ENGLISH

, the director of “The Graduate,” collates disparate spaces and times through editing under the famous Simon and Garfunkel tracks. The first approach in using montage seems to be “dissolve.” Essentially, dissolve is a technique in which one clip fades or dissolves into another. The first clip fades out gradually while the second one fades in to become more prominent. In the opening of “The Sound of Silence” scene, dissolve is evident in conveying time and inertia seen through Benjamin’s poolside experience. The water swerves as the waves sweep around Benjamin. Furthermore, the camera focuses only on the water initially and the waves fade to make Benjamin’s appearance more prominent. The dissolve technique is executed excellently because it happens in so subtle a manner that the viewer can hardly notice the transition.

The second instance is a match-on technique which transports Benjamin magically from the family pool to Mrs. Robinson’s hotel room. The sudden transportation happens successfully through consistent costume and continued camera movement. The scene at the pool where Benjamin is seen basking on the floating bed enjoying his drink is already a facsimile of him lying on bed, possibly next to a woman. He is seen with a pair of swimming shorts topless on the float. Suddenly, he jumps into the water and swims to the shore. No intention can be inferred here other than Benjamin speeding to meet Mrs. Robinson. The romantic action continues in the hotel room, confirming the viewer’s suspicion.

The scenes also use the graphic match effect efficiently to condense space. That is, Benjamin’s head is rested on a black headboard when he is in the hotel room. The board corresponds to a similar one in his bedroom. So excellent is the execution of the technique that the background on the screen turns completely black and the viewer could easily confuse it for nighttime. Benjamin imagines that he is in the hotel room with Mrs. Robinson when he is in fact busy nursing frustrations in his own bedroom.

Finally, there is the match-on-action edit which transports Benjamin from the floating bed inon his pool to the hot embrace with Mrs. Robinson. Benjamin has been swimming when he jumps suddenly onto the float. In this manner, the audience is treated to contrasting images relayed one after the other simultaneously. The landing ought to have taken place on the float only for it to happen as an embrace on the bed in the hotel room. Time and space are condensed effectively in the match-on-action to depict how much Benjamin longs for his lover, to the extent of imagining romantic moments yet to come. Their unspoken thoughts tell much about their feelings presently and in the future.

Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson are in two different worlds despite their stay in the same hotel. This is discernible in the way they walk past each other without saying a word. Besides, the scenes utilize various types of clothes to denote passage of time and their attraction to one another. Benjamin comes out of the pool, puts on his shirt, and walks straight into the hotel room. He walks past Mrs. Robinson who has turned her back on him at the dressing mirror. One could think that she is dressing to go out, but it does not turn out so. As soon as Benjamin jumps on his bed to ponder about what is in his head, Mrs. Robinson approaches him and unbuttons his shirt, giving a romantic twist to the story.

The editing techniques not only condense space and time, but also emphasize the relationship between Benjamin’s affair with Mrs. Robinson contrary to his parents’ expectations and his post-graduation family life. Indeed, Nichols was on point by adopting montages as a manner of telling the story. Benjamin is goalless upon graduation, unaware what to do with his life. He finds love in the wrong person, unaware that he is vulnerable. From the beginning, Mrs. Robinson’s aim is to control Benjamin and derive romantic satisfaction from the youthful graduate. Everything transforms from “no strings attached” to an unstoppable affair with little expression of thoughts. Mrs. Robinson wants to use Benjamin while getting ready to be used as well. In short, the affair takes place for mutual benefit. The scene in which montages from Benjamin’s time alone in his pool after his first encounter with Mrs. Robinson and from his time in the hotel room with Mrs. Robinson, to the backdrop of Simon and Garfunkel’s music, conveys this moment in the film with great creativity.