Vladimir Lenin Leader of Bolshevik Party In exile in Switzerland during World War I Germans send him back to Russia in 1917 to foment Revolution Enters Finland Station 3 April 1917 Seizes power on 25 October/7 November 1917

What was the Russian Revolution? Marxism-Leninism: Marxism adapted to Russian conditions Class analysis: Bourgeoisie - Proletariat - Peasantry Coup-d'état, not revolution from below “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” Revolution consolidated by propaganda and terror Need to raise revolutionary consciousness of masses (workers, peasants)

Cinema nationalized 1918 Lenin’s article “Directive on film-making” (film as a tool for propaganda) Lenin’s phrase “For us film is the most important art form.” Lenin’s instruction: to shoot the processes of industrial production; educational and scientific films. Profitable art: entertainment “without obscenity and counterrevolution”

Who is to make the films? Avant-garde intellectuals quickly join the Bolsheviks. Poets…

Vladimir Mayakovsky Beat the squares with the tramp of rebels! Higher, rangers of haughty heads! We'll wash the world with a second deluge, Now’s the hour whose coming it dreads. Too slow, the wagon of years, The oxen of days — too glum. Our god is the god of speed, Our heart — our battle drum. Is there a gold diviner than ours What wasp of a bullet us can sting? Songs are our weapons, our power of powers, Our gold — our voices — just hear us sing!

Artists… Vladimir Tatlin… Monument to the Third Socialist international ( )

… and Kazimir Malevich White quadrilateral on white (1916)

Photographers … Aleksandr Rodchenko

…and theatre directors Vsevolod Meyerhold’s Magnificent Cuckold 1918

What were the elements of avant-garde art? Rejection of “bourgeois” values Shock effect Abstraction collage focus on form cult of the modern (“Futurism”), the new industrial processes, machines Primitivism revealing the true form of things (Constructivism)

Post-revolutionary film “agitka” (агитка): spreading the word about the revolution in the villages non-narrative ideological propaganda value hero system (Lenin) non-erotic content

“Avant-garde” political cinema Lev Kuleshov ( ) - theoretician Vsevolod Pudovkin ( ) Sergei Eisenstein ( ) Dziga Vertov ( ) Aleksandr Dovzhenko ( )

Eisenstein Filmography Strike 1923 Battleship Potemkin (pr. PotyOmkin) 1925 October (Ten Days that Shook the World) 1928 The General Line (The Old and the New) 1929 Que viva Mexico! (unfinished – abandoned 1932) Bezhin Meadow (1935 – undistributed, destroyed) Alexander Nevsky 1938 Ivan the Terrible Pt. I 1944 Ivan the Terrible Pt II (finished 1946, released only in 1958)

Eisenstein and the Theatre Vsevolod Meyerhold ( ) antirealist theatre theatre of the grotesque clowning, acrobatics abstract, “constructivist” sets

Vsevolod Meyerhold (portrait by Boris Grigoriev)

Commedia dell’arte and the Grotesque Jacques Callot ( ): French artist, engravings of Italian actors Masks: Pantalone, Petrushka, dottore Serious characters (innamorati): lovers joined at end of comedy For Russian theatre: source of grotesque – deformation of the human form, and expressive facial expression as mask

Eisenstein’s essay “Montage of Attractions” (1923) “Montage of attractions”: cinema compared to theatre and circus first experiment in film: grotesque intermezzo inserted in play

Eisenstein and the visual arts Films as “moving frescoes” – the influence of Diego Rivera Numerous quotes from the visual arts – e.g., from Francisco Goya Icons in Ivan The Terrible Eisenstein was an artist himself – created sketches for characters and individual shots Constructivist imagery

Eisenstein: early biography Born in Riga, Latvia, into the family of a prominent architect and engineer Father Jewish, mother Russian Graduated from the Institute of Civil Engineering in Saint Petersburg In 1920, joined the Proletkult (“proletarian culture”) Central Workers’ Theatre in Moscow Studied in the School for Stage Direction under Vsevolod Meyerhold in early 1920s

