Published: February 12, 2024 | Last Updated: June 19, 2025
Movie montage Definition & Meaning
A movie montage (French for “assembly), or – in cinema – “editing”) is a series of quick, related shots edited together to show progress, change, or the passage of time. Often set to music, montages show growth, change, or progress, such as training sequences or life transformations, without dialogue or detailed exposition.
The Purposes of a Montage
The core purpose of a montage is time compression and information delivery. Think of it as storytelling shorthand, a way to show significant changes, progress, or contrasts in a brief span. Instead of dragging the audience through every detail, a montage sums it up. It’s how we see a fighter train for the big fight, characters prepare for a heist, or historical events flash before our eyes in a biopic.
Montage sequences work well when combining multiple storylines. For example, a parallel montage can intertwine events simultaneously in different locations. This is commonly seen in thrillers or heist movies, where the editing builds suspense as events converge.
Why cinematic montages work – the psychology behind it
Because the human brain is excellent at recognizing and combining patterns into a coherent meaning, montages work great when combining multiple images or storylines to create a single, overarching idea or emotion. For example, a montage might juxtapose scenes of ordinary people worldwide to emphasize a shared human experience.
Montages create meaning through juxtaposition, placing shots next to each other to evoke ideas or emotions greater than the sum of their parts. This principle, known as the Kuleshov Effect, is rooted in Soviet Montage Theory, a pioneering concept in film editing that demonstrated how two unrelated images could suggest a third, abstract meaning when shown together.
Movie montage examples from various genres
Montages are more common in some movie genres than others, reflecting the narrative and emotional needs specific to those genres.
Here’s a breakdown:
Comedies
In comedies, montages often act as a punchline. Think of makeover scenes or characters hilariously failing at a task, with the quick cuts amplifying the humor.
Example: Dumb and Dumber (1994) has a hilarious sequence of Harry and Lloyd getting ready for the ball in Aspen so Harry can meet his dreamgirl, Mary Swanson, again.
Set to the song “Pretty Woman,” it’s also a parody of the shopping montage sequence in the movie Pretty Woman (1990) starring Julia Roberts:
Sports Films
Montages are a staple in sports movies. They often show training progress, the passage of time, or a series of matches leading up to the final event.
Example: The best and most famous example is from the Rocky movies, which starred Sylvester Stallone as the boxer Rocky Balboa.
Martial arts movies often also feature training montages – see fx No Retreat, No Surrender (1986), or The Karate Kid (1984).
You might also like 20 Jaw-Dropping Martial Arts Battles in Film History, Ranked.
Heist movies
Heist movies often use montages to showcase getting the band of thieves together, planning for the big heist, or revealing how it was done through flashbacks.
Example: Ocean’s Eleven (2001) includes a montage of the team preparing for the elaborate casino heist. This sequence showcases each team member’s various skills and roles as they set their plan in motion, building anticipation for the heist with a mix of tension and humor.
Romantic Comedies
Montages in rom-coms often depict the blossoming of a relationship, showing sequences of dates, adventures, and moments that bond the couple, all wrapped up in a cheerful or poignant soundtrack.
They can also be used for comedic effect, showing a series of disastrous dates or a makeover transformation.
Example: 500 Days of Summer (2009) features a clever montage that contrasts the protagonist’s expectations with reality.
This sequence shows the deterioration of Tom’s relationship with Summer, juxtaposing his romanticized hopes with the harsher reality. It is presented in a split-screen format, adding a comedic yet poignant touch.
See more about juxtaposition in movies.
Coming-of-Age Stories
Coming-of-age films frequently use montages to depict growth, self-discovery, and the passage of time as characters navigate the trials and tribulations of growing up.
The montage allows for a visual and emotional shorthand that captures the essence of change without detailing every moment.
Example: The Breakfast Club (1985) – Although not a montage in the traditional sense of rapid scene changes, this film uses sequences that compress time to show the interactions among high school students from different cliques, revealing their inner depths and the bonds they form.
Animated Movies
Pixar often uses montages to convey the passage of time, emotional growth, or pivotal moments in their films.
Example: UP (2009). Perhaps one of the most poignant and beautifully crafted montages in film history, the opening sequence of “Up” tells the love story of Carl and Ellie.
This montage spans several minutes and encapsulates their entire relationship, from childhood friendship to Ellie’s death.
It showcases their joys, dreams, heartbreaks, and shared life without a single line of dialogue. This emotionally charged montage sets the stage for Carl’s motivations throughout the rest of the film.
Musicals
In musicals, montages can be an opportunity to advance the story without a traditional musical number or to combine music and visuals to propel the narrative or develop character, often in a more abstract or stylized manner.
Example: in Evita (1996), we see various montage scenes. In the song “Goodnight and Thank You,” we witness a rapid succession of Eva Peron’s romances, showing how she swiftly moved on from one lover to the next.
Dramas and Biopics
These genres use montages to condense real-life events or periods, showing character development, major life changes, or the impact of historical events in a compact, efficient way.
Example: The montage sequence of Malcom’s pilgrimage to Mecca from the biopic Malcolm X (1992), which reevaluates his religious beliefs and comes to understand how to fight oppression, is a great example of how the montage can be used to show pivotal transformative moments.
It’s also an excellent example of a montage set to voice-over, not music.
Gangster Movies
Gangster movies often use montage sequences to compress time, develop characters, or advance the storyline in an engaging and visually dynamic manner.
Example 1: Scarface (1983) shows his violent rise in the drug world with a notable montage set to ‘Push It to the Limit.’
This sequence highlights his wealth, power, and eventual downfall, featuring scenes of extravagance and violence, including his marriage to Elvira Hancock.
Example 2: The famous baptism sequence in The Godfather (1972) shows multiple storylines where the killer preparing and killing the heads of all the other families is a brutal montage of death and a stark contrast to the baptism of the innocent child.
Montages used as Irony or Satire
When montages follow predictable patterns or rely on overused themes (e.g., the training montage in sports films, the makeover montage in romantic comedies), they can feel cliché or formulaic to the audience.
This is especially true if the montage lacks originality or does not add anything new or specific to the narrative or character development.
However, this can also be explored for irony, satire, or even as homage as the following montage from South Park (Season 6: Asspen) is a good example of:
For more on satire in movies, see What is Satire? Meaning and Examples from Film
Technical things to consider when creating a movie montage
Lastly, I want to touch upon technical considerations when creating montages. It’s just a few rules of thumb, but they might help you improve your montage. These include:
- Music: A carefully chosen score or song helps establish rhythm, tone and pace, tying disparate images together emotionally.
- Voiceover narration: Sometimes, a narrator explains the action or provides context. It can work great as an alternative to music.
- Minimal dialogue: Montages often rely on visuals, music, and sound effects rather than spoken words.
- Repetition: Consistent camera angles or movements can reinforce themes or progressions.
- Color grading: Because montages cover longer periods of time – from hours to months and even years – it’s important to give the sequence a coherent look. Consistent color grading can help you tie the sequence together.
- Quick cuts: Rapid transitions between shots keep the sequence engaging and dynamic.
These elements work together, but consider what should drive the montage forward – music or voice-over?
Summing Up
Montages have been a staple in cinema for decades, serving various storytelling purposes such as showing the passage of time, depicting character development, or conveying a series of events quickly and effectively.
They are in numerous genres, from sports films and romantic comedies to dramas and action movies.
Because of their common use, they risk becoming cliché. However, because of this, they’ve become the subject of satirical treatment and are used significantly for humor.
Read Next: Jocularity. Definition and Examples from Film and Literature
