The History of Cutting - The Soviet Theory of Montage

Summary

This video explores the early Soviet filmmakers' development of Montage theory, focusing on key figures like Lev Kuleshov and Sergei Eisenstein. After the Russian Revolution, filmmakers sought to use film as a powerful tool for political communication. Kuleshov's experiments, such as the Kuleshov effect, demonstrated how editing could alter emotional interpretation. Eisenstein refined this further with his concept of intellectual montage, using contrasting shots to express abstract ideas. The video examines how Soviet film theory, while initially controversial, had a profound influence on global cinema, shaping the future of storytelling in film.

Takeaways

• 😀 The theory of Montage, developed by early Soviet filmmakers, revolutionized cinematic language by focusing on how different shots, when edited together, could create new meanings and emotions.
• 😀 After the First World War, the Bolshevik government used film as a mass communication tool to consolidate their power, creating the VGIK film school in 1919 to support Bolshevik propaganda.
• 😀 Lev Kuleshov, a cofounder of VGIK, became instrumental in exploring the psychological effects of editing, particularly through the creation of the Kuleshov Effect, which demonstrated how context changes the meaning of a static shot.
• 😀 The Kuleshov Effect showed how the same facial expression could be interpreted in various ways depending on the surrounding shots, illustrating the power of editing in influencing audience perception.
• 😀 Kuleshov also experimented with creative geography, using editing techniques to combine shots of different locations and create fictional, yet convincing, landscapes in films.
• 😀 The Soviet concept of montage was grounded in the idea that the creation of a film begins in the edit, with the term 'montage' coming from the French word 'monter,' meaning 'to assemble.'
• 😀 Sergei Eisenstein, a key figure in Soviet cinema, further advanced the theory of montage, using editing to convey abstract ideas and evoke emotional responses rather than simply enhancing the drama, as in the continuity editing style of D.W. Griffith.
• 😀 Eisenstein's masterpiece, *Battleship Potemkin* (1925), became a landmark in film history, demonstrating how montage could intensify emotions and convey political messages through rapid, often jarring, edits.
• 😀 Eisenstein viewed montage as a Marxist dialectic, where the collision of shots (thesis and antithesis) created a synthesis of new ideas, forming the backbone of his approach to film theory and storytelling.
• 😀 Eisenstein categorized montage into five types, ranging from Metric (based on shot length) to Intellectual (focused on conveying abstract concepts), each increasing in complexity and intellectual depth.
• 😀 The intellectual montage, where opposing visual concepts are juxtaposed to communicate abstract ideas, is most evident in *Battleship Potemkin*, but was pushed to extremes in Eisenstein's *October* (1927), which ultimately failed to connect with audiences due to its heavy abstraction.
• 😀 Soviet filmmakers' experimentation with montage influenced future generations of filmmakers, including the French New Wave and Hollywood directors like Alfred Hitchcock, ensuring the continued evolution of cinematic storytelling techniques.

Q & A

What role did film play for the Bolshevik government after the First World War?

Film was used as a mass communication medium to consolidate the Bolshevik power and communicate with the largely illiterate population. The government aimed to use films, particularly newsreels, for agitation and propaganda purposes, referred to as 'agitprop'.

How did Lev Kuleshov contribute to the development of film theory?

Lev Kuleshov is credited with the creation of the Kuleshov effect, where the meaning of a shot can change based on the sequence in which it is presented. This concept was a foundational element in Soviet montage theory and demonstrated the psychological power of editing in film.

What was the significance of D.W. Griffith’s film 'Intolerance' in the Soviet filmmaking context?

'Intolerance' was deeply influential in Soviet film studies, particularly at the Kuleshov Workshop. The film's editing techniques were dissected by Soviet filmmakers, leading to a greater understanding of how editing could manipulate emotions and convey political messages.

What was the Kuleshov effect and how was it demonstrated?

The Kuleshov effect demonstrated that an audience can interpret emotions based on the context surrounding an actor's expression. Kuleshov filmed the same actor’s neutral expression paired with different images (a bowl of soup, a dead girl, and a seductive woman), and the audience read different emotions based on these varying contexts.

How did Lev Kuleshov experiment with the concept of 'creative geography'?

Kuleshov used editing to create artificial landscapes, cutting together shots filmed in different locations to create the illusion of a continuous geography that didn’t exist in real life. This was a stark contrast to Western continuity editing, which sought to smooth over spatial cuts.

What is the definition of 'montage' in Soviet cinema?

In Soviet cinema, 'montage' referred to the process of editing or assembling shots together to create a new meaning or emotional effect. It was based on the idea that meaning arises not just from the content of individual shots, but from how they are arranged and juxtaposed.

How did Sergei Eisenstein build upon the theory of montage?

Eisenstein expanded on montage theory by applying a Marxist dialectic to film editing. He believed that the collision of shots, akin to thesis and antithesis, would create new ideas or 'syntheses,' which in turn would drive the narrative and convey deeper meanings.

What is the importance of 'Battleship Potemkin' in the context of montage?

'Battleship Potemkin' is considered one of the most important films in cinema history, showcasing Eisenstein’s use of montage to provoke strong emotional responses from the audience. The film’s Odessa Steps sequence, in particular, is a key example of how editing can heighten dramatic effect.

What are the five methods of montage defined by Eisenstein?

Eisenstein outlined five methods of montage: Metric (cutting based on the length of shots), Rhythmic (cutting based on action and tempo), Tonal (cutting based on the tone of the shot), Overtonal (a combination of all previous methods in sequences), and Intellectual (using montage to create abstract intellectual ideas).

What was the reception of Eisenstein’s film 'October' and why?

'October,' Eisenstein's experimental film about the Bolshevik Revolution, was not well-received by audiences due to its heavy reliance on intellectual montage, which made the narrative too abstract and difficult to follow. While intellectually rich, the film lacked the strong narrative framework seen in 'Battleship Potemkin'.