Collage film
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Collage film is a style of
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
created by juxtaposing found footage from disparate sources. The term has also been applied to the physical collaging of materials onto film stock.


Surrealist roots

The
surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
movement played a critical role in the creation of the collage film form. In 1936, the
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
artist
Joseph Cornell Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) was an American visual artist and film-maker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of Assemblage (art), assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde e ...
produced one of the earliest collage films with his reassembly of ''
East of Borneo ''East of Borneo'' is a 1931 American Pre-Code adventure film directed by George Melford, co-written by Edwin H. Knopf and Dale Van Every, starring Rose Hobart, Charles Bickford, Georges Renavent, Lupita Tovar, and Noble Johnson, and release ...
'' (1931), combined with pieces of other films, into a new work he titled ''
Rose Hobart Rose Hobart (born Rose Kefer; May 1, 1906 – August 29, 2000) was an American actress and a Screen Actors Guild official. Early years Born in New York City, Hobart was the daughter of a cellist in the New York Symphony Orchestra, Paul Ke ...
'' after the leading actress.Rony, Fatimah Tobing. The Quick and the Dead: Surrealism and the Found Ethnographic Footage Films of Bontoc Eulogy and Mother Dao: The Turtlelike. Camera Obscura. January 2003, Vol. 18 Issue 52 When
Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
saw the film, he was famously enraged, believing Cornell had stolen the idea from his thoughts. But
Adrian Brunel Adrian Brunel (4 September 1892 – 18 February 1958) was an English film director and screenwriter. Brunel's directorial career started in the silent era, and reached its peak in the latter half of the 1920s. His surviving work from the 1920s, ...
made, twelve years before, ''Crossing the Great Sagrada'' (1924) and
Henri Storck Henri Storck (5 September 1907 – 17 September 1999) was a Belgian writer, filmmaker and documentarist. In 1933, he directed, with Joris Ivens, ''Misère au Borinage'', a film about the miners in the Borinage area. In 1938, with Andre Thirifa ...
conceived, four years earlier, ''Story of the Unknown soldier'' (''Histoire du soldat inconnu'') (1932). The idea of combining film from various sources also appealed to another surrealist artist
André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...
. In the town of Nantes, he and friend Jacques Vaché would travel from one movie theater to another, without ever staying for an entire film.André Breton, Nadja (Paris: Gallimard, 1964), and Breton, “As in a Wood.” L'age du cinema (1951) as reprinted in ''The Shadow and Its Shadows'', ed. Paul Hammond (London: The British Film Institute, 1991). As cited by Rony, Fatimah Tobing. The Quick and the Dead: Surrealism and the Found Ethnographic Footage Films of Bontoc Eulogy and Mother Dao: The Turtlelike. Camera Obscura. Jan2003, Vol. 18 Issue 52


Renaissance

A renaissance of found footage films emerged after
Bruce Conner Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography. Biography Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933 in McPherson, Kansas.His well- ...
's '' A Movie'' (1958). The film mixes ephemeral film clips in a dialectical montage. A famous sequence made up of disparate clips shows "a submarine captain hoseems to see a scantily dressed woman through his periscope and responds by firing a torpedo which produces a nuclear explosion followed by huge waves ridden by surfboard riders." Conner continued to produce several other found footage films including ''
Report A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...
'' and ''
Crossroads Crossroads, crossroad, cross road or similar may refer to: * Crossroads (junction), where four roads meet Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a 1930 Brit ...
'' among others. Working at the
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
(NFB) in the 1960s,
Arthur Lipsett Arthur Lipsett (May 13, 1936 – May 1, 1986) was a Canadian avant-garde director of short collage films. Life and career Born in Montreal into a Jewish family, Lipsett saw his mother, an immigrant from Kiev, commit suicide when he was 10 years ...
created collage films such as ''
Very Nice, Very Nice ''Very Nice, Very Nice'' is a Canadian avant-garde collage film made by Arthur Lipsett in 1961, and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Plot Thoughts about day-to-day life interpreted through snapshots and sound collages pondering if ...
'' (1961) and ''
21-87 ''21-87'' is a 1963 Canadian abstract montage-collage film created by Arthur Lipsett that lasts 9 minutes and 33 seconds. The short, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, is a collage of snippets from discarded footage found by Lipset ...
'' (1963), entirely composed of found footage discarded during the editing of other films (the former earning an Academy Award nomination). In 1968, the young
Joe Dante Joseph James Dante Jr. (; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably ''Gremlins'' (1984) alongside its sequel, '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990)—often mix 1950s-style B movies wit ...
made ''
The Movie Orgy ''The Movie Orgy'' is a 1968 film directed by Joe Dante and produced by Jon Davison.Erickson, Glenn"The Movie Orgy: Savant Screening Revival Notes" ''DVD Savant''. April 26, 2008. It was an evolving compilation of film clips, commercials, and fi ...
'' with producer Jon Davidson that featured outtakes, trailers and commercials from various shows and films.


