Lab (period 1):
Please use your notes and scripts to write your timed essay on the following question:
Please use your notes and scripts to write your timed essay on the following question:
- Using narratology, examine the narrative style and structure of the screenplay you read. Make sure to SUMMARIZE and comment on the narrative aspects of the plot. Discuss characters, setting, and important or key scenes or events that unify or detract from the film's meaning or theme.
The material and information in these short films should be somewhat familiar in the chapter readings we have been assigned for homework.
Period 2: Montage & Sergei Eisenstein
After completing our viewing of German Expressionism clips, let's turn to the Russian director Sergei Eisenstein.
The most influential film maker of early Russian film was Sergei Eisenstein.
Eisenstein is remembered in film for his contribution of the montage. Unlike continuity editing (editing a film to create a clear and concise sequence of events in the narrative (linear)), montage used the juxtaposition of images to create an emotional impact on the viewer.
The montage changed the way filmmakers approached film narrative. It allows a filmmaker to tell a story through a sequence of shots that manipulate time. The jumble of images and cuts of a montage affect the psychological impact and effect of the film's content. See the crash course #8 for more details on how this works. There are 5 types of montage:
Metric
Rhythmic
Tonal
Over-tonal
Intellectual/Ideological
The montage technique is still used in editing today. In a script it is indicated by a series of descriptive lines, each spaced apart to indicate a series of shots, rather than description that would indicate one shot or scene. Click here for an example and click at this link for an explanation of how this works.
Here's a few clips from some of Eisenstein's films:
Eisenstein is remembered in film for his contribution of the montage. Unlike continuity editing (editing a film to create a clear and concise sequence of events in the narrative (linear)), montage used the juxtaposition of images to create an emotional impact on the viewer.
The montage changed the way filmmakers approached film narrative. It allows a filmmaker to tell a story through a sequence of shots that manipulate time. The jumble of images and cuts of a montage affect the psychological impact and effect of the film's content. See the crash course #8 for more details on how this works. There are 5 types of montage:
The montage technique is still used in editing today. In a script it is indicated by a series of descriptive lines, each spaced apart to indicate a series of shots, rather than description that would indicate one shot or scene. Click here for an example and click at this link for an explanation of how this works.
Here's a few clips from some of Eisenstein's films:
- Battleship Potemkin (Odessa Step Sequence) (1925); & Battleship Potemkin (1925, full film)
- Oktober; and (Oktober: the full film 1928)
- Alexander Nevsky (1928) (battle on the ice sequence) - Music by Sergei Prokofiev. We can see how the invention of sound in the next few years will revolutionize film. The exciting tone of the music, nicely reflects the glory, fear, and trepidation of the characters in this scene.
Eisenstein was not the only early Russian filmmaker genius. Enter: Dziga Vertov: Man With a Movie Camera (1929, trailer)
Man With a Movie Camera (1929, full film by Dziga Vertov--another very influential Russian filmmaker. You may watch this film for extra credit, if you'd like.
HOMEWORK: Please read the article on Sergei Eisenstein and complete the crash course videos (#1-#9) if you missed any. [Soviet Montage: Crash Course #8 & Hollywood in the Silent Era: Crash Course #9] and finally, take a look at this short lecture on The History of Cutting that further explains how the Russian montage works.
No comments:
Post a Comment