The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door,
in your own mirror
and each will smile
at the other's welcome...
● How to “hard cut” shots to state a theme
● How movies can allude and quote, as literature can
● How pace in movies, like tempo in music, establishes theme
● How repetition in movies, like harmonic notes in music, creates mood and theme
The Devil & Daniel Webster (1941),
dir. William Dieterle
1. Download these shots. They derive from movies from 1917-1929, 1931-1933, 1941-1947, and 1990-2011. In each, a character approaches or passes through a doorway.
2. Create a new standard iMovie project. Call it "Reinvent Montage." Import into iMovie the files you downloaded. (Convert your project to a widescreen iMovie project if you ultimately use the widescreen 1990-2011 shots).
3. Preview the downloaded shots. Search for similar motions or themes. How your montage develops depends on what you see. In "SevenChances640.mov" and in "Devil&Daniel3.mov," for instance, a man races towards a doorway.
For practice, try beginning your montage with those two shots.
Hard cut between the shots (i.e., join the shots without transition). Trim both shots to a frame where "Devil&Daniel3.mov" continues a theme of "SevenChances640.mov." (Select>Clip Trimmer>Done).
4. Hard cut the shots again. This time, trim both to a frame where "SevenChances640.mov." continues a theme of "Devil&Daniel3.mov."
5. Hard cut the shots again. This time, trim both to a frame where "Devil&Daniel3.mov" continues a theme of "SevenChances640.mov." (Your montage now begins with parallel shots of two men racing similarly to a climax at a doorway).
6. Accelerate or retard your montage by modifying the length of your shot trims or by speeding or slowing the pace of the shots.
Allude to silent comedy?
Slow motion set against a tinkling piano usually does that. "Undercrank" all four shots. (Inspector>Speed>25%). "Tint" the print. Try the following settings (or others that work better for you)
Shot
Video Effect
Video
1
Dream
Contrast>51%. Red Gain>200%
2
Dream
Red Gain>200%. Green Gain>62%
3
Dream
Red Gain>200%. Green Gain>62%
4
Dream
Brightness>3%. Contrast>55%. Red Gain>200%. Green Gain>83%
7. Repeat your movie. Select>Copy>Paste each shot, dragging each to create a second sequence identical to the first. Repeat the final shot four times. (The repetition adds an additional comic touch).
8. Now add a sound track. If it's a tinkling piano, your practice 2-shot montage begins to look and sound something like this.
9. You're ready to reinvent montage. With the shots you downloaded, pass through as many doorways as your imagination allows you.
Billy Dove c. 1923
11 E. 14 Street, New York, New York c. 1913.
The dooway into Biograph Films. D. W. Griffith entered movies here.
Reinvented Montage
