Abstract: It is often assumed that with the introduction of synchronized sound, ‘silent-style’ visual effects largely disappeared as an expressive device. However, sound films continued to render abstract ideas by means of multiple exposure and split screen mattes. The resulting composites, which I call montage shots, do not seek to represent physical realities within the diegesis. Instead, they are clearly recognizable as formal devices that encourage viewers to forge conceptual connections between simultaneously presented images. The case of montage shots attests to a far greater consistency between silent and sound aesthetics than is usually acknowledged. It reveals how early sound films cultivated and expanded silent cinema's modes of expressivity, but also relegated them to discrete non-mimetic episodes. Attention to alternative approaches to expressive visual effects also allows us to rethink the instance of the Hollywood montage sequence, which became a staple of American filmmaking for decades to come.

Keywords: visual style, composite shots, montage sequences, special effects, expressivity

Early sound films are often considered visually uninteresting, largely dialogue-driven and shaped by requirements of sound recording equipment. ‘Silent-style’ visual effects – specifically expressive ones resulting from multiple exposure or combination printing – are assumed to have largely disappeared with the coming of sound. In actual fact, early sound films feature a remarkable range of expressive visual effects, which build directly on silent-era practices. In this chapter, I will focus on composites that visibly juxtapose different image components in one shot, either layered on top of one another or presented side-by-side. Unlike sequential montage, which forges meaning from disparities between successive shots, what I call montage shots present diverse images simultaneously. Such composites are immediately recognizable as a purposeful arrangement and thus diminish the illusion of direct imprints of a physical reality. As I will show, montage shots persisted in sound cinema, where they facilitated enduring efforts to communicate ideas and emotions non-verbally. Highlighting the continuities between silent and early sound aesthetics, attention to montage shots allows us to revisit common assumptions about filmmaking in the early sound period.

Montage Shots in Silent Cinema

Already in the earliest days of cinema, filmmakers experimented with combining multiple scenes in one frame. Building on familiar iconography from religious art, lantern slides, illustrated journals, or advertising, early films juxtaposed different locations to represent projections of characters’ ‘inner eyes,’ that is, their mental images or accounts.