Right Now Montage

Part Contrast Montage, part Meanwhile Scene, a Right Now Montage is a slice of everyday life that shows a series of brief scenes of different people in various situations. Can come with or without narration, the narrative version having a high likelihood of dropping statistics related to the scene at hand. Often used as an establishing scene.

Examples of Right Now Montage include:

Advertisement

• Pepsi's "Right Now" series advertising Crystal Pepsi, using Van Halen's Right Now.
• Sprint's "Now Network" series.

Anime

• Bleach does this on occasion; one of the most memorable is when Don Kanonji tries to form a civilian spirit-fighting team and recruits Ichigo's sisters. Hilarity Ensues.

Film

• The various side characters listening to Radio rock in The Boat That Rocked.
• Titanic has one of these as the ship is sinking showing different people in all parts of the ship reacting to the imminent ends of their lives.

Live Action TV

• Heroes enjoys doing this in openings. Probably a good idea, considering its premise of Loads and Loads of Characters.
• Flashpoint, when it's not doing a How We Got Here cut, tends to use this, showing the police officers and the eventual suspects on a crash course, usually unknowingly.
• Season 2 of Community opens with the various study group members and their morning routines.

Music

• Trope Namer and Trope Codifier, if not Trope Maker: Van Halen's "Right Now". Frequently parodied.

Web Original

• The Homestar Runner cartoon "No Hands on Deck!" had a montage of Homestar going around announcing his plans to build a deck to all and sundry.
• One Hundred Yard Stare" has episode three, which is one of these.

Western Animation

• Often seen in SpongeBob SquarePants as the citizens of Bikini Bottom react to Spongebob's latest antics (like broadcasting Patrick's Giftedly Bad song over the airwaves).
• There was one in the Powerpuff Girls showing Mr. Smith going about his daily life.

On This Very Wiki

• Era Establishing Scene
• Sex Montage