In year 1925, the twentieth anniversary of the 1905 Russian Revolution, a piece of cinema history was created. Commissioned by the government to commemorate the twenty year anniversary, Sergei Eisenstein directed the film “Bronenosets Potyomkin” (“Battleship Potemkin”). Within this film is one of the most famous film sequences to have ever been made: “The Odessa Steps Sequence” (Gomery 127). It was in this sequence that Eisenstein made famous his editing technique which was known as “Soviet Montage.” While other editing techniques, such as French Mise-en-scene have come into respected use in film; Soviet Montage remains one of the most influential techniques to be used in modern cinema.
The Odessa Steps Sequence is the most often shown film segment in college film courses (Gomery 127). Going against normal techniques of organized, smooth editing; Eisenstein created this segment as a combination of various uneven and jolting shots in order to agitate and shock the audience into the gravity of the situation presented. While other directors may have chosen to focus on one specific character, Eisenstein follows many people through the sequence in order to give it more of a real world tone (Gomery 127). In the editing he juxtaposes shots of people fleeing down the steps, a mother seeing her son trampled to death before she is gunned down, and perhaps the most iconic shot of a stroller rolling down the stairs amidst gunfire and dead bodies (Battleship Potemkin). The resulting sequence was a gut wrenching spectacle drawing all of the audience into sympathy with the Soviet Revolution.
Despite Eisenstein’s significant advances within the Soviet Montage movement, the real father of the movement was Lev Kuleshov. Kuleshov postulated that a single shot is not influenced by the whole context of the film, as postulated by Hollywood, but simply by the shots before and after it. Kuleshov is also known for a series of experiments he conducted such as the fabricated landscape (shooting two actors in separate parts of a city and using editing to make them look like they are together) and the famous Mozzhoukin experiment in which he showed that an editor can create the illusion of emotion on an actor’s face by cutting to various things the actor would be looking at (Gomery 116). Another key player in the development of Soviet cinema was Kuleshov’s Assistant Director, Vsevolod Pudovkin (IMDB). Pudovkin, while being one of the most conventional Soviet filmmakers, is also known for stressing the importance of good editing more so that his peers in Western Europe (Gomery 124) . Specifically in his later film “Mother’ (1926) Podovkin shows his extensive use of editing when a character is released from prison and he creates the idea of his joy by multiple cuts of his face as well as things in the room. While the film industry of other nations was focusing on acting and directing Pudovkin stressed underacting and discovered that more authentic emotion could be created though proper editing that through overdramatic acting (Gomery 124). All of these filmmakers have unique visions on what is best for a film but they all recognize the importance of proper editing techniques, not only to move the film along, but also to enhance the power of the film itself.
After several decades of filmmaking by the aforementioned directors, there came another influential player in the course of film history. It was the French critic and theorist, Andre Bazin, who fathered the mise-en-scene movement which has been defined as an attempt to preserve temporal and spatial integrity of a film. This consists of very long unbroken shots of the actors as they proceed through detailed sets in order to bring the audience into a very real looking scene and not distract them by editing. In a critique of the soviet technique Bazin said, “The editing of Kuleshov, of Eisenstein and of Gance did not show the event; they made allusion to it.” While montage stressed the use of a great number of shots a cuts, Mise-en-scene stressed the technique of very long, deeply focused, wide shots in order to get the audience involved in what felt like a very real location, directly showing them that it was not “fabricated reality” as done by Kuleshov (Hollywood’s Golden Age). To show the differences between the two editing styles we can look the number of shots and the average shot length of a film from each style. Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin” (86 min) consisted of 1,346 shots with an average length of 3.8 seconds. However, M. Night Shymalan’s contemporary mise-en-scene film “Unbreakable” (106 min) consisted of 322 shots with an average length of 18.7 seconds. According to M. Night Shaymalan, “Basically, the number one benefit of pacing it like that, is that you feel part of that world, more so, it helps me achieve a symbiotic relationship between the main character and the audience, which is the goal.” However, there are significant drawbacks to the technique of Mise-en-scene, such as full reliance on excellent acting and the lack of control over the rhythm and pace of the film. Another example of mise-en-scene editing is in the film “Citizen Kane,” a film regarded by many to be the greatest film ever made. Therefore clearly the technique of mise-en-scene editing is a very well respected and often used technique giving some competition to the use of Soviet montage (Hollywood’s Golden Age). Even Eisenstein himself, later in his life, began teaching his students to use a variety of techniques, including that of French mise-en-scene (Miller 150).
