5 Montage Techniques to Improve your Videos

A good video editor is like a ninja; if his work cannot be seen, he did a good job!

Since the invention of moving pictures, film makers where looking for ways to make their videos more interesting by combining different shots together. Over the years dozens of such montage techniques are founded. They also refer to the psychology of video editing.

A good video edit is fluent, dynamic, it can create tension or surprise the viewer. In the video tutorial we'll have a look at five common montage techniques.

The first one is called cutting into the action. We cut from one camera angle to another and make sure there's movement between it. This makes the viewer focus on the movement and not on the cut.

In the second montage technique we make a resemblance between two different scenes. The way a second scene starts could tell an underlying story to its previous scene. In our example we make a resemblance between a battlefield and cutting an apple in a kitchen.

The next technique is more of something to be aware of. Building up tension or an awkward feeling with the viewer can be created by holding a clip longer than normal. We often tend to cut away to fast. It's simple as that!

For the fourth technique  we'll have a look at insert and cut away shots. These are usually close-ups that we can insert in an action of a long shot. We also advice to always shoot enough inserts as it could help with stretching or cropping the length of your video.

The L-cut is the last montage technique. Here we guide the viewer gently to the next scene by overlapping the audio. You want to introduce the sound of the second scene already in your first scene. The viewer expects a new scene to happen and will not get surprised.