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Soviet montage characteristics
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Eisenstein’s Montage in Strike Eisenstein is a man blessed and cursed with an attention to detail. Soviet Cinema is in essence, montage, but how Eisenstein utilizes it to progress an intellectual conversation is much bespoke of montage and its capabilities. Unlike the manipulative montage of Kuleshov, or the relational editing sequence of Pudovkin, Eisenstein uses editing as a sequence of collisions that produce an associative meaning, despite different material (Eisenstein). However, for montage, all other factors are insignificant. What matters is the cut, and how the cut is related to other cuts. The following examples of the hieroglyphs are used by Eisenstein to illustrate a process of meaning generation which can be implemented in cinema …show more content…
Eisenstein was radically more experimental than his contemporaries because in order to practice “intellectual montage”, one must be a practitioner of the avant-garde. Eisenstein’s theory of “collision montage” is that cinema never speaks through a single image, and the juxtaposition of several images act like words in a sentence, or parts of a character in Chinese or Japanese Calligraphy (Pg. 17, Eisenstein). Shots of foreign objects, or inserts, are not meant to contribute to a narrative but to deliver an idea intended by Eisenstein in the sequence. He also claims that montage films are faced “with the task of presenting not only a narrative that is logically connected but one that contains a maximum of emotion and stimulating power.” (Pg. 4, Eisenstein). A scene to illustrate this from Strike would be at the ending of the film where the putting down of the strike by the army is intercut with the footage of a cattle being slaughtered. 33. The soldiers’ feet walk away from the camera (seen at a further distance) 34. The bull’s skin is stripped off. 35. 1,500 bodies at the foot of the cliff. 36. Two skinned bulls’ heads. 37. A hand lying in a pool of blood. The bull doesn’t exist in the narrative but it is used to exemplify killing of the laborers at the hands of the army. Perhaps the scene is Eisenstein …show more content…
Eisenstein took the idea of montage as cinematic language, and essentially went to town with it. And because of this, Eisenstein really pushed the depths of cinema and forced us as the viewer to do the cinematic version of “reading between the
This analysis will explore these cinematic techniques employed by Pontecorvo within a short sequence and examine their effects on our understanding of the issues and themes raised within the film.
In cinema, lighting, blocking and panning drastically influence what an audience will notice and take away from a scene. Orson Welles’s 1941 Citizen Kane has numerous examples of effectively using these aspects within mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing to portray the importance of specific events and items in the film. The scene where Kane writes and then publishes his “Declaration of Principles” (37:42-39:42) in the New York Daily Inquirer after buying them focuses on important elements of the film, aiding the audience by combining lighting, blocking and panning to define significant roles and objects that further the movie as a whole.
...s appeared not so much to matter as the fact that he developed new techniques, devised camera approaches and sought always to bring out the potential of a still developing form. That he forgot--or overlooked--to bring the Marxist message to one of his films two years ago brought him that fatal kiss of all--the accusation from the authoritative Soviet magazine, Culture and Life, that his productions had been short on the prescribed Soviet requirement of art and interpretation of history” ("Sergei Eisenstein is Dead in Moscow”, New York Times, 1948) . In film, Eisenstein was known for his development of the montage sequence, his unusual juxtapositions, and his life-like imagery. In life he was known for his propaganda and belief in the plight of the working class. Eisenstein left an inevitable mark on his community, his time, the shape of a sub-culture, and his art.
For this assignment I have chosen to analyze a scene from the 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums, directed by West Anderson, where Richie Tenembaum, portrayed by Luke Wilson, attempts to commit suicide. This scene provides a shift from the previously established editing style of the film, its mood, pace, and camera movement as the filmmaker presents the climax in this one character’s story. This is done through the use of a specific mise en scène and an editing style which conveys the emotion behind the character’s actions.
The way that a movie is pieced together by the director/producers has a huge impact on the viewer’s experience. Stylistic elements are used to help engage the viewer; however, without these techniques the viewer will most likely loose interest. In this essay I will be taking a look at a scene within the movie Casablanca directed by Michael Curtiz in 1942. Casablanca is a classic film that is reviewed to be one of the greatest movies of all time. This could be due to the notable quotes used throughout the movie, or its ability to follow a historic, comical, and romantic storyline throughout the course of the film. It caters to several different viewers, making this movie favorable to many. This scene in Casablanca uses specific editing techniques
“of exhibitionist confrontation rather than absorption,” (Gunning, Tom 2000 p 232) as Gunning suggests the spectator is asking for an escape that is censored and delivered with a controlled element of movement and audiovisual. Gunning believes that the audience had a different relationship with film before 1906. (Gunning, Tom 2000 p 229)
...successful collaboration of sound, colour, camera positioning and lighting are instrumental in portraying these themes. The techniques used heighten the suspense, drama and mood of each scene and enhance the film in order to convey to the spectator the intended messages.
