Sergei Eisenstein was a pioneering Soviet film director and theorist in the early 20th century. He developed the theory of montage, which uses editing techniques to juxtapose short film segments to condense space, time, and information or to provoke emotional responses in viewers. Eisenstein believed montage could create ideas or impacts beyond individual shots. For example, in Battleship Potemkin, he stretched a sequence of people fleeing down the Odessa steps to over 7 minutes through montage, much longer than in real life. Soviet montage theory categorized different types of montage, including metric, rhythmic, tonal, intellectual, and overtonal montage. Montage remains an important film

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Sergei Eisenstien
Emily Capon

2. Sergei Eisenstein
Film Director
Sergei Eisenstein was a Soviet Russian film director
and film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and practice
of montage. He is noted in particular for his silent
films Strike, Battleship Potemkin and October, as well
as the historical films he has directed.
Biography

3. Soviet montage theory is an approach to understanding and creating cinema that
relies heavily upon editing (montage is French "editing"). – Wikipedia.
Montage is the process of selecting, editing and placing together separate
sections of film to form a continuous whole. Eisenstein believed that film
montage could create ideas or have an impact beyond the individual shot
or more shots edited together create a ‘Tertium Quid’ (third thing) that
makes the end product greater than the sum of individual shots.
For Example Eisenstein’s greatest demonstration of ‘The power of the
montage” comes in his “Odessa steps” sequence of his 1925 film
“Battleship Potemkin ”The montage allows Eisenstein to manipulate the
audiences perception of time by stretching out the crowds flight down the
steps for 7 minutes, several times longer than in real life. The famous
sequence involving a runaway baby carriage shows Eisenstein using
montage to arouse both emotion and consciousness among the film’s
audience.
Soviet Montage

4. Metric - where the editing follows a specific number of frames (based
purely on the physical nature of time). This montage is used to provide
emotional reactions in the audience.
Rhythmic - includes cutting based on time, but using the visual
composition of the shots along with a change in the speed to induce
more complex meanings than what is possible with metric montage.
Once sound is introduced it adds the element of dialogue and sounds
e.g. synchronous and asynchronous
Tonal - a tonal montage uses the emotional meaning of the shots, For
example, a sleeping baby would emote calmness and relaxation
Over tonal - the over tonal montage is metric, rhythmic, and tonal
montage used together.
Intellectual - uses shots which, combined, portray an intellectual
meaning.
This meaning does not exist in the individual shots; it only arises
when they are juxtaposed.
5 methods of Montage

5. Montage is used more as a tool rather than a style of film making.
Meaning we can use montage is a technique in film editing in which a
series of short shots can be edited into a sequence to condense space,
time, and information as well as to suggest the passage of time , rather
than to create symbolic meaning as it does in Soviet montage theory.
How can Montage be
applied this to our work?

6. I believe this theory is applied to all films due to the representation
montage creates such as emotions and the passage of time, therefore is
an important aspect in any film, this could be used during the
disequilibrium to add suspense or the presence of time to the plot,
however due to the amounts of editing this includes it is clear that the
production could easily become over edited to portray the image the
director is wanting to represent, making it unsuccessful as the
representations need to be clear but also subtle for an effective film so
it isn't overpowering, and allows the audience to think and be engaged
with the film throughout.
Personal response