Preview

French New Wave Vs. Soviet Montage

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
522 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
French New Wave Vs. Soviet Montage
Evan Thomas
French New Wave v Soviet Montage
The differences between soviet montage and French new wave cinema are interesting and many. Both genres of film seek to create contrast between adjacent shots via discontinuity editing, but subtle differences in their editing styles allow this contrast to produce very different results. In French new wave editing is used to both draw the audience in, and push them away, it draws the audience's attention and inspires distaste. Soviet montage on the other hand uses editing not as a method of controlling the audience's focus, but as a way to create ideas. An analysis of the editing in the Godard's “Breathless” and Eisenstein's “Battleship Potemkin” will highlight these different effects.
In “Breathless”,
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    LA 182 OL2: Genre Cycle Via Film Noir
    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages

    LA 182 OL2: Genre Cycle Via Film Noir

    Glen Debello LA 182 OL2: Genres in Film Denah Johnston 01 Aug 2014 Genre Cycle via Film Noir Film Noir was an American movement that defined its own style of characters, settings and plots. This could have only been brought on by the tumultuous post World War II society. Directors were able to establish a counterpart to the leading man with a seductive and cynical femme fatale. Dark, smoky atmospheres that barely showed the characters as they were committing or organizing a violent crime.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Manchurian Candidate - Film Theory Paper
    • 2783 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Manchurian Candidate - Film Theory Paper

    The Manchurian Candidate was noted for its breakthrough in cinematography, as the scenes were shot in a creative manner that was new and different in that era. It also made use of different editing techniques to seamlessly piece the story together, along with the use of certain recurring Motifs to effectively deliver the story to the audience. This paper would examine how the groundbreaking use of cinematography, editing help to bring across the theme of surrealism, and delivers a thrilling effect while the motifs help bridge the Theme of The Manchurian Candidate with the use of visual elements.…

    • 2783 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Analysis Of The Uninterrupted Shot In The Shining
    • 1412 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis Of The Uninterrupted Shot In The Shining

    While researching on the different techniques applied on previous notable films created by distinguished filmmakers, I learned that they all similarly applied their understanding of human perception into the creation of their craft. To give a better point of comparison among the films cited in this section, all of the movies presented below share a similar technique: the uninterrupted shot. This method was preferred by this researcher in order to identify the differences in styles that were incorporated by each director in presenting his version of the uninterrupted shot. In the 1980 film ¬of Stanley Kubrick entitled The Shining, a long uninterrupted shot of the young boy Danny was shown as he explored the endless hallways of the…

    • 1412 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Classical Hollywood Vs Classical Cinema Essay
    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Classical Hollywood Vs Classical Cinema Essay

    The Soviet Montage cinema developed their own style of editing in which a series of unrelated images were pieced together to connect the message and story. An example of a well-known Montage film is The Man with the Movie Camera (1929) directed by Dziga Vertov. This film featured a startling amount of different shots of nearly anything that is to be found in the city, accompanied by a rather modern-sounding soundtrack. As it is experimental, there is no clear storyline, and Vertov’s intention seemed to be showing rather than telling. Classical Hollywood editing uses continuity editing, a technique…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Eisenstein Montage Lists
    • 3942 Words
    • 16 Pages

    Eisenstein Montage Lists

    The montage lists are technique prepared prior to shooting and entailed a careful concentration of pieces chosen for their capacity to express a developing line of thought, or emotion. The shaping of an image evolved through associational logic, whereby one sense image chased after another; but the development of inner rhythm of the work became an increasingly complex system of unity in diversity. Eisenstein’s montage lists provided a methodological model for Kracauer’s History: The Last Things Before the Last. The montage lists composed by the Soviet filmmaker for the creation of interior monologue of protagonist Clyde Griffiths in An American Tragedy, the product of Eisenstein’s 1930s American visit led Kracauer to the insight that the multiplicity of factors and computations within any historical situation meant that any historical explanation must, by its very nature, be provisional. Eisenstein’s distinction between the depiction reality and creation of a global image is in way similar to that made by the Marxist…

    • 3942 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Do the Right Thing: an Explosion from Within
    • 2775 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Do the Right Thing: an Explosion from Within

    Pudovkin, Vsevolod. “[On Editing].” Film Theory and Criticism. Braudy, Leo and Cohen Marshall. New York: Oxford, 2009. 7-12.…

    • 2775 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Techniques Within Cinematography And Editing In Casablanca
    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Techniques Within Cinematography And Editing In Casablanca

    In the film Casablanca, techniques within cinematography and editing are utilized to help carry the story forward while effectively capturing each character’s centrality to the overall storyline. In cinematography, close-up shots work to place emphasis on each character’s dialogue by centering their faces in the main frame of view. This allows the audience to follow their lives, conflicts, and stories on a more personally engaging level as the film digresses. In editing, the film is tracked by transitions between scenes. These transitions allow the overall story to move forward in a way that is more personal to an audience.…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    La Confidential and Film Noir Essay Example
    • 3316 Words
    • 14 Pages

    La Confidential and Film Noir Essay Example

    One of the most influential film movements in the 1940's was a genre that is known today as film noir. Film noir was a recognizable style of filmmaking, which was created in response to the rising cost of typical Hollywood movies (Buss 67). Film noir movies were often low budget films; they used on location shoots, small casts, and black and white film. The use of black and white film stock not only lowered production costs, but also displayed a out of place disposition that the conventions of film noir played upon. It is these conventions: themes, characters, lighting, sound, and composition, which are seen in the movie LA Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997). This paper discusses the techniques used in LA Confidential that link the movie with the typical cinematic conventions of the film noir style.…

