Introduction
Connecting: What Happens Between Images
In this fourth module, audiovisual language is approached through an essential operation: connecting images. A single image may remain open, ambiguous or incomplete. When it is juxtaposed with another, new relationships and meanings begin to emerge.
Viewers actively connect shots, gestures, objects and fragments of action. Between two images, they may construct an expectation, a cause, a consequence, an emotion or a possible narrative. This module explores how audiovisual sequences organise these connections and invite interpretation.
Part of the Exploring Audiovisual Grammar curriculum, this module offers a practical exploration built around an original video and five audiovisual variations.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
Understand how meaning emerges through relationships between images.
Identify the effects produced by the juxtaposition and sequencing of shots.
Distinguish between an isolated image, an association of images and a sequence.
Analyse how viewers construct implicit connections between images.
Identify effects of expectation, causality, contrast and continuity.
Watch the Video
CONNECT Click on the link below to watch the video once without taking notes. Pay attention to the connections you spontaneously make between successive images. What relationships do you imagine between the shots? When do you perceive an expectation, a cause, a consequence, a contrast or the beginning of a narrative?
Watch “Video 4 - CONNECT” on PeerTube A still from “Video 4 - CONNECT”.
Video Analysis
Comparing Five Constructions of Meaning
The five variations combine a shared set of images with a small number of differentiating shots. Hands, objects, gestures and traces recur, while selected details redirect the sequence towards material installation, intimacy, shared routines, hospitality or separation. Comparing the variations reveals that a shot does not carry a fixed meaning on its own: its significance changes according to the images placed before and after it.
Five Variations
Explore the Five Variations Material Installation The sequence shows objects being cleaned, arranged and put into use: a chair, books, kitchen utensils, glasses, pens and a plant. Through these practical gestures, the apartment gradually becomes an organised living space.
To observe: The succession of close-ups showing objects being cleaned, placed and arranged.
Concepts: Juxtaposition, accumulation, material transformation.
Love Life A romantic relationship is suggested through a message written on the mirror, a photograph of the couple, shared domestic objects and moments of leisure such as watching a film or reading. No single shot explains the relationship; meaning emerges through their juxtaposition.
To observe: How affectionate signs and ordinary domestic moments combine to suggest intimacy.
Concepts: Semantic association, affective meaning, viewer inference.
Shared Everyday Life Preparing food together, two glasses, two toothbrushes, occupied chairs and a handwritten reminder suggest an established daily routine. The sequence constructs life as a couple through repeated objects and coordinated gestures.
To observe: Paired objects, shared actions and signs of recurring domestic routines.
Concepts: Repetition, accumulation, implicit continuity.
The Couple Has Friends Over for Dinner Photographs of the couple and their friends, a grocery reminder, food being prepared in a large pan and the table being extended suggest preparations for a shared meal. The guests are not directly shown, but the sequence leads the viewer to anticipate their arrival.
To observe: How food, photographs and changes to the dining space imply an event beyond the visible action.
Concepts: Ellipsis, off-screen presence, anticipation.
One Is Alone, the Other Has Left A photograph of the couple remains, but other details suggest a solitary routine: a single toothbrush, one egg cooking, one glass, a reminder to call Mum and one person reading alone. Through these contrasts, the sequence turns familiar domestic objects into signs of absence.
To observe: Single objects and solitary actions contrasted with traces of the former relationship.
Concepts: Absence, semantic contrast, mental projection.
What the Video Explores
The recurring images: Familiar objects, gestures and spaces provide a common visual basis across the five variations.The differentiating shots: A photograph, a written message, paired or single objects, food preparation or a change to the dining space redirects the interpretation of the sequence.The viewer’s projection: By connecting these fragments, viewers infer a relationship, imagine an event, reconstruct a shared routine or perceive an absence that is never explicitly narrated.
Key Takeaway
Audiovisual meaning does not reside in isolated images alone. It emerges through their juxtaposition and sequencing, as viewers compare details, identify recurring elements and mentally complete what remains unseen.
