Battleship Potemkin Notes
Art328 Film As Art
Battleship Potemkin
1. Cinematic montage is a technique of film editing that uses short shots edited together to into a sequence to condense time, space and information. The Russian directors took the word montage to mean creative editing and considered this editing practice to have symbolic meaning as well.
2. Beginning in Eisenstein’s earlier days in theater production, He coined the notion of a “Montage of Attractions”. He envisioned the theater in terms of a circus and sought to return the medium to earlier times and its more primitive roots. The idea was assault the audience with multiple attractions or “sideshows” simultaneously. He would place exploding caps under theatergoers’ seats to keep their attentions sharp and would have multiple events taking place on the stage at the same time. For instance, he would have masked performers acting out a scene while tightrope walkers or acrobats would perform behind them. Eisenstein’s desire was for the circus performers to mirror and reinforce the emotions of the traditional actors and their scene.
3. The inciting incident that led to the mutiny aboard the Potemkin was the near assassination of about a dozen crew members for protesting the ridiculously poor conditions aboard the vessel, particularly with the food they were served. Right before a firing squad delivered their death blows a crew member named Vakulnichuck was able to persuade the men not to murder their fellow brothers and the rest of the crew, who were themselves dissatisfied with conditions onboard the battleship, finally took arms against the villainous leadership of the Potemkin.
4. The priest in Battleship Potemkin is sympathetic to the established leadership of the vessel. He warns the men that “You are fighting god” and waves his cross defiantly at the men as if to warn them of their failings in the eyes of god. The priest is nearly throttled by Vakulnichuck who is interrupted by a melee with an
Battleship Potemkin
1. Cinematic montage is a technique of film editing that uses short shots edited together to into a sequence to condense time, space and information. The Russian directors took the word montage to mean creative editing and considered this editing practice to have symbolic meaning as well.
2. Beginning in Eisenstein’s earlier days in theater production, He coined the notion of a “Montage of Attractions”. He envisioned the theater in terms of a circus and sought to return the medium to earlier times and its more primitive roots. The idea was assault the audience with multiple attractions or “sideshows” simultaneously. He would place exploding caps under theatergoers’ seats to keep their attentions sharp and would have multiple events taking place on the stage at the same time. For instance, he would have masked performers acting out a scene while tightrope walkers or acrobats would perform behind them. Eisenstein’s desire was for the circus performers to mirror and reinforce the emotions of the traditional actors and their scene.
3. The inciting incident that led to the mutiny aboard the Potemkin was the near assassination of about a dozen crew members for protesting the ridiculously poor conditions aboard the vessel, particularly with the food they were served. Right before a firing squad delivered their death blows a crew member named Vakulnichuck was able to persuade the men not to murder their fellow brothers and the rest of the crew, who were themselves dissatisfied with conditions onboard the battleship, finally took arms against the villainous leadership of the Potemkin.
4. The priest in Battleship Potemkin is sympathetic to the established leadership of the vessel. He warns the men that “You are fighting god” and waves his cross defiantly at the men as if to warn them of their failings in the eyes of god. The priest is nearly throttled by Vakulnichuck who is interrupted by a melee with an