Montage Scene!

[justinisfilming]

Is there a proper way of writing a montage in a script? I mean, is it supposed to be in a scene heading? Or action?

Help?

 

[maralyn]

I personally give a montage a heading of it's own, i.e.

MONTAGE SEQUENCE

Then just write it however most closely describes the way you see it.

 

[FantasySciFi]

A long time ago, I gave an example of formatting a montage. The thread can be found here: http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php&t=34181 . I've editted a bit to fit your question.

A Montage is usually reserved for multiple images appearing on a screen (say a split screen). A montage. can be written as a separate scenes with standard sluglines. You don't have to include dialogue in a scene. A Series of Shots is used when you are going from point A to point B in a physical or logical fashion (travelling through a city, say). However, many modern scripts use 'montage' when they should use 'series of shots', so it can be confusing.

Montage means things are mounted, just like in art class where you pasted magazine pictures over the top of each other. The 'Hulk' used the montage sequences with the split screen. For your script, just write the scenes with the actions. Series of shots and montages do not contain dialogue. So if there is any dialogue, you need the sluglines anyway.

Having said all that, this is for technical submissions. If you are shooting this yourself (and at 15 pages, it seems likes it's your short), you can script it however you like.

I will refer those interested to: http://www.scribd.com/doc/12721428/P...rmatting-Guide adapted from Trottier's book.

This page shows the formatting of special headings for montages and series 
of shots. They are not needed often. Their presence in a script does not
automatically increase its quality. 

Montage 
A montage is a sequence of brief shots that express the same or a similar 
idea.

MONTAGE - RAIDING ENGLISH TROOPS
-- Troops ride through the countryside, intimidating and questioning 
   civilians; all refuse to talk.
--Wallace’s house burns, as soldiers dig up the graves of his father 
   and brother, and scatter their bones to dogs.
-- The English search through the woods, finding nothing.
                                                END OF MONTAGE

EXT. WALLACE LANDS - NIGHT...

Series of Shots 
The Series of Shots can be used to bundle a few shots with more 
diverse pieces of action that have a less obvious underlying theme. 
The boundaries are soft, however, and a montage is often used 
here, too.

SERIES OF SHOTS - CHUCK DOES BUSINESS IN ST. PETERSBURG
A) A surprised Yuri stands with the attractive assistant as     
    Chuck takes his clipboard away.
B) An even more surprised Lev stands by his truck as Chuck hands 
    the clipboard to him.
C) Chuck and the loaders clean off the graffiti.
D) Working alongside the sorters as the packages come in, Chuck 
     points out how to organize the inflow.
E) Chuck and Lev go over large maps of St. Petersburg with the 
    drivers. ...
                                                  END OF SERIES

However, nobody will blame you if you use a montage here, too:

MONTAGE - CHUCK DOES BUSINESS IN ST. PETERSBURG 
--INT. FREIGHT AREA -- A surprised Yuri stands with the attractive 
assistant as Chuck takes his clipboard away.
-- INT. FREIGHT AREA -- An even more surprised Lev stands by his 
truck as Chuck hands the clipboard to him.
-- EXT. TRUCK PARKING LOT - DAY -- Chuck and the loaders clean 
off the graffiti.
-- INT. FREIGHT CENTER -- Working alongside the sorters as the 
packages come in, Chuck points out how to organize the inflow.
-- INT. MEETING ROOM -- Chuck and Lev go over large maps of St. 
Petersburg with the drivers.

Personally, I find no advantage is using them over the standard sluglines. It is a stylistic choice. And often, since they are used rarely, they will be questioned by a reader. When written as above, you'll notice they do not include dialogue. The last example I pasted in has quasi-sluglines. I have seen narration (V.O.) inserted in this way, but never with dialogue between characters.

The cinematic montage includes both presentation styles. However, in the written form, they are often treated differently--as conventions for representing scenes. How the director/editor choose to interpret them is a different visual decision from the descriptive approach used by the screenwriter.

From SinEater's site reference: "Montage /mɒnˈtɑːʒ/ is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information. " (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montage_(filmmaking))

 

[dandevans]

If you're using celtx like me, you probably want to head it "MONTAGE:" and then use standard sluglines for each scene in the montage. This allows you to schedule the shoot better as each scene in the montage can have its own location / characters / props associated with it. Then just end with "END MONTAGE - DISSOLVE TO:"

(Because as everyone knows, you always fade out on a montage...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQvNu8LoTo0