BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN How does the graphic and rhythmic use of editing and the overall structure of the film relate to the theme of “revolution”? Revolution or war activities are not smooth, transitions between events or contain even, unsettling effects on the individuals or participants. Battleship Potemkin is anything less showing and displaying images woven together that jar the viewer, against his or her will. This is best illustrated in "The Odessa Staircase". During this segment, the
Aside from the similar visual styles of Battleship Potemkin and The Birth of a Nation, both films are examples of civil unrest during periods of political instability in a historical setting. Both movies take place during a national revolution and involve several instances of social turmoil and disturbance. The styles of these films can be contrasted by viewing their use of montage, focus, and basic film techniques in relation to thematic and constructive plot elements. The Birth of a Nation
Born in 1908 in Chanteloup, near Paris Cartier-Bresson’s passion for photography erupted from his love for the early motion pictures. As he would later say, “From some of the great films, I learned to look, and to see.” Films such as Eisenstein’s Potemkin and Dreyer’s Jeanne d’Arc “impressed [him] deeply”. Cartier-Bresson yearned to capture real life. He believed in order to do this the subject must be oblivious to the photographer. Indeed, he has never in his professional career contrived a setting
the Cossacks. The young mother is shot, and as she falls to her death she falls against the carriage, sending her baby down the steps. The grandmother gets shot through her eye (The Battleship Potemkin, 1925). Watching the scene entitled “Odessa Staircase” from Sergei Eisenstein’s, The Battleship Potemkin is more reminiscent of a scene from Coppola’s, The Godfather or Tarrentino’s , Pulp Fiction, not a silent film from 1925. Sergei Eisenstein was a Russian film director, that was born in Riga (now
also unusually well read and deeply involved in the cultural trends of her age. She was a tireless worker and knew how to select capable assistants--for example, Nikita PANIN in foreign affairs, Aleksandr SUVOROV in the military, and Grigory POTEMKIN in administration. Imbued with the ideas of the Enlightenment, Catherine aimed at completing the job started by Peter I-- westernizing Russia--but she had different methods. Unlike Peter, she did not forcibly conscript society into the service
cinema. At the same time I will try to capture especially what is common in their systems and similar or conversely what differ. For my analysis, I will draw on the feature films of the Soviet avantgarde, namely these are the movies - The Battleship Potemkin (S. Eisenstein, 1925), Mother (V. Pudovkin, 1926) and The Man with a movie camera (D. Vertov, 1929). The School of montage Most of the films that they were created in the Soviet Union, outside the school of montage, use topics of sitcoms and to
formalist lead by theorist Sergei Eisenstein saw film as frame and would create shock in an attempt to provoke or raise consciousness. Sergei Eisenstein would create what he wanted to the audience to see in his films. For example in the Battleship Potemkin Eisenstein wanted to address the situation with Russia and he created the situation in his film to incite a revolution by creating chaos. The realism school lead by André Bazin saw cinema as window. To Bazin a spectator would be apart of the film
(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 popularity of the dialectical approach was fostered by the upheaval in Russia during the early 20th Century
“Methods of Montage” is deeply revered and studied by both professional and aspiring filmmakers around the world. Works Cited Eisenstein, S. M. 1949, “Film Form: A Dialectic Approach to Film Form, Harcourt Brace and Company, U.S. The Battleship Potemkin 1925, motion picture, Goskino, Soviet Union. Kehr, D. 2011, “The condemned art of Soviet filmmakers”, New York Times, 13 October 2011, p.6) Kuleshov, L.V. 1922, “Americanism”, Kino-Fot, No.1, p.14-15 Taylor, R. & Christie, I. 1988, Factory: Soviet
“Montage is an idea that arises from the collision of independent shots” (Sergei Eisenstein) In pre-revolutionary Russia 90 per cent of the nation’s films were imported from elsewhere around the world. With the exception of a minor number, the vast majority of films created in Russia during this time were considered mediocre. Between the years 1914 to 1916 the figure for imported films dropped to 20 per cent. An explosion of creative and artistic talent seemed to burst out of Russia from then until
In this essay I will discussing how the theory of montage is used to construct meaning which results in a response from the audience to watching this specific sequence in Battleship Potemkin directed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1925. The theory of montage has 5 parts to it which I will discuss in detail further on with reference to the Odessa steps sequence. History also plays an important part as to how Pudovkin, Lev Kuleshov and D. W Griffiths influenced Eisenstein to look deeper into editing. Eisenstein
Slavic Review. 55.4 (Winter 1996): 882-190. Web. December 2013. Maslin, Janet. “Ulysses, Ozymandias And Lenin in the Balkans.” New York Times. 17 January 1997. Web. December 2013. Papadogiannis, Nikolaos. "Between Angelopoulos and The Battleship Potemkin: Cinema and the Making of Young Communists in Greece in the Initial Post-dictatorship.” European History Quarterly 42.2 (2012): 286-308. Web. December 2013.
wanted to present the Tsar a petition requesting an improvement of living conditions and more freedom of expression. Riots spread to Odessa, the Black Sea Port and to Moscow where the Soviets were formed and Trotsky became involved. The battleship Potemkin mutinied and tried to help the Odessa rebels. There was a film made by the director Eisenstein which implied that the 1905 rebellion gave the momentum to a new revolutionary movement. However, ultimately, the revolution of 1905 was suppressed in
It is important to note that a film can be realistic in its content, its shooting style, or both. According to Fabe, “in a realist film the emotional content comes primarily from the profilmic event” (51). We also discussed in class how a realist film is told as a story relatable to our world and coherent in time in space. There are several components of realist shooting style. For example, “films shot in the realist style favor long takes that sometimes last up to and over sixty seconds,” “use
Analyzing Movies of War Even though the films “Battleship Potemkin”, “From Here to Eternity” and “Saving Private Ryan” are all movies based on military life during war time the variation in time periods and culture made each film very different. These differences did not take away from the impact the films had on their audiences at the time or the messages they were each trying to covey. The Horrific images and hear wrenching scenarios helped to evoke strong emotions and patriotic feeling from
In this paper I will argue that understanding the context of a film is vital for a more in-depth understanding of it and I will accomplish this through a deep analysis of the following films: Flowers of War, Edge of Heaven, Battleship Potemkin, and the Big Heat. Additionally not only knowing the historical, social, and political background of a film and how the ideas in this film were form,but also how this film affected the society and the point of view of individuals,because after all film is not
the 1920’s Soviet cinema. You can see similarities in the pacing of Eisenstein 's Battleship Potemkin and films of the French new wave (Marie 93). The innovative use of continuity editing during the Odessa step sequence to create a feeling of trauma during a massacre has many similarities to the final sequence of Breathless in which Michel is being chased through the streets by the police. Battleship Potemkin was also innovative in it’s use of shock cuts were often widely used in films of the Nouvelle
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 ... ... middle of paper ... ...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
According to famous author George Orwell, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear.” One thing that we take advantage of is our emotion, our voice our expression. In North Korea, they don’t value these things for their citizens. They not only don’t value these things, they consider punishment if committed. According to Hawaii.edu, “ around two and half million people have died from murders.” This number consists of deaths from the government
Since the beginning of film, technology has played an important role in the evolution of the medium. Film, much more so than literature, relies on the ever-changing nature of technological development to stay relevant. In 1980 when Seymour Chatman wrote “What Novels Can Do That Films Can’t (And Vice Versa),” there were no such thing as DVD players and the VCR was a newly introduced, and thus non-perfected, product. Today when viewing a film, one has the luxury of returning to previous scenes immediately