Soviet Montage vs Contemporary Film

Contemporary film used Soviet montage to reach different objectives. Soviet montage provides an alternative choice for the directors to change the narrative into a more attractive and more suspense ways. For example thriller film always show montage and it become the hints for audience to know the truth of the film or who is the exact killer in the film. In the beginning credits of the film, will show the montage by following of the crew names.  In an audience perspective, audience will based on the montage and try to relate their assumption to the development of story. This will be an invisible interaction between audience and the film.

The pictures above is choose from the movie "Daybreakers" which is act by Ethan Hawke.This movie is about Edward Dalton, a researcher in the year 2019, in which an unknown plague has transformed the world's population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of vampires makes a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race.

Nightfall 2012

I have watched this movie few days ago. During watching this movie, I found out that the techniques of montage are actually applied in this movie.

Sadly to say that I could't post out those screenshot for discussion but I would like to encourage you all to watch this movie. Not only because of the techniques in editing but the story itself is attractive too.

This is a detective kind of movie, guess most of the young adults are actually like because the ending is really unpredictable if you are not pay the full attention on the movie.

Eugene Wang (Nick Cheung) is mute after he wreck his vocal chords to commit suicide in prison. When he was released, he found Tsui's second daughther,Zoe who has the same face with Eva. Han Tsui's is dead. Inspector Lam (Simon Yam) investigate about Tsui's case, the finger of blame is pointed at Eugene.

Influence of Soviet Montage in "Hanna"- Part 2

Referring to the previous post which talks about the influence of soviet montage in “Hanna” movie, we mentioned that the director has used 2 types of Eisenstein montage elements in this movie. The elements that the director used were Overtonal Montage and Intellectual Montage.

Overtonal Montage is a type of editing which combine the similar or relevant elements shots together to make it become a scene which come with its meaning. This montage style shows a combination of clips to make audience know what is happening rather than use the normal or ordinary way to present the narrative. It is an artful way to view the scene.  

The scene in “Hanna” which used the Overtonal montage is the scene where Hanna came to a hotel. In this particular scene, it shows many electronic devices which Hanna has never see before. Because Hanna doesn’t know how to use those electronic devices, when she touches those devices, they are out of control and Hanna start feels panic. To let the audience feel the panic and nervousness which Hanna feels, the director use the Overtonal montage to shows the electronic devices shots and all the objects are spinning.

Film Makers of Soviet Montage (Part 2)

Lev Kuleshov

Lev Kuleshov

The founder of the world's first film school and he is very first film theorist for Soviet Montage. Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin are his students and had develop his theories of montage editing. His theory is about what distinguishes cinema from other arts is its capacity to organize fragments (shots) into meaningful, rhythmical sequences. Editing creates meaning and emotions that go far beyond the meaning and content of individual shots. 

To illustrate this principle, he created what he has come to be known as the Kuleshov Experiment. In this video, shots of an actor were intercut with various meaningful images (a casket, a bowl of soup, and so on) in order to show how editing changes viewers' interpretations of images. Below is a re-creation of the Kuleshov experiment.

In the early post-Revolutionary period, when there was a desperate shortage of everything, including film stock, Kuleshov worked at the new State Film School with a small workshop of actors, refining his techniques in the so-called "films without film." Central to these was the experiment that has become known as the "Kuleshov effect," which demonstrated that the viewer's interpretation of an individual shot is determined by the context (or sequence) in which that shot is seen. The same shot could be interpreted differently in different contexts. But Kuleshov also appreciated the importance of acting and was responsible for developing the notion of the actor as naturshchik or "model," deriving from the Delsartian school of acting technique. By economical and stylised gestures, refined during an intensive period of rehearsal, the naturshchik could convey precise meanings to the audience in accordance with the director's plan. Kuleshov would produce an "action score" for every movement in his films.

Chronology of Soviet Montage Movement (1924-1930)

1917 – February: Tsar Nicholas II is overthrown; the provisional government is established.

