What is Different Montage Editing and Continuity Editing

Assignment 3 – Continuity Vs Montage Editing.

Early editing techniques were a long painful process, often using women to physically cut and stick the film together to make the edit. Not only was this impractical it also meant the finished product often failed to satisfy the audience.

"What the filmmaker saw is what the audience saw. It was a continuous unbroken piece of action, shot from a single camera angle, the perspective the all-encompassing, straight-on, eye-level view inherited from the theatre." (Rosenblum, 35)

Due to the editing process the films were often harder for viewers to follow as the cutting techniques resulted in clumsiness and jumpy images. People discovered that to move film forward they needed to experiment with different editing techniques.

In the early 1900's American film director Edwin S Porter experimented with different techniques, adding different scenes shot at separate times. This was the beginning of continuity editing the idea of "telling a story in continuity form." Characteristics involved in continuity editing included: 180 rule, establishing shot, shot reverse shot, temporal and spatial continuity. The main focus was about the relationships between shots that allowed the narrative to flow continuously and clearly. Seamless editing or invisible editing that used editing to place audience focus on story and characters rather than techniques used.  Within continuity editing time and space remained constant to allow the audience to follow the story.

The Great Train Robbery (1903) is a good example of temporal continuity with each shot following the next; this helped create a realistic narrative which had never been seen before. Porter's use of cross cutting techniques impressed audiences by its quick movements and variety of scenes. In the Life of an American Fireman (1903) Porter discovered that he could take footage from different times and places with the audience still understanding that the action happened at the same time. After the Great Train Robbery, Porter experimented further in The Seven Ages (1905) where he used close ups, changing shots and side lighting. Porter illustrated that it was the shot rather than the scene that was the most important structure of the film.

Another important influence with this style of editing was DW Griffith. His goal in film was to take it and turn it into something similar to the real world. In Birth Of A Nation (1915) Griffith took editing further by using techniques like; flash backs, iris shots and cross cutting, expanding on Porters experiments. Griffiths for the Love of Gold (1908) was important because the scene cuts "in the middle of the action to a full shot of one of the characters. No scene had ever been divided into more than one shot, and this simple innovation would soon cause a minor revolution." (Rosenblum, 38)

Continuity editing was a reflection on American society of that time. Production houses wanted to create a standardised product- the star system. Directors were considered as employees rather than artists. Continuity editing pushed forward a narrative that had a general structure- beginning, middle and end. With the focus placed on the characters rather than the editing and the whole product was unified rather than creative. The underlying concept behind the Hollywood style continuity was about striving for goals and sticking to rules and conventions, the style didn't particularly encourage people to analyse the content or look for meaning. The content of the films often illustrated racial tensions and the North /South divide; reflecting and describing what was going on in the country rather than encouraging people to question what was going on or question how people were being treated.

In contrast to the classical continuity style of editing, in 1924 a new type of editing emerged called Soviet Montage. Lev Kuleshov, creator of the Kuleshov Effect was a Soviet filmmaker. Creating the 'Kuleshov Effect' he experimented with the impact of imagery upon people's emotions. The effect is as shown in this picture.

Moving from faces to objects to encourage people to make links between the images and emotions. This effect proved that people made their own interpretations. Kuleshov was interested in hidden meanings and manipulating peoples thought patterns. He believed that it was not the shots themselves that made the film but how the shots were put together, being the important part. He believed the narrative evolved through the use of juxtaposition; joining shots in different combinations and order to create new meanings. The idea that the meaning of the film is deeper than the individual shots.

Sergei M Eisenstein, a Soviet director, who having grown up watching Griffiths films adapted the basic techniques and expanded on them. He separated the techniques, developing theories based on them. Eisenstein believed that Soviet Montage served to educate and excite the audience, he believed that directors "Saw themselves as propagandists and teachers rather than conventional entertainers." Eisenstein was classed as the "Father of Montage" his three noted films were Strike (1924), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1927.) They illustrate his ideas regarding the methods of montage he felt were important;

• Metric- the length of the shot or shots.
• Rhythmic- how the movement of one shot effects the next.
• Tonal- dominant emotional tone of the images within the shots.
• Over Tonal- how the previous three elements work to create the effect of the film itself.
• Intellectual- where two shots come together to create a subconscious 3^rd shot/new meaning.

Each of these elements expands on each other and as the montage gets more complicated so does the meaning that is being conveyed.

The use of montage also enabled longer stories to be told over less time, due to the smaller amount of shots being used. This was not only useful for shocking audiences but it also meant that narrative moved forward faster holding audience's attention for longer.

Soviet Montage was a reflection of and a response to Soviet society at that time and often focused on hard hitting reality such as; uprising, strikes and other themes involving conflict as seen in films such as Strike (1925) and The General Line (1929.) The films often portrayed the plight and struggle of the people with often shocking images to evoke powerful emotions from the audience. Realising the potential power of the media and how this could influence a lot of people.

