Silence

This is such a great quote and so true.

Ironically, the same conclusion recently came to me while watching Errol Morris’ latest documentary, Tabloid.

Early in the film, he employs this technique where the subject of the film is describing different things and Morris just cuts to 24 frames of black screen. 

At first, I wondered what the hell he was doing. What were these infrequent visual blackouts trying to accomplish? Was it purely stylistic? Was he trying to increase the running time to feature length?

When I let my critical editor mind go and actually watch the film, the answer hit me like a ton of bricks. Morris, the director, was letting me, the viewer, create the film in my head but just for a moment. 

Long enough to get a personalized, subjective picture of what was being described but short enough not to let me lose track of the story he was telling.

It’s one confident director who knows the image he gives will never be as authentic or believable as the image we create ourselves and is willing to give us a moment to do just that.

A void, whether its audio or visual, brings everyone closer to the film’s story by letting them co-create it.