Advanced Editing Notes

Soviet Montage and Formalist Tradition

Pudokvin's concept of constructive editing is that every shot should demonstrate a new idea with a different point attached to the new idea. He believed that close ups, symbols, textures, and selected details were the only elements that filmmakers should use because they were the most intimate and demonstrated the most meaning. He disagreed with Griffith's use of close up saying they were too intrusive. Kuleshov was Pudokin's mentor and they both believed that juxtapositions showed more emotion than the actors themselves. The Kuleshov effect displayed that by changing what a character sees and how that character reacts make the audience either like the character more or less. Eisenstein believed in fragmented shots coming together to form a picture that contributes to the film but isn't linked. In the "Odessa Step" this type of montage is displayed through the many fragmented scenes that allow the audience to figure out that people are getting killed, but not much beyond that, especially when it comes to the characters.

Andre Bazin and the Tradition of Realism
Bazin did not like Classical and Formalistic editing styles because, in his eyes, these types of edit might destroy a scenes effectiveness and negatively change how the audience perceives reality. He thought both of these types of edit are harmful to the overall perception of the film by the audience, especially when he views Formalists as manipulative and Classists as corruptive. In their films, Realists strive for division, isolation, and separation. Some common Realist techniques include deep focus, long shots, wide shots, and a variety of revealing camera moves, and emphasize certain details in their shots.