Montage editing

A different way of thinking about editing.

When you used the '5 shot method' the idea was to cover an action from multiple poitns of view in such a way that you could then edit them in a way that seemed continuous'.  This is know as continity editing.  Important things are the same so the cuts are 'hidden' or the viewer is unaware of them.  Things like:

• screen direction
• action (starts in one shot continues in next)
• lighting
• costume
• actors
• sound (digetic)

There is a style of editing that breaks this convention for effect.  It makes a feature of the edit - by that I mean the transition from one shot to another.  Placing one shot in front or behind another creates a juxtaposition.  From this we construct a meaning. We have learnt to do this.  It’s the association of the 2 images that creates meaning for the Viewer.   To edit we need to understand these ideas since they are the basis of assembling visual stories. If we see the shot of a building followed by a woman at a desk we assume that she’s working in the building. This is a learned response developed over time.

A little history.

The technique of juxtaposing images has come to be known as ‘montage’, named by Eisenstein from the French meaning ‘assembly’. Montage is used to refer to the associative or intellectual juxtaposition of images. In his quest to deconstruct film-art, theorist Lev Kuleshov’s experiments explored the associative powers of juxtaposition and stressed the role of the editing in their combination.

Lev Kuleshov (http://www.thefullwiki.org/Lev_Kuleshov)

The birth of the REACTION SHOT!

In one experiment Kuleshov used what is now know as the ‘three shot sequence’. He took a piece of film of the actor Muzhukhin with a deadpan expression. He then cut in 3 successive ‘insert’ images; a bowl of soup, a small child and an old woman in a coffin. Then it cut back to Muzhukhin for a ‘reaction’ shot. When viewers saw the cut from Muzhukhin to the insert shot it to be what he was seeing, his POV. The viewers failed to notice that the footage of Muzhukin before and after the insert shot was identical. Instead they were struck by his "subtle but convincing portrayal" of 3 emotions - hunger for the soup, joy at the child and remorse for the old woman, in the reaction shots. Since there was no acting in the sequences Kuleshov argued that the meaning must have been created in the Viewers’ minds purely by the juxtaposition of uninflected images. By changing the experiment to include different reaction shots he found that the meaning of the sequence could be altered by the shot order. (Smiling - gun - frowning = fear, frowning - gun - smiling = bravery).

Vsevolod Pudovkin (http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/34522)

Within Soviet Montage there were a number of schools of thought. These were characterised by two ex students of Kuleshov’s; Pudovkin and Eisenstein. Podovkin went on to develop his own ‘5 editing principles’ based on montage theory and juxtaposition:

• 1. Contrast
• 2. Parallelism  (2 separate actions that are intercut)
• 3. Symbolism. Cutting from one shot to a completely different shot that in some way symbolises the action/character in the first
• 4. Simultaneity. This creates tension in the viewer since 2 actions on screen at the same time lead to an outcome that will connect both on screen
• 5. ‘Leit - motif’ - a reinteration of theme. The repetition of shots or a sequence to reinforce the theme

In 1925 both were charged with making a film about the Revolution. Pudovkin’s family based ‘Mother’ favoured the smooth montage and 'relational editing' of shots that maintained some continuity in time and space, following the route of American Director DW. Griffith.

Mother 1926




While Eisenstein’s grand symphony ‘Potemkin’ favoured more ‘dialectical’ editing, extending the juxtaposition further and abandoning any semblance continuity instead providing a shock or jolt. The dialectic is argued using contrast and irony. His ‘collision’ of images used conflictional content, still/dynamic, screen direction, large/small, dark/light, real time/perceived time. He was particularly keen to exploit editing’s ability to create it’s own sense of time, or ‘film time’, drawing out and dramatising particular moments. He also popularised the use of very short shots.

Potemkin 1926



Here's Hitchcock talking about his use of montage in Psycho (he finishes off with Kuleshov's famous experiment re framed with him!)




‘Temporal ellipsis’ is an editing device that might be confused with montage. In Hollywood and in scriptwriting formatting, this technique is often referred to as a ‘montage’. It is used to compress time, and is visibly seen to do so. It lies in the area between montage and continuity cutting. Filmic time is shortened or speeded up primarily to move the story forward, so unimportant items are omitted - ellipsis.

Back to today.

We see montage so much these days that we take it don't notice it.  But montage isn't random.  Editors still have to use some elements of continuity in order to create meaning without confusion.  Two great areas to look at for use of montage are adverts and music videos.  We'll look at music videos.  Here's a great example of a Music Montage using clips from recent box office films.


(This video is an attempt to use available footage from films released theatrically during 2011 to weave a cinematic narrative of its own.)

Enjoy the edit but watch it a second time noticing how the clips have been combined.  How has the editor made the cutting coherent and smooth.  It lacks real continuity but the Editor has still found a way of creating continuity.  What devices has he used?  Make a note and then compare to Pudovkin's 5 principles.

There is still an overall structure too - the edit has a beginning, it develops and concludes effectively.

Here is another great example that uses the same premise.



A little more history

If you are interested in understanding more about the development of editing and parallel editing I have written a longer blog post about all of this here.

For the next task:

*Choose a piece of music and using the selection of short film clips (The Prelinger Archive's "Panarama Ephemera") provided in the Gatehouse create a 60 - 90 second montage.  When you have finished this you need to compress the file and upload it to YouTube, embed in a blog and then REFLECT on the process.  I have provided a lot of research that you could use!

* Choose the music carefully.  You must be able to prove to me that you have clearance to use it.  It needs to present you with a opportunities to edit.  Not just 'on' the beat but with the rhythm, instrumentation, tone and mood.  Avoid tunes with lyrics - they often work against the images or else really limit your flexibility in the edit.

Here is Leila's recent screencast about trimming in Premiere Pro.