A MONTAGE is a video storytelling technique in which a series of shots are edited into a sequence to condense or expand space, time, and information. Montages do not have to follow the rules of continuity.
Example of a montage from Rocky.
Why Use Montage
Montages can be used in various ways to enhance a story, including:
Accelerate time to show the progress of a character or event, but instead of showing everything, key shots are selected to highlight a character's progress.
Show the dramatic change of a character, physically or mentally, especially over a long period of time. See the Rocky workout montage above.
Increase the rising action of a story, giving new energy to a character or the story midway. This approach can also help keep the audience engaged.
Combine multiple storylines at once.
Montages are a great way to move a story forward quickly while delivering a large amount of information to the audience. They typically use music to tie the visuals together. Music builds a spine for the story because the actions that happen in the montage are not in real-time or real space of the overall film story.
Below is a short scene from the movie The School of Rock, which uses montage to show the students learning music over the course of days, weeks, or even months.
One example of combining storylines is from the film Ferris Buller's Day Off when Ferris rushes to get home before his parents catch him skipping school. The montage cuts between several scenes (story events) taking place simultaneously.