An Introduction to Film

Freeze-Frame The freeze-frame(also called

stop-frame or hold-frame) is a still image within a

movie, created by repetitive printing in the labora-

tory of the same frame so that it can be seen with-

out movement for whatever length of time the

filmmaker desires. It stops time and functions

somewhat like an exclamation point in a sentence,

halting our perception of movement to call atten-

tion to an image. In Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mamá

MAJOR APPROACHES TO EDITING: CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY 373

1

2

Iris-in and iris-outVolker Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum

(1979; editor: Suzanne Baron) contains an excellent sequence

of two iris shots that single out a character and denote the

passing of time in her life. The character, Anna, the narrator’s

mother, sells her farm produce in the municipal market. In an

iris-in to a full-screen image, we see the young, prosperous

Anna (Tina Engel) selling freshly killed geese [1]. This image

quickly irises-out; then (with a superimposition of [2]) there

is an iris-in of the older Anna (Berta Drews), who, during the

First World War, has only turnips to sell. Thus, this succession

of iris shots not only encompasses the passing of time, the

aging of a principal character, and the narrator’s vibrant

memories, but also the changing economic and social

circumstances of Germany before and during the war.

Iris-out shot for comic emphasis In Gus Van Sant’s

To D i e Fo r(1995; editor: Curtiss Clayton), Nicole Kidman

plays Suzanne Stone Maretto, a clueless woman who wants

to be a celebrity so badly that she’ll do anything, eventually

including murder, to get there. At a low point in her

unhappy marriage to Larry (Matt Dillon), her husband

uncharacteristically tries to take control of the situation

by proposing that she abandon her pipe dreams and help

him implement a plan to improve the image of his father’s

restaurant, where he works. Her head is swimming with ideas

of becoming the next hot thing on television, and she stares

incredulously as he emphasizes that they are a family. Family

is the last thing on Suzanne’s mind, so, through an iris-out,

reflecting her mental point of view, she cuts him down to

size, providing a microscopic view of a man for whom she

has nothing but contempt.

también(2001; editors: Cuarón and Alex Rodríguez),

it is used to emphasize an important moment of

passage in a young man’s life. Julio Zapata (Gael

García Bernal) has just felt what he calls “great

pain” at learning of his best friend’s getting the

advantage over him with a woman they both desire.

He retreats to a swimming pool. In an overhead

shot, we see him sink underwater through a sur-

face covering of brown leaves, a traditional symbol

of the change that comes with autumn; the screen

freezes as we hear a rooster crowing, underscoring

Julio’s realization of change.

Cuarón uses the freeze-frame here, in all likeli-

hood, to pay homage to one of the most famous uses

of the freeze-frame: the conclusion of François Truf-

faut’s The 400 Blows(1959; editor: Marie-Josèphe