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What is it called when a seemingly short or contiguous conversation/dialogue is spread over a few scenes that take place in different places that are apparently far from each other?

Here is an example from Snatch (2000):

Notice that Turkish' (Jason Statham) short explanation of "coursing" is contiguous but it spans over a few scenes at different places.

If you close your eyes and listen to the conversation, you'll believe that it's contiguos and happens in less than 25 seconds. But if pay attention to the video you'll know that it is (logically) not.

Does this technique of filming/editing have a name?

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  • (For another example, the Fast Show's Brilliant Kid monologues cut between random locations in the middle of sentences — sometimes even in the middle of words. One example.)
    – gidds
    Commented Jun 17, 2023 at 10:23

1 Answer 1

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I'd call it a montage:

Montage (/mɒnˈtɑːʒ/) is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information.

It shows several conversations that took place over a long time, but compresses them into a shorter sequence for viewers.

To me it bares a similarity to the traditional montage sequence where a character is training or learning a skill. Here, the one character is learning what "coursing" is. It took several conversations to make the point, but we only see the relevant parts.

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