Soviet Montage Editing and History - Assignment Example

Soviet Montage Editing and History "The cinema is for us the most important of the arts." - Vladimir Lenin Soviet Cinema is a very unique entity of cinematic establishment for its great contribution in the innovation of the contemporary cinemas today. One of the remarkable contributions of the Soviet Cinema is the Soviet Montage. Montage is a French word meaning "putting together" or an "assembly". It is one of the techniques of film editing. Soviet filmmakers of the 20's formulated the Soviet Montage in order to deliver effectively a message that cannot be done in continuity editing (Karpenko 2002). There are three senses of the film on how to use and execute montage technique by its terminology. First, from its original root of French film practice, the term refers to the identification of the movie's editor. Secondly, Soviet filmmakers used "montage" in the 1920's as method of juxtaposing shots to derive new meaning as a concealed message to convey that was not apparent to the scene. Third is the "montage sequence" usage usually done by the Hollywood filmmakers to condense fashionably a narrative segment in a film (Smith 2004). Lev Kuleshov was the first Soviet filmmaker who used the Soviet Montage. For him, it is an art really meant for film editing and cannot be done in other medium. Sergie Eisenstein views this as a tool or an electricity to be used to shock the audience (Risse 2007). This theory of editing innovated from its simple nature to the more intelligent execution being formulated and executed in present international cinemas. The progression of the editing theory varies from different filmmakers' views and responsibilities (Karpenko 2002). History. During the great depression period of Russia from the Tsar catastrophe the artistic flair of Russian filmmakers also rage along with it. Filmmaking that time was encouraged and greatly supported by a Union Socialist leader Vladimir Lenin (Smith 2004). Lev Kuleshov was among the very first to theorize the effectiveness of using film as a medium to convey various relevant messages of socialism. For Kuleshov, editing is like a brick by construction of the building. In this case, it's a shot by shot in order to construct a film (Smith 2004). Between 1919 and 1924, Kuleshov conducted certain montage experiments that eventually then influenced other Russian filmmakers. The necessity to do such was due to the shortage of the stock of the film (Bordwell 1972). In its early period, this method of editing was then called a Kuleshov Experiment. He justified that Montage was more effective in message delivery as viewers can easily discern it by context. Kuleshov explained that visual materials depicted can help the viewers to reach the certain conclusions and messages (Smith 2004). In the 1920's, Soviet filmmakers had their own personal opinions on how to execute montage. It was Sergei Einsenstein, a former student of Kuleshov, who marked a note with his own montage execution (Murch 2001). The remarkable note Einsenstein regarded for the montage as he described it as "the nerve of the cinema". He elaborated that "montage is an idea that arises from the collision of not text to the other, but on the top of the other". With this view, thus Soviet Montage had been noted in film editing from them on (Murch 2001). U.S. film director D.W. Griffith, although not part of the montage school, was one of the credited contributors of Soviet Montage for his own approach of power of editing. He used cross cut editing and codifying film grammar. His works were acknowledge by Kuleshov and other Soviet filmmakers, thus helped them to have wider view on film editing (Smith 2004). Sergei Eisenstein viewed montage as a dialectical medium of creating and conveying meaning. He was merely the first one to develop a system of editing that was not concerned with continuity system's rule and technicalities. He called his own montage as "Intellectual Montage". Intellectual Montage Editing. Sergei Eisenstein believed that editing was the foundation of the art of film. He called his editing as dialectical montage as it aimed to expose the essentials of existence of the matter viewed from its political standpoint (Thompson 2002). Eisenstein's Intellectual Montage is the juxtaposition of two shots to produce an idea or an image to convey a message. The shots may or may not correspond to each other, but it has a relationship working on its visual delivery (Karpenko 2002). Eisenstein expressed that the shots should be independent from one another. Shots shall call attention to the composition force of the film. Quoting Sergei he described it as "shopwindow full of pretty but unrelated products." (Thompson 2002). Methods of Montage Editing. Aside from the Intellectual Montage, Soviet Montage also regarded several method of editing. Each method represents different characteristics and nature of montage (Dmytryk 1984). Metric method is an editing that follows a specific number of frames. This is considering the time element of the scene to edit, as well as the emotional reactions in the audience. An example of this is Eisenstein's film October (Dmytryk 1984). Rhythmic method of editing refers to the cutting based on time. In doing this editing method, the visual compositions of the shot, together with various speed of the metric cut are to be considered. This effect is to induce more complex meanings beyond the necessity of the metric montage. The sound is also very vital to complete the method fully in rhythmic mode, including sound and music. An example of this is the The Battleship Potemkin's sequence of "Odessa steps" by Eisenstein as well (Dmytryk 1984). Tonal method uses the emotional definition of the shots or the scene. This effect is to elicit a reaction from the audience for its further effectiveness. In The Battleship Potemkin's clip after the death of Vakulinchuk, a martyr for sailors and workers, the emotional execution highlighted the scene (Dmytryk 1984). The Overtonal and Associational method refers to the totality of metric, rhythmic, and tonal montage method to balance message. This is effectively done with more abstract and artistic executions. An example of this method is the film Mother by Pudovkin (Dmytryk 1984). Pudovkin. Perhaps Vsevolod Pudovkin was the third Soviet thinker of the Soviet Montage apparent to his previous works. Pudovkin, like Eisenstein was a student of Kuleshov. They were contemporaries at the same time rivals for the development of the Kuleshov Effect or Experiment (Evans 2007). Pudovkin was the strong critic of Eisenstein's theory of dialectical montage. His idea of montage was the exact opposite of non-relative images used in editing. He followed the brick by brick construction of Kuleshov but in his own method, the images or shots should be related to one another, or has as association (Evans 2007). In conclusion, no matter how contradicting the views of three thinkers of the Soviet Montage, the endpoint of this are the great contribution it brought to the contemporary cinemas of today. Works Cited Bordwell, David. The Idea of Montage in Soviet Art and Film. Cinema Journal Vol. 11 No. 2. Spring 1972. Cambridge: Harvard University Press Dmytryk, Edward. On Film Editing: An Introduction to the Art of Film Construction. 1984.Focal Press. Boston Evans, Jo. Pudovkin and the Censors: Juan Antonio Bardem's Muerte de un ciclista. Hispanic Research Journal Vol. 8, No. 3. June 2007. University College London Karpenko, Paul. Soviet Cinema and the Art of Montage. 17 Nov 2002. University of Illinois Murch, Walter. In the Blink of an Eye: a Perspective on Film Editing. 2nd Rev. Ed. 2001. Silman-James Press Risse, Derek. Einsenstein, not Einstein. The Rhetoric of Pleasure. English Web. 14 Feb 2007. 21 Nov 2007 Smith, Greg M. Moving Explosions: Metaphors of Emotion in Sergei Eisentstein's Writings. Quarterly Review of Film and Video. 2004 Read More