This is simply a transcript of my lecture notes for class on 3/18/03 Expect typos! Functions of Montage: Example Battleship Potemkin (1926) Massacre on the Odessa steps (the movie is about the Russian Revolution) Possibly Sergei Eisensteins theories of Montage have existed for so
long is partially due to the fact that he was a filmmaker as well as a theorist. What is the shot in editing? It is the film between two cuts— The collision of two images brings about another meaning -Jean Mitry Montage is the combining of two film elements resulting in a
specific effect that could not be produced by either of the two elements alone. Syntactic Functions: Formal relationships between two shots. —mostly it is associated with Classical Hollywood editing. Someone strikes a
match and then we get a close-up on the flame. Classical Hollywood Montage creates the logical relationship between on and off screen space. The dissolve: marks an overlapping between two different episodes of the film.
Signifier of a flashback in the past. Every sort of editing—every use of it is productive. Montage by its nature is a production technique. You produce signification and emotional response. Syntactic functions, semantic functions, rhythmic functions. Syntactic—Formal relationships Presents a liaison or opposite disjunction. Semantic Function: Largest scope or functionality of Montage. It also produces connotative meanings---and denotative meanings associated with
classical Hollywood editing. (to serve as an indication of something---to convey in addition to exact explicit meaning. (MODERN TIMES A CROWD OF SHEEP IRONICALLY FOLLOWING A GROUP OF PEOPLE) Rhythmic montage deals with the length of each shot: The gradual shortening of shots leads to an acceleration of the film scene. Holding a shot for a long amount of time can create suspense---suspense is not created from the shortening of the shots, but by the painful lingering of a dreaded moment. Eisenstein’s different forms of montage: METRIC: Refers to the absolute lengths of shots in a formula scheme that relates to music—tension is increased according to the exact lengths of the shots. RHYTHMIC: Not just in reference to lengths, but within the scheme or a plan. Tension is created by following a scheme and also by violating the scheme or the plan. In Potemkin we have marching feet—out of rhythmic time with the cuts and then the final tension is created by the baby carriage coming down the steps. RHYTHMIC also refers to the movement within the frame. Tonal (emotional sound of the piece) fog versus stark contrast and focus) shrill vs somber etc. Tonal can refer to tonal range etc. Overtonal Montage: There is the tonal montage and then the meaning created or produced by the shots. The dialectic of cinema. ( dialectic—discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual investigation) Eisenstein thought that the use of deep focus was inefficient, because an idea could be just as easily communicated with several more distinct shots. In nature we never see anything isolated everything in connection with something else which is before it beside it under it and over it. Conflict is the fundamental principle for the existence of every art work and every art form. A purely intellectual film freed from traditional limitations—a joining of science and art. Eisenstein studied mechanical engineering constructivism inefficiency bothered him Each shot is like a circus attraction—you deliver a psychological stimulus which then combined with other neighboring shots to build the film. These could be shaped in each different way. The shot is not considered to be a locus of reality, but it contains formal elements such as lighting line movement and volume—The filmmaker should create rather than direct meaning----haiku poetry made up of ideograms Bird plus mouth= sing Child and mouth = sing A lonely crow On leafless bough One autumn eve Montage is the energy of cinema which makes raw material come alive toward an overall goal a meaningful shape. A psychological machine The theme is part of the filmmaking process itself To attain reality one must destroy realism one must uncover the dialectical form----turns film into a text— Eisenstein wanted film to get things done like a machine The spectator is brought from ignorance to knowledge via the power of film Was he saying that film is the greatest possible propaganda tool The pre ordering of bits You don’t begin with a total view—you arrive at one Truth lies in the path as much as in the destination He believed that art could change behavior by changing perception While an art machine built to rally the proletariat in Russia behind the 5 year plan ( the Russian revolution) may not work today and art organism which grew into an image of the truth in 1925 is worthy of rediscovery Andre Bazin Cinema of transparency real world never presents a solid reality it is in itself full of ambiguity Bazin’s aesthetic was about the unity of space the window to the world deep focus all of these things that Eisenstein found very inefficient. The most influential of film theorists ( Bazin, Eisenstein, and Noel Burch) are the most difficult to read and make sense of. Bazin—has only left a collection of Essays and articles compiled in a book entitled What is Cinema—his ideas are lasting—they take cinematic real space beyond the ideas of classical cinema. He was a catholic and found mysticism and holy moments in film. As part of the existential movement and a follower of the ideas of Sartre he believed that cinema was an ever evolving medium. The most modest of westerns and documentaries fascinated him as did john Renior. He believed that the mechanical recording of a physical object signifies reality to the spectator. Drama is created by nature not by filmmakers Aesthetic and rhetorical truth giving knowledge of empirical reality otherwise unavailable in art forms Where the theater is a place of ritual film is a window into the dreams of the audience— Dramatic relationships within the frame rather than between the frames (Mise en scene) Preferred this because it confronts are normal psychological way of processing events Long take better depth of field (short focal length) It’s mechanical and chemical bond to perceptual and special reality According to Bazin—Montage is a less realistic style Eisenstein thought long takes show lack of artistic intelligence lack of economy and uncertainty of meaning---Bazin sees this ambiguity as a value Montage is just about the unity of meaning---Bazin saw naturalism and the representation of meaning as more meaningful and the ambiguity of this real space creates a richer project. It is very radical today, because the montage editing in advertising has been quite useful in terms of it’s propaganda--- It is radical to hold a frame for a long period of time to present reality as a dream space—because of the fast editing of today and the lack of ambiguity of meaning people react to the long take and this ambiguity with some frustration. Long takes and the holding on a scene can even frustrate an audience. It is quite a bit more radical than montage today, Psychological Montage limits the freedom of our eyes to wonder the screen and interpret the relationships on screen Depth of Focus in Orson Welles Forces the viewer to make use of their freedom of attention and forces him at the same time to sense the ambivalence of reality