            October: The Bolshevik Revolution. Take year to develop national film industry. Private companies resist nationalization- doesn’t supply government theaters, etc.

1918 – Narkompros (the People’s Commissariat of education) takes charge of regulating the film industry.

July: State Commission of Education- restricts sale of film stock- private companies hoard stock.

1919 – August: Nationalization of the film industry, Foundation of the State Film School.

1920 – Lev Kuleshov joins the State Film School and forms his workshop.

            Sergie Eisenstien (Engineer) (works at propaganda delivery in civil war), starts workers theatre-1920 Vsevolod Pudovkin (Chemist), acting debut in play put on by STATE FILM SCHOOL.

            ALL inspired by DW Griffith- Intolerance/BirthofANation (Fairbanks and Pickford), films that kept circulating because of small Russian output.

            None of MONTAGE school where important film makers of PRE-REVOLUTION.

The Influence of Soviet Montage in "Hanna"

According to Eisenstein, there are 5 types of montage: Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and Intellectual montage. In “Hanna”, the director has used the elements of overtonal montage and intellectual in the movie.

Overtonal montage element occur the scene where Hanna was in the hotel. When Hanna walks into the hotel room, she is curious with the electronic devices such as light tubes, kettle, television, fan and etc.  She plays around with the light switch, the hotel manager switch on the television and kettle for her. Hanna touch the kettle when the water is boiled but the surface of the kettle is hot and Hanna gets scald. She tries to close the kettle but she unable to close it, then she start panic because all the electronic devices are out of control. The director use overtonal montage which he cuts the shots of spinning fan, ringing phone, boiling kettle, shower tap and other irrelevant moving object such as helicopter, armies (which showing on television) to show out Hanna’s feeling of panic, anxiety and nervous.

The second montage style be used in this movie is intellectual montage. Hanna accidentally gets her DNA report which stated her has abnormal DNA and this make her confuse with her own background. She went to the internet café to online and checks the information about DNA.

The scene shows that the keywords -“DNA” follow by other words such as “interference” and “intervention into mothers uterus”, it helps audience to related those terms and inference Hanna’s background.  The visual which conduct a series of pictures related to the human experiment, for example experimental rat, DNA chart, a experiment process of test tube inject into cell and state “unsanctioned by scientific community”, a drawing which a bird monster eating a human and birds fly out from human anus, human testing about genetic, finger prints, human development graph and baby born short clips. The elements mention above is to summarize the background of Hanna and shows Hanna carry different DNA with normal people.

Besides, Hanna also search the name of her dad – ‘Erik Heller’, the result of her searching shows that he is related to Hanna’s mother murder cases. The iris of Hanna’s father (Erik) is different form Hanna’s iris. It shows that Hanna has different DNA with her father and she might not biological relations.

Another montage that use by the director is on the scene after Hanna turns on the signal decoder device, then it cut to the scene of Marissa’s bedroom. In the scene it shows Marissa is freshen up herself then it cut back again to Hanna’s house.

Some significant montage that can found in this movie is the scene which shows the soldiers come to Hanna’s house to arrest Erik. There are intercut shots between the close up of Hanna’s eye and a group of soldiers coming towards her house.     

Film Analysis-Hanna 2011

Hanna is a 16 years old girl. But her living influences her so much. From the beginning scene, she is hunting an antelope. Not all the girl can slaughter a huge animal like she does. What she does was taught by his father-Erik Heller. That is the reason she knew few languages and she good in fighting and shooting. She was prepared to help Erik to kill. (Thomas Caldwell,2011)  

Screen shot 1          

Screen shot 1 showing the setting which reflecting the place they are living. It’s empty. Look at the snow, Erik walks in straight line. Hanna is beside him at the first but then she turns and walks in circle which around him. From this particular scene, we could see how the story will go on. The straight line reflected they are living together and they have the same mind set. When the circle starts which Hanna goes out from the wilderness she will be the one who helps Erick. Yes, to kill Merissa. Focus on Erik, he forward the sun. This means he has a hope to achieve which quite far from the place he stays. Hanna, she stands behide him. She looks at him all the way because he is the one she relies on and the one she trust the most. This is respect as a daughter of him.