Film Strike (1923) as a commedia dell'arte First feature film, about workers’ strikes before the revolution Serious heroes: revolutionaries Dark comedy, the revolutionaries are suppressed. “Typage” : uses found faces, not actors Masks: factory managers, spies…

Of Men and machines  Eisenstein’s films are didactic: they always channel an ideological message  There is no hero (well-rounded individual) in his early films: there are masses, classes, types  Montage of attractions: juxtaposition of unrelated expressive images in a rapid succession (technique influenced by D.W.Griffith’s Intolerance, 1916)  Psychological effect of montage – “cutting” on the audience. StrikeStrike

Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Eisenstein shooting Potemkin

Battleship Potemkin Pronounced “Potyomkin” Planned as a part of a cycle of films about the Revolution (along with Strike and October) Tells about an episode of the 1905 revolt (suppressed) Myth-making, but relatively true to the historical events (not in details!)

Historical Events 11 days of mutiny on Potemkin Hailed and supported by the population of Odessa Unrest in the city suppressed by Imperial troops No support from other ships Ran out of food and fuel, fled to Romania No significant political outcome

Battleship Potemkin: structure Five parts (reels) introduced by intertitles, resemble five acts of tragedy: Reel One: Men and Maggots Reel Two: Drama on the Quarterdeck Reel Three: Appeal from the Dead Reel Four: The Odessa Steps Reel Five: Meeting the squadron

Montage and camera The Odessa Steps The Odessa Steps Innocence vs violence (ex., the face of the woman – the rows of soldiers with bayonets lowered) Soldiers as depersonalized graphic lines moving forward; citizens of Odessa as individuals (close- ups) Difference in perspective: soldiers are in control, move downwards; victims’ perspective is from below

Francisco Goya The Third of May 1808 (1814 )

Michelangelo’s Pietà

Edvard Munch: The Scream (1893)

Themes and motifs Brotherhood: Vakulinchuk’s cry “Brothers!” Religious motifs: slaughter of the innocent Machines and men

Lens Theme Doctor refuses to see maggots Shattered lens of woman’s glasses Canvas over mutineers so that comrades with guns cannot see them Camera lens sees and records

The glorification of the machine… Battleship itself joins the revolution camera focuses on guns, machinery of engine room Soldiers advance like faceless automatons down the Odessa steps

Hand-painted flag

Dziga Vertov: Man with Movie-CameraMan with Movie-Camera

Dziga Vertov (David/Denis Kaufman)

Dziga Vertov Real name David Kaufman Real name David Kaufman Born in Bialystok, Poland Born in Bialystok, Poland Pseudonym means “spinning top”, references his Jewishness (“dreidal” = “top” in Yiddish); also references the turning of the movie camera Pseudonym means “spinning top”, references his Jewishness (“dreidal” = “top” in Yiddish); also references the turning of the movie camera

Cine-Eye "Our eyes see very little and very badly – so people dreamed up the microscope to let them see invisible phenomena; they invented the telescope...now they have perfected the cinecamera to penetrate more deeply into the visible world, to explore and record visual phenomena so that what is happening now, which will have to be taken account of in the future, is not forgotten." (Dziga Vertov)

Aesthetic program The Kinoks group (kino “cinema” + oko “eye” and okno “window”) The Kinoks group (kino “cinema” + oko “eye” and okno “window”) Programmatic "Manifesto" Programmatic "Manifesto" “Kino-glaz". Documentary truth. Films as “wall- newspapers” “Kino-glaz". Documentary truth. Films as “wall- newspapers” "It is far from simple to show the truth, yet the truth is simple." (Dziga Vertov) "It is far from simple to show the truth, yet the truth is simple." (Dziga Vertov) Using one's eyes (lens as an eye) Using one's eyes (lens as an eye)

Man with a Movie Camera (1929) Begins with a statement of values: Against theatre, acting, scenarios Begins with a statement of values: Against theatre, acting, scenarios No intertitles (but many bits of text tell the story) No intertitles (but many bits of text tell the story) Continuation of "Kino-Pravda" ("film truth") – a film series started by Vertov in 1922, the title played on the state newspaper title Pravda (“Truth”) Continuation of "Kino-Pravda" ("film truth") – a film series started by Vertov in 1922, the title played on the state newspaper title Pravda (“Truth”)

Genre and devices Documentary in the genre of “Life of a City”, perhaps inspired by Ruttman’s Berlin: the Symphony of a big city (1927) Documentary in the genre of “Life of a City”, perhaps inspired by Ruttman’s Berlin: the Symphony of a big city (1927) Actually, several cities shown ( Moscow, Odessa, Kharkov) Actually, several cities shown ( Moscow, Odessa, Kharkov) Uses the conventions of film-making to “unmask” them (the Kuleshov effect with the dummies) Uses the conventions of film-making to “unmask” them (the Kuleshov effect with the dummies) Rapid cross-cutting – “wake-up therapy” Rapid cross-cutting – “wake-up therapy”

Ideological message Down with NEP (New Economic Policy) Down with NEP (New Economic Policy) Down with bourgeois values, including feature films; Frequent shots of advertisement for Woman’s Awakening (Das Erwachen des Weibes, Fred Sauer, 1928) – the kind of narrative film Vertov hated. Down with bourgeois values, including feature films; Frequent shots of advertisement for Woman’s Awakening (Das Erwachen des Weibes, Fred Sauer, 1928) – the kind of narrative film Vertov hated. Manual labour versus service; down with service (shots of beer parlours, beauty salons, etc.) Manual labour versus service; down with service (shots of beer parlours, beauty salons, etc.) Lev Trotsky’s quote illustrated (vodka, church and cinema as “drugs” used by world capitalism against the working class) Lev Trotsky’s quote illustrated (vodka, church and cinema as “drugs” used by world capitalism against the working class) Images of Hitler and swastika: foreshadow war. Images of Hitler and swastika: foreshadow war.

Artistic message Film about film-making (self-reflexive) Film about film-making (self-reflexive) Begins with a shot of the movie theatre and reel of completed film Begins with a shot of the movie theatre and reel of completed film Heroes are the film editor (played by DV’s wife Elizaveta Svilova), cameraman (played by Mikhail Kaufman, DV's brother) and the camera. Heroes are the film editor (played by DV’s wife Elizaveta Svilova), cameraman (played by Mikhail Kaufman, DV's brother) and the camera.

Constructivism Glorification of technology, delight in watching machines Glorification of technology, delight in watching machines Camera, machines, trains, trams Camera, machines, trains, trams A “choreography” of machines A “choreography” of machines Machines as “perfect hands” – humans become machine- like Machines as “perfect hands” – humans become machine- like The camera “orders” the events to happen The camera “orders” the events to happen "I am the machine that reveals the world to you as only I alone am able to see it." (Dziga Vertov) "I am the machine that reveals the world to you as only I alone am able to see it." (Dziga Vertov)

Eisenstein’s Legacy Fast cutting makes the pulse rate increase Images of horror “program” the audience The camera/projector as a gun: a machine applied to human beings Cinema of cruelty

CinemetricsCinemetrics: a new science Created by Yuri Tsivian “What do we learn about films from calculating their average shot lengths? I once applied this method to compare the average shot length of Kuleshov’s films against the films made by his teacher Yevgenii Bauer, and when I put my data side by side with world-wide data collected by others, I felt my heart beat faster, for it turned out that between 1917 and 1918 the cutting tempo of Russian films had jumped from the slowest to the fastest in the world.”

Sergei Eisenstein’s October (Ten Days that Shook the World) (1927) Dramatic reenactment of the events of October 1917 Shows the masses storming the Winter Palace Soldiers in Winter Palace

October (1927) by Sergey Eisenstein

Response of Andrei Tarkovsky The long take as a response to Eisenstein’s theory of montage: a poetic cinema rather than a cinema of cruelty Ultimate response to montage: Aleksandr Sokurov’s film The Russian Ark (2003) – filmed entirely in one take “in one breath” without any cutting. The Russian Ark Sokurov shows the family of the tsar, which was shortly to be murdered by the Bolsheviks, and the people beautiful clothes streaming out of the Winter Palace in 1913 four years before the Revolution.