"The film has a collective hero; the Russian masses—the mutineers on the Potemkin, the people of Odessa, the sailors who mutiny on the other ships—who rebel against Tsarist oppression.
Despite the film's documentary look, it was very carefully constructed on every level, from the distribution of line, mass, and light in individual shots to the perfectly balanced five-act structure of the overall film. The most remarkable feature of the film's construction, however, is the montage editing.
Eisenstein's theory of montage—based on the Marxist dialectic, which involves the collision of thesis and antithesis to produce a synthesis incorporating features of both—deals with the juxtaposition of shots, and attractions (e.g. lighting, camera angle, or subject movement) within shots, to create meaning. Rather than the smooth linkage of shots favored by many of his contemporaries (e.g. V. I. Pudovkin and D. W. Griffith). Eisenstein was interested in the collision and dialectical synthesis of contradictory shots as a way to shock and agitate the audience."
Think about the above quote (from the essay by Clyde Kelly Dunagan in the handout I gave you). In 2 paragraphs, discuss (CINEMATICALLY) if and how Eisenstein's theory works. Be sure to use the cinematic vocabulary you have learned. If you need to, use your glossary in Looking at Movies.
In paragraph 3, discuss a film you have seen that uses discontinuity editing or at the very least seems influenced by Eisenstein's method. Discuss the film CINEMATICALLY as you would discuss a film we watch in class.
Sergei Eisenstein was a very progressive director, and used techniques that were seen as unsatisfactory to many of his contemporaries. He utilized techniques such as collision of shots, the confusion of his audiences, class divisions, juxtaposition of shots, and relationships between shots to create meaning. He was one of the first directors to incorporate montage editing into a production that wasn’t a documentary, revolutionizing the filmmaking process. The collision of shots leads to the confusion of the viewer, which Eisenstein clears up with similarity between different shots, such as the deck of the battleship, and the stairs of the town. The marxism of this entire movie added to the choppiness of it all, making it seem like everything was thrown together, when in reality, every single bit of work was put into this movie as a seamless editing movie would have required. The class divisions helped to illustrate the need for some sort of uprising, as the parallels between what was occurring on the battleship and in the town grew and grew. In some ways, Eisenstein made it seem like the villagers needed the sailors to revolutionize to save what was happening to them, when in reality there was no connection between the two, except that they were both being controlled by oppressive governments.
ReplyDeleteThe opposition of the jagged edged editing, and the parallels between scenes helped to contribute to a feel of being on edge, or a complex confusion. The brain relates parts of the replayed shots, or the repetition of cutting to action as a way to juxtapose scenes, but the brain also relates two similarly set up scenes together, contradicting the original thought. This film was produced with the storyline in mind, but not fully present. The story could have been told with a series of actions, and no intertitles, which contributed to the audiences focus on the way the story is being told, as opposed to what the plot actually is. The simplicity of the plot also relates to the parallels between the separate stories being told, and make it easier to follow.
Pulp Fiction (directed by Quentin Tarantino) definitely uses discontinuity editing to convey a sense of disarray. The beginning of the film connects to the end, which ties the entire film together, but before then, the viewer is in a state of confusion as they aren’t sure what’s exactly going on, and how the lives of all these crazy characters fit together. Tarantino’s editing isn’t necessarily choppy, but it is worked on a lot to made seem seamless, as did many filmmakers during Eisenstein’s career, which is how the two differ. The choppiness of the scene in which Vince needs to revive Mia from her overdose on drugs is very Eisenstein-esque in the way that it seems to go in an unorganized way, cutting in and out of what seems to be important, and focusing on things that don’t seem to be significant, even if the audience doesn’t know what could be important to the plot, as it is very unorganized. The entirety of the way Pulp Fiction is set up is discontinuous, which relates it to Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin”.