Key Concepts
The following sections examine two complementary dimensions of connection. The first explores how juxtaposing images creates relationships and transforms meaning. The second considers how sequences, ellipses and mental projection encourage viewers to complete what is not explicitly shown.
Explore the Key Concepts Juxtaposing Images: Constructing Meaning Between Shots An isolated image may remain open or ambiguous. It can show an object, gesture or space without determining exactly what it means. When another image follows, viewers begin to compare, connect and interpret. Meaning therefore often emerges through the relationship between shots rather than from a single image.
Associating: Creating a Relationship
To associate two images is to establish a possible relationship between them. A message written on a mirror followed by a photograph of the couple suggests affection. Food being prepared followed by an extended table encourages viewers to imagine a shared meal. The connection is not explicitly explained: viewers construct it.
The Order and Context of Shots Transform Meaning
Images acquire meaning from their position within a sequence. A toothbrush, glass or photograph may initially appear to be an ordinary domestic object. Combined with paired objects, shared actions or solitary routines, however, it can suggest intimacy, life together or absence. Each shot changes how the surrounding shots are understood.
Clues Guide Interpretation
A clue is a visible detail that suggests something not shown directly. In the video, a message on the mirror, paired toothbrushes, photographs, a grocery reminder, an extended table or a single breakfast provide information about relationships and events that remain outside the frame.
A clue does not necessarily produce certainty. It guides interpretation while leaving viewers room to formulate hypotheses.
Semantic Connections
A connection between shots does not have to rely on matching movements, shapes or directions. It may be semantic: viewers link two images because their juxtaposition suggests a shared idea or situation. The connection is constructed mentally, even though it is not represented in a single shot.
Key Takeaway
Juxtaposing images means organising relationships between them. Their order and context create expectations, suggest hypotheses and invite viewers to complete what remains unstated. Meaning is not fixed within each image: it emerges through the connections viewers construct between shots.
Sequence, Ellipsis and Mental Projection: Activating the Viewer An audiovisual sequence is more than a succession of images. It organises fragments into a meaningful whole and invites viewers to establish continuity, fill in gaps and interpret what they see. In CONNECT , objects, gestures and traces provide enough information to suggest situations without presenting a complete narrative.
The Sequence: a Unit of Meaning
A sequence is an organised group of shots forming a narrative, descriptive, emotional or sensory unit. Individual images become part of a larger construction: photographs, domestic objects, food preparation and changes to the dining space contribute to a possible understanding of the couple’s life.
The sequence guides interpretation without necessarily imposing a single explanation.
Ellipsis: What Remains Between Images
Ellipsis omits part of an action, event or situation between shots. Viewers do not see the couple settling every object, living every shared routine, welcoming their guests or separating. Nevertheless, the selected images allow them to reconstruct these possible developments.
The gap between images therefore does not prevent understanding. It actively encourages viewers to imagine what may have happened.
Mental Projection
Mental projection is the process through which viewers complete the visible fragments. Photographs and preparations for a meal may suggest an upcoming gathering. A single toothbrush, one egg and a solitary figure reading may suggest that one member of the couple has left.
These interpretations are not directly stated. They arise from the arrangement of images and from the viewers’ own expectations and experiences.
Implicit Meaning
Implicit meaning is what viewers understand without it being fully shown or explained. A relationship, routine, event or absence can be suggested through repetition, contrast, paired objects, solitary objects or material traces.
By leaving part of the situation unstated, audiovisual language gives viewers an active role in constructing meaning.
Key Takeaway
Sequences organise fragments while ellipses leave meaningful gaps between them. Viewers connect what is shown with what is absent, moving from visible clues towards a possible situation or story.
Activities
These activities move from comparing possible interpretations to collaborative annotation and practical editing. They invite learners to distinguish what images actually show from the relationships, hypotheses and stories they construct between them.
Explore the Activities Activity 1 — Same Images, Five Possible Stories
Type: Group analysisDuration: 45 minutesObjective: Understand how juxtaposing images, objects and visible traces can construct different hypotheses and meanings.
