|
|
|
|
|
Battleship Potemkin
|
|
|
Battleship Potemkin at the time it came out was the standard for films to live up to because of it’s innovative editing and unique uncompromising mise-en-scene. The editing techniques pioneered in the movie were at the time raw and even risky but have proved to be ahead of their time. The Odessa Steps sequence in Battleship Potemkin is a great example of the rhythm and momentum within a film. Through an elaborate montage of juxtaposed shots Sergi Eisenstein succeeds in taking the focus off of the story and into the visual rhythm of the film. The massacre and overall chaos that takes place on the Odessa Steps is the high point in the movie and an epic in itself. The effect starts early on with foreshadowing of the scene through a herd of people running chaotically throughout the city. Just before the Odessa steps people of the city herd through a succession of arches in all directions throughout the city. The misdirection of people running in every direction and abundance of people combine to create insanity and confusion on the screen that would rival an M.C. Escher painting. Juxtaposed with the anarchy of the crowd is the extreme unison and symmetry of the solders. Even more so, the two opposing sides never seem to have any similarities. As the soldiers run downhill the people run up. The soldiers themselves are complete opposites from the crowd who are mostly older, homely, poor women dressed in black.
|
|
|
|
Still Can't Find What Your Looking For? Then Try a Essay Search!
|
