or Series of Shots? Here's Story Sense's view...
Montage or Series of Shots?
Writers are often confused about how to present a series of short scenes that are illustrative or transitional in nature. When the shots are so short and disjointed as to make it awkward to present them as scenes, then a "SERIES OF SHOTS- is the answer.
Montages, on the other hand, are usually transitional, with each shot dissolving into the next one, and they often don't involve the principal characters. For example, a montage of a flight might include the airplane taking off, dissolving into an animated line showing its progress across a map, dissolving into a shot of the plane flying through the clouds, dissolving into a shot of it landing.
Montages tend to be used less often than a series of shots. In either case, the images should not be random, but progress the narrative and build to a climax.
Standard screenplay format dictates they begin with a slug line describing the content. It's not sufficient just to describe them in paragraphs of action.
Each shot must be listed in alphabetical outline form, without a scene heading, starting with a capital letter "A- and a closed parenthesis, followed by two spaces:
SERIES OF SHOTS - JONES RUNS ACROSS MANHATTAN
A) Dodging dogs on leashes in Central Park.
B) Weaving through stopped traffic at Times Square, dodging a bicycle messenger.
C) Hustling into the Canal Street subway entrance.
The text in each shot should wrap beneath the text, not beneath the letter of the outline. This is essentially a hanging indent. Unfortunately, most script formatting software cannot handle a hanging indent. You must insert a hard return at the end of each line, and then type four spaces to indent the next line. To prevent each line in a shot from being double-spaced, press "Shift- simultaneously with the "Enter- key.
Unlike with a flashback, there is no need to tell us when the montage ends. We know it has ended when we see a new scene heading. Always start a new scene (with a complete heading) after a montage.
Sub-question - which allows you to sneak in dialogue between shots?
To make it more confusing, I recently read EASY A and they wrote "quick shots" in the action paragraph. Which makes it a smoother read?
Montage or Series of Shots?
Writers are often confused about how to present a series of short scenes that are illustrative or transitional in nature. When the shots are so short and disjointed as to make it awkward to present them as scenes, then a "SERIES OF SHOTS- is the answer.
Montages, on the other hand, are usually transitional, with each shot dissolving into the next one, and they often don't involve the principal characters. For example, a montage of a flight might include the airplane taking off, dissolving into an animated line showing its progress across a map, dissolving into a shot of the plane flying through the clouds, dissolving into a shot of it landing.
Montages tend to be used less often than a series of shots. In either case, the images should not be random, but progress the narrative and build to a climax.
Standard screenplay format dictates they begin with a slug line describing the content. It's not sufficient just to describe them in paragraphs of action.
Each shot must be listed in alphabetical outline form, without a scene heading, starting with a capital letter "A- and a closed parenthesis, followed by two spaces:
SERIES OF SHOTS - JONES RUNS ACROSS MANHATTAN
A) Dodging dogs on leashes in Central Park.
B) Weaving through stopped traffic at Times Square, dodging a bicycle messenger.
C) Hustling into the Canal Street subway entrance.
The text in each shot should wrap beneath the text, not beneath the letter of the outline. This is essentially a hanging indent. Unfortunately, most script formatting software cannot handle a hanging indent. You must insert a hard return at the end of each line, and then type four spaces to indent the next line. To prevent each line in a shot from being double-spaced, press "Shift- simultaneously with the "Enter- key.
Unlike with a flashback, there is no need to tell us when the montage ends. We know it has ended when we see a new scene heading. Always start a new scene (with a complete heading) after a montage.
Sub-question - which allows you to sneak in dialogue between shots?
To make it more confusing, I recently read EASY A and they wrote "quick shots" in the action paragraph. Which makes it a smoother read?
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