RESEARCH & REFLECTION

“In a sense, our whole semester is dedicated to decoupage.”

Découpage is a widely debated cinematic term. Meaning “to cut up” in French, it refers to the editing process between shots of a film that create meaning. It may also refer to the “construction” of a scene, that is, the numbered order of sequences/shots that will ultimately create a coherent scene. As it has no English translation, it is quite an ambiguous term that is widely debated in the western cinematic world. Due to there being no translation, I get the feeling that there is a sense of “vagueness” to the term, especially in the western world, as it’s such a European term that is attributed to filmmakers from that part of the world, which is so different artistically and commercially.

To further understand découpage, I think that it’s important to understand a couple of other cinematic terms. These terms are “mise-en-scene” and “montage”, both elements of cinema that coherently create the form of film.

Mise-en-scene refers to the different modes of design that appear at any given moment in piece of cinema. This includes lighting, set design, costume and props. Mise-en-scene also refers to the many connotations that any of these modes of design carry. For example, low key lighting can be seen as to represent an emotive atmosphere in a film whilst high key lighting can be interpreted as representing a more uplifting and positive atmopshere.

Montage, in cinema, refers to any number of shots that are edited in a chronological order to create a sense of meaning. When we interpret a number of shots in this order, and are able to make sense of it, we refer to this sense as narrative. Shots that are not in chronological order can be seen as abstract and can still have a degree of meaning behind it that is able to be interpreted by the audience.

Both mise-en-scene and montage combined with decoupage combined create a very crucial relationship to the makings of a film. Montage and decoupage are closely related as they both refer to the sequential nature of shots that make up the traditional scene in any film, whether it be narrative based or abstract. Mise-en-scene can be seen as the “building blocks” as to what makes the decoupage of a film as powerful and important as it is.

I guess when all of these things come together, a shot comes together nicely. When mise-en-scene, montage and decoupage don’t mesh well together, the shot falls apart. Without a well planned decoupage, a montage of shots doesn’t really mesh well. In saying all of this, I think montage and decoupage are more of a seperate entity to mise-en-scene, as they refer to more of the editing process whilst mise-en-scene is definitely more apart of the stylistic and visual choice of a film. In terms of supremacy, I think all 3 of these cinematic features have their moments, all though to me, decoupage seems the most crucial to the crux of a film. Without the style and the flair that the decoupage seems to be responsible for, I think a film would be reminiscent of an empty shell; hollow and devoid of any presence.