The compression of time is done so often in film and television that viewers don’t notice it. But it’s a critical part of good storytelling. The idea is this: editors should only show the shots that move the story forward. In real life, lots of boring stuff happens—editors cut that out. Below, the woman says goodbye at the car.

Then she walks toward her apartment building. The next thing we see is the woman exiting the elevator and entering the room. What we didn’t see was the woman getting on the elevator, pushing the buttons, and riding it up to her floor. And that’s OK!