I missed a class in this week, Robin sent me a email summarized the class which helps me to catch up. According to Robin’s email, i get to know that this class was a practical exercise around deconstruction of a scene. After reading Timothy Barnard’s short book “Decoupage”, i learned that ‘decoupage’ is a word from french, it’s like ‘coverage’ in English. Decoupage was a relatively niche concept in France in the early days. At that time, there was a rich oral work culture surrounding movies, but it was not passed on to us in the text. At the basic level, decoupage is a sub-shot script or continuity. It is the final written and visualized text in the script creation process. The decoupage cuts the script in the form of narrative to create a detailed filming plan, including camera settings and actors, the scene and the lens change. Conceptually, “cutting” is performed during the shooting process. The editing process is called “montage” in French. literally, it is “collection”, “joining” or “sticking together”. Montage is a means to connect the split lens group. It can be seen from this that montage is a means of linking the shots taken by the camera in accordance with the logic of life, the author’s perspective and the aesthetic principles. Of course, film montage is mainly realized through the re-creation of directors, photographers and editors. Therefore, tailoring is different from editing (montage). Editing is the process of achieving tailoring. Paper cutting is a pre-plan or vision of the entire fragmentation or segmentation process (as Bunuel said). This is a conceptual process; a plan; a method. The actual process may be preserved, or it may be used as evidence in the notes (sketches, plot synopsis, shot list, floor plan) left behind, or our memories of actual cooperation with actors or photography departments or actors or working on-site.

Reference

Barnard, Tim 2014, Découpage, Caboose, Montréal.Section 1, pages 3 & 4. Section 2, pages 4 & 5. <https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=RMIT_ALMA11136955960001341&context=L&vid=RMITU&search_scope=Books_articles_and_more&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US>