Lesson 8: Sequence building 8.1 Montages, shots and sequences A shot is the smallest element in film making. It is a continiuos recorded piece of film which is limited by a cut. A sequence contains several shots. The shots in a sequence have to be combined in an logical way when it comes to content and optic so the viewer recognizes it as one related sequence. Shots are consequtive combined, mostly they are appendend to each other when it comes to graphic, time, place, theme, etc. Like that several shot can build an unit (sequence). The common way to combine shots: In the editing the shooted material should be arranged logically and consistently: 1. A full shot introduces the situation 2. A medium long shot introduces a person or an object of interest. 3. A close up with the main focus on a person/object The main rule: From common to special. This structure also works vice versa. To show a detailed shot in the beginning instead of the intoducing full shot can stir up the couriosity of the viewers, like in the following example.
B Lesson 8
Example: Art exhibition 1. A shot of a portrait (strong starting picture) 2. A visitor in front of the portrait, 3. The visitor in the whole room 4. and so on... The way you realize your sequence, should fit to the content. In film and TV you can find different types of sequences. When you have a couple of shots and you combine them in your editing programme, you want them to have a certain impact on the viewer. To achive this impact you can use different types of montage techniques that require some basic knowledge of montages.
8.2 Summarizing montage Summarizing montage (also known as “Elliptic Storytelling”) leaves out unnecessary information of the plot. Example: • Full shot. A street in a big city is being shown • Medium longshot. A car stops in front of an office building. The driver gets out of the car and walks towards the entrance.. 151