I’ve been wanting to write about this for a while now, because it’s an aspect of screenwriting that was certainly confusing to me at first. But there definitely is a distinct difference between a montage and a series of shots.

A montage is a series of images, shots or sequences blended together to create an emotional effect. This effect could be something abstract or psychological, a la David Lynch. This effect could be employed simply to show the passing of time, i.e. two years in prison, the big wedding day or a cross-country road trip. Or this effect could be to convey something. For instance, the Dorothy magazine montage from Tootsie conveys her, er, his ascension to fame in a timely fashion. Another example is to show a couple falling in love, and doing so without overloading your audience with sappy dialogue scenes.

The Rocky movies always have montages. It’s much more entertaining to quickly show Rocky’s entire grueling training regimon, and his improvement, than one long, boring training scene. The one I linked works well because at that point in the film you are salivating over Rocky vs. Drago. The last thing you want to do is sit through a half hour of fight preparation and dialogue, especially from Brigitte, Dolph and Sly. The Departed’s opening sequence is a montage. It’s a mixture of real-life footage and filmed shots combined to convey the atmosphere in Boston when Frank Costello came into power, not to mention to show just how long he’s been in power.

I could go on all day, but typically you’ll use a montage when it’s the most efficient and effective way to convey something that’s integral to your script’s plot. The can have a comedic or dramatic effect, and every thing in between. Play around with montages. See what works for you.

A series of shots is much easier to both explain and grasp. Essentially, it is just one continuous sequence. A car chase. A martial arts fight. A guy getting ready for work. A wife preparing dinner. Recently, many of these have had a furious pace, i.e. the Bourne movies. Screenwriting is an economy of words, a trade based on brevity. Series of shots are both often the quickest and most compelling way to get from point A to point B. A series of shots is also a very visual method, and film is a visual form first and foremost.

As mentioned on this forum, “the real difference is filmic continuity.”

For formatting tips on both, I used The Hollywood Standard by Christopher Riley.