Advanced Editing Notes: 3. Soviet Montage and 4. Realism

3a. Pudovkin's concept of constructive editing was that each shot should have a new intention on purpose and point. He believed that juxtaposition of shots could form meaning between two shots. The individual shots themselves were not as constructive towards the meaning of the scene itself. He used close ups in a unified order to also help create meaning. Long shots were too close to reality, and montages of close ups, textures, symbols, and other selected details were most effective in expressing the film's idea.

3b. The Kuleshov effect shows that juxtapositions create emotion, not the performance of the actor themselves. He believed ideas are created by linking fragmentary ideas to make a fluid action. These ideas don't even have to be related in life. An example of this can be seen in Spielberg's movie, Schindler's List.   This film had been shot in black and white, but Spielberg intentionally colors a little girl dressed in red to be able to be spotted out in the midst of all the action of clearing the Jewish ghettos. We close in on the little girl and see her being carefree and skipping everywhere to symbolize innocence. However, the shots that follow consist of gruesome and horrid scenes. With this contrasting juxtaposition, an idea of sympathy or sorrow is heavily created. However, this example leans a bit more towards Eisenstein, who developed the Kuleshov effect into context within the scene.

3c.  Eisensteinian montage is an adaptation of the Kuleshov effect explained earlier. Eisenstein had taken this effect, and used it within elements of a scene, rather than shots unrelated in life. Eisenstein heavily believed life was about constant change and contrasting opposites. In Odessa Steps, the Eisensteinian montage was evident when we see a child falling down the steps as the army's advancing and taking innocent lives. 

4a. Bazin believed that what attracted an audience the most was the direct relationship of realism. His opinion was that editing and unorganized shots caused a scene to lose its effectiveness. Film could be much more simplistic and effective without editing and montages. Montages were only one of many techniques that filmmakers had at their disposal.

4b.  Realist filmmakers strive for a sense of simplicity, and disinterest in a forced approach to an idea. Instead, audiences are expected to gather their own opinion and form an idea based of what they are given within a scene. They believed the essence of reality relied in ambiguity, allowing the audience to develop an idea of their own.

4c. Realist filmmakers do not believe in juxtaposing shots, montages, or heavy editing. Instead, they make use of other techniques, such as, long shots, wide screen, lengthy takes, deep focus, panning, craning, tilting, or tracking. They did not cut to individual shots, for they believed this was too direct of an action to allow the audience to develop their own idea. Cutting was a technique more manipulative of the audience to force an idea into their heads.