Expressionism, Impressionism & Soviet Montage Cinema
Expressionism, Impressionism & Soviet Montage Cinema
Expressionism, Impressionism & Soviet Montage Cinema
Seppälä
Expressionism,
Impressionism
&
Soviet
Montage
Cinema
German
Expressionism
• In
the
1920s
German
cinema
was
second
only
to
Hollywood
• Expressionism:
art
where
reality
is
distorted
in
order
to
express
emoCons
or
inner
vision
• Das
Cabinet
des
Dr.
Caligari
(1920)
• Expressionist
films
are
disCncCve
for
their
use
of
mise-‐
en-‐scéne
• Distorted
and
exaggerated
sets,
highly
stylised
acCng,
strong
shadows
• FantasCc
elements
moCvate
uncanny
mise-‐en-‐scène
Franz
Marc
–
Deer
in
the
forest
Some
Expressionist
Films
Das
Cabinet
des
Dr.
Caligari
(Wiene,
1920)
Der
Golem
(Wegener
&
Boese,
1920)
Genuine
(Wiene,
1920)
Der
Müde
Tod
(Lang,
1921)
Dr.
Mabuse,
der
Spieler
(Lang,
1922)
Nosferatu
(Murnau,
1922)
SchaXen
(Robison,
1923)
Die
Niebelungen
(Lang,
1924)
Faust
(Murnau,
1926)
Kammerspiel
and
the
New
ObjecCvity
• Kammerspiel
=
The
chamber
drama
• The
chamber
drama
concentrates
on
few
characters
and
explores
their
life
in
great
detail
• Slow
acCon,
emphasis
on
details
and
emoCons
• Small
number
of
seangs
• Many
arCsts
moved
towards
social
criCcism
and
began
a
trend
known
as
the
new
objec<vity
• Filmmakers
explored
life
as
it
was
lived
on
the
streets
• These
films
exploit
social
ills
French
Impressionism
• Hollywood
imports
dominated
French
film
market
and
local
producCon
was
in
a
crisis
in
the
1920s
• Many
French
filmmakers
worked
for
their
own
small
producCon
companies
• A
new
generaCon
of
filmmakers
explored
the
cinema
as
an
art
(impressionsim/avant-‐garde)
• They
were
interested
in
pictorial
beauty
and
psychology
• Impressionism
aims
to
capture
the
visual
impression
made
by
a
scene
(a
movement
in
the
19th
century)
• La
Dixième
symphonie
(1918)
Claude
Monet
-‐
Sunrise
French
Film
Theory
• Art
creates
an
experience
and
that
experience
leads
to
emoCons
• Artworks
are
evocaCve
and
suggesCve
• What
is
the
essence
of
cinema?
Is
it
the
synthesis
of
all
other
arts?
Is
there
something
unique
in
cinema?
• Photogénie
as
the
basis
of
the
cinema
• The
cinema
lends
an
object
a
new
expressivity
by
giving
the
viewer
a
fresh
percepCon
of
it
• Films
should
be
based
on
visual
rhythms
Formal
Traits
of
Impressionism
• The
impressionist
films
contain
various
visions,
memories
and
dreams
• Filters
used
to
affect
the
look
of
the
images
• SuperimposiCons
• ReflecCng
surfaces
like
windows
and
mirrors
• Images
out
of
focus
• Slow
moCon
• Camera
movements
• Rapid
ediCng
(since
1923)
• RealisCc
mise-‐en-‐scène
Some
Impressionist
Films
La
Dixième
symphonie
(Gance,
1918)
J’Accuse
(Gance,
1919)
El
Dorado
(L’Herbier,
1921)
La
Roue
(Gance,
1922)
Coeur
fidèle
(Epstein,
1923)
Crainquebille
(Feyder,
1923)
L’InondaCon
(Delluc,
1924)
La
Fille
de
l’eau
(Renoir,
1925)
Menilmontat
(Kirsanoff,
1926)
Napoléon
vu
par
Abel
Gance
(Gance,
1927)
The
Soviet
Montage
Cinema
• Aner
the
October
revoluCon
one
secCon
of
Russian
film
industry
went
into
exile
• Soviet
filmmakers
strove
to
broke
with
the
heritage
and
wanted
to
create
a
new
cinema
• A
state
film
school
was
established
in
1919
• The
Kuleshov
effect:
the
meaning
of
a
montage
sequence
in
cinema
is
determined
not
by
the
content
of
the
montage
elements,
but
their
juxtaposiCon
• Cinema
as
a
tool
for
propaganda
and
educaCon
• The
BaHleship
Potemkin
(1925)
Vladimir
Tatlin
–
Monument
for
the
third
internaConal
ConstrucCvism
and
Film
Theory
• ConstrucCvism
is
an
aestheCc,
which
is
based
on
the
futurist
cult
of
the
machine
• Art
inevitably
fulfils
a
social
funcCon
• ArCst
as
an
engineer
• An
artwork
is
like
a
machine
(put
together
from
parts)
• An
artwork
can
be
calculated
to
elicit
a
certain
reacCon
• Montage
was
seen
as
the
basis
of
revoluConary
cinema
• Soviet
filmmakers
had
different
montage
concepCons
• Sergei
Eisenstein:
in
montage
anCtheCcal
elements
clash
and
produce
a
synthesis
that
goes
beyond
both
Formal
Traits
of
the
Montage
Cinema
• Many
montage
films
downplay
individual
characters
• These
are
films
about
masses
and
crowds
• Rapid
ediCng
speed
• Individual
acCons
are
onen
broken
into
shots
• Overlapping
ediCng
• EllipCcal
ediCng
• Low-‐angel
framings
and
blank
backgrounds
• RealisCc
mise-‐en-‐scène
• Stylise
acCng
(characters
are
onen
types)
Some
Montage
Films
Strike
(Eisenstein,
1925)
The
BaXleship
Potemkin
(Eisenstein,
1925)
Mother
(Pudovkin,
1926)
The
House
on
Trubnoya
Street
(Barnet,
1927)
The
End
of
St.
Petersburg
(Pudovkin,
1927)
October
(Eisenstein,
1928)
Lace
(Yutkevich,
1928)
Man
with
a
Movie
Camera
(Vertov,
1929)
Earth
(Dovzhenko,
1930)