Materials
Video of the video CONNECT
Projector or shared screen
Board or collaborative tool
Module concepts
Procedure
Viewing without technical instructions: Screen the video once without interruption. Ask learners simply to note what they understand or feel in each variation: moving in, affection, shared routines, the anticipated presence of guests, solitude or absence.Sharing impressions: Gather the group’s responses before introducing technical concepts. Begin with a simple question: At what point did you start imagining a situation or story?Second viewing, variation by variation: Watch the video again, pausing after each variation. Ask learners to identify the images that guided their interpretation: objects, gestures, photographs, written messages, paired or single objects, repetitions and contrasts.Collective synthesis: Construct a sentence explaining that meaning does not arise from an isolated image, but from the juxtaposition and order of several shots and from what viewers project between them.
Trainer’s Role
Help learners distinguish what is actually shown from what they infer. Encourage them to identify the specific shots that produced each hypothesis, the objects that became clues and what they understood despite it never being shown directly.
Variant or Extension
Divide the group into five subgroups. Each subgroup analyses one variation and identifies its most decisive images. Compare the findings to demonstrate how a few differentiating shots transform the meaning of the entire sequence.
Activity 2 — Annotating Connections: What I Construct Between Images
Type: Collaborative annotation with Celluloid Duration: 1 hourObjective: Use Celluloid to identify moments when viewers begin to construct meaning between images through clues, ellipses, hypotheses and mental projection.
Celluloid Preparation
Before the session, add the video CONNECT to Celluloid and create this annotation prompt: “Annotate the moments when you begin to connect several images. First describe what you see, then explain what their sequencing makes you imagine, understand or infer”.
Procedure
Launch: Explain that the aim is not only to describe individual shots, but to identify what viewers construct between them. Briefly recall the five variations: material installation, love life, shared everyday life, dinner with friends and solitude after a departure.Individual or pair annotation: Each learner adds several annotations answering three questions: What do I see? Which other image do I connect it to? What does this connection make me understand or imagine?Collective discussion: Project and organise the annotations into categories such as practical objects, affective traces, paired objects, preparations for an unseen event, solitary objects and ellipses.Synthesis: Ask the group to formulate a short conclusion explaining how meaning is constructed in each variation.
Trainer’s Role
Support the transition from observation to analysis. Help learners distinguish visible information from the meaning mentally constructed through juxtaposition. Emphasise how viewers actively interpret clues and fill in ellipses.
Variant or Extension
Compare two annotations relating to the same shot in different variations. Ask whether the image retains the same meaning when surrounded by different shots. This demonstrates that the significance of an image depends partly on its context.
Activity 3 — Arranging Images to Change the Story
Type: Group productionDuration: 1.5 to 2 hoursObjective: Experiment with how shot order, visual clues and the arrangement of images transform the meaning of a sequence.
Materials
Smartphones or cameras
Tripods, supports or objects that can stabilise the shot
A simple filming space
A selection of everyday objects
A simple editing application, if needed
Screen or projector for sharing the work
Procedure
Choosing the situation: Each group selects a simple place and several ordinary objects, such as keys, cups, chairs, a plant, a book, a table or a bag. Keep the action minimal so that meaning is produced primarily through visible traces.Filming the shots: Record approximately ten short shots showing objects, ordinary gestures, details, empty spaces, displaced elements or traces of use. Avoid explaining the intended story directly.Editing: Create two versions using the same or very similar images. Change the interpretation by reordering shots, adding or removing a clue, creating an ellipsis or changing the position of an image within the sequence.Collective screening: Show both versions without explaining their intended meaning. Ask viewers first to describe what they understand, then invite each group to explain the arrangement choices that guided this interpretation.
Trainer’s Role
Help groups avoid overly explicit narration. Encourage the use of simple clues, repetitions, contrasts and empty spaces. During the screening, maintain a distinction between what is visible and what viewers mentally construct.
Variant or Extension
Give every group the same collection of shots and ask each one to create a different sequence. Comparing the completed versions will show how meaning changes according to shot order and arrangement.
