Sergei Eisenstein, the Soviet film director father of montage

The art of cinema as we know it today was not created by magic or spontaneously. Everything was the result of the experiences of the first creators throughout the early twentieth century. Among the precursors of the cinema, we find two proper names that marked the first guidelines in the cinematographic language. One was the American David W. Griffith, considered the father of narrative; and on the other hand the Russian Sergei Eisenstein, father of cinematographic montage. Thanks to the Russian, his discoveries and his passion for montage, today we are able to see many films that still use Eisenstein’s innovative montage techniques. The importance of The editionAt just 25 years old, Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein got tired of his theatrical side and little by little he discovered a new movement that, at that time, around 1923, was beginning to shine strongly in Europe and in the old Soviet Union. Before beginning to make his first films, the young Eisenstein had already published several writings related to cinematographic editing as a true revolution to influence society and the visual art of films. His first films quickly became quite a statement. of intentions on his artistic and revolutionary conception of cinema, and served as inspiration for many later filmmakers who saw n Russian is a mirror to look into. According to Sergei Eisenstein, montage was the perfect excuse for cinematographic art to awaken feelings in the viewer. A montage through emotions, ideas and attractions, which he would define perfectly in each of his works.With his first feature film, ‘La huelga’, the practice of his theory on the assembly of attractions could be verified, a film edition that the director defined in his written theories with which he intended to hit the viewer with an “emotional shock”. Basically what 90% of the films that are filmed are currently looking for. In this first film, the Russian elaborated and put into practice his various theories about montage and sequences are revealed where he uses different editions to involve the viewer in the story. Among its categories are metric, rhythmic, tonal, harmonic and intellectual montage, all around working a story based on an idea.The battleship PotemkinThe maxim of Sergei Eisenstein’s theories arrived with his masterpiece in 1925, the magnificent ‘ The battleship Potemkin ‘. Any student of film and film editing should not miss seeing one of the best films in the history of cinema.With a revolutionary profile in each of his films, the Russian practices all his theories of montage and translates them into a story full of rhythm, with tracking shots, very close-ups, situation shots, through five episodes that tell the real story that occurred in Odessa in 1905, representing like no one else the figure of mass society and collective aid for the revolution. The film has some of the most memorable sequences in the history of cinema, such as the Odessa staircase, a masterclass in montage that occupies the penultimate chapter of the plot. As a result of this film, there have been many directors that later they have paid tribute to the Russian creator, as fundamental father of the theory of cinematographic montage.A visionary of the show Once he made ‘The Battleship Potemkin’, he would direct ‘October’, another of his most remembered works, and would soon after go to the United States to investigate the arrival of talkies. The truth is that Sergei Eisenstein had already shown everything in his first three films to be a legend of the cinema and lay the foundations of what we have later known as a film show. Unlike the American creator David W. Griffith, who used a classic montage by continuous sequences throughout the film and with protagonists centered on one person, Eisenstein was dedicated to giving a much more powerful value to montage and the protagonist of his stories was the mass, the whole, society. In addition, he used to use normal people, leaving aside professional actors.In addition, within his montage theory, he positioned several revolutionary ideas so that the viewer would feel the blow of the images when watching a movie. For example, his study of images juxtaposed to form a third and an idea, has been very experienced by many directors throughout history (eye + water = cry). He developed the concept of movement determined by the action of images and the power of narration and montage, in addition to including a concept never seen before: the third idea. In short, Sergei Eisenstein was one of the fathers of the cinematographic discourse that later developed thanks to the contributions of the Russian filmmaker.