Last week one of my classmates did presentation on Sergei Eisenstein. He was film theorist who concerned about techniques rather than content: montage. The use of montage is best known as film editing. He believed that montage will shape the audience’s emotions, thoughts, and create metaphors as well. Therefore, he developed montage into five categories:
1. Metric montage which focuses on length of shot by combining the shot
2. Rhythmic montage which focuses on visual pattern within the shots. It will be based on matching action and
screen direction. It will be considered as portray conflict such as opposing screen.
3. Tonal Montage which focuses on editing that establishes emotional character of scene.
4. Overtonal Montage is the interplay of metric, rhythmic, and tonal montage. The interplay will combine ideas and emotional in order to bring the desired effect from audiences.
5. Intellectual montage which combine two scenes as a kind of metaphor. There is no meaning in the individual
shots.
When I heard about these montages, I tried to figure out which film that relates with these montages. The scene from Face/Off reminds me the fight scene of So Close (2002) that Ai Lin (Shu Qi) assassinates the chairman of Chinese company. The shot technique is conflict by offering fight/violent scene along with calm music. This scene brings about the emotional to audiences.
Another montage is intellectual montage in the film Siam Renaissance (2003) which in the last scene when MeeJan talks to their parents switch with the scene ManeeJan’s parents pour holy water for her along with falling of roses’ petal. With this technique, the film represents each petal of roses that drop slowly as the infinity love of parents to her. Individual scene cannot represent the meaning to audiences.
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