# Montage Sequence — effect skill for cuts & pacing

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A run of short shots, usually on music, that compresses time or builds one feeling.

- **Type:** [Effect](https://varg.ai/how-to/effects.md) · [Cuts & pacing](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/cuts.md)
- **Slug:** `montage-sequence`
- **Status:** live
- **Publisher:** varg (varg, verified)
- **License:** MIT
- **Source:** https://github.com/vargHQ/code2video-templates/tree/main/varg-music-video
- **Works in:** Claude Code, Claude.ai, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, Gemini CLI, Any MCP client, varg Studio
- **Requires:** ffmpeg, HyperFrames (npx hyperframes), Remotion, CapCut (by hand)
- **Cost:** Free — the take renders locally; generated footage, if any, bills by the model

## What it does

Built on [varg Music Video](https://github.com/vargHQ/code2video-templates/tree/main/varg-music-video) by varg (varg), MIT. The write-up and recipes below are varg's.

Many 0.5–2 s shots in a row with a common rhythm, often with one recurring visual motif.

**When:** Passage of time, progress, travel recaps, product feature runs, brand films.

**Watch out:** Shots that are all the same size and motion; vary wide, medium and close and the direction of movement.

**Timing:** 0.5–2 s per shot, on beats or half-bars

**Also called:** montage, sequence of shots, training montage, time-compression montage

### In FFmpeg

Concat many normalized shots (the concat filter accepts mixed sources after scaling):
```bash
ffmpeg -i s1.mp4 -i s2.mp4 -i s3.mp4 -i song.mp3 -filter_complex \
"[0:v]trim=0:1.2,setpts=PTS-STARTPTS,scale=1080:1920,setsar=1,fps=30[a];\
 [1:v]trim=0:0.8,setpts=PTS-STARTPTS,scale=1080:1920,setsar=1,fps=30[b];\
 [2:v]trim=0:1.6,setpts=PTS-STARTPTS,scale=1080:1920,setsar=1,fps=30[c];\
 [a][b][c]concat=n=3:v=1:a=0[v]" -map "[v]" -map 3:a -shortest out.mp4
```

### In HyperFrames

Chain clips with relative `data-start` values; keep music on its own `<audio>` track; see `beat-timeline`.

### In Remotion

Map an array of shots to `<Series.Sequence>`; put the music in a single `<Audio>` outside the series.

### In CapCut

Import all shots, use AutoCut or a template, or cut manually to Beats markers.

### Ready-made components

- [varg Music Video](https://skills.varg.ai/component/varg.music-video/) (varg): git clone https://github.com/vargHQ/code2video-templates && python3 code2video-templates/varg-music-video/scripts/songmap.py song.mp3 --lyrics lyrics.txt --out songmap.json
- [Beat Timeline](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.beat-timeline/) (hyperframes): npx hyperframes add beat-timeline

### Where this comes from

- [Wikipedia: montage (filmmaking)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montage_(filmmaking))
- [FFmpeg filters: concat](https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#concat-filter)

## Use when

- Passage of time, progress, travel recaps, product feature runs, brand films.

## Not for

- Shots that are all the same size and motion; vary wide, medium and close and the direction of movement.

## Install

- Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg`
- Codex: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-video-edit-library -a codex -y`
- Cursor: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-video-edit-library -a cursor -y`

## Example output

https://s3.varg.ai/how-to/previews/ca79a7f74db5/take-montage-sequence.mp4 — montage between two shots, with the timeline strip of the edit. Footage: Cosmos Laundromat (2015), (CC) Blender Foundation | gooseberry.blender.org, CC BY 4.0; Spring (2019), Andy Goralczyk / Blender Foundation (Blender Studio) | studio.blender.org, CC BY 4.0. (credit: Rendered by varg · Cosmos Laundromat (2015) + Spring (2019))

## More cuts & pacing skills

- [SmartCut (capcut-ai-editor)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/capcut-smartcut-mcp.md): MCP that reads CapCut auto-captions to cut silences and duplicate takes right inside your CapCut project.
- [Auto-Editor](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/auto-editor.md): CLI that cuts dead space by loudness or motion and exports MP4 or editor timelines; now also an agent skill.
- [AutoCut](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/autocut.md): Edit video in a text editor: Whisper transcribes, you delete lines in Markdown, AutoCut cuts the video.
- [Cut Video](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/cut-video.md): Claude Code skill that tightens long recordings with forced-aligned cuts, keeping laughs and comedic pauses.
- [Videogrep](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/videogrep.md): Search spoken words across videos and auto-build supercuts of every match.
- [PySceneDetect](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/pyscenedetect.md): Find cuts, fades and scene changes in a video, then split it or export scene lists for the edit.