.
The next shot is a medium close up shot, filmed in slow motion. This effect creates the idea of a flashback so much more as it's almost shot in a different effect than the rest of the film shown in the present, allowing the audience to distinguish between the past and the present. The slowed down speed emphasises the importance of the shot and focuses on the importance behind it. There is also non-diegetic sound over the top of the shot of Celia and Franklin playing together, creating the idea of a positive time in their lives before Kevin ruined it all.
The final close up shot of Eva in the flashback consolidates this idea that Eva was looking back on the life she once had. The shot suggests that she was happy in this time period and would prefer to be here again. The shot allows the flashback to continue but allows the audience to understand the emotions of the characters. Overall, the flashback shown in We Need To Talk About Kevin, is an extremely effective and moving effect. It informs the audience that this is Eva looking back on her life, and clearly divides the past and the present day, through unbalanced filming and slow motion. We have taken a lot of inspiration from this adaptation and interpretation in order to make ours fit our film. We want to clearly show the divide between the two periods of time and make the audience aware of what it's purpose is. We hope to create the impression that we are looking in on Sarah's memories and convey the importance of the lucky penny to the audience, and how it has affected events.
Another example of the use of a flashback in films is:
The Mummy Returns (2001) - 12
The transition into the flashback is very clearly portrayed early on. A ripple effect is used to show the change from present to past, which allows the audience to know that the film has changed time periods. Transitions such as ripples, fades and dissolves are often used to differentiate between the two times and prevent audience confusion. The long shot very effectively demonstrates this transition. The use of a transition into a flashback is extremely effective when used properly, if not done well can look cliché. We believe that using a transition to display the change to the flashback would be effective in our film, as we want to make it as clear as possible for the audience. This will help us convey that Sarah is looking back and realising what has occurred. 
This medium long shot clearly sets the scene of the flashback. The gold tones suggest a much more ancient time period. Also the positioning of characters: we have the Emperor centre top of the scene which clearly states his importance and significance in this time period. Then there is the two girls in the foreground. The placing of the two girls at the front suggests that they will be the focus of this flashback. It is important to be aware of the setting and placement of props and characters when filming. We will need to take into consideration the positions of our characters in the flash to make sure the audience is aware of who is the focus and what to look for. We have also taken inspiration from the use of a different tone in order to depict our flashback. We have decide to use a grey tone in order to show that Sarah is looking back on the day's events and piecing them together in order to understand the events. 
This close up high-angled shot of Eve creates the idea of who is the more dominant character in this shot. By showing the power equation through shots such as this it keeps the audience informed as to who is the superior character, without needing any form of speech, just action. The non-diegetic music picks up speed and has a deeper tone in this frame, suggesting a realisation from the main character, about something she was not aware of. The idea of changing tone of music to reflect the mood/knowledge of the character is extremely effective. This would be useful in our film, as we want to convey that Sarah is realising the events and that tension is building up in response to her findings. Sarah is piecing together all of the events that have occurred in order to understand the purpose of the penny. Music similar to this would be effective in our film as it would show the tension rising and emphasise the importance of Sarah realising what has happened.
The next shot of a close up of Eve re-informs the audience this is still a flashback. The build up of non-diegetic music continues demonstrating that a realisation of events has occurred for her. This is an effective method as it breaks up the flashback shown and keeps the audience on the look-out for important information shown in the flashback. Although this is a good way of displaying a flashback, we don't intend to show Sarah looking back into her memories. This is because we believe it will take up too much time, and would not be very effective in our 5 minute short film. We want to be as concise as possible and make the audience aware that it is a flashback without basically showing them that our character is looking back.There is again a use of a high-angled close up of Eve, demonstrating that the shot is back in the flashback. Once again we have the gold colours to allow the audience to familiarise themselves with the flashback again and to make them aware that they have transitioned back. This is an extremely effective method in keeping the audience intrigued and breaking up the flashback.
Overall, we want our flashback to be clear, effective and interesting. We want to entice the audience into wanting to find our why these factors contribute to our film and it's importance. We believe that having well established flashbacks will allow us to achieve this, by clearing differentiating between past and present, using transitions if necessary to divide the flashback and display information clearly and concisely.
