![]() He describes film as something that is not shot, but rather, built. Pudovkin, who was also a theorist and Soviet filmmaker, had his own theories about montage and editing, many of which he explains in Film Technique and Film Acting. Intellectual montage developed out of his desire to have a cinema that functioned “through the abstract word that leads to a concrete concept” (Goodwin 82). This method creates a juxtaposition of shots, placed in such a way as to extract intellectual meaning, something that cannot be achieved through individual shots. Eisenstein placed the greatest emphasis on the final category, intellectual montage. Overtonal montage, also referred to as associational montage, combines the aforementioned metric, rhythmic, and tonal montage. Tonal montage uses the emotional meaning of shots to obtain an audience reaction and is based largely on content. For instance, music can be used to create rhythm and form a forward moving trajectory. Rhythmic montage is similar to metric montage in that it uses cuts based on time, but it also uses what is contained within the shot to create more complex meanings. Using this technique, the filmmaker inserts a cut after a certain number of frames, regardless of what is occurring in the shot. Metric montage employs cuts based on how many frames are in each shot. In order to most effectively alter images, Einstein developed different methods of montage broken down into metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal, and intellectual. Eisenstein refutes this theory, explaining that cinema should be used for a greater purpose than attempting to capture reality, which can only be accomplished through the manipulation of images, often in the form of montage. In keeping with this notion, he believes that cinema should only be real and truthful and therefore embraces the documentary form of filmmaking, depicting life as it is. He feels that the cine-eye has the capacity to help man evolve into a more precise form (Vertov 37). Vertov explains that the world is seen more clearly through the eye of the camera than through the human eye. The term ‘cine-eye’ was coined by Dziga Vertov, another Soviet filmmaker, and refers to the perfection of the camera eye. Eisenstein’s approach involves a sort of violence of cinema, which is exemplified through his statement, “it is not a ‘Cine-Eye’ that we need but a ‘Cine-Fist.” He explains that that fist should “cut through to the skulls,” so that rather than contemplations, he evokes something in viewers that will lead to action (Eisenstein 59). This method contrasts with standard Hollywood practices, which employ montage as a way of creating understanding. Since he thinks of shots in this way, he uses spatial and temporal dislocation within his films, thus jarring his viewers. According to Eisenstein, elements are not perceived as appearing next to each other, but rather, appear on top of one another. His philosophy is that montage is dialectical, serving as a method of intellectual investigation, and is therefore a representation of Marxism. To him, shots are used to manipulate the emotions of the audience and he uses fast editing and juxtaposition to create maximum impact. ![]() For instance, Eisenstein, a filmmaker and theorist, thinks of montage as collision. Though this may be a national trait, it is impossible to lump Soviet filmmakers together into one group. This divergence represents the unique approach that Soviet filmmakers took towards editing in relation to their American counterparts. While films in America often consisted of around three hundred shots, Soviet films had nearly one thousand. Montage is a particularly noteworthy component of Soviet filmmaking. While some filmmakers, like Vsevolod Pudovkin, composed montages in such a way that a comprehensive story came together, others, such as Sergei Eisenstein, formed montages of jarring images to evoke emotional responses. During the 1920s, filmmakers in the Soviet Union began to form their own ideas and ways of editing that took montage in a new direction. Through montage, filmmakers can take individual shots and juxtapose them together to create meaning. As more filmmakers experimented with this method, they discovered new ways to create a cinema that would change filmmaking for good. Filmmakers first used the technique of montage as a way to condense time and space.
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