Task 5: Montage

Methods of Montage 

In films, television programmes and sometimes even music videos, montages are used to show progression through the compression of time. This means scenes that have taken place over the course of months can be presented in key sequences that last a matter of minutes in the film without dragging out storyline or time. However there are many different types of montage that aren't usually recognised as montages, as they're not as easily as identifiable. For example, if two different scenes are presented next to each other or in a parallel edit, the technique of montage is being used.
-The French Montage 
In French films, 'montage has a very literal meaning: 'assembly'. Therefore, in French film the term simply identifies the process of editing.
-The Soviet Montage 
In early 1920's soviet filmmaking, 'montage' had a different meaning. It would be used here to show a whole new meaning to a scene, and to increase drama.
-The Hollywood Montage
Using the rocky films as an example, Hollywood montages are used in the traditional way of the common montage. This means a long period of time is compressed.

Charlie Chaplin: Modern Times 
A famous example of a parallel editing montage is an old video by Charlie Chaplin that presents a short clip of sheep in a herd followed by workers coming out of a subway station. Although it may not seem like a montage, by simply showing these two clips back to back, a theme is created which can be discussed and interpreted differently. A similarity is displayed between the two shots, bringing a direct comparison to the herd and the workers. This was revolutionary, as it introduced the idea of symbolism in films, foreshadows (for example, a situation altered to present what's coming next) and the use of parallel editing further.

Rocky Montage 

The rocky montage- because it's simply the best montage ever. Also, it is both an example of traditional montage and parallel montage which makes it unique. These montages show weeks of training compressed down into a matter of minutes, which is incredibly convenient to adding backstory and showing progression of Rocky's physical fitness in preparation of the fight. As well as a dramatic audio, this montage sticks to all of the golden rules of montage, and is as informative as possible in just a few minutes.

Motionless Montages

Montages can also be used to show different meaning behind a picture or a video. A man called Lev Kuleshov explored this concept in the dawn of the 20th century with a very famous experiment to present how situation can be changed by montage. By taking a screenshot of a Russian actor looking head on at the camera with a rather vague expression, he was able to put this image beside another to add substance and meaning to the mans expression.

In the first two images, it could be interpreted that the man is saddened over the dead child before him, therefore his expressions shows sorrow. The second image shows a bowl of soup, which could make the man appear hungry, therefore now his expressions has changed completely into hunger. Far from the first, his expression shows satisfaction when being met with a beautiful woman. Just by showing these two images together, the meaning is changed completely, which allows the director and the audience to explore concepts based on what interpretation is showed. No scene is definite to interpret without being shown in context, or with some form of follow up of previous situation.

Another famous Soviet director was Sergie Einsenstein. This director presented his '5 Methods of Montage' which are still used as a basis to most montages in modern days. These 5 methods are: 
Metric montage: A situation has 4 seconds on the screen in each part of the montage to build to a conclusion.
Rhythmic montage: Used to create visual continuity.
Tonal/ Overonal montage: Tonal is a scene in which a situation is repeated, for example someone coming to a window, before leading to some kind of bathos of climax.  Overonal is when a montage is used to express a situation and show glimpses of it without presenting the entire scene to it's audience.
Intellectual Montage: A scene is shown are a scene in which there is no climax to suggest what the climax was. For example, if someone is getting angry in one scene, the next may begin with a steaming, boiled kettle. This is shown in the film 'Strike' By Eisenstein, in which the scene of a bull being slaughtered is played alongside of workers being killed to symbolise the treatment of these workers.