Fiction Adaptation: Soviet Montage

The Kuleshov effect

Just after the Russian revolution in 1917, filmmaker Lev Kuleshov led a workshop, where aspiring directors Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin were students (Monaco, 2009:449). At the time, there was little film stock available in the Soviet Union, therefore Soviet filmmakers had turned to studying film instead, taking apart film reels so they could dissect the elements that made films, such how shots were ordered and why they were ordered this way (Soviet Montage: Crash Course Film History #8, 2017).

From this, Kuleshov realised that cutting two shots together could create an emotional response in the audience through association (Empire, 2016). For example, cutting together shots of an actor and soup prompted the audience to believe the actor was hungry, while cutting together the same shot of an actor with a coffin prompted the audience to believe he was sad (Learn about film, s.d).

However each Soviet filmmaker had a slightly different interpretation of montage and its uses.

Eisenstein

Sergei Eisenstein wanted to "use cinema to stir emotions and inspire the audience to get behind the revolution" (Learn about film, s.d).

For this reason, many of his films, including his most famous, Battleship Potemkin (1925) are considered as propaganda. An example of this is in the Odessa steps sequence, all the civilians are portrayed as innocent and helpless, whilst the soldiers are aggressive and ruthless (Soviet Montage: Crash Course Film History #8, 2017). Therefore, the audience receive a biased view since only one side of the story is portrayed.
To Eisenstein:

"In my view montage is not an idea composed of successive shots stuck together but an idea that DERIVES from the collision between two shots that are independent of one another" (Eisenstein, 2016:26).

Soviet filmmakers such as Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov wanted to break conventions of Hollywood continuity editing since they thought that this faked reality (Learn about film, s.d). They instead used Marxist 'dialectic' (see fig.1) -- the idea that two conflicting shots which collide during a montage produce a new idea, which can then collide with another conflicting idea, creating an ongoing chain of conflict and new ideas (Hess, 2017).

Fig. 1 Marxist 'dialectic' (2017)

Because of this, Eisenstein's theory of montage primarily concerned his audience. In his montages shots became conflicting ideas -- what he called 'attractions' -- which made the audience participants in the film as the shots built up and made them think of new meanings and associations (Monaco, 2009:454). Realism was destroyed in Eisenstein's montages. To him each component of the montage did not have its own reality, only an association, only becoming reality when arranged together with the other shots in a sequence (Eisenstein, 2016:38).

Eisenstein's theory of montage pioneered several types of montage, many of which are still used today, or are the influences for modern montages (Empire, 2016).

Intellectual

This type of montage was created by Eisenstein so he could convey ideas to the audience through unrelated images (Learn about film, s.d). Combining images in this way associated them in the viewer's minds, creating a metaphor that extended across the shots  (Renée, 2015).
For example, in Eisenstein's first film Strike (1924), the ending shows a montage of some workers being killed by soldiers, which is contrasted and consequently compared to the killing of a cattle. This creates the metaphor that the workers are like cattle to their employer -- they can be hunted and killed as if they too are animals  (Renée, 2015).
To strengthen this metaphor and make it more emotional for the audience, the montage is fast-paced with quick cuts changing the angle on the workers as they run, and cutting back to the cattle as it is slowly killed. This gives the montage a sense of urgency, furthered by the music used, which has a strong drumbeat.

Tonal

Fig. 2 Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Tonal montages use shots to convey a general mood or style  (Frierson, s.d).

This can be seen in a montage from Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925), which is shown before a mourning. For this reason, the overall tone of the montage is melancholy and depressing. Eisenstein conveys this to the audience through shots consisting of fog, so it is as if the sadness is hanging over the whole film, with hard shadows. The only colours used are black and grey which are associated with depression and death. These shots all build up with very little music behind them, giving the audience time to think and reflect, as if the film almost stops for a moment of silence for the dead.

Metric

Shots in a metric montage are cut to a tempo, which can be sped up or slowed down, depending on what the aim is for the effect on the audience (Hess, 2017). For this reason, shots can sometimes be cut on the action, which can be jarring for the audience, since they can miss things (Soviet Montage: Crash Course Film History #8, 2017).

An example of a metric montage is the one from The Karate Kid (1984), set to the song "You're The Best". Many of the cuts are timed to this song, however, some are dependent on when a karate move is performed by one of the contenders, or on what the main character is seeing. For example, montages are designed "to condense time and space" (Renée, 2015), therefore several fights are shown one after the other. However, these are the fights the main character sees, or competes in. This influences the cuts because the aim is to have the audience identify with the main character. Because of this, after the fights he only watches, he is often then shown in the crowd, even if action is still happening in the ring or around him. In the fights he does compete in, the cuts are prompted by his actions, which can lead to his competitor's actions being cut out and missed by the audience -- but also sometimes by him.

