Montage Exercise

	Montage

	This iMovie exercise teaches:
	● How to give “meaning” to shots by linking them ● How Kuleshov discovered the essence of Soviet montage ● How, making movies, combining shots makes them into something new (Instructions for Windows Movie Maker are here).



	1. Download these clips and intertitles. The clips resemble shots Kuleshov used for his 1920 montage experiment.
	2. In iMovie, create a new widescreen project. Entitle it, "Kuleshov Experiment."
	3. Import the .mov clips into iMovie.
	4. Drag "KuleshovMan.mov" into the work area. Using the inspector or the clip trimmer, set the duration of "KuleshovMan.mov" to 3 seconds. Repeat the process with "KuleshovSoup.mov." View the pair of shots.
	5. Copy and paste the first shot (man's face) to repeat that shot after the second shot (soup bowl) . Play the three-shot sequence. The man now "reacts" to the soup.
	6. " Drag"craves.jpg" into the workspace, inserting it before the first (man's face) shot. View the entire intertitle-face-soup-face sequence. You have endowed the man's blank expression with "meaning" by linking it to an intertitle and a shot.
	7. Export your movie to share it with world.
	8. Repeat the process, this time substituting "KuleshovFamily.mov" for "KuleshovSoup.mov" and substituting "adores.jpg" for "craves.jpg."
	9. Repeat the process again, this time substituting "KuleshovFinalRepose.mov" for "KuleshovFamily.mov" and substituting "grieves.jpg" for "craves.jpg."
	10. In each film, the character "feels" a different emotion. But the actor feels nothing. His emotions end at his face. You made his expression "mean" something by combining it with something new.

	11. Want to do more? Put your finger on the scale of emotions by reversing shot order in more or more of the movies. Sandwich the actor's face between the soup, or the family, or the coffin. Shorten or lengthen shot durations. Slip in sound. Add transitions. Saturate or desaturate a shot or shots. Even simple movies whisper.