Every movie has one, many movies need them and oftentimes, they are either misused or abused. The movie montage, which is a convention as old as the motion picture itself, dates back to the time of the silent cinema. It takes only minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. If you use it effectively, the montage can help move your movie.
Instructions
1. Pick the right point in the script for the montage. The first and most important rule of movie montage is to be sure you know exactly when the montage should happen. Using the montage appropriately is half the battle. The question every screenwriter must ask is "Can this part of the story be told in no other way than with a montage?" If the answer is yes, then this may be an appropriate place for a montage. Some examples of places in a script that are good for montage are periods where a lot of time must pass between significant events, when you want to show the development of an interpersonal relationship, or the simple building of a repetitive idea or motif in your screenplay.
2. Make sure that the montage continues telling the story. All too often, especially in slapstick comedies, a montage is used less to continue the telling of a story, and more to insert a series of sight gags or broad slapstick jokes. Visual comedy is fine, and a montage is an excellent place to write some of this type of humor, but it must serve the plot of the story. For example, the protagonist, who is a fat man, is trying to lose weight. He tries many different diet fads and trendy workouts, until he gives up. Putting this in a montage, we can see him attempting all sorts of different, hilarious and humiliating things to drop pounds, as long as it shows a progression towards him eventually giving up.
3. Think and write visually. When writing anything descriptive in a screenplay, one must always think in pictures. This is even truer when writing a montage, because a montage is almost always sans dialogue. The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is definitely true when it comes to montage. For example, the protagonist is a poor man who gets a new job that gets him more money and higher social status. You can tell this story by showing the man pass a shop window where he sees a suit he wants, but can't afford. In the next scene, he is working hard at his office. Then we see him get a check. He passes the window again, this time smiling. Another scene could be of him working, even harder. Then we see him exiting the store, the suit no longer in the window, but on the protagonist. A story has been told without a word being spoken.
4. Avoid voice over during a montage. Again, let the visuals do the talking for you. If you feel that you must explain away what is happening during your montage, then there is a good chance it shouldn't be a montage. Reexamine exactly why you wanted to include that montage in the first place, and you might find that this montage might work better as one or two short scenes with dialogue, instead.
5. Keep the montage short. The next time you see a montage in a movie, time it. You'll find that, even though it seems like it goes on for a long time, it is relatively short. A montage takes place between two to four minutes, usually. This is between two to four pages of script. That doesn't seem like a lot, but if you write economically and work with affective visuals, you can get your point across successfully in an entertaining way.