    • 3316 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Italian Lang
    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Italian Lang

    In conclusion, Fritz Lang’s M was a huge step forward in the development of synchronized sound technology after the decline of German Expressionism. Lang’s use of sonic motifs, off-screen sound, sound bridging, and precision silence alongside expressionistic-inspired dark visuals were way ahead of their time. The way Lang edited sound in comparison to the way he edited his visuals was a successful attempt at embracing the new technology and inspired filmmakers for years to…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comparative Evaluation Essay
    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comparative Evaluation Essay

    Your goal in this paper is to compare and contrast some element of two films made by the two most famous silent film actor/directors (although Harold Lloyd has been gaining ground on both in recent years), Buster Keaton’s The General and Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, and to make some kind of evaluative judgment regarding them. Note that you need not — and probably should not — claim one film is better than the other; it is a much easier task to argue that one film does something in particular better than the other. Even saying one film is “funnier” is not the best approach because they employ different kinds of comedy. As always, a specific and well thought-out thesis is key to an effective essay.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Visual Analysis of Breathless (Godard)
    • 3864 Words
    • 16 Pages

    Visual Analysis of Breathless (Godard)

    It isn 't hard to see why Breathless (original title: À Bout de Souffle) manages to distinguish itself from general film, being now or at the time it came out. Despite being the first film by influential French director Jean-Luc Godard, its visual style and unconventional approach has led to the film being labeled as historically significant and brought international acclaim to the French New Wave movement. It is considered a piece of “breakthrough” cinema, a film that immediately stunned the audience in 1960 and continues to do so with modern audiences. Jean-Luc Godard is said to be the most extreme and paradoxical figure in the New Wave movement he co-created, which resulted in this extraordinary piece of cinema. Filming on location in Paris in August and September of 1959, Godard managed to visualize a script written by François Truffaut with cinematographic techniques rarely been used before and a directorial approach involving elements of naturalism and leaving room for improvisation. This resulted in a very unconventional film - hard on the eye but nevertheless touching and provoking. Godard chose to film in a style reminiscent to Paris in the 1950s. This resulted in the use of black and white, very lush but also highly contrasting from time to time. On this, French documentary filmmaker Claude Ventura is quoted saying "In black and white, Paris still looks like it did in Breathless (or New Wave film in general)". Cinematographer on Breathless, Raoul Coutard, captures Paris with a precision as seen in documentary films and therefore adds to the nostalgic feel Godard aimed for. He wanted Coutard to shoot Breathless as if it…

    • 3864 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Alien Me!?
    • 1973 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Alien Me!?

    Your Study Guide offers a discussion of “Thinking and Writing about Film” (Supplementary Unit 2, pp. 127-133) which is part of the assignment for the start-up, and again for the week when this paper should be completed. The accompanying broadcast (shown only in the first week during the summer term, but with repeated broadcasts in the longer spring…

    • 1973 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Battleship Potemkin
    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Battleship Potemkin

    Montage is more than simply a technique. Montage compels you like a book because of what is left to the imagination. Giannetti’s book defines montage as “Transitional sequence of rapidly edited images, used to suggest the lapse of time or the passing of events.” The entire Battleship Potemkin movie gave the impression of a montage. I would not have been able to pay attention throughout the entire movie if it didn’t move so quickly. I must admit that Eisensteins “Battleship Potemkin” film is technically brilliant.…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analytical Essay on "The Notebook" Film
    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Analytical Essay on "The Notebook" Film

    In the early 1900’s silent films amazed audiences with images, later talkies impressed with sound, today we have 3D. As technology continues to evolve so too will film genres. Genres, while having some shared characteristics, also differ in terms of stylistic devices used. For instance, the dramatic film “The Notebook” effectively uses color to reinforce theme and has plausible performers as the two main protagonists.…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Influences and Techniques in French New Wave
    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Influences and Techniques in French New Wave

    - Late 1950s and 1960s - The socio-economic forces at play shortly after World War II strongly influenced the movement. Politically and financially drained, France tended to fall back on the old popular pre-war traditions. One such tradition was straight narrative cinema, specifically classical French film. - The New Wave stimulated discussion about the cinema and helped demonstrate that films could achieve both commercial and artistic success. - Influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema - Never a formally organized movement - "New Wave" is an example of European Art Cinema - Many also engaged in their work with the social and political upheavals of the era, making their radical experiments with editing, visual style and narrative part of a general break with the conservative paradigm - Using portable equipment and requiring little or no set up time, the New Wave way of filmmaking presented a documentary type style - Filming techniques included fragmented, discontinuous editing, and long takes - The combination of objective realism, subjective realism, and authorial commentary created a narrative ambiguity in the sense that questions that arise in a film are not answered in the end - Many of the French New Wave films were produced on tight budgets; often shot in a friend's apartment or yard, using the director's friends as the cast and crew - The cost of film was also a major concern; thus, efforts to save film turned into stylistic innovations - The cinematic stylings of French New Wave brought a fresh look to cinema with improvised dialogue, rapid changes of scene, and shots that go beyond the common 180° axis - New Wave filmmakers made no attempts to suspend the viewer's disbelief; in fact, they took steps to constantly remind the viewer that a film is just a sequence of moving images - Films by New Wave directors were often characterized by a fresh brilliance of technique that was thought to have overshadowed their…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics