What is a Montage?
Montage is French for ‘assembly’ or ‘editing’. Editors predominantly use it to put together different scenes to show an elapse of time over a day, several days, months, or even years. However, you’ll find that many screenplays use montage as a story device. The 1980s were the montage’s heyday, with almost every film including a montage.
In terms of a screenplay, a montage is a sequence of scenes put together to form a whole, which usually include no dialogue and are set to music. They convey a particular passage of time, including multiple events, character perspectives and emotions quickly.
Probably the most famous montage in recent movie history is the opening scene of Disney Pixar’s Up, where we are introduced to Carl and his relationship with Ellie, ending on a heartbreaking note. It’s from here we pick up with Carl’s individual story and how he copes with losing the love of his life.
In the instance of Up, montage is used to show the span of Carl and Ellie’s life together, encompassing decades of time. There are other purposes to a montage, such as showing a character moving from one location to another, or to reveal details about a world, the repetitiveness and mundaneness of life before a life-changing inciting incident. The list goes on.
The History of the Montage
Soviet Montage Theory popularized the use of the montage. Emerging after the Russian Revolution in 1917, filmmakers began to experiment with new editing techniques.
Sergei Eisenstein was one such filmmaker who began making films in the early 1920s. He found a way to elevate the existing montage, and instead of just using individual shots and cutting them together, experimenting with shot length, camera movements and film cuts.
Instead of montage being a secondary consideration in the editing stage, it was now being considered more carefully as an art form, looking at how they could trigger an emotional reaction from audiences. Even today, Eisenstein’s methods continue to inspire modern filmmakers.
What are the benefits of using montage?
- Provide information and context
- Expand on character
- Depict contrasts within the story
- Combine storylines
- Create tension
- Expand a world
Provide information and context
We all have limited time and space to tell our stories, which most of the time will have multiple elements to communicate to an audience. Montages can cut the time it takes to convey this information to audiences into seconds, rather than minutes, whilst staying true to your story.
The opening montage of Up is a prime example of providing key information to the audience before the story’s inciting incident. Each frame of the montage is filled with clues and details about Carl, Ellie, and their world that the audience can pick up on later in the movie. We see much of what has made Carl who he is in the present, and why he makes the decisions he does.
Expand on character
There are times when as writers, we need a character to be at a certain point in their journey in order to move forward. Usually, we just won’t have the page count available to do this. By using montage, we can reveal how a character changes and help an audience understand the reasoning and circumstances surrounding those changes in one scene.
In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne’s training montage not only depicts Ducard’s tutelage and Bruce gaining strength, but is also a crucial part of Bruce’s overall character development. The montage provides the audience with Bruce’s backstory and the world he now roams, questioning why he didn’t avenge his parents’ deaths.
Depict contrasts within the story
Montages can show contrasts between two characters or two locations to establish their differences, as well as how they relate.
Scorsese’s 2006 hit, The Departed, uses montage to show the contrast between the lives of Sullivan and Constigan before they’re thrown into their undercover roles.
Combine storylines
When there simply isn’t enough time to give the same degree of focus to all storylines, a montage can help feature as much as possible.
We’re going back to Pixar for our example, but this time to Monsters University, where the audience resumes their time with monsters Mike and Scully in the past as they start their college journeys. Here we see Mike studying while Sully has a good time.
The purpose of this montage is to set up the main conflict of the movie, showcasing the different attitudes of the protagonists and how they may come to blows.
Create tension
Keeping an audience’s attention is key when writing a screenplay. It’s not easy, especially as we progress further into the story. Montages can bring an audience back into the story, providing much-needed interest and renewed engagement.
Expand a world
Montage is a great technique when you’re looking to show the energies of an entire location, also known as ‘boiling up’, which we’ll further explore a little later. Made up of smaller scenes, the montage creates something larger than the sum of its parts in its entirety.
The 25th Hour adopts this exceptionally well, cutting through a cross section of people and the fear, prejudice, multicultural challenges, and anger rife in New York City.
Types of Montage
We’ve already discussed the benefits of montage, where you may have noticed us allude to some of the types of montage that can be used. So, next, let’s look at the options available to us as writers.
Not all will be relevant to every project, so bear that in mind as you consider our list. It all depends on the tone and subject matter of your film or TV script.
Most of the montage elements will be put together in the editing room, but as writers, we are the ones deciding the individual shots. By understanding these montage types, we can consider what sort of music or mood we want the montage to evoke.
- Metric Montage: The shots in this type of montage will match the rhythm of the music it’s set to. Each shot will be cut to in time with the music, to create a specific energy or tension for the film. For example, most training montages in films such as Rocky will be set to fast-paced music, with the shots mirroring the beat.
