What if you would like to make a video about a topic but you don’t have a lot of footage?  Or perhaps you would like to describe a new technique, but have only still shots of your equipment and procedures.  Maybe you would like to describe a science concept, but have only audio of someone explaining their work?  Can you still make a video?  Of course.  In fact, there is an editing technique called “montage”, in which the videographer creates a narrative using a sequence of still images to tell a story.  This approach can be very effective, as this video illustrates:

You’ll note that in this video, “Congo River: Artery of the Forest”, the creators not only used montage, but also some other ideas I’ve discussed in previous posts.  Like many scientists, they had taken lots of pictures of various scenes and people, known a B-roll, which were the basis for this video.  As I described earlier, it’s important to shoot lots of still images and video footage in addition to your primary footage (e.g., interviews with key subjects), which can be used for opening and closing credit sequences, for transitions between video segments, and especially to break up long interviews (“talking heads”).

In addition to B-roll, the video also asks (and answers) a dramatic question:  “Will the scientists get their samples despite all the logistical challenges?” In a previous post, I explained the purpose of the dramatic question and why we should try to identify and incorporate the dramatic question into science videos.  The basic idea is to grab the viewer’s attention and keep them watching to see how things turn out.

Finally, it’s possible to mesh film clips with still images very effectively to create a more interesting video than one that is composed entirely of video clips.  In fact, by using a Ken Burns effect on still images, you can create the impression of movement, which blends well with film clips; the viewer often does not notice that the video contains a montage of still images. Here is one of my videos in which I used a combination of footage and still images (as well as animations) to explain sea-level rise and impacts on coastal wetlands (see minute 6:50 to 7:22 for one sequence):

In addition, you can also incorporate sound effects and voiceover to enhance a montage of still images. The “Congo River: Artery of the Forest” video does this very effectively (sounds of stamping along with passport images, for example).  In my video, I added sounds of water movement and frogs chirping to give life to still images.

So if you have an idea for a video, don’t be deterred by the lack of film clips. If you have still images of your research and a good dramatic question, you still can develop a compelling video.  In upcoming tutorials, I’ll show in greater detail how to incorporate the montage technique into your movie editing repertoire.