Montage served different purpose and has several
meanings in the context of film and is not exclusively used to refer to Soviet
Montage. It is used as a synonym of editing. In Hollywood cinema it means to
edit a concentrated sequence using a series of short shots as brief transitions
to create the effect of the passage of time or movement over large distances or
for expressionistic moods and representation of symbolic meanings. Contrary to
the conventional styles and movements, the soviet filmmakers was stepping away
from common narrative structure and adapting what has come to be called
"Soviet Montage". This new theory of editing was invented by Sergei
Eisenstein and then adopted by a few other Russian filmmakers. Eisenstein,
however, was the one who discovered its potential and first put it to work to
make the people in the audience think whatever he wanted them to think of. “Thematic”
or Soviet Montage was achieved arranging striking juxtapositions of individual
shots to suggest an idea that goes beyond meanings within an individual shot.
It is called collision montage as sequences create significant effects mainly
through editing. Its rejection of the forms and conventions of the dominant
Hollywood entertainment cinemas have inspired many film-makers to challenge the
styles by creating films which emphasizes on the editing which aims to shatter
the illusionistic storytelling and seamless continuity cultivated by Classical
Hollywood.
In films nowadays, the technique of the Montage
Theory is frequently applied in various conventional films in the hope of
enhancing psychological relationships between the images in the montage. They
would apply the technique as an explanation for longer narrative within short
period of time. An example of montage used in contemporary films would be the
training sequence in the Rocky
(1976). Throughout the montage shows how Rocky trains for his upcoming
important boxing match by running through streets, doing sit up and pushups,
punching large piece of meat, running up and down of the stairs while in the
mean time there is this song singing “Trying hard now… Getting strong now,
Won’t be long now… Gonna fly now.” The passage of time was explained through
the montage and in the mean time it also indicates that Rocky’s tireless effort
and exertion of a great deal of energy in getting ready for his big fight with Apollo
Creed, the current heavyweight champion. It brings the narrative along forward
by compressing shots of Rocky’s training into a short three-minute sequence.
Using
a more recently released film as an example, the film Real Steel also applied
montage for similar purpose like Rocky, however in the montage it not only show
the progress went through by a single character himself but many characters
together at the same time whether in terms of the growth in their characters
and mindset or the relationship between each other or event the skill of robot
boxing. There is a mixture of shot which include Atom boxing with different
robots at different while Charlie instructing at the side and Atom won every
matches; the improvement in terms of the relationship between Charlie and Max
as they always spend time together discussing about the matches, boxing with
other while fooling and laughing around; and shots showing Max spending some
time with Atom sitting and eating together when they are not in battle. Thus,
the montages indicates the transformation all three parties have went through
together in terms of their relationship as well Charlie’s improvement in
controlling and instructing Atom during the matches as they always defeat every
robot the fight in every matches. In sum, transformation is shown in various
ways throughout the montage in terms of fighting skill, personalities as well
relationships with each others.
Similar
to the Rocky, the montage is also used in romance-genre films to portray the
romantic moments and sweet memories a loving couple has been through together
for a long period of time by showing a sequence of short footages consisting
key events in the narratives from time to time. For instance, in the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
(2008) where Benjamin and Daisy were living together for the first time after
knowing each other for so many years. In this sequence, the montage shows that
the couple started living in a small apartment with not much of the furniture
except a piece of mattress which both shared and slept on most of the time. In
between, there are shots of the couple lying on the bed hugging and kissing
each other from time to time while at the same time the narrative progresses as
it started to dissolve into the same location but with more decorations and
different time. As time goes by, their house started to filled with more
furniture and they even painted house and making fun of each other during the
process. Also, there is narration throughout the montage as Benjamin Button was
describing his feeling during that period of time and how beautiful the
memories are back then. All these shots were put together to imply to the
audience how much time they spent with each other and how loving they were
during that time. All these sequence of shots which lasted for years were then
edited and put in together in a 58-second long montage in order to show all the
quality time they have spent together and explain about the development of
their relationship.
