Cinematographic Montage: Types, Principles, and Transitions

Posted on Mar 12, 2025 in Audiovisual Communication

Types of Cinematographic Montages

Analytical Montage: Uses short shots, analyzing reality part by part.
Synthetic Montage: Employs long shots or shot-sequences, providing a more complete vision of reality without analysis.

Continuous Linear Montage: Action develops with a unity of time and place.
Condensed Linear Montage: Narration is continuous and linear, but includes different stages.
Inverted Montage: The passage of time is broken by introducing scenes from the past (flashbacks).
Parallel Montage: Two or more chronologically independent narrative lines converge, developing simultaneously in different places.
Montage of Alternating Times: Juxtaposes two or more actions with a strict temporal correspondence.

A film transition is a technique used in the post-production process of film editing and video editing by which scenes or shots are combined.

Continuity: The development and structuring of film segments and ideas so that the intended meaning is clear, and the transitions employed connect the film parts.
Cut: The most common way to join two shots.
Cutting on Action: Cutting from one shot to another while the character is still in motion.
Cut Away: A shot edited into a scene that presents information not part of the first shot. The cutaway shot is usually followed by a return to the original shot and is often used to condense time.
Cross Cut: When two different shots, from different locations, are mixed, usually to increase tension in the sequence.
Jump Cut: When the editor cuts within the same scene, usually to express the passing of time.
Match Cut: Joins together two pieces of film that contain two similarly shaped objects in similar positions in the frame.

Fade In / Fade Out: A fade occurs when the picture gradually turns to a single color.
Dissolve: Like the fade, a dissolve involves gradually changing the visibility of the picture.
Smash Cut: An abrupt transition, often used in violent acts or nightmares.
Iris: By closing the iris, a blurry circle sweeps inwards to the middle of the frame, drawing attention to the subject.
Wipe: A wipe involves one shot replacing another, traveling from one side of the frame to another.
Invisible Cut: Like the match cut, the invisible cut attempts to join two shots with similar frames together to hide the transition from the audience.
L-Cut: An editing technique that results in a cut occurring at a different time for audio than for video. The voice or sound will continue in the next shot.
J-Cut: The viewer will hear characters’ voices a few seconds before seeing them on film.