[Film Club] INFJf Film Club - Week Two - Film: Battleship Potemkin (1925)

SarahBS

SarahBS

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Hello everyone :)

To provide a clear discription of what we're doing in this club:

Where it all started:

Partner to watch movies
Week 0: Introduction - The Beginning of Cinema Still needs my attention
Week 1: The Rise of Hollywood
Director in Focus: D.W. Griffith
Film: The Birth of a Nation (1915)
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and now this is Week Two:

Week 2: The Soviet Montage
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Film: Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Now does anyone know what the Soviet Montage is exactly?
[MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] [MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION] [MENTION=1669]Gist[/MENTION] [MENTION=11651]Artisan[/MENTION] [MENTION=5667]Jacobi[/MENTION] [MENTION=13900]Breathlessangel[/MENTION]
 
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SarahBS said:
Now does anyone know what the Soviet Montage is exactly?
Click to expand...


From what we've seen so far, films started off as just short thematic videos.
They then developed to actual stories with a plot, which
at first only looked like stage plays captured on reel.

Then came film pioneers, like D.W. Griffith, who created a certain cinematic language,
using editing techniques. He introduced, in particular, this process called Continuity Editing.
As the name infers, it is a technique wherein separately shot scenes are put together
to create a continuity or a logical sequence to the whole narrative.

Now, Montage (French for 'assembly' or 'setting') is also a film editing technique,
that is also like continuity editing, except the sequencing are more focused on
creating symbolic meanings or associations between the shots, rather than just
editing to show time passage and create a smooth transition between actions.

Some are calling this technique as particularly the 'Soviet' Montage, because
the one that pioneered it was a Soviet Russian filmmaker, our director in focus
this week, Sergei Eisenstein. This technique is also commonly known as
'creative editing', 'smart editing', or 'intellectual montage' in the film post-production process.


I also suggest for you guys to give these articles a read:

http://learnaboutfilm.com/soviet-montage/
http://www.openculture.com/2014/11/...ontage-theory-a-revolution-in-filmmaking.html
 
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Love editing. . . . *drools*

@Satori explained it nicely. It is editing clips together to create associations that show inherent contradictions. One example were intellectual montage used in films such as Battleship Potemkin, where the message is in the juxtaposition of seemingly opposing shots together to show the hypocrisy, corruption, and failed policies of the Soviet leadership.

Other filmmakers associated with this style include Lev Kuleshov (Kuleshov Effect), Dziga Vertov, Vsevolod Pudovkin

Documentary films use this style quite often. Example: Why We Fight

Also, other filmmakers who used the style include Dziga Vertov. See example of newsreel below.

The History of Cutting - The Soviet Theory of Montage

[video=youtube;JYedfenQ_Mw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYedfenQ_Mw[/video]

Dziga Vertov: Kino-Pravda n°1 (1922)

[video=youtube;TXx5LZYEn_c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXx5LZYEn_c&list=PLue4rhsHxp681MTpxGrnkZmX OcaCmyHP2[/video]
 
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Hello Guys
[MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] [MENTION=1669]Gist[/MENTION] [MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION]

I'm here for my confession. Haven't watched the movie yet.Actually I wasn't home that much.Can we have more time for this please?

P.S: Do you think it would be a good idea to watch one movie every two weeks?
 
SarahBS said:
Hello Guys
@Satori @Gist @ezra

I'm here for my confession. Haven't watched the movie yet.Actually I wasn't home that much.Can we have more time for this please?

P.S: Do you think it would be a good idea to watch one movie every two weeks?
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm good with that. :)
 
[MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] [MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION] [MENTION=1669]Gist[/MENTION]

Guys , have you watched the movie?
I'm watching it right now and it's Russian and I don't understand anything :D
 
SarahBS said:
[MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] [MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION] [MENTION=1669]Gist[/MENTION]

Guys , have you watched the movie?
I'm watching it right now and it's Russian and I don't understand anything :D
Click to expand...

I tried and couldn't!
 
OK guys, Gonna watch the movie tonight.Finally after 2 busy weeks I'm free to go again :)
 
I'm thinking about this thread and wonder why I can't finish watching the movie that I wanted to watch 25 days ago!!
Any ideas? [MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION] , [MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] [MENTION=1669]Gist[/MENTION] ?
 
Hey guys,

Sorry that I haven't been active this last month! I've been busy with english literature from the 15th century and text analysis en masse ...

It has been suggested that we move on to awaken our interests in the film club - I wholeheartedly agree! How about we move on to Chaplin and the silent era? :) As you all know, I'm a huge fan of his film City Lights. It's on many lists of the best films of all time.

To awaken your interest, here's a song that Chaplin himself composed for the film. It's called La Violetera, and it is the overture for the classic Flower Girl scene. In my opinion it's maybe the finest romantic song in film history.

[video=youtube;AyIRsXMUuAI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyIRsXMUuAI&list=RDAyIRsXMUuAI[/video]

What do you guys think? :)

[MENTION=13542]SarahBS[/MENTION] and [MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION]
 
[MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION] , accept my regards for your university , buddy :D
Well I do agree.I also need to know more about Chaplin , so gonna start it tomorrow :)

Nice music btw ^^
 
I've also been slacking these past few, so I agree with changing our direction. :)

We could choose to make the rest of the films as just optional for studies,
so I'm okay with moving on to Chaplin's City Lights as well, instead.

Yup, lovely music! What can this guy not do?! :D
 
Wow, never new Chaplin could compose music. Beautiful.
 
Yeah neither did I [MENTION=1669]Gist[/MENTION]. cool . lots of things to know about him ^^
Join us to watch the next movie ^^
 
Gist said:
Wow, never new Chaplin could compose music. Beautiful.
Click to expand...

He was a musical child prodigy in London. When he retired from music, he spent his time composing music to his early classic black/white movies, which is what we hear now when we watch them :-)

Chaplin is so underrated by the public. He wasn't just a guy dressed as a tramp, he labored so hard over each scene and joke. It took two and a half years to produce and film City Lights, because he wanted it to be his masterpiece. It was only possible then because he owned his own studio. Back then it was an obscene amount of time to spend on a film.
 
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