The modern use of montage still features the earlier Soviet theories of using less shots to illustrate the passing of time but nowadays the narrative moves even faster; mixing more shots and providing large pieces of  information in shorter spaces of time. Using a sequence over a lapsed period of time which is often played to music.

A scene from Toy Story 2 (1999) where Jessie goes through her past is an example of this; it is played to slow music jumping through chunks of time moving back to the present. Not only is this using flashback technique but it is also having an emotional effect on the viewer; playing sad music over an emotional scene will work to make the viewer feel empathy towards Jessie when watching it; helping audiences to relate to her as a character and provide more depth to her character.

Juno (2007) illustrates the passing of time by using the passing of the seasons to  reflect the trimesters of her pregnancy with music playing behind it; skipping a large piece of time. There is also a use of repetition within Juno to illustrate time; with the group of people jogging throughout the seasons.

In Forrest Gump (1994) the Forrest running scene shows the passing of time by showing the growth of his beard over each series of shots.

Just as Kuleshov realised that audience response was important within the use of montage, modern directors still use Montage for this purpose; to evoke emotion and to allow the audience to empathise with the characters involved in the narrative.

Silence of the Lambs (1991) uses montage in order to create suspense and build tension within the narrative. The scene below.

In this scene montage is used to fool the audience, making it feel like the two separate pieces of action are shot in the same location, even though it is shot in two different locations. Using a cross cut to show what is apparently happening outside and inside the house to fool the audience into thinking the police will get to Buffalo Bill first. The audience use A+B to create C as in intellectual montage.

Alfred Hitchcock is a modern director in montage. Hitchcock's films contain powerful examples of montage. "You can do anything you want with montage. Cinema is simply pieces of film put together in a manner that creates ideas and emotions." (1972). A classic example of montage within Hitchcock's work is the shower scene in Psycho (1960). This scene has backing music which is sharp and powerful using close up shots of the victim, then going on to the killer. Not showing the killers face and only the victims adds more effect to the suspense as we are unaware of their identity. Using a range of shots also creates tension, seeing only her face then the blood viewers can work out what is happening themselves creating their own conclusion as in intellectual montage.

Modern day continuity editing still keeps the same principles and particulars of the editing. Not many artistic styles have continued for such a long length of time. The main rules of continuity have remained the same just evolved slightly further: Maintaining continuity between cuts, 180 degree rule and the Line of Action, Screen Direction, Cutting on the Action and 30 degree rule. The techniques have improved through the continuing progression of modern technology which has evolved through new ideas motivated by the need to keep audiences entertained and stimulated and competition to be the best and invent the newest technique.

A good modern example of continuity editing is V for Vendetta (2005) – the final scene. Throughout this scene being shot all in the same place at the same time. Shots of each individual close ups and wide shots. This scene is a continuous shot that enables the audience to feel as though they are in the room.

Batman Begins (2005) illustrates the use of seamless editing between representing reality and using CGI in the part when Batman jumps down the staircase, lands and walks away; the audience have no idea due to the smooth editing that CGI has been used.

Directors also bend the rules in order to create dramatic effect, like the breaking of the 180 degree rule by Stanley Kubrick in the bathroom scene from The Shining (1980). This creates audience disorientation for a moment before continuing on with the narrative. This moment of confusion helps to reflect how the characters are feeling and helps the audience to relate the both characters; Jacks madness and Wendy's fear.

Editing also reflects how Western society has become so fast paced; people not having as much time to do things, everything being a lot quicker. Audiences want the narrative to happen quicker, to get to the point quicker and as a result films have shortened from the films of the past, as editing has responded to these demands- not just in action films. It also demonstrates how modern technology has moved with or responded to people's ideas about editing techniques.

Editing techniques have definitely changed and expanded over the years bringing more complex and more intriguing methods. Earlier on editing was harder, having less equipment and less technology. Just women with scissors and glue. This assignment shows how the way a film is edited is important in how it allows the director to create the desired effect and it has kept the film industry moving forward. It also shows how experimentation and creativity from some of the key people discussed has made these changes happen.

I have also shown the main elements within two opposite ideas around editing- Soviet montage and Classical Hollywood editing. Showing how continuity editing wanted to create "invisible" editing to focus on the characters and the narrative whereas Soviet montage uses the editing as a feature of the film and uses editing to shock and encourage audiences to question what they are seeing.

This assignment shows how editing performs many key functions within the narrative and to summaries I will highlight the one I feel are important:

Editing can allow the audience to enhance the actor's performance by injecting empathy and emotion by the use of camera angles, montage, and choice of music.

It can also create a point of view depending on the themes and ideas the narrative wants to get across as within the Soviet Montage it can shock  or within Toy Story 2 it can follow the life of someone  in the day to day.

Another important element is that editing is about setting the pace of the narrative and working to move the story on in order to keep the audience motivated.

Bibliography

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Soviet Montage

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fergusonfrob1943.blogspot.com

Source: https://brownz13.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/continuity-vs-montage/

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