Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

Visual Narrative: The Syntax of Complexity Editing

I.               Syntax of  complexity  editing

a.     The selection and sequencing of specific shots-is based on story and emotion, by what people do, what drives them to do it, and how they feel about what they do

II.              Montage

a.     The building block of complexity editing

b.     Is the juxtaposition of two or more separate event images that, when shown together, combine into a new and more intense whole

III.            Analytical Montage

                                               i.     Analyze and event for its thematic and structural elements, select the essential elements, and synthesize them into an intensified screen event

b.     Sequential analytical montage

                                               i.     Condense an event into its key developmental elements and present them in their original cause/effect sequence.

                                             ii.     Tells story in short hand fashion

c.     Sectional analytical montage

                                               i.     Temporarily arrests the progression of an event and examines an isolated event moment from various viewpoints

                                             ii.     It explores the complexity of the event

IV.            Idea-associative Montage

a.     Juxtaposes two seemingly disassociated events to create a third principal idea or concept

b.     Creates a tertium quid

                                               i.     A third something that is not contained in either of the montage parts

c.     Comparison Montage

                                               i.     Consists of succeeding shots that juxtapose two thematically related events to express or reinforce a theme or basic idea

                                             ii.     Used to generate a specific feeling in the viewer

1.     (Comparing a dog eating out a garbage can to a man eating out of a garbage can)

d.     Collision Montage

                                               i.     Clash two conflicting ideas to create a third idea

1.     (comparing the man eating out of the garbage to a man eating a big meal)

                                             ii.     Represents a visual dialect in which one idea is juxtaposed with an opposing one

V.              Metric montage

a.     Concerned with structural techniques rather than thematic juxtapositions

b.     Consists of a series of event images that are flashed on-screen in more or less equally spaced intervals

c.     Shots of a metric montage are usually structures by a tight tertiary motion beat. This rhythmic framework is especially important for the two forms of analytical montage

VI.            Audio/Video Montage

                                               i.     Can be achieved by juxtaposing the video sequence with a specific sound track.

                                             ii.     This is especially effective for idea-associative montages

                                            iii.     The combination of pictures and sound can create a “tertium quid” (third idea) that may be less

a.     Comparison idea-associative Montage

i.      In a comparison montage, you can choose sounds that create a tertium quid by allusion

a.     Sports car with a sound of a jet engine

b.     Old man walking into an empty stadium with loud crowd noises

c.     Boy playing a fake war game with war sounds

b.     Collision idea associative montage

i.      The accompanying sound track is contradictory in meaning and feeling to what you see on screen

j.      The picture/sound combination intensifies the visual scene

a.     Attack helicopter with rockets blazing and soft romantic music (gears of war commercial)

b.     Slum areas with a narrator describing the wealth and historical value of the city

VII.           Media Aesthetics and the Human Condition

a.     Designed to clarify, intensify, and interpret an event for a large audience.

b.     We use media aesthetics to help us understand the human condition and communicate ideas to one another

c.     It can make us see the world from a new perspective and help improve it