Sequences: How They Work, part 3
More about how sequences work, referring to Sample Sequences.
Variations in Point of View
Unlike a typical novel, cinema can treat point of view quite fluidly.
Sequences 1 and 2 are strongly single point of view (the maid for sequence 1, and the Queen for sequence 2). This is quite typical for sequences that begin a story, or begin a new major section of the story.
We need to get to know the characters, and jumping around from character to character doesn’t help us do this.
But sequence X is multiple points of view. At times it’s told from the Queen’s point of view, at others from Inga’s point of view. It even has a moment from Callum’s point of view, when Inga comes into the stables.
See: Who’s Got the Problem Now? for a discussion of how point of view follows dramatic pressure. It’s a tool that helps decide where to place the point of view in a sequence with multiple points of view.
Sometimes, on the other hand, you don’t want to identify with a character, their dilemma, or their emotions and thoughts. This story is judging the King, not understanding him. I would shoot his sequences objectively, and I think the way I’ve described them in the sequence makes that clear.
Doing the Wrong Thing for the Right Reason
By the way, an important point here.
It should be a bit shocking that Inga kills Callum – especially if we have created a more nuanced relationship between Inga and Callum in the first half of the 2nd act, as I implied in my thoughts about what sequence 3 might look like.
However, having her kill him is both narratively and emotionally powerful. It tells us something about Inga, it tells the Queen something about Inga, and it’s bound to come up again later in some way.
And it’s much more interesting than if she had seduced him and tied him up, for example. And much quicker for her to achieve – and time is of the essence for Inga.
Best of all, it puts us with the Queen just when she has to come to terms with all that she is about to lose, in order to save her head. In that moment, the Queen has the problem, Inga has the power.
This is a good example of a character doing the wrong thing for the right reason. We don’t agree with what Inga has done, but we understand why she did it.
(Though if I were directing this, I would ask the actor playing Inga to make us think that she might seduce him. It’s been on the cards, and a little misdirection never goes astray. And, given that we don’t know what did happen until the Queen sees it, it will heighten the impact of that moment.)
See: Doing the Wrong Thing for the Right Reason
But what if My Mother found out?
The characters are not you or your friends. You might love them, but you wouldn’t necessarily want them as house guests.
Transitions: Hidden Connections
Sequences are typically bookended by symbolic or metaphoric moments – sometimes visual, sometimes aural, sometimes both.
These symbolic moments create connection, and therefore meaning, in two ways: across a sequence, and between sequences.
The first connection is between the beginning of a sequence and the end of the same sequence. This captures the theme of the sequence and the journey of the sequence.
For example, Sequence 2 begins and ends with images of jewellery and wealth. Together, they tell us there is a price to be paid for the Queen’s role and position, and that the Queen is currently willing to pay that price.
The second connection is between the last symbolic image/sound/action in one sequence, and the opening symbolic image/sound/action in the next sequence.
This connection uses similarity and visual rhyme to create a join, but at the same time highlights the new direction that the next sequence will take.
Two examples: the transition between Sequence 1 & 2 is built on the idea of locking things of value away – the cutlery, and the jewellery. And, in a more subtle way, the Queen.
The transition from sequence X to X+1 is built on fire, and on escape.
Sequence X ends with a shot of the two women, silhouetted against their whole world on fire, galloping off into the darkness. The next sequence (X+1) begins with the sun rising. In both shots we see two women on horseback, silhouetted against fire. But the shot in sequence X is about escape from death and destruction, while Sequence X+1 begins a new day, in a new world, seemingly at peace.
And, again, in a more subtle way that I think nobody but me would get, refers to the idea of master and servant. Fire is a good servant, but a bad master. What will Inga be?
These connections aren’t always rational, but they rhyme.
For the final pieces of this puzzle, see: Sequences: How They Work. Final