- Tonal Montage: As the name suggests, here we focus on atmosphere and mood. Techniques such as visual metaphor and symbolism are used to denote a specific emotion to an audience.
- Rhythmic Montage: The most used type of montage in film, rhythmic montage focuses on the tempo of music used in the background and how this can be visually matched. Again, it is used to show emotion, a sense of time elapsing with urgency, a character’s mental state, or just to visually engage an audience.
- Overtonal Montage: Overtonal montage combines all the above, juxtaposing the different techniques to explore more complex ideas, themes, or emotions using symbolism and visual motif. You’d be correct in thinking that it’s the most difficult type of montage to create.
How to Write a Montage
Now that we’ve considered the role of the montage and the ways it can be utilized to tell a compelling story, it’s time to look at how we can incorporate them into a screenplay.
The previous section focused on the visual and editing side of montage, but it’s vital to first consider how it is presented on the page.
Striking a balance between including enough detail without overloading is important when it comes to a director or producer’s turn to read your script. There must be room for interpretation without losing the essence of what the montage is doing for your story. In this case, formatting is key.
Getting Started
Montages don’t need a scene heading in the traditional sense using INT. and EXT. Instead, replace your internal and external with MONTAGE, followed by a brief overview of what it will include. For example, in J.F. Lawton’s script for Pretty Woman, MONTAGE OF VIVIAN’S OUTFITS is used.
The only time you will need to use a scene heading is if you’re beginning your montage from a different location to the one in the previous scene.
Each shot should have a brief visual description based on action (remember, you aren’t writing a novel!). Imagine each to be an individual scene. Dialogue shouldn’t be included or be at an absolute minimum, as most montages will have music layered over the top.
Closing a Montage
You can write END MONTAGE if you feel it’d be helpful for the reader. However, it is usual to write a new heading for the next scene and continue with the script.
How to Format a Montage
You may already be aware of screenwriting formatting conventions and how important they are in ensuring your script is up to industry standards, from title page to FADE OUT. When it comes to montage, it’s no different.
There are several ways to format a montage, which very much depends on whether the montage is set in one or multiple locations.
One Location
If your montage is set in one place over a long period of time, paragraphs detailing the different shots will work well. It’s clear for a reader and easy to interpret when it comes to filming.
In this particular montage from Pretty Woman, the writer has continued from an established scene, which means there is no need for a separate scene heading to tell us where we are.
As we mentioned previously, if we were beginning our montage from a different location, a scene heading to establish where we are is helpful to a reader, before diving into the details.
Multiple Locations
Here is where things become a little more complicated, and where you’ll need to ensure your reader doesn’t lose track of where they are. As with the single location montage, it’s important to include brief visual details of each shot, but you have several options as to how to format it so it is as clear as possible.
Indicate Location Changes with Slug Lines
You can indicate a change of time and place with a brief slug line.
Use Separate Paragraphs
Simply start a new paragraph once you change time and place, adding the details into the body of the paragraph itself, as shown in Wes Anderson’s and Owen Wilson’s screenplay The Royal Tenenbaums.
Use a Bullet Point or Dash List
Or in the place of paragraphs, use a bullet-style or dash list to show each new location. Again, you’ll need to detail the location into the body of each point.
Notice how Nicholls has broken up the shots in the screenplay for 2012’s Mud. His use of SERIES OF IMAGES instead of MONTAGE to introduce the series of shots is acceptable to use.
There is no right or wrong way to write a montage; it’s completely up to you and what suits your writing style. Pick the technique that works best for you and best conveys the montage’s message. If your script has several montages, make sure you are consistent in how you format each one.
Want to refresh yourself on screenplay formatting conventions? Take a look at our Script Format | A Beginner’s Guide to Screenplay Writing article.
Conclusion
Mastering the art of montage writing allows us as screenwriters to craft visually compelling sequences that propel narratives forward. From the innovations of filmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein during the Soviet Montage era to its use in modern film, the montage has evolved into a versatile storytelling device that appears across all genres in both film and television.
Montages serve many purposes within a screenplay, from condensing time and providing crucial information to deepening character development and creating tension. Through precise selection and arrangement of shots, writers can juxtapose scenes to convey contrasts, combine storylines, or expand the intricacies of a fictional world.
Understanding the different types of montage, be it metric, tonal, rhythmic, or overtonal, empowers writers to evoke specific emotions and atmospheres, enhancing the impact of their narratives. The process of writing a montage requires a balance of detail and swiftness, allowing room for interpretation while maintaining clarity for readers.
In essence, the montage script format serves as a powerful tool for storytellers to immerse audiences on both emotional and visual levels. As writers continue to explore and refine this cinematic technique, they unlock new possibilities for captivating storytelling.
