medium specificity definition soviet montage

In his theory Eisenstein proposes that there are five methods of montage. Eisenstein wrote of montage that it is “fundamental to cinema” (attractions,26) and the rest of his theory certainly displays that, with montage being used as a tool not only to evoke an emotional response in the audience but also an intellectual response. According to Eisenstein’s theory, montage in film is the combination of neutral shots used together to display a singular ideology or meaning. With the theories of this industry relying so firmly on the idea of montage as a truly impactful part of film it is important to understand its ‘methods’. This new, much more complex cinema was revolutionary and allowed for growth to transpire in the industry. Eisenstein cited montage as the ‘collision’ of shots, suggesting that Russian audiences struggled to appreciate it as they were used to films which encompassed simple visual aids with lectures or propaganda speeches played over the top of them. Pioneers such as Sergei Eisenstein and Hitchcock practiced such methods, as well as director V.I Pudovkin, who stated ‘Editing is the basic creative forced, by power of which the soulless photographs are engineered into living, cinematographic form’ (Bordwell and Thompson 217). An important product of Soviet cinema was ‘Soviet montage theory’, which was an approach aimed at analysing the use of editing and its impact on spectatorship. Eventually the Russian empire was able to get back on its feet and found a source of money to create short propaganda films, intended to encourage the public to accept the new soviet ideologies and boost morale. However, the film industry did not remain on top as between World War 1 and key workers in the industry (producers, directors, actors etc.) began to leave the country.

On the 17th of January 1922 Lenin established the Directives of the Film Business, which called for the registering of all the films that would be shown in Soviet Russia and also charged rent to the cinemas whilst censoring the type of films they could distribute. Stalin also later adapted this same mentality, further valuing advancement in Soviet cinema. Everyone was able to watch a film and interpret the messages behind it and Lenin was very aware of this, therefore making it the number one source of propaganda for the USSR, stating that ‘the cinema is for us the most important of the arts’ (quoted, Taylor, 445). Vladimir Lenin supported this movement as the first political leader to understand the importance of cinema and its ability to convey ideas and messages to audiences regardless of their level of intelligence. They did not waste any time when it came to discovering that cinema was a key propaganda tool due to its popularity amongst the Russian public. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was replaced by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the 30th of December 1922. Throughout this blog, we will reference the works of Hitchcock and Godard, reframing the canon through the lens of Soviet Theory, and will subsequently examine the recent Rocky franchise as an example of a recent, mainstream instance of this montage technique. Considering the pioneering works of Eisenstein and Kuleshov, we will trace the rich lineage of Soviet Montage, investigating its impact on popular film throughout recent history.

Now over a century old, the cinematic theories of the Moscow film school have proven themselves a foundation for modern cinema.

Medium specificity definition soviet montage