Soviet Montage
While the number of films that utilized the Soviet Montage film style were few in number, the lasting influence of this style and theory would stand the test of time and find its way into many prominent films, eventually integrating itself as a cinematic staple. The basis for the soviet montage finds its routs in revolutionary Russia. Under Vladimir Lenin, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was born. Lenin would appoint a man by the name of Narkompros to control the film industry. Lenin saw film as a crucial propaganda tool, as film has the power to sway emotions and infuriate a populace. Under Narkompros, the State Film School was born. One of the schools most influential students went by the name of Lev Kuleshov. It would be Kuleshov who would go to establish the movement known as the Soviet Montage.
The Soviet Montage is an interesting idea in and of itself. Skewing from the typical Hollywood mentality of embedding editing into their films and keeping it from being noticed, the Soviet Montage took the other path. Editing became the central tool of a Soviet Montage film, even to the point where few characters were given names, as story took a backseat to the emotions attempting to be conveyed. And it was this which was central to the Soviet Montage: the ability of the film to sway emotions and instigate ideas in the minds of the viewers. Gone was the traditional Hollywood 180 degree rule or the consistent use of the same angles and adhering to a familiar direction; the montage films broke rules as to provide every viewpoint imaginable. By showing these contending perspectives, (for example, moving from a long shot of a mass exodus of people down the steps to a medium shot of a women falling to a close up on a bleeding boy to another long shot of an engaging army) the viewer is able to get the full range of views.
One of the most powerful abilities of the Soviet Montage is its ability to portray not the actual scenario of what occurred, but how such scenarios felt to someone who was there. Montages did not play in real time, but in perceived time. Moments that would typically feel longer to a bystander are portrayed as such. Images used range from things such as close-ups of things that could describe the mood to others that have no actual relation to the story but contain a similarity, weather it be an emotional similarity (i.e. a flickering candle to show an end) to a physical one (a butcher killing an animal to represent slaughter).
Director Sergei Eisenstein was one of the greatest Soviet Montage directors in History. His films, including Strike, Potemkin, October, and Old and New brilliantly utilized the soviet montage and became major examples of this method. Eisenstein had his own theory of the montage as well: to him, images should not be seen as linked, but rather conflicting with one another.
The Soviet Montage was one of the great movements of film. The tension its films could create and the passion it stirred became central not only to its design but also its application. More modern films such as Psycho would take advantage of the Soviet Montage to create one of the most commonly recognized film scenes of a generation. What began as a propaganda device grew, changed, and became central to the development of film.
