ISP W20: Influential Soviet Films

Sergei Eisenstein’s influential film:

Battleship Potemkin (1925):

• Based on the mutiny that occurred in 1905 when the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled
• The film was used to consolidate power and spread soviet information- propaganda
• The film was banned in the UK until 1954 as there was worry it would influence a working class revolution
• Broken down into 5 parts
• Themes of revolution- working class
• Explores the living standards and treatment of the working class sailors
• Explores how the working class is treated by people of higher authority and those in charge
• ‘We sailors of Potemkin, must support the workers, our brothers’
• Cuts between image and text on screen
• Uses background non-diegetic music to explore the emotion of characters and set the mood/ atmosphere.
• Music used to set the pace of the scene
• Text is used to show the dialogue between characters, and describe what the characters are doing on screen as if you are following along with the script
• Sound effects/ music are used in relation to the actions and events on screen- for example the gun shots or the sound of the hammer (Rhythmic editing)
• Events are repeated for a purpose to create tension- for example by using close ups/ long shots or smashing the plate on the floor
• Use black and white image- but it shows a red flag
• Camera uses different shaped lens- circular one as if you are looking through a telescope
• Cutting rate increases to create tension- for example when the sailors are fighting or when the soldiers are marching on the steps

Experimental cinema and editing- Soviet montage:

• Gave films depth and meaning allowing to communicate ideas (mainly political and social ones)
• Metric editing– (Example) Image of rotten meat / cleaning of the ship- highlights the soldiers poor conditions
• Metric editing- crowds cheering/ shouting and sailors fighting- sped up to increase pace and tension
• Rhythmic editing– (Example) Massacre on steps- rapid cuts to create tension and imitate the gunshots and deaths
• Tonal Montage- (Example) Death of hero sailor and people mourning/ multiple shots of the sun setting over harbour
• Intellectual– (Example) Soldiers marching juxtaposed by the helplessness of unarmed civilians fleeing- shows the brutality
• Close ups of the lion statue- shows it rising as a metaphor for the Russians rebelling

Dziga Vertov’s influential film:

Man with A Movie Camera (1929):

• Part documentary/ part cinematic art
• Explores the life in a city and the art from of film itself
• No actors, no dialogue, no narrative
• No intertitles or narration
• Follows a city in the 1920’s Soviet Union Russia throughout a day from morning to night
• Filmed over 3 years and 5 different cities
• Depicts scenes of ordinary daily Russian life- ‘Life caught unaware’
• Celebrates the modern city- industry, buildings and dense population
• Wanted to capture ‘objective truth’
• Objective footage would lead to as subjective narrative
• Known as constructive realism- thought to be a universal language of film
• Vertov (director) was part of a group of Soviet film makers called the ‘Kinoks’ who rejected all staged cinema (including sets, actors or a pre-determined story)- in favour of capturing real life
• Wanted to speak to the virtues and imperfections of life in a modern soviet state and society

• Experimental silent film
• Used a variety of complex and innovative camera shots- such as multiple exposure, fast motion, slow motion, freeze frames, match cuts, jump cuts, spilt screen, dutch angles, extreme close ups, tracking shots, camera stills, reverse footage, repeated footage, stop motion, cross fades and super imposition.
• Montage editing
• Included intellectual montage editing- two juxtaposing images of a wealthy woman and a poor working class woman to create a new meaning with a subjective view which reflected the social inequality between the two classes of society
• Rhythmic montage editing- shots were in time with music and sound effects

• Vertov’s Soviet contemporaries were criticized for its focus on form over content. Eisenstein regarded the film as ‘pointless camera hooliganism’. The work was largely dismissed in the West as well.