I'd appreciate it if you could help me
Set in the 1960s America, "The Queen's Gambit" is a limited 7-episode drama series on Netflix that follows the journey of an orphaned girl with prodigious chess talent as she faces various challenges and battles formidable opponents. The show has gained considerable popularity worldwide. One aspect of "The Queen's Gambit" that I particularly admire is the scene transitions during the chess matches.
Scene transitions, or "cuts," refer to the change of scenes in visual storytelling. For example:
In Japanese, this cinematographic technique is termed "カット割り" (cut-wari), and it can be used as a noun. For instance, someone might say, "This transition is excellent!"
In official chess matches, players are allocated a specific time to think, known as "time control." They use a chess clock to manage this time. A chess clock consists of two clocks with a switch button on each. When one player presses their button after making a move, their clock stops, and the opponent's clock starts ticking. The match proceeds in this back-and-forth manner, and the player whose time runs out first loses the game.
In "The Queen's Gambit," there are moments during the chess matches when, right after a piece is moved, the chess clock's button is pressed with a distinct sound, and immediately the scene transitions. This simultaneous audio-visual shift creates a rhythm that's both captivating and satisfying. Of course, there are scenes where the transition doesn't sync with the click of the clock, and those scenes serve to accentuate the ones that do. The occasional syncing between sound and scene transitions is precisely what makes it so delightful!
Though Netflix requires a subscription, I recommend watching "The Queen's Gambit" if you haven't yet. It's a treat both for its storyline and its cinematographic choices.
