Classical Realist Texts: American Films between 1916 and 1960 Montage

Table of Contents 1. Mise-en-scène in classical American films 2. Montage in classical American films

Montage in Classical American Films As mise-en-scène, montage must help a narrative move on without distracting the attention of the viewer from it. Smooth flow from a shot to the next shot CONTINUITY EDITING

Montage in Classical American Films Continuity editing PURPOSES To tell a story coherently and clearly; To map out the chain of actions in an un- distracting way

Montage in Classical American Films GRAPHIC CONTINUITY Shot-Reverse Shot The positions of figures, the balance of compositions, and the set designs must be kept consistent over shot-reverse shots. The overall lighting tonality and colour schema must remain constant over shots.

Continuity Editing

Non-Continuity Editing An example which ignores the rule of continuity editing. Ozu’s films

Montage in Classical American Films EYE-LINE MATCH Shot A presents someone looking at something off-screen; shot B shows us what is being looked at by him/her.

Montage in Classical American Films Eye-line match Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Windows (1954) In one shot Jefferies looks through his camera and the next shot shows what he is watching.

Montage in Classical American Films 180-DEGREE RULE Two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. The axis of action (or centre line, 180º line) is assumed between two characters. Then, this axis of action determines a half-circle, or 180º area, where the camera(s) can be placed to present action.

Montage in Classical American Films Examples of the scenes which blatantly ignore the 180-degree rule Jean-Luc Godard, A bout de souffle (1960) Ozu Yasujiro, Tokyo Story (1953)

Montage in Classical American Films TEMPORAL CONTINUITY: Time, like space, is organized according to the development of the narrative. ORDER, FREQUENCY, DURATION

Montage in Classical American Films ORDER Continuity editing typically presents the story events in a order. With the exception of occasional flashbacks. Christopher Nolan’s Memento: its narrative told in a backward order

Montage in Classical American Films FREQUENCY Classical editing also typically presents only once what happens in the story. Non-classical montage Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925) Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989)

Montage in Classical American Films DURATION In the classical continuity system, story duration is seldom expanded or shortened. The story time is equal to the film time. Story time is extended in the famous Odessa Steps scene in Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Montage in Classical American Films JUMP CUT A device to compress (dead) time. (A man enters a large room at one end and must walk to a desk at the other end. Jump cut eliminates most of the action of traversing the long room.)

Montage in Classical American Films Unobtrusive jump cut - a cut which does not make the viewer aware of it. Excess dead time must smoothed over either by cutting away to another element of the scene or by changing camera angle sufficiently so that the second shot is clearly from a different camera placement. Jump Cut

Expressive Montage Obtrusive, jugged jump cut An action is abruptly interrupted before it is completed or a scene begins in the middle of an action after it has already started. Jean-Luc Godard, A bout de souffle (1960) Lars von Trier, Dancer in the Dark (2000) One of the avant-garde’s favourite expressive techniques. Making artificiality evident.

Expressive Montage CROSS CUTTING Alternates two or more lines of actions taking place in different places simultaneously. Cross cutting could be employed to enhance reality and truth effects, but is generally associated with more formalist editing. Edward Yan’s Yi, Yi (A One and a Two, 2000) Francis Ford Coppola, Godfather

Expressive Montage David Lean as a master editor Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Formative editing jumping thousands of miles in space over two shots

Expressive Montage The most audacious editing 2001 Space Odyssay Time travels million years in one editing.