Technical Instruction | Juxtapositioning

Juxtaposition is the process of placing two elements close together or next to each other. This tends to be done to compare or contrast the two, with the intention of showing similarities or differences.

In film, juxtaposition of elements is used to elicit a response in the minds of the audience, such as creating a meaning from the contrast. The position of shots in a montage is intended to have this effect. More broadly, a director can juxtapose contrasting types of character, such as the hero and the rogue character types working together in order to achieve the same, or common, objective but from different motivations.

Some examples of juxtaposition in film include:

• The Godfather, baptism juxtaposed with scenes of murders.

• Jurassic Park, "Objects in the mirror may be close than they appear."

• Joyeux Noël, a scene of lovers holding each other is juxtaposed against a scene of a soldier holding his dead brother.

• Threads, shell-shocked nuclear survivors walk past a poster of happy, smiling babies.

• Fahrenheit 11\9, the song "What a Wonderful World" was playing during the scenes of war and violence.

• The opening scene of Sea of Love, the music is beautiful jazz and the scene shows the awful night life with hookers.

• Dead Poets Society, the four pillars of tradition, honour, discipline and excellence are juxtaposed with the students' four pillars of travesty, decadence, excrement and horror.

• Also in Dead Poets Society, Neil is smart and popular but ends up committing suicide at the end of the movie.