Segmentation

By Isaac Singletary

Segmenting is a tool used by film critics to break down different scenes and discover hidden meanings, character motives that are possibly hidden upon first viewing, and to get a deeper understanding of the film in question. Segmenting can also be used to pick apart different films and allow for criticism with different aspects such as storytelling, plot holes, and different critiques that film critics might point out in an analysis.

Segmenting is also an important tool in analyzing montages, as some montages (such as Soviet montages) rely mostly on editing and formalism, and can include fast and quick cuts to tell certain stories. Film analysts can use segmenting, along with auteur theory and the guidelines of formalism, can find a deeper meaning in films and analyze montages to find out what they really mean.

Film segmenting is a way to “read” a film and all of its qualities. Film segmentation often includes:

·      The Filmic Image

·      Mise-en-scene

·      Cinematography

·      Editing

·      Sound

These distinct qualities that can be found in a single sequence or a single shot are why segmenting is important in film studies and analysis. Different types of montages that can be segmented are:

·      Metric Montage

·      Rhythmic Montage

·      Tonal Montage

·      Intellectual Montage

o   Ideological Montage

o   Parallel Editing

When you pinpoint which montage you’re dealing with, you can use the knowledge that you have on that montage, along with what’s included in film segmentation, and find hidden meanings within a montage. A good example of this principle can be found throughout the film Everything Everywhere All At Once. This film is an entire metaphor for the universe and the multiverse theory, packaged in a film distributed by A24 (if it’s a film by A24 you can already bet that it’s going to be full of hidden meanings and metaphors). During the Clair De Lune sequence, we get a sense that everything is happening all at once (hence the name of the film) in different universes simultaneously. Swinging a pizza restaurant advertisement could translate into fighting moves in another universe. Every interaction in this movie also exists in an alternate universe in different situations.

When Evelyn is talking to Diedre on a bench, this conversation is happening in the current universe, the sausage finger universe, and the universe where Diedre is about to whack Evelyn over the head with a pipe. During this conversation about Evelyn telling Diedre that she’s lovable, the film cuts to the fight. During this fight, dialogue from the bench conversation filters in with the fight scene, showing that the same interactions are happening in different universes with their own different circumstances.

You can use all these methods and examples to segment a montage or even an entire film. Segmentation is looking at everything that composes a scene, a film, a sequence, or even a single shot. It is looking through every aspect of a piece of cinema to decipher and look deeper into a film.

CITATION:

Naser-Hall, Emily. “Segmenting the Modern Montage.” Lecture, Coulter Building; Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, January 29th, 2024