What's a Montage?

One of the most famous examples of what a montage can be, is the Breakfast Table sequence from "Citizen Kane". This montage shows the passage of time beginning as newlyweds and shows how the married couple grows apart over the years in only a few minutes. Notice how close they are in the beginning and the changes in clothing, age and attitudes. The sequence ends with the silent couple sitting far away from each other showing how distant they have become.

By contrast, here's the montage of drug addiction from "Requiem for a Dream", all done in Close Ups.

Moving to montages in Animation, here's one from Mulan showing her training, like the other real men in her company.

And one of the most touching montages is from Pixar's UP showing a whole life between two people without any dialogue. Only acting and reacting to what's going on in each scene. The music also helps set up the situations and gives the audience the emotion cues as well.

Animators need to see a lot of live action films, not just youtube videos. You need to invest in your movie education by seeing some of the classic films from the past. These films will help you in your animation future to reference a character, a famous scene or an acting performance.

Here is a great documentary about editing. This is more about live action filmmaking, but animators can learn a few things from it as well.

Do you have a favorite montage sequence? Please let me know...