Filmtoallogy: 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.

Intellectual Montage is a type of editing which use different related elements as the visual metaphor to bring out the meaning of the scene. By using this montage style, it can deepen the meaning of a particular scene. The way it shows the meaning also not in direct way but using the different visuals to show the meaning or the feeling that director wants audience to know and feel.

In “Hanna”, the director used Intellectual montage in the scene where Hanna went to an internet café to checks out the information about DNA because she gets her DNA report which says she has abnormal DNA. In this scene, when Hanna types the word “DNA”, it shows many relevant information and experiments about DNA in visual. The director used montage editing to shows the shots which related to DNA. By watching the montage, audience will know that Hanna is searching information about DNA, and by observing Hanna’s expression after she read that information, audience can know about Hanna has abnormal DNA and as well as her background. Audiences can understand the meaning of the scene by the montage and without a direct narration of the scene.