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dialogue Dialogue and discontinuity of time

I use to notice this all the time in television commercials but also in a few movies. 2 Actors conversing thru the course of more than one scene yet the dialogue flows with no interruption.

EXT: Office Building - Day
Tom and Larry are walking toward the building.

Tom: I just don't understand why it happened. Everything was going so well. We were laughing.

Larry: You mean there weren't any signs you could have picked up on?

INT: Office Lunch Room- Continuous
Tom and Larry are at the counter fixing their coffee.

Tom: No. Nothing. One day everything was in place, the next, well, you know.. Maybe I'm just too self absorbed.

INT: Bathroom - Continuous
Tom and Larry are standing at the urinals taking a leak.

Larry: Don't be so hard on yourself. It happens to the best of us.


In television commercials, the spokesperson will be talking continuously about the product throughout the commercial which takes place in any number of locations. The dialogue is continuous but there is no discontinuity in time, as though the person magically jumped from one location to another while still talking.

The interesting thing about this kind of dialogue style is that our brain accepts it. Because the dialogue remains smooth and constant we don't seem to notice or mind that it could not have happened that way.

Personally, I like this.
 
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The interesting thing about this kind of dialogue style is that our brain accepts it.
Yup, absolutely. I don't know if it's because of the way we're wired (just take it in....) or our brains have been trained that way for years/decades, but it definitely works.

The semi-related point that it reminds me of is how, in movies, people walk or drive quickly from one place to another that's miles or even hundreds of miles away, and even if we know that, we (usually) accept it.

The one time I remember it bothering me is in a TV show (White Collar maybe?) where a person was running from a pursuer in lower Manhattan (think World Trade Center area). They turned a corner and were in front of Lincoln Center, which is a few miles away. But if I hadn't spent MANY years working in NYC, I probably wouldn't have noticed - I certainly wouldn't notice the equivalent in Chicago or LA :)
 
The interesting thing about this kind of dialogue style is that our brain accepts it. Because the dialogue remains smooth and constant we don't seem to notice or mind that it could not have happened that way.
Our brains are programmed to apply all kinds of filters to incoming data to help us cope with the harshness of the real world, including not showing us what's really in front of our eyes but what we believe should be there (and our in-head image stabilisation software is way above anything the best bods in DJI, Apple or Steadicam have yet come up with 🤓).

This style of dialogue is a useful short-cut to show how a topic has been discussed by the relevant parties over a period of time and space, and is how we would experience similar situations in our own lives. When storing and recalling memories of such an experience, we delete most of the boring in-between times and remember (vividly!) a coherent, uninterrupted exchange.

Much the same as listening to/comparing genuine spoken conversation with scripted dialogue. :director: :secret:
 
I agree with Celtic's summary of why this works, and have nothing particularly enlightening to add. I do like this technique when it's used well though. It's great for being able to show things relevant to a conversation. A detective can be outlining a theory for a murder, and say "he carried the candlestick from the library into the study, and once the murder was complete hid it temporarily here, in the greenhouse" With the shots changing to the relevant locations during the sentence" It doesn't seem important until you realize how long that scene would take if they didn't use the technique. It's kind of a cousin of the montage I think.
 
It's kind of a cousin of the montage I think.
It's the montage without the music and editing to TELL us it's the montage. So it's more seamless, which makes less sense in a way. It's also akin to the jump cut, but instead of within the scene, it is scene to scene.
 
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