Before class on Monday, I had never really given much thought regarding what a collage was. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of collage is the organization of newspaper, magazine, or picture cutouts that are displayed artistically. I recently, however, watched a movie called “500 Days of Summer” and realized that collage has a place in film as well. The movie cover itself consists of scenes compiled close together, slightly overlapping (possibly 500 pictures of the character named Summer). A bright yellow sun is also overlaid transparently over a section of the faces. Finally, the two main characters look as if they have been cut out and pasted in front of the face collage, each person outlined with a sliver of white boarder.
Collage is also apparent within the movie, as fictional items (such as the bird shown below) are sporadically juxtaposed with the realistic setting and actors and actresses. This example of collage illustrates the versatile nature of the art form. For example, the term can even be extended to music in the form of a montage. The unifying theme that relates all these forms of collage is the notion that they all use different forms that result in a new whole.
This is a great post. I was also thinking about collage in various mediums and I had never thought about music being a potential form of collage. Especially in today’s techno world filled with remixes and mash-ups, content is taken from various artists and complied into a new work of auditory art. Collages are everywhere and I think combining many works of art can lead to something incredibly enjoyable because it takes advantage of multiple perspectives.
One thing that came to mind while reading your post was the fact that the images inserted into the film to make the collage were very apparent. It is clear that the bird sitting on the man’s hand is not real and has been added into the film after it was made. In comparison, the images in Une Semaine De Bonte appear seamlessly and I may not have realized they were collage if I hadn’t been told that they were!
This is so true! One of my favorite movies growing up, “Mary Poppins” was live-action and cartoons combined. I never thought of it being a “collage” of sorts, but I’m so glad you made that connection. It would be interesting to see if there are any animated movies that use live action inserts. The only tv/movie I can think of that does that is Spongebob, but that’s probably due to my limited knowledge of television, and my deep knowledge of Spongebob ha.
After reading your post I began thinking about other instances of covers that I’ve seen in the past that have used collage. I realized soon-there-after collage is used often in pop culture. I immediately thought of an album cover from the band The Script. The album cover is compiled of various images of protruding rooftops and buildings. In the center theres a large hand holding in it a man and a woman dancing, and there is a rainbow bursting out from the head of the man. The bands name, and also the title of the album, is suspended in the upper-middle potion of the scene by two cables. I think the use of collage is meant be indicative of the bands sound, as they blend elements from various genres. Other instances such as T.I.’s Paper Trails album, Jay-Z’s cover issue of Rolling Stone magazine or John Lennon’s cover issue of the Sunday Times magazine are all other examples of the ways that collage has begun to sink into pop culture and the modern era.