Soviet Montage and Realism

In "The man with a movie camera," there is a random assortment of ideas that do not seem to make a story. At 3:10-3:18, a shot of a lamppost, someone sleeping, and a picture of a man looking outward to what can be assumed is the sleeping figure is shown in succession. This is an example of the Soviet montage because it leaves the meaning of each shot up to the interpretation of the audience, and this interpretation will vary from person to person. In fact, there isn't even a plot structure to the film, as this would distract from unbiased interpretation of the work. Based on this, it can be assumed that this is an example of the constructive editing of Pudovkin, which is the style in which every new shot should make a point and contribute to an overall picture or story, we can see a mini portion of a story in the previously mentioned segment. It shows that since it is morning, the girl should wake up, and she is being watched by an old man, however there is no overarching story line, making this a very unconventional film. Conversely, in "The Bicycle Thief," it is easy to see constructive editing used. For example, from 0:33-2:40, there is a buildup of the internal conflict of our father protagonist of whether or not to steal a bike, as seen by the editing between shots of the protagonist, the protagonist's son, and the two bicycle locations.

The Kuleshov effect is linking tiny details together to create a story from it, and is demonstrated in "Man with a movie Camera" from 0:40-2:10 when all the shots of the movie theatre are linked together to show that there will be a movie playing soon. Also, in "The Bicycle Thief," from 4:42-5:17, the Kuleshov effect is used as cuts between the boy with his father's hat and the father restrained by the men that captured him and cut between, and reveals the subplot of the father trying to do what is best for his son, and having a risk he takes backfire and his son shows his worry for the safety of his father. Conversely, there is no true plot shown in the movie theatre scene, as it doesn't have any sort of overarching importance to the short film.

The Eisensteinian montage was using contrasting images that were 'incomplete' to create new meanings, which is demonstrated in "Man with a Movie Camera" from 6:30-6:45 showing a man that appears to be a doll carrying a women that also seems to be a doll, then the contrasting image of a couple staring. These contrasting images reveal two opposing characteristics, closed off and suspicious as opposed to open and uncaring. Additionally, "The Bicycle Thief" shows the Eisensteinian montage from the earlier mentioned scene with his contemplation of whether or not to steal a bike because there is the contrasting image of the innocent child with the tested father and the lone bike versus the many bikes.

Overall, the entire film of "Man with a Movie Camera" is difficult to classify as realist because it doesn't follow any of the editing principles associated with realism because the long shots that are used remain stationary and have to be cut to move to a different angle, as a separate shot. Conversely, "The Bicycle Thief" follows the realist style specifically during the bicycle chase scene, where long shots are used and there is panning to follow the protagonist's movements 3:30-3:48.


 "Man with a movie camera"

"The Bicycle Thief"