French cinema
Montage is the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated shots or scenes which, when combined achieved meaning and make perfect sense to the audience. Montage is cutting between shots, they may include use if close-up's, relatively frequent cuts, dissolves, fades and jump cuts. This editing is always done to suggest particular meaning. There are three main types of montage that use these techniques in different and creative ways which are French montage, Hollywood montage and soviet montage.
Example of French montage is the film Masculin feminin. In this film we see how French montage is very continuous. There are no jump cuts, point of view filming, fades or dissolves used or any type of camera technique. It is filmed there and then and has minimal editing techniques in it. The two screen shots from the movie we can see that the two characters in the bathroom having a conversation, when talking the camera is fixed on their faces and only shows one character at a time. The camera is fixed onto the characters face and does not move or suddenly jump for effect, it remains focused on the subject for long periods of time before it jumps to the next subject.
Example of Hollywood montage is Citizen Cane which is full of editing techniques. Hollywood montage uses editing techniques such as fades, jump cuts, dissolves and wipes to move on narrative and time. As Hollywood montage is much faster paced the editing techniques contribute to saving time and telling a story that is still effective. The two screenshots show the fade which is the transition into the next shot. Another example in the movie Citizen Kane is when the husband and wife are having breakfast at the breakfast table, their is a fade/montage of passing time. This is to show the two characters relationships untold overtime from a very interactive couple to a couple that cannot stand each other as time goes by. This is a faster way for the audience to understand whats going on in the play as they see the changes overtime.
Example of soviet montage is Battleship Potempkin. In the Odessa steps scene. This movie uses juxtaposing shots that all have relevance to each other. In this film a woman gets shot by the soldiers in the all the mayhem of people running down these flights of steps she falls to the floor bearing in mind she has her baby behind her. This makes the audience wonder what will happen next and leaves them feeling tense. We also then see an example of juxtaposition as the baby is about to fall the film cuts to another scene leaving the audience feeling tense. 