Examples since the 1970s

Other notable users of this technique are Chuck Workman with his Oscar-winning ''
Precious Images ''Precious Images'' is a 1986 short film directed by Chuck Workman. It features approximately 470 half-second-long splices of movie moments through the history of American film. Some of the clips are organized by genre and set to appropriate music ...
'',
Craig Baldwin Craig Baldwin (born 1952) is an American experimental filmmaker. He uses found footage from the fringes of popular consciousness as well as images from the mass media to undermine and transform the traditional documentary, infusing it with the ...
in his films ''
Spectres of the Spectrum ''Spectres of the Spectrum'' is a 1999 science fiction collage film by American filmmaker Craig Baldwin. The story follows a father and daughter living in post-apocalyptic wasteland as they fight against corporate control of the electromagnetic spe ...
'', '' Tribulation 99'' and ''O No Coronado'' and Bill Morrison who used found footage lost and neglected in film archives in his 2002 work ''
Decasia ''Decasia'' is a 2002 American collage film by Bill Morrison, featuring an original score by Michael Gordon. In 2013, ''Decasia'' was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures for preservation in the United States National Film Regi ...
'' (which alongside
Kevin Rafferty Kevin Gelshenen Rafferty II (May 25, 1947 – July 2, 2020) was an American documentary film cinematographer, director, and producer, best known for his 1982 documentary ''The Atomic Cafe''. Background Rafferty was born in Boston on May 25, 194 ...
's 1982 Cold War satire ''
The Atomic Cafe ''The Atomic Cafe'' is a 1982 American documentary film directed by Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader and Pierce Rafferty. It is a compilation of clips from newsreels, military training films, and other footage produced in the United States early i ...
'' were inducted to the
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
). A similar entry in the found footage canon is Peter Delpeut's ''
Lyrical Nitrate ''Lyrical Nitrate'' ( nl, Lyrisch Nitraat) is a 1991 collage film by Peter Delpeut. Summary The film consists of clips from various silent films printed on decaying nitrate film stock, including shorts, documentaries, and travelogues. There is n ...
'' (1991). The technique was employed in the 2008 feature film '' The Memories of Angels'', a visual ode to
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
composed of
stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...
from over 120 NFB films from the 1950s and 1960s.
Terence Davies Terence Davies (born 10 November 1945) is an English screenwriter, film director, and novelist, seen by many critics as one of the greatest British filmmakers of his times. He is best known as the writer and director of autobiographical films ...
used a similar technique to create ''
Of Time and the City ''Of Time and the City'' is a 2008 British documentary collage film directed by Terence Davies. The film has Davies recalling his life growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s and 1960s, using newsreel and documentary footage supplemented by his own ...
'', recalling his life growing up in
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
in the 1950s and 1960s, using
newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, informa ...
and documentary footage supplemented by his own commentary voiceover and contemporaneous and
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
soundtracks. The 2016 experimental documentary ''
Fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
'' was sourced from over a hundred hours of home video footage uploaded to YouTube by an unknown family in the United States. The footage was combined with additional clips appropriated from other YouTube users and transformed into a 53-minute
crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
about a family preoccupied with material consumption going to extreme lengths in order to get out from under unsustainable personal debt.


Notable collage documentaries

* ''
June 17th, 1994 ''June 17th, 1994'' is a documentary film by Brett Morgen released as part of ESPN's ''30 for 30'' series. Summary The documentary details the events of June 17, 1994, in which several noteworthy sporting events occurred during the police chase ...
'' (2010) * ''
LA 92 LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
'' (2017) * '' Our Nixon'' (2013) * '' Tarnation'' (2003) * ''
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" is one of the best-known American songs of the Great Depression. Written by lyricist Yip Harburg and composer Jay Gorney, it was part of the 1932 musical revue ''Americana''; the melody is based on a Russian-Je ...
'' (1975) * '' Senna'' (2010) * ''
Waking Sleeping Beauty ''Waking Sleeping Beauty'' is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Disney film producer Don Hahn and produced by Hahn and former Disney executive Peter Schneider. The film documents the history of Walt Disney Feature Animation from 1984 ...
'' (2010) * ''
Los Angeles Plays Itself ''Los Angeles Plays Itself'' is a video essay by Thom Andersen, finished in 2003, exploring the way Los Angeles has been presented in movies. Consisting almost entirely of clips from other films with narration, the film was not initially released ...
'' (2003) * '' Dawson City: Frozen Time'' (2016)


