Pure photography school

The montage school of the Soviet Union can be said to have the most far-reaching influence on the development of the whole world film history. You can't learn movies without mentioning montage.

Key points of knowledge:

1. The intention of montage: formal aesthetics developed to spread ideas.

2, there are two specific means, one is to choose infectious materials; Second, emphasize the importance of editing.

Time: 1920s-1930s

Characters: Kuleshov, Wiltoff, Eisenstein, pudovkin and Du Fu.

Reason:

1. In the process of overthrowing the czar's rule and establishing a socialist country, powerful propaganda weapons are needed; Therefore, the Montage School can be regarded as an art school with ideological function.

2. Influenced by the avant-garde movement that broke out in Europe;

3. Learn American movies, especially Griffith movies. (Montage technique was used in movies as early as Griffith or even earlier, but it was systematized and theorized by the Soviet Montage School and used consciously and rationally. )

Meaning:

1. Montage theory develops and produces a new media function (montage is widely used in modern TV advertisements), a new information system, a new rhetoric and a new force. As an independent and complete theoretical system of film practice, it has been recognized by people, thus affecting the face of world movies.

2. The Soviet Montage School is not a group with a unified artistic purpose or an artistic declaration. It only refers to the group of artists who were active in the Soviet film industry in the 1920s and 1930s and made contributions to the theory and practice of montage.

3. Montage school basically believes that once editing is adopted, the film has unlimited potential, and montage is simply a useful conductor, leading the audience's thoughts and associations.

Key concepts:

Noun explanation: "Curry Schouw effect"

Soviet film director Lev Kulasov made an experiment through lens editing, which was actually operated by pudovkin. In order to understand the juxtaposition of montage, Kuleshov made a deadpan close-up of the famous Russian actor Mo Youxin, cut it into three segments, and then connected it to the scene of a bowl of soup, a child playing a game and the body of an old woman. As a result, the audience seems to have discovered Mo Youxin's emotional changes in the process of watching-corresponding to hunger, joy and sadness respectively. Kuleshov thus saw the possibility, rationality and psychological basis of montage. He came to the conclusion that it was not the content of one shot, but the juxtaposition of several pictures that caused the emotional reaction of the film. A single shot is only the material, and only by creating montage can it become a film art. He put forward a positive creative program: the structural basis of the film comes not from the real material, but from the spatial structure and montage.

Noun explanation: "movie eye"

This theory was put forward by Soviet documentary director Zga Wiltoff in the early 1920s and put into practice in his creation. He compared the camera to the human eye and advocated that filmmakers should use the camera to capture the surprises of life. Wiltoff's theory of "movie eyes" emphasizes the impromptu observation of reality, but it does not simply record reality. He emphasized the organization of film observation materials, so as to guide the audience to draw clear ideological conclusions. His explanation of "movie eye" is "to explain the visible world by recording". He defined the role of montage as: choosing the most important moment of film observation, connecting these observations according to the principle of association, organizing the material rhythmically to strengthen its emotional appeal, and explaining the political significance of the events filmed in the film through the combination of lens pictures and subtitles (political slogans). Wiltoff United a group of documentary directors around him, forming the so-called "film eye school", which later had a direct impact on the "truth film", a part of the new wave in France.

Noun explanation: "Associative montage"

Pudovkin's definition of montage is that montage is a process of dialectical thinking to reveal the internal relations in real life. It is one of the means to organize film action to express some kind of ideological intention. The use of montage shows the director's ability to observe life, analyze observation results and think independently. Based on this kind of thinking, pudovkin created an "associative montage" full of poetic and lyrical factors. "Associative montage" juxtaposes videos with no material connection but very close theme. This technique can only be used in some parts of the film, but not to unify all the shots.

Noun explanation: "intellectual montage"

Based on dialectical materialism philosophy and Pavlov's stimulus response psychology, Eisenstein summarized his montage principle as the opposition, collision and conflict of two different lenses will produce new quality and new significance. The ideological system of Eisenstein's montage system consists of expressing thoughts, expressing passions and expressing concepts. In his montage view, shot A and shot B not only appeared successively, but also became "A+B" or "AB" together, but produced a brand-new consciousness "X".

Defects and decline of montage theory;

1, the main reason for the decline of this genre is different from Germany or France because of industrial or economic reasons, but because of political pressure from the government, forcing it to use montage style. Wiltoff, Eisenstein and Du Fu PeopleSoft were all criticized as extremely formal and mysterious. From 65438 to 0929, Eisenstein went to Hollywood to learn and study new skills in sound. When he returned to 0932 from 65438, the attitude of the whole film industry had changed. At that time, some directors applied montage to sound films in the early 1930s. However, under the leadership of Stalin, the Soviet authorities encouraged the filming of easy-to-understand films for the public to enjoy, and the Soviet Montage School began to turn to the so-called "socialist realism" creation. As far as a film genre is concerned, the montage style of the Soviet Union basically ends around 1933, and its symbols are Viktov's Enthusiasm (193 1) and pudovkin's Deserter (1933).

2. The late Montage School went to the extreme of formalism, belittling the actors' performances and overemphasizing the importance of editing. Moreover, they regard movies as a weapon of struggle and put art under ideology, which has attracted more and more criticism.