How Moviemakers Use Techniques to Make Us Believe Things

Film director James Cameron created a lot of buzz around his 1997 blockbuster
“Titanic.” Most people already know the story of the “unsinkable” cruise ship
which struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912, sinking in the frozen
Atlantic Ocean waters, killing more than 1500 people. Another 500 survived.

The sunken remains of Titanic have been documented many times by deep sea
scientists and researchers and the photos and videos they’ve brought back
create a haunting reminder of this disaster.

In “Titanic,” the screenwriter wraps the story of the ill-fated voyage, around
the fictional love story between a stowaway-Jack ( played by actor Leonardo DiCaprio)
and a wealthy woman about to be married- Rose ( portrayed by actress Kate Winslet).

Part of story is told in flashback- a cinematic device in which someone today
recalls that time in their life when something dramatic happened. In this case,
we meet Rose as an older woman, one of the last survivors. She reminisces
about the ship and her relationship with Jack on the ill-fated voyage.

The use of a "dissolve" (below) usually indicates a passage in time.

Director Cameron shows

Jack and Rose embracing

on the bow of the Titanic.

Then he uses a dissolve,

(slowly one picture fades

away while another

picture appears).

The audience sees the

“real” Titanic, with Jack

and Rose, slowly fade

away, while a new picture

appears. The new picture

is actual footage shot with

the underwater cameras.

By dissolving from the

real ship to this one, he is

taking the audience into

the story AND making us

believe that what we are

seeing IS real.

(Remember the love story

between Jack and Rose is

fictional!)

URL for sequence above:

http://www.angelfire.com/ga/wkb/titanic.html

Other examples of dissolve

Source: http://clydemovies.blogspot.com/2008/04/titanic-1997.html