ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, we explored transition techniques in video games to understand the importance of aesthetic clarity and contrast for amplifying emotional experiences and story. The process highlighted that gaming’s added element of interactivity creates signicant problems concerning attention bottleneck, and how much information players can mentally process at any one time. Attention bottleneck is also a concern for lm directors who counteract the phenomenon with a continuous reiteration of vital story information as it begins to fade from the audience’s mind. Legendary illustrator and storyteller, Iain McCaig-who is credited as a concept artist on illustrious lms like The Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)—describes the reiteration process by framing it from the audience’s perspective and its story-orientation needs from moment to moment:
Where, Who, What, and (Again) Where… Iain McCaig’s quote is illustrated by the sequence of stills from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) (Figure 11.1), in which a long-shot establishes where the forthcoming action will take place (Where are we?). The audience is then presented with a medium-shot highlighting the gures that are the primary subject of the scene (Who are we?). A close-up nally addresses the details of the
scene (what are we talking about?). This cycle of long-medium-close-up shots is repeated as often as is necessary, whenever the director and lm editor sense that key story information may be fading from the audience’s memory (where are we again?).
