Eisenstein Beyond The Shot

Montage, a name synonymous with Editing, is an original film style with different techniques used by the Soviet filmmakers between 1924 and 1930 to construct a film narrative. Montage is the connection between one shot and the other, a continuous or discontinuous relationship between shots. According to David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson (2012: 478), Soviet directors maintained that, “through editing, two shots give birth to a feeling or idea not present in either one”. This ‘feeling’ or ‘idea’ then guides a viewer into understanding or making a “conceptual connection” of the narrative (Bordwell 1972: 10). Strike (1925) and Mother (1926), directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin respectively, are films made in the Soviet Montage era that show a juxtaposition between shots across the film. This essay discusses the different techniques used in these films that show the functions and effects of Montage.

At the beginning of the movie we are shown an opening sequence introducing the main characters in the movie. We are briefly introduced to each character’s situation and the goals they are trying to achieve but we soon

The directors chosen camera technique, a simple two composition that progresses the scene a steady pace, forces the audience to feel a part of the awkward exchange; obviously, a quality of film that could not be as profoundly achieved through the narrative in the novel.

Almost every piece of cinema seeks to give the viewer an understanding by intricately assembling shots in a coherent, and a sometimes muddled, manner; the techniques used in editing places various shots in purposeful sequences, to emphasize certain relationships between shots. The shots can be arranged smoothly and logically, or shift abruptly from shot to shot; different methods of the aforementioned arrangement of shots are utilized in either discontinuous or continuous editing. Sherlock Jr. and The War on Drug’s music video “Holding On”, are two motion pictures that offer spatial relations, by applying techniques of both continuous and discontinuous editing.

generate moods, and have great psychological affect. This is just as true for the very first series of shots for the film, and perhaps more important since these first shots will give the audience the initial feeling of the film, and set a tone for the picture. The first shot is highly dramatic in its lighting method, and the audience is drawn in immediately to one single detail. A man begins revealing the details of a tragic incident that befell his daughter. We don’t see who he is talking to. There is a spotlight directly above the man, and this is pretty much

The director of the movie(Frances Ford Copolla) has a very good use of montage, and long shots. Capolla starts off the movie with an extrodonary shot of an undertaker saying "this is America." Which gives a glimpse of how haunting the film is going to be? A good use of long shots is perfect when the camera pans around the long shot as Mikey takes on the responsibility of getting revenge for his fathers shooting. Also a good example of Copolla’s long shots is when the film is about to end and there is a shot of Diane Keaton looking so innocent and really knowing nothing of the family business. In the film, montage is used in the baptism scene. The shots cut when all the highly religious questions are asked of Mike, and then the shots start cutting back in forth from the killings of the head’s of the other top five family’s and the baptism, portraying mike as a changing person(a god man to an evil one.)

Different connections of contrasts (that were typical of the Eisenstein) by Pudovkin appear rarely. Instead of these contrasts he used montage of analogies. For example, a second shot rarely used for intensifying an impression from a first image. On the contrary, a director’s effort is visible when a main story line he tried to enrich it with new elements.

Furthermore, Lumet uses the film technique of different 'camera lenses and angles' to emphasize his intentions during the film. He employs numerous methods to enhance the ever-building tension throughout the room, including physically moving the walls in on the actors to enhance the feeling of claustrophobia. One case of this occurring is performed throughout the whole movie. As the story continues, Lumet gradually changes the lenses of longer focal lengths, so that the backgrounds seems to close in on the characters as the movie progresses, this gives viewers the feeling that there is an increasingly amount of pressure and tension filling the room as the decision becomes more uneasy on the jurors. Another example employed by Lumet to raise the tension level of the film is by using various camera angles during the film. Lumet shoots the first third of the movie above eye level, shoots the second third at eye level and the last third from below eye level. In that way, as the film begins we look down on the characters, and the angle suggests that they can be comprehended and mastered. By the end, the ceiling is visible, the characters loom over us, and we feel overwhelmed by the force of their passion.

In Persona, one of the most memorable shots of the whole film is the moment in which Alma is giving Elisabeth the truth about herself. The speech is given from two perspectives; in one instance, we see Alma speaking and the other we see Elisabeth listening and only Alma’s voice. Whether there is a universal interpretation of this moment or not, the facts are that the two women’s faces blend together at the end of Alma’s speech suggesting that maybe the two women are the same person or Elisabeth has projected her conscious into Alma. Bergman didn’t know he was going to use this shot when they were shooting, but it became something he and cinematographer Sven Nykvist worked on together. Along with this particular shot, there’s also the intercutting of images at the beginning that was done in post to create the white border around the frame, which made the images smaller than the film itself. These elements created a distinction between the introduction and the narrative, although at times the two seemed to run together such as when Alma looks into the camera and the effect of the projection malfunctioning happens. In Fight Club, David Fincher took similar post-production actions with intercutting of pornographic images, but most of all the scene in which Tyler Durden looks directly into the camera and delivers a monologue about self-actuality and how

In one of the extracts we were shown we see Tykwer uses distinctively visual techniques to show us Lola’s determination to save Manny. He utilises the use of a split screen with a close up shot of Manny and a close up tracking shot of Lola running to show how Lola is running towards him to try and save him. Then we hear the ticking of a clock and the top half of a clock comes onto the bottom of the screen to show how Lola is running out of time to save Manny. This is another example of how clocks are a reoccurring motif to symbolise time being overwhelming. This scene also demonstrates the love that Lola has for Manny and her determination to never give up trying to save him. This distinctively visual technique is utilised to hep show the audience that even with Lola’s everlasting love she is unable to change time and Manny slowly slips away from her, making himself unsaveable.

Split screen techniques divide the screen into three equal proportions creating a simultaneous depiction of Lola, Manni and the clock, allowing Tykwer to show the struggle to beat time. Adding to the dramatic urgency and reinforcing the power of time is the virtual real time of the film, meaning the twenty minutes of Lola’s life are shown in virtually twenty minutes of screen time. Hence, the distinctively visual provides an insightful image into Lola’s experiences placed under seize by the adamant nature of time.

Eisenstein describes montage trope as the juxtaposition of images resulting in a greater abstract meaning. By abstract, Eisenstein means that the significance of the juxtaposition is not confined to the individual images on the screen.

The long take begins with an alarm clock waking up a couple, sleeping out on their balcony. As the camera moves from window to window around the courtyard, we see a few brief snippets of characters’ lives. And finally, the audience sees inside the apartment that has been its point of view all along. Mise-en-scene, framing, and cinematography

Soviet Montage is a movement driven by “Marxist [politics]” and an “economic philosophy” developed in Soviet Russia at the time of revolution. Lenin himself considered film, as an art form as the “most influential of all arts” as it not only entertained but could be used to “[mould] and reinforce values.”( Mast, G. & Kawin, B. F.) Sergei Eisenstein, himself a Marxist, is no exception to this and not only are his films are full of political propaganda, but he is also considered “the greatest master of montage.” .”( Mast, G. & Kawin, B. F.) His film October, called Ten Days That Shook The World in the Western world at the time and butchered due to its content, has always been considered problematic for audiences and critics alike and the standard critique of the film soon became “The Film as a whole is difficult and incoherent.” (Sperbur) Although if analysed properly, you can see that it has powerful political and social messages to convey and comprises of film form that Eisenstein himself called “intellectual film.”

The Kuleshov Workshop explored the effects of juxtaposition in film, and how sequential shots convey a