Screen Arts 19/3

Soviet Montage

1917, 2 revolutions happened in Russia that set in motion political and social changes that led to the formation of the Soviet union. Civil unrest caused by government corruption, food shortage and world war one led to a revolt that forced Nikolai II out. Months later the new government was overthrown by Vladimir Lenin. The revolution meant there was huge demand for propaganda. Post revolution, film makers experimented with footage from old films. Lenin believed film could instruct the illiterate masses.

Lyle Kuleshov studied the techniques of hollywood directors, particularly D.W Griffith, and introduced cross cutting and montage into Russian cinema. He used the archives of old silent movies to cut up for his experiments, sacrificing the film in the process. Kuleshov found that ppl react differently to a shot depending on what images surrounded it.

Sergei Eisensteins innovative film style was influenced by the culture that emerged after the russian revolution. he designed propaganda posters to keep moral up whilst in the red army. He attended Kuleshovs workshop. his first film in 1925 Strike, spliced images of striking workers being attacked, with a bull getting slaughtered, suggesting the workers are being treated like cattle. This meaning only arises after the editing. Film 2 The battleship Potemkin(1925) was a government commisioned film to commemorate the civil unrest in 1905. (a year of strikes and demonstrations against the government, with the government retaliating by killing the demonstrators)

Eisensteins Methods of Montage

• Metric – Based purely on timing / number of frames
• Rhythmic – Cutting for continuity or by the content / movement within the frame
• Tonal – Includes the tone of shot (lighting / shapes / shadows). The content of the visuals influence the emotional response
• Overtonal – Combination of Metric, Rhythmic and tonal
• Intellectual – Where the above methods seek to evoke emotional responses, intellectual seeks to express ideas by creating relationships between opposing visual images

The lack of orientation conveys mental confusion and the loss of bearing of the people on the steps. The quick editing pace mirrors how our attention would jump from one perception to another in a state of panic. This shows the panic of the people. Time is extended by repetitive scenes to show how the events would feel longer to someone who was there.

Dziga Vertov worked as a cameraman. He coined the term Kino Eye. he believed the world is seen more clearly through the eye of the camera thus cinema should be real and truthful. Cut his film together using thematic connections or emotional effects. His frenetic montage style was unmatched until the era of the music video. His work influenced documentary realism in the 1960's. Man with a Movie Camera(1929) experimented with jump cuts, superimpositions, split screen, stop motion and camera angles. Soviet Toys(1924) was one of the earliest Russian animations. 

Vsevolod Pudovkin theorised that actors on screen dont really act, its their context that moves us. "The lens of the camera replaces the eye of the observer, and the changes of angle of the camera- directed now on one person, now on another, now on one detail, now on another- must be subject to the same conditions on those of the eyes of the observer"

He believed that montage operated differently from how Eisentein conceived it- that montage was a linkage of frames.

Editing Techniques according to Pudovkin

1. Contrast
2. Parallelism
3. Symbolism
4. Simultaneity (cross cut)
5. Leit Motif (recurring shot/scene associated with a person place or theme)