What makes Battleship Potemkin such a historic and effectual film is the fact that director Sergei Eisenstein was willing to abandon traditional editing conventions in order to convey his desired meaning. As opposed to only structuring the editing of the film to preserve continuity, he employs discontinuity editing techniques such as montage editing. In the montage, consecutive shots are not arranged so as to preserve spatial or temporal relationships, but to create an implied cinematic meaning in the relationship between the two shots. For example, the 180-degree rule may be abandoned if doing so will create significant cinematic and thematic meaning. In the Odessa steps scene, onlookers’ reactions are placed in between shots of violence so that, despite the lack of a clear spatial relationship between the shots, a profound emotional effect is achieved.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it has been criticized for defying film conventions and foregoing “ideological content”, this type of editing is especially effective in the social context of the film’s release. As the film originated in early 20th century Soviet Russia, the editing style can be credited to Marxist ideas and theories. The film’s intent was to incite emotion and support about the rebellion of the working class, and the disjointed, chaotic editing not only elicits a powerful response but paints the Tsarist troops as monstrous, merciless machines. This, on the contrary to claims that discontinuity editing takes away from artistic content, gives the film an artistic style of its own.
Another famous example of discontinuity editing is the shower scene from Psycho. The scene assails the viewer with dozens of shots in rapid succession; the shots jump around the set and change perspective, replaying the killer’s descent and his attack on his victim multiple times. This warps the temporal relationships between the different shots, making the attack appear as if it happened in an instant when in reality the scene is almost four minutes long. This chaotic scene acts as the release to the long buildup at the beginning of the film, made especially tense by the eerie soundtrack as well as the audience’s expectations when watching a movie called Psycho. While continuity editing preserves the structural integrity of a story, discontinuity editing can draw forth a raw emotional response in the viewer.
ReplyDeleteConsidering Dunagan’s above quote, many scenes and sequences, if not all of Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin come to mind. As viewing, one of his most used film techniques is the unexpected insertion of non eye-level shots. To further drive home the class issues which are prevalent in his film, Eisenstein enters low angle shots when showing the faces of soldiers attacking civilians during the Odessa Steps sequence. Now, the entire Odessa sequence features discontinuity editing and actions that are presented in such a way as to disorient and discombobulate the viewer. One such action presented with the earlier mentioned low angle is when the soldier attacks (the baby or old woman we are not sure). This frightening character is only present for two low angle shots, but this angle creates the added importance and implied power of this soldier, as he represents the higher powers that use him and the soldiers as pawns of destruction.
The shots above are not the only place where Eisenstein is seen portraying the blind following of orders by soldiers and crew members. During the mutiny scene on the deck, the captain is giving orders to his officers, and they comply without batting an eye. When he gives the order for the tarp, the action of the salute is broken up by editing into many separate shots and angles. This use of discontinuity editing in order to divert the viewer’s mind from the physical action to the fact that they are controlled by their captains. Editing with this elongated action is an extreme closeup of an officer twirling his mustache, another separate action to show the officers fall down toward complete inhumanity; this is what Eisenstein wants us to see.
73 years after Eisenstein’s masterpiece Battleship Potemkin, another fast paced black and white film was released in the form of Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller Pi. This film follows a mathematical theorist on his search for a pattern present in all of nature and throughout the natural world. Early in the movie, we see the main character Max strolling around his neighborhood, with very shaky camera work and odd angles in order to show his anxiety. When he finally sits down, he stares up to the sky, a high angle shot portrays his intrigue. Then Aronofsky cuts to a tree, representative of nature. After switching between Max and the tree a number of times, always zooming in closer to the tree each cut, we see his obsession and need no explanation. The close up shot the tree then fades to numbers scrolling across a screen (stock market results), followed by Max sitting down (in a chair inside now) and we see that his line of sight matches that shown when he observes the tree. Aronofsky’s juxtaposition of different shots would make no sense if not for the existence of Max’s bookending stare. This Eisenstein-esque editing technique is effective in taking us inside Max’s troubled mind; and more importantly Aronofsky’s messages of number theory and connections.
