From simple dialogue scenes to fights scenes and epic car chases, when you’re watching film and television, you’re actually watching montage theory in action. The “Odessa steps” sequence (above), has been homaged, copied, and parodied over the years as a staple of cinematic editing. If this definition sounds familiar, it’s basically describing how we edit any manner of shots in any film project. This “rhythmic” method is defined by editing shots together according to the context of each shot. In fact, its basic tenets make it a key piece of film editing that actually defines how we view and consume film and video content even today. Unlike metric, though, the second basic method of montage is far more cinematically acceptable.
Here’s an example below of the “metric” montage from Eisenstein’s film October: Ten Days That Shook the World (1927). Let’s take a further look into each of these unique types and styles of montage to explore how they work, and how you can use them in your film and video projects. These five basic methods of montage (montage being a French word for “assemble” or “edit”) are as follows: He developed his famous “methods of montage” across his career, with the most notable example of each of his methods predominantly featured in his landmark achievement Battleship Potemkin. However, as you can see in the video above, it was truly Eisenstein who gave the montage its creative flair. While Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein is credited as the godfather of the montage and pioneer of the Soviet montage theory, we can also trace the use of montage to early Hollywood filmmakers like Slavko Vorkapić and Don Siegel in the 1930s and 40s. Plus, for those interested in using this powerful technique, understanding the different approaches can help you better harness the montage for your film and video projects.īefore we dive into the different individual types of montage, let’s take a step back to look at how the film montage originally developed. From these origins, we can outline the five basic types of montage. We even see its classical roots in Battleship Potemkin (1925) and recreated and homaged in The Untouchables (1987).īut, what is a montage, really? And what makes this film editing technique so emotive and useful? The best way to understand is to go back to its origins and explore the core basics of Soviet Montage Theory. We see it in critically acclaimed art films like The Godfather and Citizen Kane. Movie-lovers like us see it in cheesy hits from the 1980s and 1990s like Bloodsport and Dirty Dancing. In the vast history of film and video, there’s perhaps no cinematic or editing technique more recognizable or powerful than the montage. We discuss the core historical tenets of Soviet Montage Theory, then explore the main types of montage for your film and video projects.
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