Further Viewing and Reading
The following references extend the CONNECT module by examining how meaning is constructed through juxtaposition, sequencing, ellipsis, visual clues and mental projection. Short extracts can demonstrate how an image changes according to its context and how a sequence can suggest a situation without explicitly presenting it.
Explore the References Classic and Landmark Films
Kuleshov editing experiments — Lev Kuleshov, c. 1920s. The same facial expression appears to acquire different meanings according to the images placed alongside it. To observe: Juxtaposition, contextual meaning and viewer interpretation.Tokyo Story — Yasujirō Ozu, 1953. Shots of spaces, objects and ordinary gestures construct family relationships, emotional distance and the passage of time. To observe: Transitional shots, material clues and connections between everyday details.Hiroshima mon amour — Alain Resnais, 1959. Present experience, memory and fragments of the past are brought together across different places and times. To observe: Temporal association, memory and fragmentary construction.Cléo from 5 to 7 — Agnès Varda, 1962. Encounters, gestures and details gradually transform the viewer’s perception of the central character. To observe: Accumulation, sequencing and the construction of an inner journey.Sans Soleil — Chris Marker, 1983. Images, memories, commentary and distant places are freely connected to produce audiovisual thought. To observe: Associative editing, correspondence and movement between fragments. Popular and Contemporary Films
Traffic — Steven Soderbergh, 2000. Several narrative lines are connected through editing, allowing an overall situation to emerge progressively. To observe: Parallel narratives, recurring elements and connections between characters and places.Lost in Translation — Sofia Coppola, 2003. Small gestures, silences and everyday situations gradually construct a relationship without defining it explicitly. To observe: Implicit meaning, emotional clues and understated connections.Babel — Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006. Separate stories and locations gradually reveal their relationships. To observe: Fragmented narration, delayed connections and causal links.Boyhood — Richard Linklater, 2014. Years pass without explanatory transitions, requiring viewers to reconstruct the characters’ development from fragments of life. To observe: Ellipsis, accumulation and temporal continuity.Moonlight — Barry Jenkins, 2016. Three periods in one character’s life are separated by major ellipses. To observe: Temporal gaps, recurring gestures and reconstruction of personal change. Bibliography
Kuleshov, L. (1974). Kuleshov on film: Writings (R. Levaco, Ed. & Trans.). University of California Press.
Balázs, B. (2010). Early film theory: Visible man and The spirit of film (E. Carter, Ed.; R. Livingstone, Trans.). Berghahn Books.
Metz, C. (1968). Essais sur la signification au cinéma (Vol. 1). Klincksieck.
Mitry, J. (1963–1965). Esthétique et psychologie du cinéma (Vols. 1–2). Éditions universitaires.
Deleuze, G. (1983). Cinéma 1 : L’image-mouvement . Les Éditions de Minuit.
Branigan, E. (1992). Narrative comprehension and film . Routledge.
Suggestions for Trainers
Choose short extracts in which meaning is not immediately explicit.
Ask learners to formulate an initial interpretation before analysing the images that produced it.
Compare an isolated shot with the same shot placed in a sequence.
Draw attention to repetitions, contrasts, ellipses and changes in shot order.
Distinguish what is directly visible from what viewers infer or imagine.
Use the extracts as extensions of the CONNECT video rather than as fixed illustrations of a rule.
Conclusion
Audiovisual meaning does not reside only within individual images. It emerges through their juxtaposition, order and context, as recurring details, contrasts and ellipses encourage viewers to establish relationships between fragments. Connecting images therefore means organising both what is shown and the interpretive space that remains between shots.
By comparing the five variations of CONNECT and experimenting through annotation or editing, learners can identify the visual clues that guide interpretation and distinguish them from what viewers mentally construct. The next module turns to what images reveal and withhold, exploring how framing, off-screen space and traces make absence perceptible.
The ‘Exploring Audiovisual Grammar’ Curriculum
If you would like to explore more within this ‘Exploring Audiovisual Grammar’ curriculum, click here to go to the next module: “Exploring Audiovisual Grammar - SHOW/HIDE ”
