My impression of La Jetee

Composition and timed succession were the tools I saw Chris Marker using to bring his story to his audience. He used sparse, contrasted images and equally sparse monologue to give the viewer a sense of desolation, wonder, and expectation.

He gave his still shots ÒactionÓ by demonstrating progression from one frame composition to the changed scene in the next. The viewer fills in the motion in his or her mind that took the characters from frame one to frame two. ItÕs actually a very audience-involving technique. We draw on our knowledge of the world to make the transitions complete. Our memories (to draw on a film theme here) provide the motion.

Each of his stills was also composed beautifully, with dramatic lighting and contrast. The viewer sees the shot for a few seconds, just enough to take in new information (such as a new character or setting) and moves on after enough time has passed. When we are viewing familiar characters or settings, the progression is faster. It gives us a sense of acceleration. I thought this was an especially useful guide for us, since we were tasked with demonstrating story in very few frames and he was tasked with creating texture in a film composed entirely of stills. There was a much more emotional feel to his long version, the ultimate goal of any film. That will be our goal after this first assignment of composing story line only.