I have a shot in a short I am working on where I want a family watching a film and throughout the film the child becomes more and more intrigued.

I want to do this in 3 shots: 1) shows the beginning of the film and then the child bored and falling asleep. 2) the middle of the film and the child waking up and becoming more interested. 3) the climax of the film and the child on the edge of their seat.

But I'm not sure how to best show that time has passed between the shots. And I know I don't want to do a zoom up of a clock as it fast forwards or shows the time changing. I have thought of like in the second shot all the sudden the family has pop corn where they didn't before, and maybe the mom is now laying down as apposed to sitting up and now has a blanket etc. But not sure if this is enough to let the audience know time has passed.

What are some other good ways of making sure the audience realized that time has passed between the shots?

Dissolve rather than sharp cuts between the shots, usually indicates time has passed.

You think using dissolve will be all right for 30 minute time passes or should they be reserved for longer amounts of time?

Thanks for the input

On STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION...

...they use a cut shot to outside the ship showing whatever else is out there, the planet or a second ship, to show a passing of time.

They do this every time someone goes from one part of the ship to the other, so they don't have to show them walking around the whole ship.

It's a classic, and is nice because it's very natural and fluid.

Using Silvers idea, you can cut to hands on the bowl of popcorn, drinks in a glass (as it lowers you get the idea that they've been drinking it) and refilling it, etc.

You also have the movie itself; if the movie itself is not seen you can use cuts in sound from the movie, i.e. crossfade from the middle of a conversation to the middle of an action scene as the characters in your film shift positions. Since you've already shot the footage it will be harder to pull off since you haven't planned it, but can be done. If the movie is on commercial TV you can use commercials and news interruptions. News interruptions are great since you can actually mention how far away the newscast is from the break.

Good ideas guys, appreciate them all and if anyone has other ideas then keep them coming.

Alcove: I haven't filmed this sequence yet, so anything is possible.

Can't solve it? Dissolve it.

:) I've heard this said by numerous directors.

You can also do a pan off subject left and then dissolve back with a camera pan coming the opposite direction.

You can also use a blur in and out.

You can use the classic clock hand spinning for the on-the-nose effect.

You can use the day to night time-lapse shot.

You can also use simple editing and let the audience put two-and-two together.

Ghosting and time lapses are good ways of expressing the passage of time passing.
You can also include visual hints sich as clocks, callenders etc. A bit cliche, but it works.

Dissolve rather than sharp cuts between the shots, usually indicates time has passed.

I agree, dissolves/cross fades are a good place to start.

Alcove: I haven't filmed this sequence yet, so anything is possible.
Then you can use reaction shots - getting off the couch and coming back with snacks and then showing how depleted they become (bowl of popcorn emptying, etc.), costumes (shoes come off, clothing gets wrinkled), even things with make-up and hair (getting bleary-eyed as the movie continues; my daughter keeps pushing the hair off of the side of her face and ends up with "wings"over her ears by the end of a long movie). They can call for a pizza delivery and Dad tells Mom it will be half an hour, then the pizza is on the table; boom, half an hour has passed. Don't forget the external environment. With a kid they're probably watching the movie early, so they could start watching the movie at sunset and it gets darker outside the window as the movie progresses, and sonically the birds stop chirping, traffic slows down and the crickets start up. If you are showing the movie on-screen most of us have the cable box, which has a clock, right near the TV. Show the movie on the TV and include the cable box in the shot; you can CGI in the times.

It's all in the details, you just have to pre-produce the hell out of it. Your B-roll coverage is what is going to make this happen. You could even do a "quickie" with the actors without lights, make-up, etc. Just record the rehearsals and edit it all together to see what coverage you are going to need.

Alcove: This is the direction I was thinking and exactly the type of answer I was looking for. Tons of great suggestions without doing anything corny. Thanks!