Cutting Clips: How to Use Montage Effectively

Montages are one of the oldest editing techniques in film, originating with Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera in 1929. Vertov used montage to piece together a story about life in a Soviet city from documentary-style footage of ordinary daily life. Uniquely, Man with a Movie Camera includes no narrative elements, dialogue, or characters. However, as the industry shifted towards narrative films, montage techniques have remained in use in order to further the story and enhance the emotions of a scene. 

What is a Montage?

A montage is an editing technique where short clips are selected and pieced together artistically, rhythmically, and extremely intentionally in order to create a brand new and continuous whole. The purpose of montages varies, but generally, the whole created from each individual clip is meant to evoke more extreme emotions than a typical scene would be able to. It allows the director to curate a more dynamic story, drastically changing the pace and emphasizing both the visual and emotional impact of each moment. Montages allow filmmakers to work outside of the typical narrative rules and conventions like the 180 degree rule or classic over the shoulder style shooting, getting creative with both subject matter and shooting styles. 

There are different styles of montage, and filmmakers typically follow Soviet Montage Theory when teaching or explaining them. There are five methods in Soviet Montage Theory that vary in emotional tension, editing style, and purpose. 

A metric montage cuts shots by number of frames, and every shot in a metric montage will be the same number of frames. This was one of the earlier types of montage tested by filmmakers, as it often produces a chaotic and jarring series of footage. This could be a good tool when working with metric audio like a ticking sound, and sometimes works well for horror films to build confusion and suspense. 

Rhythmic montage is a method that is applied more universally today in film. It is defined by editing shots according to their individual context and placing cuts where applicable on a case-by-case basis; the theory of rhythmic montage is present in most cinematic editing today, even outside of montage. 

Tonal montage, made famous in Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925), combines the methods of rhythmic montage with musical accompaniment, which allows the director to heavily manipulate the tone of a scene. 

Overtonal, or associational, montage refers to a combination of the above three methods, combining composition, soundtrack, and editing in order to portray extreme tonal shifts. 

Lastly, intellectual montage works more simplistically, combining images to create an intellectual meaning and will typically be used to represent a film’s thematic elements. 

Although montages appear uniform and natural, they are often extremely conceptual and difficult to visualize until you get to the editing process. It might be hard to figure out exactly what type of shots you need to get in order to achieve your intended effect, but good montages always begin with proper planning. How do filmmakers plan montages out?

Writing and Filming

Many amateur filmmakers want to include montages in their scripts because they are such effective narrative tools, but few know how to write a montage properly. The elements of writing a montage include a clear header, listing clips sequentially, proper transitions between them, and a clear conclusion. Simply writing “montage of getting ready” will not be enough to effectively create a montage, and that will only leave you scrambling once a shoot finally comes around. Each segment, or clip, should be concise and purposeful, with emotional cues explicitly written out. This style of writing will help people like your director of photography or gaffer as they plan what the scene will look like visually, both in content and expected emotional tone. Additionally, emphasizing visual cues or shot styles in your montage writing will be a large help to ensuring your montage works as an effective piece of story. Because montages include very little, and sometimes no, dialogue, it is important to include any and all visual elements that will support the story during your montage sequence. 

As mentioned before, filming montages can be really fun because the shots can be extremely stylized, and narrative rules for setting up shots or creating authentic light can often be disregarded. However, because there is so much visual emphasis on what’s in frame, the filming process should be much more meticulous. Filmmakers should be aware of the order of the clips and emotional purpose of the montage within the overall narrative story. Additionally, a powerful tool for making effective montages is the use of movement within the frame. Being conscious of how the subjects will move through negative space not just in a single shot, but throughout the montage sequence as a whole, can increase the impact. Additionally, using repetition to emphasize particular visual elements can create powerful and eye-catching montage sequences. All of this can be done by properly preparing for your montage, as well as treating each individual shot like a part to a whole, the same way you would with individual shots that make up a typical scene. Keeping the montage’s total length in mind can also be useful for scheduling your shoot, planning any movements within the montage, and making your editor’s life that much easier. 

Editing Process

The editing room is where a montage will truly come to life. Different methods of montage theory come into play at the editing stage especially, as they are the ones who will make decisions regarding individual clip length and the montage’s general rhythm alongside the director. The most important thing for an editor to do while working with montage clips is to never lose sight of the end goal or product. Each individual frame should be serving the montage as a whole, and cuts should be meticulously placed throughout. Even though each clip could be of a completely different subject, every shot should create a unified scene. Knowing what is grounding the scene narratively is a good tool to ensure the end goal is not lost. If there is a specific character, mood, song, shape, or color that ties your montage together, make sure every clip is maximized in its efficiency. Both emotion and plot should be considered when splicing a montage together in order to keep viewers engaged with the story. 

Although editing can make or break a montage sequence, proper planning in preproduction and production stages will allow for the greatest success when creating a montage. They can be powerful narrative tools when used sparingly and correctly, emphasizing the emotional impact and dynamism of a scene.

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