However, montage is by no means without influence in notable films of the modern era. Despite the demise of Eisenstein’s form of montage when Stalin took over the Soviet film industry (Gomery 126), the techniques that he and other Soviet filmmakers pioneered were adopted by well-known 20th century filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock and Francis Ford Coppola. Hitchcock in particular was intrigued by the use of montage, specifically Kuleshov’s Mozzhoukin experiment. In a time period where visual and special effects were harder to work, Hitchcock made a good use of particularly fast montage in order to show a murder in his film “Psycho” (1960). Several of Coppola’s films, including “Apocalypse Now” and “The Godfather” also show quite of bit of montage (Soviet Montage). Montage editing has found extensive use in many Oscar winning films in the last decade, especially in those films which capitalize on action sequencing. The technique of soviet montage is very useful in creating the fast paced and chaotic feel that many action scenes need, whereas mise-en-scene editing gives the slower intensity necessary for dramatic films. The lobby scene in the 1999 film “The Matrix” is a famous action sequence in which editor Zach Staenberg draws on the technique of montage to create an incredibly intense and artistic spectacle (IMDB). With multiple cuts between a multitude of subjects such as empty brass, splinters of concrete, muzzle flashes, and the characters, Staenberg keeps the audience deeply engaged in the scene while keeping the fast pace and rhythm dictated by the script. In 2007, Christopher Rouse was awarded an Oscar for his work editing the film “The Bourne Ultimatum” (IMDB). The Bourne films are an excellent modern day example of montage editing (Soviet Montage). At points, the cutting is so fast that the viewer cannot even make out what is happening but, due the editing pace, is still captivated by the intensity. The mix of music, handheld shaky camera operation, and extremely quick cutting creates the necessary feeling of extreme speed and dramatic intensity. Likewise, in the 2001 historical drama, “Black Hawk Down,” Academy Award winning editor Pietro Scalia (IMDB) uses a somewhat less extreme version of montage in the opening scene where the American soldiers fly into Mogadishu. His great variety of shots mixed with the mournful sounding African music, adds a solemn yet intense foreshadowing to the film. In addition, he also uses a faster version of montage during the extremely intense combat scenes on the ground. Therefore, while certain award winning directors and editors choose to use editing that leans toward the Mise-en-scene movement, there is still a great use of the montage technique in highly respected contemporary film.
In conclusion, we can see that while other methods of film editing have gained prevalence in the respected film community, but the technique of Soviet Montage remains an avid influence in many award winning films up into the 21st century. Despite the fact that “Citizen Kane,” known for Mise-en-scene editing (Hollywood’s Golden Age), is known as the greatest picture of all time; the film sequence most often used in film school is still Eisenberg’s monumental “Odessa Steps Sequence.” Despite the end of the Soviet Montage movement with the coming of Josef Stalin (Gomery 126), the work of Kuleshov, Eisenberg, and Pudovkin has been reborn countless times over the years. Filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, and Paul Greengrass have made excellent use of a timeless technique in a variety of genres from horror, to action, to drama (Soviet Montage). From the Odessa Steps to the Battle of Mogadishu, soviet montage has remained a clear influence upon the work of many renowned film editors over the years.
Works Cited
“Battleship Potemkin.” IMDB. N.p.. Web.
“Black Hawk Down.” IMDB. N.p.. Web.
“Christopher Rouse.” IMDB. N.p.. Web.
Eisenstein, Sergei, dir. Battleship Potemkin. Prod. Jacob Bliokh. 1925. Film.
Gomery, Douglas. Movie History: A Survey. 2nd Ed. New York: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Greengrass, Paul, dir. The Bourne Ultimatum. Dir. Frank Marshall. 2007. Film.
“Lev Kuleshov.” IMDB. N.p.. Web.
Miller, Jamie. Soviet Cinema; Politics and Persuasion under Stalin. London: E.B. Tauris, 2010. eBook
“Pietro Scalia.” IMDB. N.p.. Web.
Porter, Bradley. “Hollywood’s Golden Age- Mise-En-Scene.” Cornerstone. Michigan, Grand Rapids. . Lecture
Porter, Bradley. “Soviet Montage.” Cornerstone. Michigan, Grand Rapids. . Lecture.
Scott, Ridley, dir. Black Hawk Down. Prod. Jerry Bruckheimer. 2001. Film.
“Sergei M. Eisenstein.” IMDB. N.p.. Web
“The Bourne Ultimatum.” IMDB. N.p.. Web.
“The Matrix.” IMDB. N.p.. Web.
“Vsevelod Pudovkin.” IMDB. N.p.. Web.
The Shot and The Cut 