Another
good example of montage showing the bondings between two characters’
relationships and feelings would be the 4-minute long montage in the Disney
Pixar Animated film, Up. The visuals of the events revolving around the
characters were well presented using short yet direct shots along with
instrumental background music which smoothly draws out audiences’ attention and
emotional attachment towards the film. Light-hearted and slightly faster pace
of background music is used at shots portraying happy and cheerful events which
aim to incite feeling stir up audience emotion and feeling of happiness whereas
slower and softer music which is used when there is moment of peace and calm
between the couple as well as the moment of sadness and melancholy as they received
the bad news and have went through a moment of disappointment and sadness.
Also, the montage has shown as series of happy and sad events which the couple
and went through together starting from their marriage, moving into their new
home and rebuild it together, spending their favorite pastimes together,
decorating new room for their baby, receiving bad news from doctor and etc.
until Carl’s wife got sick and passed away leaving Carl alone. A couple’s life
which lasted at least 40 years and above has been compressed and cut short into
four minutes without any dialogues said in between is the perfect example of
the how effective a montage can be applied to tell a love story which last for
40 years long within four minutes.
As
for the representation of symbolic meanings, there are films which use series
of short shots and link them together to create an association for a particular
meaning. As Sergei Eisenstein explained his montage theory of collision
suggesting individual shots are used as fragments or parts of a whole scene,
and not in collision with each other. (creative
geography). Therefore, two short footages which alone depicts different
meanings were put together to bring out a different meaning, just like how
thesis and antithesis were add together to form a synthesis. With that, the
best example of films applying the collision theory would be the Requiem For A Dream (2000) by Darren
Aronofsky where there is an immense amount of montages which applied the
collision theory to depict meanings to audience which not only serve
transition, but more importantly they bring out meaning and feeling the
director intended to show to the audience in the hope of engaging them into the
mind and reality of the characters within the film. For example, every time when
one of the main characters was taking drug or pills, the drug-taking processes
were shown using a fast pace montage with different shots including the heroin
bag, the syringe, US dollar cash rolled up, sniffing heroin, boiling glucose
with heroin and etc. and all these shots were put together to form a sequence
of montage that not only help to transit the narrative of the film but also to
explain the process of it while imply how fast the transaction, consumption and
addiction as well as the state of mind of ecstasy can be without knowing how
slow and long the pain and suffering will become after. The close ups of all
the shots showing details of the process along with sound effects aim to give
audience the trippy feeling of addiction as it draws them into the characters’
perspective when they were taking drugs. Also, the montages where Sara was
taking the diet pills and waiting for time to pass have their own meanings as
well as they were used as a contrast to how different it is to lose weight
naturally following conventional way compared to taking diet pills. The fast
pace of the montage for taking pill implies that losing weight by taking pills
can be as fast as the montage is while the slow pace of all the clocks,
television and close ups of Sara as montage signifies how long it takes for a
person to lose weight without taking diet pills. Thus, it shows the contrast of
the diet process.
Despite
of its brief period of time, Soviet Montage managed to influence not only the
Soviet cinema back then, but it had inspired many of the prominent film makers
which have successfully created many films using the Soviet Montage theory and
has entertained countless of audience over the pass decades. The use of Soviet
Montage has become so commonplace in mainstream film today that we take it for
granted that this important part of film grammar had to be invented by a small
group of Soviet filmmakers in the 1920s. (Rock, A.)
References
Rock,
A. (n.d.). The Development of Soviet
Montage. Retrieved February 22, 2012, from
Popular
Artistic Styles. (2001). Retrieved February 22, 2012, from Art of Vide
Capuchino High
School website: http://chs.smuhsd.org/bigue/art_of_video/index/styles.html
3. Soviet Montage and
The Formalist Tradition. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2012, from
Understanding Film website:
Cooper, L. (2012,
January 5). Expressive Storytelling in Soviet Montage Cinema. Retrieved
February 22, 2012, from