Film: Montage (two samples): POTEMKIN/PSYCHO

MONTAGE

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MONTAGE IN THE European sense means editing. But in the American cinema montage is a sequence of relatively brief shots to convey a mood or theme.
    In the classical Hollywood cinema "montage" also referred to an optical montage sequence, usually with lap dissolves, that showed a quick passage of time (also known as "American montage").
    The most famous montage sequence in the silent cinema is the "Odessa Steps" sequence in the Soviet (Russian) film, Potemkin (Sergei Eisentein, 1925), where an attack by Cossack soldiers is shown in numerous "shock" or impact cuts that both extends and intensifies the moment. (To view, click here.) (The music score, using Dmitri Shostakovitch's Fifth Symphony, was added later.) By cutting the sequence up in this way, from different angles and points of view, the director, Eisenstein added to the horror of the attack.
    The most famous montage sequence in the modern cinema is the shower sequence from Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960). This montage sequence (click here to view) lasts about 45 seconds and consists of dozens of brief shots from numerous angles.
     Besides its visual construction, note also Bernard Herrmann's music cue for this sequence, scored only for strings. Until the shower curtain is opened, there is no music.
    In fact, the director, Hitchcock did not plan to use a music cue for this sequence at all. But the film's composer, Bernard Herrmann prepared a rough cut with his cue to show how effective a music underscore for this sequence would be. Hitchcock was convinced, and the result is the most famous audio-visual sequence in modern cinema.
    By scoring only for strings played staccato (discontinuously) at a high pitch, Herrmann created an eerie sound that complemented the slashing of the knife. Note too how effective is the silence that follows the murder, a silence heightened by the sound of the shower. Also observe the form cut/dissolve from the shower drain to the woman's eye (see picture, left).
    In terms of mise-en-scene, notice how Hitchcock stages the shower itself to seem like a moral cleansing (notice the self-satisfied look on the woman's face, right).
    In terms of cinematography, notice how the murderer is backlit (left), both to heighten the terror and to conceal the killer's identity from the audience, a key plot device due to the surprise ending.

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