Montage is a term commonly associated with film and television, describing a scene edited together using connected images to convey a certain theme or to move the story along. They generally contain no dialogue and can be accompanied by a song or a piece of the musical score. Montages have been used since the early days of cinema.
Definition
The dictionary defines a montage as the technique of combining in a single composition pictorial elements from various sources, either to give the illusion that the elements belonged together originally or to allow each element to retain its separate identity as a means of adding interest or meaning to the composition--similar to a photographic collage but with moving pictures.
Background
Montage is a French word that translates to mounting or hoisting. D.W. Griffith, one of the first American directors with films including "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915, pioneered the editing technique that would later inspire other directors to develop and broaden its use in film making.
Early Usage
The deliberate use of the montage dates back to early Soviet directors, particularly Sergei Eisenstein, whose films include 'Strike" and "Battleship Potemkin." Eisenstein believed the montage was a critical part of cinematic storytelling and even wrote books including "Film Form" and "The Film Sense" expanding on that theory.
Modern Usage
The use of a montage as a storytelling device is used in a number of film genres today, from the training sequences in the "Rocky" movies and other sports films to romantic comedies, which frequently feature a montage accompanied by a popular song to show anything from the leading lady trying on various outfits to the leading man wandering the streets as the seasons change around him, as in "Notting Hill."
Self-Referential Definition
A newer, more tongue-in-cheek definition of a montage was provided by the irreverent 2004 comedy "Team America: World Police," which staged a montage sequence containing a song describing montages, including the lyrics "Show a lot of things happening at once, remind everyone of what's going on! And with every shot show a little improvement, to show it all would take too long! It's a Montage!"
