Tim Barrus: Response to Ridley Scott

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Tim Barrus: Response to Ridley Scott

What I hear is a question being posed: Can a film clip or an entire scene contain repeated iconic images throughout the entirety of the clip, or scene, that would have the same narrative effect (visually) that poetic refrain does at an auditory level. Gospel music does the same thing. Yes, you identify Genocide as the place where I am employing that trick the most. But I do NOT see it as a trick. It's only a trick when the writer wants to provoke but does not really know how or why -- even if he might know with what. Example: In this clip we have added in a visceral set of images and repeated them throughout the clip as if to suggest that the visual action in the clip has multiple consequences. To that end, we've added a the suggestion of a foreign language (Spanish voices whispering) in the background, and only have sound effects juxtaposed around that so as not to subtract any of the power of the visual narration where repetition is employed almost as a hypnotic. You are interested in knowing if I think the technique (it is more than just a trick) could work as well in the paradigm of the VOOK as it does in fiction, poetry, and film. My response is that it's about what's in the writer's head -- if he uses repetition to soothe, make a point, or say look here, look over here. It's about analogy. It's about focus. With images, it's also about time because if you are repeating an image, the audience is always being pulled back to that one central point in time as the story unfolds. I would say that the technique is applicable to any way you want to dramatize the story. The Greek chorus was always repeating itself.