Carl and Ellie: A Sequence of Love

In his article Film, Space, & Mise-en-Scene, Bernard Dick covers the concept of a sequence which is defined as “a group of shots forming a self-contained segment of the film that is, by and large, intelligible in itself” (Dick 64). In other words, a sequence is a set of shots that are combined together to create a portion of the film that can essentially stand on its own. Audience members are likely able to understand that portion with or without the rest of the film. Dick covers three kinds of sequences in this article.

The first one is a linear sequence which is one that has “a beginning, a middle, and an end” where the beginning of the sequence “initiates the action”, the middle of it “adds to the action”, and the end of the sequence “follows and completes the action” (Dick 65).

The second one was the associative sequence where “scenes are linked together by an object or a series of objects” (Dick 67).  Unlike the linear sequence, “the beginning, middle, and end are visual rather than narrative” in an associative sequence (Dick 65). Instead of a bunch of different shots telling the story, it would be one shot or a bunch of shots focused on one thing telling it all. 

Last but not least, there is the montage that “consists of a series of shots related by some theme or mood” (Dick 65). The shots are “arranged in a particular order for a particular purpose” (Dick 68). They may or may not be in narrative order, and in fact, they may be in reverse order or jumbled up. In the end, however, whatever order the shots are in, there is a reason they are placed that way. These three types of sequences, while different in their own right, can overlap one another.

An excellent example of a sequence is the love sequence in the Pixar animated film Up. The sequence tells a story about the marriage of young Carl Frederickson and his former childhood friend Ellie. This sequence is primarily a linear sequence with a beginning, middle, and end.

The beginning initiates the whole thing with Carl and Ellie sharing their wedding kiss. The middle adds on to that and continues the story with Carl and Ellie moving forward with their marriage with events such as moving into a home, getting jobs at the zoo, going on picnics and dates, and most importantly, funding their dream trip to Paradise Falls, something heavily pursued after they find out that they cannot have children. After all of that, the sequence ends with Carl and Ellie sharing a final moment as Ellie dies of an illness before the two could ever embark on their dream journey. 

As mentioned earlier, sequences can overlap. This linear sequence that is Carl and Ellie’s marriage life overlaps with both of the other types of sequences. It can be seen as an associative sequence when Ellie is always tying Carl’s tie at the beginning of the day. As she does so, the viewer is initially unaware that both are aging as she is tying them until the camera shows their faces after several instances of her doing his tie. She first does his tie when the two are still young, but after a few more consecutive shots of her doing the same knot, the camera pans out to see they are slightly older. After another series of consecutive tie shots, we then see Carl and Ellie and senior-level ages.

A montage can be seen when they use a jar to collect change to fund their Paradise Falls trip. In the montage, there are many instances where they are filling the jar with money, and then when Carl injures himself, they end up having to break the jar to pay for medical expenses and as a result, have the start over on their trip fund. There are shots of the jars filling, Carl getting hurt, and then Ellie breaking the jar to pay for Carl’s accidents.

By incorporating all three types of sequences, the sequence of Carl and Ellie’s marriage is incredibly clear, strong, and does so much to the viewer emotionally without the viewer having to see or know what happens in the rest of the film.