1. Montage and Mise-en-Scene

2. Thinking through montage and mise-en-scene
‘It is important to recognize that narrative is
neither primary nor necessary to cinema, and it
forms no putative essence of the medium’
-- Sean Cubitt
What other ways do we think through film?
Montage
Mise-en-scene

3. Narrative Montage Rocky montage
In narrative montage connections between
shots are used to drive the story forward,
and to show relationships of time and place. This is
The most technique in modern filmmaking
Example
We see a man buying tickets at an
airline counter, followed by an image of an
aeroplane in flight, then the same man riding in a
taxi, and we understand that he has travelled to
another town or city.
*Taken from Brian Moon, Viewing Terms (2004:118)
Rocky montage

4. Ideational Montage In ideational montage images are linked
together to suggest an idea or to comment
on the action.
Ideational montage does not attempt to create a
unified time and space, but instead juxtaposes
heterogeneous objects and events for the purpose
of creating abstract, symbolic or metaphorical
meanings.

5. Soviet Montage
Sergei Eisenstein proceeded to forcefully engineer cinematic consciousness through his ‘montage of attractions’ that was designed to ‘shock’ the thoughts of the spectator into thinking through filmic movement.
Eisenstein’s Montage Techniques
Juxtaposition
Metric montage: the temporal metre with which individual shots are assembled, it doesn’t refer to the content of shot, but the way shot lengths are shortened or extended in order to produce a ‘pulse-beat’
Rhythmic montage: the tempo of cinematographic movement within the composition

6. Dziga Vertov – Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

7. Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scène is a French term and originates in the theater. It means, literally, ‘put in the scene’.
Refers to almost everything that goes into the composition of the shot, including:
framing
movement of the camera and characters
lighting
set design and the general visual environment
sound as it helps elaborate the composition.
Mise-en-scène can be defined as the articulation of
cinematic space, and it is precisely space that it is about.
From Robert Kolker, Film Form and Culture (2001)

8. Die Hard

9. Effects/affects of mise-en-scene
Spatial articulation of:
Mental states
Metaphors
Moods, sensations, desires
Aesthetic figures
Abstract ideas