How Long is Too Long for a Photo Montage?

[sarah h]

Hiya,

I'm editing a project right now, it's a 22 minute pilot to air on a website (risky already, I know, so don't even say it). In the middle of the episode there is a photo montage, which is a sequence of "behind-the-scenes" black and white photos on an adult film set set to kind of groovy, bassy, 70s-homage music.

The question is: how many seconds/minutes of this would you sit through before you got bored and stopped watching it? I am in a huge argument with the director over this and I'd like to get some non-biased opinions. I have a hunch, but I'm not going to say yet because I don't want to influence your answers.

For the sake of this hypothetical, let's say you have watched and have been paying attent to the episode up to the point of the montage (about 10 minutes) and have been at least mildly entertained by it.

And BTW yes, the photo montage has to be there, so zero seconds/cut it completely is not an option in this case. I would probably be shot if I came back to him with that.

 

[ItDonnedOnMe]

I'd say 30 seconds is probably pushing it, but it depends a lot on the content. Does the montage tell a story? i.e. is the audience learning something as the montage progresses, or is it just a random bunch of photos from the same event? If you can tell a story then you can get away with something longer.

 

[sarah h]

It's pretty much a scene--there's something of a story to it.

It's starts with the crew shooting two actors on a couch. Then they cut the scene, adjust lights/camera, touch up makeup, there's a brief dispute about a line, they go back to shooting, then cut and everyone starts to wrap up for the day. So there's a visual narrative, but how much leeway does that really give you? Up to a minute? MAYBE two?

 

[ItDonnedOnMe]

Personally I think two minutes would really be stretching it, that's 10% of your film. Honestly though, the answer is it should take as long as is necessary to convey that story, and no more, so it's hard to be of much help without seeing it and/or knowing how it fits into the rest of the story in context.

 

[sarah h]

Yeah, I can understand that. Mostly I just wanted to get first impressions, general feelings, to use as a guideline during my editing process.

Maybe I'll post just that segment of the project when it's completed. It would be out of context, but you'd have the visual reference.

 

[8salacious9]

Do it first then adjust accordingly, you won't please everyone so find the medium

 

[Cracker Funk]

It should be exactly as long as it needs to be, and not one frame longer.

Seriously, that's my answer. Feel it out. Tell the story that you need to tell. As long as you keep the audience engaged, that's how long it needs to be.

Experiment. There's no right answer here.