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Source: Wikipedia
The cinema of Russia began
in the Russian Empire,
widely developed in the Soviet Union and in the years
following its dissolution,
the Russian film industry would remain internationally recognized. In the 21st
century, Russian cinema has become popular internationally with hits such as House of Fools, Night Watch,
and the popular Brother.
The Moscow
International Film Festival began in Moscow in 1935. The Nika Award is the main annual national
film award in Russia.
Lev
Vladimirovich Kuleshov (Russian: Лев Влади́мирович Кулешо́в; 13 January [O.S. 1
January] 1899 – 29 March 1970) was a Russian and Soviet filmmaker and film theorist, one of the founders of the world's first film school, the Moscow Film School.
Kuleshov
studied Intolerance obsessively; swapping its parts; changing its
order; and re-constituting its meaning and themes (a task made easier by its
silence). Like a cinematic Doctor Frankenstein, Kuleshov poked and prodded;
re-arranged and re-animated; then did it all again. Breakdown then re-assemble;
breakdown then re-assemble. It was this breathless experimentalism that
yielded the Kuleshov Effect.
Kuleshov studied Intolerance obsessively;
swapping its parts; changing its order; and re-constituting its meaning and
themes (a task made easier by its silence). Like a cinematic Doctor
Frankenstein, Kuleshov poked and prodded; re-arranged and re-animated; then did
it all again. Breakdown then re-assemble; breakdown then re-assemble. It
was this breathless experimentalism that yielded the Kuleshov Effect.
Kuleshov became convinced of the
vaporousness of the shot and, naturally, of the inconsequence of the director
as a cinematographer. In such a psychological setting, the center of Soviet
film shifted from the camera to the editing table; from “production” to
“post-production.” From there it unleashed its “golden age.” For all of its
deformities—or because of them—Soviet montage remains one of the truly lasting
and perpetually fascinating movements in film.
EISENSTEIN’S
FIVE TYPES OF MONTAGE
Sergei Eisenstein
talks about five different methods of montage through out his work. These
varieties of montage build one upon the other so the “higher” forms also
include the approaches of the “simpler” varieties. These are the five:
Metric - Where the editing follows a specific number of frames, this is based purely on the physical nature of time, cutting to the next shot no matter what is happening within the image. The reason for this is to get an emotional reaction from the audience.
Rhythmic - The cutting happens for the sake of continuity. This creates visual continuity but it may also be used in order to keep with the pace of the film. A good example of this is the the legendary car/train chase scene in The French Connection.
Metric - Where the editing follows a specific number of frames, this is based purely on the physical nature of time, cutting to the next shot no matter what is happening within the image. The reason for this is to get an emotional reaction from the audience.
Rhythmic - The cutting happens for the sake of continuity. This creates visual continuity but it may also be used in order to keep with the pace of the film. A good example of this is the the legendary car/train chase scene in The French Connection.
Tonal - A tonal montage uses the emotional
meaning of the shots. Not just manipulating the temporal length of the cuts or
its rhythmical characteristics. The point of this is to elicit a reaction that
is more complex than Rhythmic and Metric. An example of this is in one of
Eisenstein’s fllms called Battleship Potemkin where the
character ‘Vakulinchuk’ dies.
Overtonal - An accumulation of metric, rhythmic,
and tonal montage to synthesise its effect on the audience for an even more
abstract and complicated effect.
Intellectual - Uses a combination of shots from outside the film in order to create a meaning. A good example of this would be the scene from apocalypse now where Klutz is being executed. They mix in shots of a water buffalo being slaughtered.