David Bordwell. The Idea of Montage in Soviet Art and Film. – Cinema Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1972, 9-17.
Postmodernism is a vague term that can describe a variety of disciplines that include, architecture, art, music, film, fashion, literature…etc. (Klages). In the case of “Videotape”, postmodern literature would be the main focus or area of study. This type of literature emerged in the era that succeeded World War II and relies heavily on the use of techniques such as, fragmentation, the creation of paradoxes, and questionable protagonists. Furthermore, postmodern literature also exudes ambiguity and critical thinking where the focus is mainly on the reader and his/her experience of the work rather than the content and form. Building upon that, the selected passag...
Art has been always seen as a form to express self emotions and ideas; an artist creates an idea and shapes it by culturally known objects and forms to send encrypted message. Through the times both, ideas and materials used, separates art in to different periods and movements. In late 40’s and late 50’s two art and culture movements emerged, one from another. The first one, Lettrism, was under the aspiration to rewrite all human knowledge. From it another movement, Situationism, appeared. It was an anti-art movement which sought for Cultural Revolution. Both of these movements belong to wide and difficulty defined movement of experiment, a movement whose field is endless. Many different people create experimental films because of the variety of reasons. Some wishes to express their viewpoints which are unconventional. But most of them have an enthusiasm for medium itself. They yearn to explore what prospects the medium has and wishes to open new opportunities to create and to explore, as well as to educate. Experimental filmmaker, differently from mainstream filmmakers, wishes to step out from the orthodox notions. The overall appreciation is not the aim that the experimental filmmakers would seek for. Experimenters usually work on the film alone or with a small group, without the big budget. They intend to challenge the traditional ideas. And with intention to do so Lettrism tries to narrow the distance between the poetry and people’s lives, while Situationism tries to transform world into one that would exist in constant state of newness. Both of these avant-garde movements root from similar sources and have similar foundations. Nonetheless, they have different intentions for the art and culture world and these movements...
The use of jump cuts within Breathless and Contempt was an unconventional technique during the French New Wave and still is today because it violates one of the rules of Classic Hollywood Style. Jump cuts create “…discontinuities that the perceptual system will not ignore because the stimuli fall outside of the accommodation ranges for perceptual continuity, then spatial coherence breaks down” (Berliner). Even though jump cuts are not aesthetically pleasing, Godard uses them for the deeper meaning of the films.
Soviet cinematographer Sergei Eisenstein argues that the basis of cinema is dialectical montage. In his article “A Dialectical Approach to Film Form”, Eisenstein explains dialectics as “a constant evolution from the interaction of two contradictory opposites” (45). These opposites synthesize and form a new thesis, which then may also be contradicted. Eisenstein employs dialectical montage in his films due to its ability to invoke change, an important goal in a revolutionary society. His film Battleship Potemkin is designed to display this theory and create a psychological change within his audience, corresponding to his revolutionist ideals.
The Man with a Movie Camera is a visual glorification of Soviet life. Vertov sought to communicate communist ideals by showing images of life in Soviet society, using the principles of montage to create meaning across what would normally be unrelated imagery. In the beginning titles of the film, Vertov asserts “This experimental work aims at creating a truly international absolute language of cinema based on its total separation from the language of theater and literature.” The Man with a Movie Camera represents Vertov’s ultimate vision for film, which would be distinctly socialist in both form and content. The Man with a Movie Camera one can most effectively show the way that both individual scenes, and the work as a whole, create historical revisionism in regards to the early Soviet Union.
Therefore, it is possible to notice how the cinematography, the mise-en-scene and the editing are used to resemble the peculiarities of the space in which the actions are taking place. For instance, the first part is characterized by long pan or tilt shots, the camera is steady but still manages to follow the characters actions. The editing points to the linear occurring of the events. Also, the characters and the objects are usually methodically placed in the scene. All of the elements are used to convey the rigid organization, efficiency and control typical of the military environment. On the other hand, in the second part, there are usually shorter shots and steadicam shots. The camera is free to investigate the space of action. Here, the editing is used to create a dynamic perception of the events. In this way Kubrick is able to bring in the spectators’ minds the chaotic reality of the war. Moreover, colors become another tool to communicate to the audience this sort of split within the film. In fact, after Pyle’s death the viewer can notice how those metallic and cold colors, that are present at the beginning of the film, shift into wormer colors. It is actually through Pyle’s suicide that the the spectator gets this switch. In that scene the dark red blood stains, and ideologically violates, the cold white tiles of the bathroom. This film is also different on
In the year 1917 film censorship was abolished. Because of this, people like Eisenstein, Vertov, Dovzhenko and Pudovkin were allowed to flourish. These men had benefited from the State Film School which was established in 1919 by Narkompros. This freeing of the restraints on film allowed people like Eisenstein to analyse film in a scientific and psychological manner, despite the medium being only a few decades old and still in its extreme infancy, and use his conclusions to his advantage in films like Strike (1925) and his most famous film Battleship P...