Classical Hollywood Vs Classical Cinema Essay

Two vastly different cinematic forms emerged in the later 1910s and 1920s: the Soviet Montage movement and the Classical Hollywood cinema. Both styles are simply ways to further alter films in a more creative manner. The Soviet Montage movement was one of the biggest contributions of the film industry in the Soviet Union to worldwide cinema, which relied heavily on editing. The Soviet Montage uses a series of images which connect together, making up the entirety of the film. In the American film industry, the Golden Age of cinema began in the late 1920s with the Classical Hollywood style. Classical Hollywood style employs continuity editing and a more structured narrative—the beginning, middle, and end.

Classical Hollywood films in the Golden Age in the United States contained complex storylines with cause-and-effect. For Hollywood filmmakers, the Classical Hollywood style was a persuasive and effective form of storytelling. Classical Hollywood cinema was by no means simplistic, as many films have complex plot webs. Because Classical Hollywood filmmakers used continuity editing, their focus was not to be as artistic as possible. One of the biggest differences between Classical Hollywood cinema and the Soviet Montage cinema lies in the causal agents—psychological vs. social.
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