1. Soviet Montage Movement 1917-1933
COM 320—History of Film
Soviet Montage Movement

2. Defining Characteristics
“Montage. . . as a collision of elements. . . Imitated the Marxist concept of the dialectic. . . ‘intellectual cinema’ attempts not to tell a story but to convey abstract ideas, as a political tract might”

3. Form & Style: Editing Most Important
Narrative structure—social forces

4. Form & Style: Editing Most Important
Large number of shots

5. Form & Style: Editing Most Important
“Kuleshov effect” of juxtaposed shots (MORE later in Editing PPT)

6. Form & Style: Editing Most Important
Maximization of dynamic tension through two opposing editing techniques (MORE later in Editing PPT)
(1) overlapping editing
(2) elliptical (i.e., jump cut) editing

7. Form & Style: Editing Most Important
Non-diegetic inserts (MORE later in Editing PPT)
e.g., Slaughterhouse footage near end of Strike

8. Background In a commercial film context
Artistically, derived from Constructivism, viewing artwork as machine; montage; no elite art
However, commercial success was secondary to serving the national interest; a national cinema
The development of a national cinema—the State Film School in 1919, under the control of the Narkompros (People’s Commissariat of Education)

9. See Handout--Flowchart of Soviet Montage Influences

10. Other Film Types in that Nation at that Time
Very few domestic alternatives
Surprising importance of imports (e.g., Thief of Bagdad ran for years)

11. Importance of Movement
Although Battleship Potemkim was seen around the world, its main impact was later, and certainly limited to style/technique—the content was not widely imitated.

12. Important Practitioners
Lev Kuleshov ( ) & his workshop

13. Important Practitioners
Sergei Eisenstein ( ) (Battleship Potemkin, Strike)

14. Important Practitioners
Vsevolod Pudovkin ( ) (Mother)

15. Important Practitioners
Dziga Vertov ( ) (The Man with the Movie Camera)

16. Important Practitioners
Lev Kuleshov & his workshop
Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin, Strike)
Vsevolod Pudovkin (Mother)
Dziga Vertov (The Man with the Movie Camera)
Note that Kuleshov, Eisenstein, and Vertov were all film writers and teachers (i.e., scholars) as well as filmmakers.

17. The Death of the Movement
Soviet Montage called “formalism,” too complex for the mass (Joseph Stalin said…)
1929 five-year plan called for centralization of film, control taken away from the Narkompros (Stalin again)

18. Current Influences and Applications?
Editing!!
See LATER handout and PPT on Origins of Editing Styles and Techniques

19. end