What is the meaning of "montage" in film and television?

Sound and image are the main elements of film and television, and montage is the creative technique of film and television. The earliest montage is transliteration of French montage. In French, montage is a technical term of architecture, which means assembly and combination.

Nowadays, montage is regarded as a means and method of film and television creation. In general, it is to rearrange different shots. Montage is used in the compilation of shots before shooting and the editing after shooting.

For example, in order to assemble a scene where couples meet, we first intercept a scene where a boy walks from the right side of the street, then select a scene where a girl walks out of a resident's house, and then shoot at the gate of the supermarket, and finally shoot the scene where the boy and the girl meet in the street. This series of shots will give the audience a scene where the couple make an appointment to meet at the gate of the supermarket and finally meet at the appointed place. But in essence, these shots are completely irrelevant. It is possible that one of them was shot last year, and the picture in front of the supermarket may have been downloaded from the internet, but when these shots are assembled together, it will give people such a continuous scene. This is the most basic application principle of montage.

In a narrow sense, montage refers to the editing, collage or editing of lens pictures, sounds and other elements. According to the needs of time, film and television creators can recombine and connect various shots in a certain order, which can also realize seamless splicing of smooth narrative.

It can be said that today's film creation techniques are all based on montage methods and means for editing and splicing, so there will be a saying that "montage is the basis of film art"