Soviet Montage, 1925-1933
Lecture 15
Outline of Soviet History
• February Revolution (1917)
• Forced the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II
• Provisional Government headed by Alexander Kerensky
• Little support for Kerensky due to Russia’s ongoing involvement in
WWI
• April: Vladimir Lenin returns from exile
• August: failed coup by General Kornilov to restore the monarchy
• October Revolution (1917)
– Bolsheviks take power with the help of military units that switch
sides
• Civil War (b/t Reds and Whites)
– Whites supported by foreign interventionist troops (France,
Britain, USA)
• Lenin dies 1924
• Stalin becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party
• 1929: Leon Trotsky forced out of the Party and exiled
Soviet Film, 1918-1933
• Three phases
– A. 1918-1920—War Communism (Civil War)—
LOW PRODUCTION
• Industry was not nationalized at first
• Pre-revolution filmmakers mostly left or died
• State Regulatory body emerged: Narkompros (People’s
Commissariat of Education)
– Under Anatoli Lunacharsky
• Lack of equipment and hoarding by private companies of film
stock
• High production of agitki (short propaganda films) and newsreels
• Agit-vehicles
• 1919: industry finally nationalized
• 1919: Narkompros established the state film school
– Lev Kuleshov was on the faculty
KULESHOV EFFECT:
MOZHUKHIN EXPERIMENT
(HITCHCOCK ON BIKINIS:
HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WA
TCH?V=HCAE0T6KWJY )
KULESHOV EFFECT:
THE CREATED SURFACE OF THE EARTH EXPERIMENT
Soviet Film, 1918-1933
• Three phases
– B. 1921-1924—New Economic Policy
• Reintroduction of private ownership
• Film stock reappears
• Lenin: “Of all the arts, for us the cinema is the most
important.”
• 1922 Rapallo Treaty: trade with Germany
– U.S.S.R. could buy equipment on credit
– 99% of films distributed in Soviet distribution were foreign
– This revenue proved crucial for the development of a national
film industry
• National production gets its start
Soviet Film, 1918-1933
• Three phases
– C. 1925-1933—The Montage Movement
• Sovkino, state company takes over
– Tasks
» Open urban theaters
» Make film viewing possible in the countryside through the
purchase of portable projectors
» Produce films that embodied communist ideals
• Pressure to reduce imported films
• Incentive to export films
• Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925) was the first Soviet
Montage film that was popular abroad (in Germany)
WHAT ARE THE STYLISTIC AND NARRATIVE FEATURES OF
EXPRESSIONIST FILM VS. SOVIET MONTAGE?
1.
•Expressionism
Editing
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3.
4.
Sets: artificial not natural
Costumes
Props
Acting
lighting
Enframed image/camerawork
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1.
Unobtrusive
Stationary camera
Eye-level
Straight-on angle
2.
3.
Fantasy, horror
Location/outdoor shooting
Contrasting textures, shapes, volumes
Multiple planes
Lighting: No fill light
Acting: typage, biomechanics, eccentricity
Area of camerawork
(i.e. the enframed image):
•
•
•
4.
Fast editing
Rhythmic editing
Overlapping editing
Elliptical editing
Non-diegetic inserts
Jump cuts
Graphic contrasts
Mise-en-scene/pro-filmic:
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•
•
•
•
Genre
•
*Innovates in the area of editing
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Unobtrusive
Continuity
•
Shot/reverse shot
•
Cross-cutting
2. *Innovates in the area of mise-enscene (i.e. the pro-filmic)
•
•
•
•
•
Soviet Montage
Refusal of conventional straight-on angle
(High/low angles/canted)
Decentered
Low horizon line
Genre
•
Historical; conflict-oriented; epics