Comedies

Some of the earliest surrealist collage works were humorous. This tradition of using film collage for comedic effect can later be seen in commercial films such as Woody Allen's first film, ''
What's Up, Tiger Lily? ''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' is a 1966 American comedy film directed by Woody Allen in his feature-length directorial debut. Allen took a Japanese spy film, '' International Secret Police: Key of Keys'' (1965), and overdubbed it with completely or ...
'' in which Allen took '' Key of Keys'', a
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese
spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films) ...
by
Senkichi Taniguchi (February 19, 1912 – October 29, 2007) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Born in Tokyo, Japan, he attended Waseda University but left before graduating due to his involvement in a left-wing theater troupe. He joined P.C.L. ...
, re-edited parts of it and wrote a new soundtrack made up of his own dialogue for comic effect, and
Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...
's 1982 comedy ''
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid ''Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid'' is a 1982 American neo-noir mystery comedy film directed, co-written by, and co-starring Carl Reiner and co-written by and starring Steve Martin. Co-starring Rachel Ward, the film is both a parody of and a homage to ...
'' which incorporated footage from approximately two dozen classic
film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
films along with original sequences with
Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...
.


Physical film collaging

Some filmmakers have taken a more literal approach to collage film.
Stan Brakhage James Stanley Brakhage ( ; January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003) was an American filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film. Over the course of five decades, Brakhage created a large ...
created films by collaging found objects between clear film stock, then passing the results through an
optical printer An optical printer is a device consisting of one or more film projectors mechanically linked to a movie camera. It allows filmmakers to re-photograph one or more strips of film. The optical printer is used for making special effects for motion ...
, such as in ''
Mothlight ''Mothlight'' is an experimental film, experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, released in 1963. The film was created without the use of a camera. Description ''Mothlight'' is a silent film, silent "collage film" that incorporates "real world e ...
'' and ''
The Garden of Earthly Delights ''The Garden of Earthly Delights'' is the modern title given to a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. It has bee ...
''.


Animation

Examples of animated collage film (which uses clippings from newspapers, comics and magazines alongside other inanimate objects): * The Oscar-winning ''
Frank Film ''Frank Film'' is a 1973 American animated short film by Frank Mouris. The film won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1996. Summary It is a compilation of images co-creator Frank Mo ...
'' (1973) * '' Our Lady of the Sphere'' (1969) * The films of Lewis Klahr and
Janie Geiser Janie Geiser (born 1957 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is an American artist and experimental filmmaker. Her notable works include ''The Fourth Watch'', ''Terrace 49'', '' The Red Book'', ''The Secret Story'', ''Colors'', ''Immer Zu'', ''Lost Motion'', ...
*
Charles Braverman Charles "Chuck" Dell Braverman (born March 3, 1944, in Los Angeles, California) is an American film director, collage animator, documentary filmmaker and producer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject for his 2 ...
's ''American Time Capsule'' (1968) * ''
Heaven and Earth Magic ''Heaven and Earth Magic'' (also known as ''Number 12'', ''The Magic Feature'', or ''Heaven and Earth Magic Feature'') is a 1962 American avant-garde independent cutout animation film directed by visual artist, filmmaker and mystic Harry Everett ...
'' (1962) * The works of
Stan Vanderbeek Stan VanDerBeek (January 6, 1927 – September 19, 1984) was an American experimental filmmaker known for his collage works. Life VanDerBeek studied art and architecture at Manhattan's Cooper Union before transferring to Black Mountain Colleg ...
and
Robert Breer Robert Carlton Breer (September 30, 1926 – August 11, 2011) was an American experimental filmmaker, painter, and sculptor. Life and career "A founding member of the American avant-garde," Breer was best known for his films, which combine ...
* The aforementioned ''
Mothlight ''Mothlight'' is an experimental film, experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, released in 1963. The film was created without the use of a camera. Description ''Mothlight'' is a silent film, silent "collage film" that incorporates "real world e ...
'' (1963) and ''
The Garden of Earthly Delights ''The Garden of Earthly Delights'' is the modern title given to a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. It has bee ...
'' (1981)


References

{{Film genres Film Documentary film Documentary_film_genres Experimental film Film styles Modern art Postmodern art