Film in its essence can be described as the creation of meaning through the juxtaposition of images.  Within its film context the director and editor dictated the way in which the montage evoked the idea of an event or theme. As Eisenstein one of the Soviet founding fathers of montage described it as ‘tendentious selection and juxtaposition free from narrowly fictional tasks, molding the audience in accordance with its goal.’ The power of this juxtaposition is revealed within the Kuleshov effect in which the reading of a particular character’s face is dependent upon the point of view shot it is placed next to. The reaction shot of the character remains the same yet the meaning of the particular image is fluid. Below is the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock and his demonstration of the effect.

 Expanding this effect then to the traditional cinema it is clear to see that knowledge is accumulated as audiences are presented with shots. Whether this knowledge is thematic with images being associational or knowledge of a constructed place, is dependent upon the director’s intentions for the sequence. On further expansion to digital platforms, for instance Youtube, the creator no longer has total control of the edits or cuts the viewer will experience.  At any moment the consumer is able to shift to another video, clicking on an external link or suggested video, creating their own cut. ‘Meaning is not inherent in any one shot but is created by the juxtaposition of shots (Shields 2011)’ so then it could said a new meaning is created in this consumer decision to cut between videos.

Say for instance, you were to shift away from a horror clip to a nostalgic video of a children’s programs the child’s program could take upon a disturbing tone that is only due to what it resides next to. In this instance the idea of dualism is used to create an uneasy feeling, juxtaposition the obviously evil with content traditionally seen as light-hearted and familiar. On the other hand, many of us do not in fact use YouTube as means to shift between our fetish of horror and guilty pleasure of early episodes of Playschool. We use Youtube in variety of ways; a common way of traversing the database is to consume videos of the same genre, with much the same content explored. In this sense YouTube not only takes upon the form of a montage sequence evoking endless un-intentional meanings it also takes upon the form of a collage. In which elements consisting of some form come together in a why not originally intended to form something either consistent in aesthetics or content.

Instead of the changing of videos being a series of cuts in which the audience is forced to make connections, they are viewing them as having tenuous thematic links. ‘Only in the aggregate do these produce a tangential effect similar to and often stronger than the effect of the fact itself (Eisenstein, 1924).’ It is not montage in the sense of understanding a particular sequence it is rather understanding of a particular artist, theme or topic.

 

Footnote:

Intention has never meant anything; a reader/consumer will always bring their own ideas and views to a reading of a text or information. Now, in the digital age, not only does the reading of text exist within constant flux but also the presentation. Information presented online, is inherently networked. Information, articles, videos exist within a sea of information.

In an overtly simplistic and menial example, our intentions can be misconstrued on social media sites such as Facebook. When posting, sharing or commenting whatever we say is read in relation to the comments and etiquette of the platform. Sharing a particularly political article our intentions of discussion are undercut by profane comments. In this instance it appears we have purely posted to incite anger or disrespect.

In the delivery of information, we may decide to link (or in the case of blogging, embed) a RSS feed, which continually updates with posts relating to the content of our particular post. By linking to the feed, we eliminate the need for us to write and post unnecessary information and for the reader to have to search elsewhere for a greater understanding. This is particularly salient for us, as content producers, who have to realise that as people, we never view or read anything in isolation and that our discussion of ideas can be freed of description