Saturday, July 16, 2011

What is a Vignette?

Well, halfway through the challenge, this question has been coming up: what is a vignette?

From Wikipedia:
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object. This type of scene is more common in recent postmodern theater, where less emphasis is placed on adhering to the conventions of theatrical structure and story development. Vignettes have been particularly influenced by contemporary notions of a scene as shown in film, video and television scripting.


Personally, I see the vignette as something a bit lighter. A snapshot, if you will, of a person, place, time, event, thought, or feeling. It could be an essay, a poem, a journal entry, or even a script like Snohomish posted the other day. I always see it like a vignette picture--you're looking through the  window at whatever is before you.

 

But the honest truth is:

IT'S WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 comments:

  1. Ah ha! Now I must get to work...

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  2. Art: shortest vignette of the month!

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  3. Another definition- from the world of photography:
    "Vignetting," means causing an image to fade at its outer edges (softening the periphery); usually this is done when projecting a film image onto light-sensitive paper through moving hands (around the image area) in the darkroom. I've always liked doing this with portraits, reviving a technique from the 30s and 40s.

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  4. @snohomish: glad to see you joining us!
    @NOtagain: am confused.

    @speculator: exactly.

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