Characteristic of Soviet Montage

1. Montage editing


Montage editing is emphasizes dynamic and discontinuous relationship in between two different shot. This editing style was developed by the Soviet filmmaker of the 1920s such as Pudovkin, Vertov and Eisenstein. In montage editing, juxtaposition is apply in the film to present the compress narrative film. Juxtaposition is refers to two different shots that have been joined together to make a contrast. Montage editing is classified into five categories:

(a) Metric montage - In metric montage, the shots are joined together according to their absolute lengths of the pieces, in a formula-scheme corresponding to a measure of music

(b) Rhythm montage - It is determining the lengths of the pieces, the content within the frame is a factor possessing equal rights to consideration. Abstract determination of the piece-lengths gives way to a flexible relationship of the actual lengths. It is movement within the frame that impels the montage movement from frame to frame. Such movements within the frame may be of objects in motion, or of the spectator's eye directed along the lines of some immobile object.

(c) Tonal montage - The movement is perceived in a wider sense. The concept of movement embraces all affects of the montage piece. Here montage is based on the characteristic emotional sound of the piece-of its dominant. The general tone of the piece. Besides, working with combinations of varying degrees of soft-focus or varying degrees of "shrillness" would be

a typical use of tonal montage.

(d) Overtonal montage - Intellectual montage is montage not of generally physiological overtonal sounds, but of sounds and overtones of an intellectual sort: i.e., conflict-juxtaposition of accompanying intellectual affects.

(e) Intellectual montage - The intellectual montage will be that which resolves the conflict-juxtaposition of the physiological and intellectual overtones. By using intellectual montage which puts ideas together (A + B = C)

The best example to explain all kind of montage is from the film of Battleship Potemkin, a silent film directed by Sergei Eisensten. This is a most influential films ever made as well as one of the finest examples of film art.

*Silent film: The ideal of silent film begins because during that period great portions of the masses were illiterate and spoke in different dialects.

Film Makers of Soviet Montage (Part 1)

The Roots of Soviet Montage

The new Communist government was interested in encouraging the development of a strong national film industry. But many of the early Soviet filmmakers were too poor to afford cameras and film stock to shoot new films. Instead, they began to experiment with editing old films. They took old footage from pre-revolutionary Russian melodramas and a few rare Hollywood imports and re-cut them and spliced them together in innovative ways.

But these Soviet filmmakers achieved a moment of true epiphany when someone smuggled a print of D. W. Griffiths’s 1916 film Intolerance into the country. Under the tutelage of Lev Kuleshov, a group of film students studied the film and its editing techniques in detail. After a while, they started to experiment with re-editing the film and discovered that they could radically change the meaning or feeling of the film just by editing it differently.

When Lev Kuleshov created his famous film experiment (which we discussed earlier in class today), it prompted many of his students to begin developing “montage theory,” or the theory that images could be combined together in ways that could create new meanings that weren’t inherent to the images themselves.

History of Soviet Montage

The Soviet Montage movement began in 1924/25 and ended at 1930. During the Montage movement's existence, perhaps fewer than thirty films were made in the style.

In 1917 there have been two revolutions in Russia. The February Revolution eliminated the Tsar's government. The second revolution took place in October. Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the revolution and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was created. Narkompros, founded in 1918, controlled the film industry.

Narkompros established the State Film School in 1919. A year later Lev Kuleshov joined the State Film School and formed workshops. Kuleshov's experiments were showing how important editing is and he developed the central idea to the Montage theory and style. A central aspect of his experiments was that the viewer's response in cinema was less dependent on the individual shot than on the editing or montage. Lenin saw cinema as the most important art, most probably because it is an effective medium for propaganda and education.