Eisenstein Montage

Week 5, last week of silent movies, and Soviet Montage's week. 

When we talk about Soviet Montage we think about Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) and Dziga Vertov (1896-1954), today lets take a ride in the movie Battleship Potemkin by Eisenstein and lets analyze some points of his editing theory.

In his theses Editing the Past: How Eisenstein and Vertov Used Montage to Create Soviet History Douglas Michael Priest points five categories of montage according to Eisenstein: 

"According to Eisenstein, there are five categories of montage which each manipulate film in a specific way. In brief, these five forms of montage are: 1) metric montage, in which the montage is based on the length of each shot; 2) rhythmic montage, in which different shot lengths are put together in montage to evoke tension; 3) tonal Montage, in which "movement within the frame impels the montage movement from frame to frame."; 4) overtonal montage, which Eisenstein describes as "distinguishable from tonal montage by the collective calculation of all the piece's appeal."; and 5) 12 Intellectual montage which deals specifically with the creation of meaning through "conflict-juxtaposition of accompanying intellectual affects."

Eisenstein believed that the editing is the foundation of the movie. In Potemkin Eisenstein uses lots of close-ups and wide shots to express the characters feelings or actions/reactions. 


The events of the shots we see bellow is part of The Odessa Steps Sequence a super famous part of the Potemkin movie. It is clear what Eisenstein is trying to show in this specific montage with open shots and close-ups capturing the reaction of the mother when she sees that her child had fallen down and now is being trampled by so many people.  During the whole The Odessa Steps Sequence Eisenstein mix close-up with long shots creating a chaotic series of scenes. 

  

References:

Priest, Douglas Michael. Editing the Past: How Eisenstein and Vertov Used Montage to Create Soviet History. 2008. The College at Brockport: State University of New York

Gazetas, Aristides. An introduction to World Cinema. 2008. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. 

Eisenstein, Sergei M. Battleship Potemkin. 1925