The Untouchables Essay
SOVIET MONTAGE
Soviet Montage
The Soviet filmmakers who emerged in the aftermath of the 1917 October revolution in Russia were part of an artistic avantgarde committed to innovation and experimentation and the creation of new artistic practices.
Directors Sergei Eisenstein and V. I. Podovkin were part of the formalist tradition in film history. These Russian directors believed that editing was the foundation of film art and they set out to shatter the illusionistic storytelling and seamless continuity cultivated by Classical Hollywood. The pattern of editing established by Hollywood pioneer D.W. Griffith (1915) in his films The
Birth of A Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1919) taught these filmmakers how different shots sizes and camera angles could be combined together in …show more content…
I. Podovkin
The Untouchables (1987): (01:23:00 to 01:32:00)In his big screen remake of the television series The Untouchables, director Brian De Palma uses a key image of the Odessa Steps sequence – a baby carriage hurtling down the steps – as the centre piece of the film’s climatic shoot out between the FBI and the gangsters. This 9 minute suspense sequence is worthy of close study for its stylish use of slow motion, high and low camera angles, tracking camera movements, closeups of faces juxtaposed with long shots of the entire scene, etc.
It is a brilliant illustration of how the technique of editing can manipulate time.
CHARACTERISTICS
1. Metric Montage – The editing work is done according to a specific number of frames, follows by cutting to the subsequent shot regardless of the event within the image. This is done to draw out the fundamental response of the audience.
2. Rhythmic Montage – this is done through cutting based on continuity, producing visual continuity from edit to edit. A very fine example of Rhythmic montage is from II Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo where the protagonist and the two other antagonists face each other in a three-way
Soviet Montage
The Soviet filmmakers who emerged in the aftermath of the 1917 October revolution in Russia were part of an artistic avantgarde committed to innovation and experimentation and the creation of new artistic practices.
Directors Sergei Eisenstein and V. I. Podovkin were part of the formalist tradition in film history. These Russian directors believed that editing was the foundation of film art and they set out to shatter the illusionistic storytelling and seamless continuity cultivated by Classical Hollywood. The pattern of editing established by Hollywood pioneer D.W. Griffith (1915) in his films The
Birth of A Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1919) taught these filmmakers how different shots sizes and camera angles could be combined together in …show more content…
I. Podovkin
The Untouchables (1987): (01:23:00 to 01:32:00)In his big screen remake of the television series The Untouchables, director Brian De Palma uses a key image of the Odessa Steps sequence – a baby carriage hurtling down the steps – as the centre piece of the film’s climatic shoot out between the FBI and the gangsters. This 9 minute suspense sequence is worthy of close study for its stylish use of slow motion, high and low camera angles, tracking camera movements, closeups of faces juxtaposed with long shots of the entire scene, etc.
It is a brilliant illustration of how the technique of editing can manipulate time.
CHARACTERISTICS
1. Metric Montage – The editing work is done according to a specific number of frames, follows by cutting to the subsequent shot regardless of the event within the image. This is done to draw out the fundamental response of the audience.
2. Rhythmic Montage – this is done through cutting based on continuity, producing visual continuity from edit to edit. A very fine example of Rhythmic montage is from II Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo where the protagonist and the two other antagonists face each other in a three-way