Fig. 3 The Karate Kid (1984)

The tempo is fast for this reason, but the shots often linger on the main character so the audience have chance to engage with him (see fig.3).

Rhythmic

A rhythmic montage is similar to a metric montage, but the cuts can be prompted by movement within the frame of each shot (Frierson, s.d). These cuts and the movement within the frame can also be prompted by music or other sound, which is a technique commonly used in film trailers (Soviet Montage: Crash Course Film History #8, 2017).

A rhythmic montage is used in the opening sequence of Amazon's Forever (2018-). This uses the same left to right camera pan to cover several scenes of a couple meeting, marrying and living married life. Movement within the frame, such as a character entering and walking across to a table (see fig. 4), prompt this camera movement, which follows the same speed as the classical music playing over the sequence.

Fig. 4 Forever (2018)

At first, the scenes show change, however, as the montage goes on, only one scene is shown to repeat itself over and over again, hinting at the theme of the rest of the series and highlighting the couple's boredom. The classical music the shots are cut to also repeats over and over throughout the sequence to further this.

Overtonal

Overtonal is the most complicated type of montage, since it combines metric, rhythmic and tonal montage, showing contrast through how whole sequences collide to produce new ideas to the audience (Hess, 2017).

The shower scene from Psycho (1960) is an example of this. It uses techniques from rhythmic and metric montage since the cuts are made on the music, which is jarring and follows a tempo. Viewers miss some of the action because of this since the action is so fast and doesn't match the cuts. For example, when the murderer is attempting to stab the woman, the camera focuses on her trying to put up a fight rather than on the knife, so some of the murderer's actions are missed by the audience. But, the angles are prompted by movement in the frame, which matches the music. When the woman screams, there are two jump cuts which cut to a close-up of her mouth in time to the music.

Fig. 5 Psycho (1960)

This helps convey tone to the audience since it amplifies the woman's horror. The music is also used to do this since it is high pitched and sudden. However, since the film is shot in black and white there is a lot of grey and black in the frame, bringing to mind associations with death, but since the scene is in a shower there is also a lot of white. White carries associations of innocence and purity, symbolising the woman, who through shots such as the close-ups on her mouth, and at the end her eye (see fig.5), is portrayed as the point of audience identification in the scene. Therefore, the tone of the montage is of horror -- mostly that of the woman -- and of death. This is further highlighted by the lack of white towards the end of the montage after the woman has been murdered, especially when the plug hole is seen, since it looks like a black hole, breaking up the white of the bath.

List of illustrations:

Figure 1. Hess, J. (2017) Marxist 'dialectic' [Diagram] At: https://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/sergei-eisenstein-theory-montage/ (Accessed on 14 November 2018).

Figure 2.  Battleship Potemkin (1925) [film clip online] At: http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/m_friers/clips/battleship-potemkin-tonal-montage/view (Accessed on 16 November 2018).

Figure 3. The Karate Kid Montage - You're The Best (2008) [YouTube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBktYJsJq-E (Accessed on 14 November 2018).

Figure 4. Forever (2018) [television programme online] Amazon Prime video. At: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B07FSXNDDD/ref=atv_hm_hom_1_c_pbwan_3_1 (Accessed on 16 November 2018).

Figure 5. Psycho (1960) [film clip online] YouTube. At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WtDmbr9xyY (Accessed on 17 November 2018).

References:

Eisenstein, S. (2016) 'Beyond The Shot: The Cinematographic Principle and The Ideogram' In: Braudy, L. & Cohen, M. (ed.). Film theory and criticism. (6th ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.13-40.

Empire (2016) Movie movements that defined cinema: Soviet Montage [online] At: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/soviet-montage-movie-era/ (Accessed on 16 November 2018).

Frierson, M. (s.d) Battleship Potemkin: Tonal Montage [online] At: http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/m_friers/clips/battleship-potemkin-tonal-montage/view (Accessed on 17 November 2018).

Hess, J. (2017) 'Sergei Eisenstein and the Theory of Montage' In: Filmmaker IQ [online] At: https://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/sergei-eisenstein-theory-montage/ (Accessed on 17 November 2018).

Learn about film (s.d) Soviet montage: how the Russian Revolution changed film [online] At: https://learnaboutfilm.com/soviet-montage/ (Accessed on 17 November 2018).

Renée, V. (2015) '10 Different Kinds of Montages That Can Help Make Your Film More Dynamic' In: No Film School. [online] At: https://nofilmschool.com/2015/12/10-different-kinds-montages-can-help-make-your-film-more-dynamic (Accessed on 17 November 2018).

Soviet Montage: Crash Course Film History #8 (2017) In: Crash Course Film History [television programme online] Pres. Benzine, C. YouTube. At:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RtBAa4YCgo (Accessed on 16 November 2018).