Montage in the USSR and Its Fifteen Fundamental Procedures According to Semyon Timoshenko - Text 3
1. Change of place
It associates shots taken in different locations. Remarking the tendency on the part of viewers to infer temporalities as far removed as the distance between places, Timoshenko quotes Balázs to underscore the impossibility of returning to the first scene without a transition if the distance between the two places shown is too great. He also emphasises the need to focus the viewer’s attention solely on the significant details.
2. Change of point of view
It associates two different shot angles of one place. While in the course of his description of the previous procedure Timoshenko underscores the pointlessness of showing master shots once the viewer becomes familiar with the surroundings, this second procedure rests on a previous presentation of these master shots to provide the viewer with bearings.
3. Change of scale
It makes it possible, for example, to cast a detail of an actor’s performance, his or her pantomime, into relief. This procedure is of interest only in the case of an emotionally powerful moment.
4. Highlighting a detail
Derived from the previous procedure, this one can be prepared (if the detail is visible in the master shot) or not. According to Timoshenko, the former reinforces the dramatic nature of the scene, while the latter, which he illustrates by a close-up of the title of a book, produces a comic or unexpected effect.
5. “Analytical montage” (analitičeskij montaž)
It consists in linking several details to construct an action which viewers must synthesise. It can be used only on rare occasions, because it demands the utmost attention from the viewer.