STUDIES AND RESEARCH
About dissolve: characteristics and functions
The use of dissolve in films like Chaplin’s The Kid, 1921 inclines the viewer not to perceive the transition between the shots as a simple comparison, because connection of scenes is intended to awaken the viewer’s empathy with the characters recast due to general injustice in the society. The object of this text is the reason for using such a striking procedure as dissolve, however, the analysis of film does not often give us the answer. Since dissolve is an extremly prominent procedure, Bordwell is mistaken when he explains it as a variation of fade in and fade out. Films of classical style, for example, Frankenstein (1931) by James Whale and Rio Bravo (1959) by Howard Hawks, use dissolve in the context of narrative legibility, in accordance with prevailing stylistic rules and procedures. Quite a different use of dissolve can be found in Nicolas Roeg’s film Don’t Look Now (1973), where dissolve in the scene od little girl’s drowning in the lake emphasizes the concurrence of events and stresses the symbolism (especially in the use of colours), while fragmentary layout of the scene is also important because it causes discomfort.
Slaven Zeèeviæ |