Eisenstein's revolutionary editing technique in his film Battleship Potemkin is what makes the film such a work of art. Without color, or even sound, the director was forced to use his camera to convey the entire story, and he does an extremely good job of it. He abandoned the traditional technique of continuity editing for something far more dangerous, but also more meaningful. Discontinuity editing transformed this film from simply a documentary of a rebellion to a film with a real story behind it. Fitting with the anxious, suspenseful, and active mood of the movie, the discontinuity editing shocks the viewer. The frequent cuts between shots of the ship to shots of sailors to shots of the commanding officers in the first acts portray the restlessness that the crew of Potemkin are feeling. It also keeps us on the edge of our seat - we can sense the tension growing and we know that at some point it is going to become an all-out battle. In fact, the use of this editing technique to convey tension is used throughout the film.
ReplyDeleteThe next part of the film is suspiciously calm; somewhat continuity editing is used throughout it. However, instead of this break in the pattern comforting the viewer, it puts them on edge. It is unusual from what the viewer has seen, so they know that something bad is going to happen. And happen it does. As the citizens stand on the steps waving to the rebellious ship, there is a sudden cut to soldiers standing in a row at the top of a set of stairs. Now, even though there are no citizens in the shot with the soldiers, we are forced to believe that the citizens are in danger. The soldiers begin to march down the steps, firing on the citizens as they go. The shots of soldiers walking is intermixed with sudden shots of the workers fleeing over dead bodies to get away from them. In what is probably the most famous scene in this film, the soldiers shoot a mother. She falls, and her momentum pushes her baby carriage down the steps. Bystanders shout in horror as the carriage picks up speed and hurtles down the stairs. However, this is told in a series of short, second long shots. The mother is shot - cut - the baby carriage teeters - cut - the mother's face is twisted in pain - cut - the carriage tilts dangerously - cut - the mother slowly falls to her knees - cut - the horrified face of a bystander - cut - the mother has fallen - cut - the carriage starts to roll. Eisenstein chose the more discombobulated way of showing this scene, and that's what makes it so effective. The viewer feels the panic and distress and anxiety that the citizens are feeling, and the scene is better for it.
A film that uses discontinuity editing as a way to tell the story is Run Lola Run. It is a film told three times, with three outcomes. It follows a girl racing through the streets of Berlin, trying to save her boyfriend. In this film, discontinuity editing plays a huge part in causing the mood. Lola's journey is frantic, and the quick, shocking shots make the viewer frantic as well. In one scene, Lola is trying to stop her boyfriend from robbing a supermarket. We see him making the decision to do it, and her running towards him, but we have no idea how close they are to each other. As he walks into the store, we finally are able to see them both in the same shot, but she is too far away to stop him. In that scene, and through the entire film, Eisenstein's technique caused suspense and helped us to understand how the characters were feeling.
Keller
ReplyDeleteEisenstein had many cinematic theories, his main, more commonly known theory is the theory of montage. Eisenstein said, "montage is a combination of the compositional generalization about the image itself" giving way to his more formal meaning that splicing together two separate shots can use the individual meanings plus create a third meaning of the two shots. An example of this is in his film, "Battleship Potemkin", on of the most thrilling scenes of this entire movie is the "Odessa Steps" montage allows Eisenstein to manipulate the audiences emotions by elongated the screen time of a shorter real time action. The rapid rhythm of shots that unfold a mother witnessing her child being brutally ignored and beat by the feet of people trying to protect themselves, makes the viewers heartbeat speed up with the Rythm and allows us to feel empathetic for this woman. Another example of this in this same scene is the juxtaposition of three shots of three lion statues. The first shot we see is on a lion that appears to be sleeping at eyelevel, the next is of a lion with its head lifted up off of his paws at the same eye level, and the last shot we see is of a lion lifted up higher on its front legs from a low angle shot. Because these shots are placed one after each other it gives them another meaning, and the audience thinks the lion statue is moving up and looking at the action with a scared expression. The fact that the last shot of the statue is at a low angle makes the audience more scared because a very powerful figure is frightened.
