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