Filmmaker and theorist, Lev Kuleshov, is known today as the grandfather of Soviet Montage theory. His works include The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (1924), Death Ray (1925), The Great Consoler (1933) and We from the Urals (1943). Kuleshov’s life work has had a profound influence on the filmmakers around him and filmmakers today. One of his greatest triumphs was cofounding the Moskow Film School, the world’s first film school. In a time when filmmaking was still in its infancy, Kuleshov was perhaps the first to theorize about the power of this new story telling medium. These theories and experiments would pave the way for future Russian film giants like Pudovkin and Eisenstein (who briefly studied under him).
Kuleshov’s most famous experiment is known today as the Kuleshov Effect. In order to show the power of editing he screened a shot of the expressionless face of Tsarist matinee idol Ivan Mozzhukhin followed by a shot of a bowl of soup. The test audience praised Mozzhukin’s performance for the subtle way he craved the soup. Kuleshov then screened the same shot of Mozzhukin to a new audience, this time followed by a shot of a dead girl in a coffin. The viewers were amazed by the tender sadness in Mozzhukin’s expression. Finally Muzzhukin face was followed by an image of a beautiful woman. Once again, the audience was duped.
Kuleshov felt his experiment proved how the viewer infers a spatial relationship from one shot to the next and projects his or her own response to the image on to the next. This, he claimed, was the key to filmmaking. Vsevolod Pudovkin:
Pudovkin was a Russian/ Soviet filmmaker and actor who also showed insight into the world of film editing. Many learnt from his “Five ...
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...her. This typified in the Odessa sequence of Battle Potemkin. Over-tonal montage is when we employ all these techniques to build a scene. The viewer feels they are no longer just watch a bundle of shots but rather an event that is unfolding before them. Intellectual montage is when one edits to shots together to create a third, intellectual meaning. The scene is no longer is only about what we see; the shots are more of a visual metaphor for a greater theme.
Works Cited
Westbrook, A, April 2011, ‘Five Principles of Editing, URL: http://adamwestbrook.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/the-five-principles-of-editing/ Author Unknown, Date Unknown, ‘Montage Theory’, URL: http://faculty.cua.edu/johnsong/hitchcock/pages/montage/montage-1.html Lindsey, W, Date Unkown, ‘Sergio Eisenstein’s Filmmaking Techniques’, URL: http://filmdirectors.co/sergei-eisenstein-filmmaking-techniques/
Jacobs, Lewis. “Refinements in Technique.” The Rise of the American Film. New York: Teachers College Press, 1974. 433-452. Print.
Dr. Strangelove (1964), an adaptation of Peter Bryant’s novel Red Alert, although still bearing the usual traits of a Kubrick film, is something of a departure for him in terms of editing and spatial strategies. The film’s run-time more or less corresponds with the fictional or represented time in the story. This direct correspondence between fictional and real time adds to the sense of temporal compression induced by the film’s insistent editing patterns. Although Dr. Strangelove employs many long takes, it contains the shortest average-shot-length of any Kubrick film. The film consists of roughly 700 shots and has a run time of 94 minutes for an average-shot-length of 8 seconds. Despite the rather short average-shot-length, Dr. Strangelove still resorts to crucial long takes to slow down the rapid momentum of the story (Falsetto, 35).
Vertov uses montage make the viewer understand the connection between individual potential and societal potential, and furthermore, how technology is able to factor into this connection. To achieve his goal, Vertov uses one scene which begins with a close-up, eye-level of a woman cleaning her face with a towel (Vertov, 11’42”-12’11”). The use of a close-up, eye-level shot pins the viewer on the woman’s eyes. The woman abruptly peers up, and as she does so, Vertov fluidly cross cuts to a close up shot of blinds of a window looking out the city opening, successfully blending together the motion of both shots. The window of the house is a unit of the community, and by blending the motion of the woman’s eyes with the blinds of the windows house, Vertov establishes the woman as a unit of her greater society. Vertov uses another crosscut to connect the shot of the blinds to a close up shot of a camera. The camera focuses in and out on a subsequent close-up shot of flowers. Just as the woman can use
...lm. With the director’s use of special effects, this proves that he had an artistic way of showing the film, as well as his use of ambiguous scenes and sequences that were provided in the film. By making it a classical cinema film, the Kubrick did a good job in proving the realism of space and all, as well as using the film order to make the movie in order. By making the film both art and classical cinema, this just makes the movie even better and the director more smarter for being able to do this in one movie.
The Alfred Hitchcock film; Vertigo is a narrative film that is a perfect example of a Hollywood Classical Film. I will be examining the following characteristics of the film Vertigo: 1)individual characters who act as casual agents, the main characters in Vertigo, 2)desire to reach to goals, 3)conflicts, 4)appointments, 5)deadlines, 6)James Stewart’s focus shifts and 7)Kim Novak’s characters drives the action in the film. Most of the film is viewed in the 3rd person, except for the reaction shots (point of view shot) which are seen through the eyes of the main character.(1st person) The film has a strong closure and uses continuity editing(180 degree rule). The stylistic (technical) film form of Vertigo makes the film much more enjoyable. The stylistic film form includes camera movements, editing, sound, mise-en-scene and props.
...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.
According to historians like Neil Burch, the primitive period of the film industry, at the turn of the 20th century was making films that appealed to their audiences due to the simple story. A non-fiction narrative, single shots a burgeoning sense
...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.
However, in stark contrast to The General, other films were being made around the world that did not follow a simple Hollywood structure, but rather were more experimental with what a movie could be. Man With a Movie Camera (1929), a very ahead of its time, utilized a completely different style of filmmaking that resonated strongly with the ideals of the Soviet Union. Thus, Man With a Movie Camera sought out to make the everyday people of the Soviet Union the stars of the film. This idea was completely revolutionary as well, and almost by necessity, introduced a new style of editing to fit the story—or rather the documentation—that director Dziga Vertov was trying to tell.
Montage is from the beginning of the twenties characterized as a process of synthesis, building something new and in terms of the physical planes also something quite simple. Most montage’s films were created as a dialectical process, where initially from a two meanings of consecutive shots form a third meaning.
In the final scene from Thelma and Louise the cinematographic effects are astounding. Panning, reaction shot, and dissolve are all used in the last section of the movie clip extensively. These three cinematographic terms are perfect for this clip because of the intensity they add to the scene. Through the use of panning, reaction shot, and dissolve the actresses portray two extreme emotions of desperation and the tranquility of freedom.
Ondaatje, M. (2004). The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
In the 1920s, artist like Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov and Vsevolod Pudovkin started experimenting with the new technique in their abstractfilms which is known as montage. Montage which is a synonym for Editing is a technique where two or more shots are juxtaposed which create a new meaning thatis not existent looking at the shots individually (Manovich, 2001). Few of the early examples of films using this technique are The Battleship Potemkin(1925) by Eisenstein and Man with a Movie Camera(1929) by Vertov.Montages are widely used in many other TV production areas like Advertisement, Dramas, News Programs and Music Videos. The Music Videos make excessive use of montages for the imagery in theirsongs; one of the examples is The Buggles- Video Killed the Radio Star (1971) which was the first music video to be shown on television at launch of MTV in 1981. Both Films and Music Videos use different approach towards editing of their shots, which plays a major role in maintaining balance between audio and visual information.
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.
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