Sergei Eisenstein is a father of the "montage of attractions". Roger Ebert sheds light on Eisenstein's theory in his 1998 film review of "Battleship Potemkin", he states, "Cutting between the fearful faces of the unarmed citizens and the faceless troops in uniform, he created an argument for the people against the czarist state.". There are so many examples in "Battleship Potemkin" of the juxtaposing of two or more different shots to influence an idea and emotion on the audience. Eisenstein explains his theory of montage in his 1929 essay 'Beyond the Shot' by comparing splicing together two shots to create meaning, to putting together Japanese hieroglyphics to make a new meaning.
A very popular film that exercises discontinuity is Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. In this film, particularly in the very famous “Shower Scene” the repeated use of short shots cut together elongates the scene and makes the audience feel as if the scene is lasting a multitude of the three minutes screen time that is used. I think the main thesis of Eisenstein's theory is to cut together shots to have multiple meanings, make the audience experience influenced emotions, and completely captivate the audience with the editing of shots. This theory is repeatedly used in even the most mainstream films and is still relevant to this day.
Eisenstein’s montage editing is very effective in “Battleship Potemkin.” Through the juxtaposition of shots, he is able to give them additional meaning. One example of this is the Odessa Steps scene. Flashing between the horrified onlookers and the people being massacred, we are able to feel that the scene is really terrible. We can already see it by the events on the steps, and we can also see it in the shots of the onlookers, but when combined, they make the horribleness of the scene even more apparent.
ReplyDeleteLooking at this film as a propaganda film in Soviet Russia, we can see why he was breaking with the ‘normal’ continuity editing. His discontinuity editing gives a sense of agitation and confusion, which was occurring in the country at the time. The movie represents the shock and fear of the people under the oppressive Tsar’s rule. The scenes that particularly glorify the Russian Revolution were the Steps scene, the scene where they blew up the opera house, and the ending unity between the ships. The ending scene drops much of the discontinuity editing used during the rest of the film, since this shows completion, and the people are no longer agitated and oppressed by their ruler.
Hitchcock’s “Psycho” also uses discontinuity editing, showing that the character’s state of mind is not ‘continuous.’ In the shower scene, he rapidly goes from different angles, breaking the 180-degree rule, giving us a feeling of agitation and panic. After the murder, and Norman comes in to clean up the mess, the shots are back to normal.
Eisenstein's theory of montage is the use of the juxtaposition of shots to create meaning without continuity. This is displayed Battleship Potemkin where he uses the theory of montage throughout. An example of where Eisenstein uses this theory is the scene of the stairs, but more specifically the scene where the lady is shot and the baby carriage falls down the stairs. He puts a series of shots next to each other that wouldn’t necessarily be next to each other if you didn’t want to draw attention to the editing of a film. When he draws attention to the editing we see the cuts as they happen and that makes us pay more attention to what is happening than normally. He uses this theory to explain actions happening at the same time also, when you put two different shots next to each other it is a parallel action which is used. An example of this would be closer to the end on the ship. They picture the front of the ship moving through the water cut between people actions. Here we know that the actions are all happening whilst the ship is moving. This is an example of parallel editing.
ReplyDeleteMarxism which is a call to difference between classes influenced a lot of the cuts that Eisenstein made. An example where this is very blatantly used is the scene on the stairs. There is a shot reverse shot of the people towards the soldiers. Eisenstein decided that instead of telling the story with one protagonist he would tell it with the action being moved by a group. This is completely described by the stair scene. Though at times we may focus on the women and her son being trampled, he always cuts back to other people and other things happening. We always went back to look at the group as a whole, and it made us look at everyone indifferently. The soldiers were evil and the people were innocent.
Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run depicts some of Eisenstein’s theory. He uses the juxtaposition of shots to entice and confuse the watcher. An example is during each run she bumps into people and then there is flash of pictures that depict what is going to happen in that person’s life thereafter. Though in Run Lola Run the story focuses on a protagonist so their are not marxist theories used in this film. The director of Run Lola Run, does use cuts to influence interpretation of the film.