Soviet Montage, 1925-1933
Lecture 16
Sergei Eisenstein:
“IN THE REALM OF ART THIS DIALECTIC PRINCIPLE OF DYNAMICS IS EMBODIED IN
CONFLICT AS THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF EVERY ART WORK AND EVERY
ART-FORM.”
How does Eisenstein arrive at the idea of the centrality of CONFLICT to film?
Dialectics
THESIS 1 + ANTI-THESIS 1 = SYNTHESIS 1
SYNTHESIS 1 (THESIS 2) + ANTI-THESIS 2 = SYNTHESIS 2
…EISENSTEIN: “Being—as a constant evolution from the
interaction of two contradictory opposites.” (A Dialectical Approach 45)
October (Eisenstein, 1927)Five Acts
• Act 1– 5 day February Revolution in St. Petersburg
• Alexander III statue brought down
• Act 2– July days: street fighting between Anarchists and Left
Bolsheviks and Provisional Government forces (Bridge sequence)
– Kerensky in the Winter Palace– General Kornilov attacks– Kornilov’s soldiers switch to the Bolshevik side
October (Eisenstein, 1927)Five Acts
• Act 3– Lenin argues for insurrection– Bolsheviks plan insurrection
• Act 4– Bolsheviks prepare the insurrection– Kerensky leaves the Winter Palace– Women’s Battalion of Death defend the palace– Second Soviet Congress (Oct. 25)
• Act 5– Bolsheviks prevail against Mensheviks at Second Soviet Congress– Red Guards take the Winter Palace
October (1927):Dialectics of narrative
Dialectics of Form:
Eisenstein:“The shot and montage are the basic elements of cinema”
“The shot appears as the cell of montage.” (organic metaphor)
“So, montage is conflict.”
THEN: There must be conflict in the shot as well.
Conflict within the shot• 1) Shot (enframed image)—– Graphic conflict– Conflict of planes– Conflict of volume– Light conflict– Spatial conflict– Conflict between matter and viewpoint (ex: canted and other
camera angles)– Conflict between matter and its spatial nature (ex: optical
distortion)– Conflict between an event and its temporal nature (ex: slow
motion, fast motion, stop-motion)– Conflict between optical complex and different sphere (ex:
conflict between image and sound)
GRAPHIC CONFLICT WITHIN THE SHOT
CONFLICT OF VOLUME, LIGHT, PLANES, SPACE
GRAPHIC CONFLICT/LIGHT CONFLICT
CONFLICT OF VOLUMES