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37 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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In what decade did the commercial distribution of motion pictures begin in Europe and the U.S.?
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1890s
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In what decade did film production begin in Russia?
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1890s
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What form of government did Russia have before the Revolution?
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Absolute monarchy
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In what year did the Russian Revolution take place?
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1917
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How did the Revolution impact the Russian film industry?
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It caused it to flourish, because revolutionaries used film to educate population that couldn't read.
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Who were the main parties in the Russian Civil War, and for what were they fighting?
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The reds and the whites.
Reds were fighting for the common man and the whites were fighting for capitalism. |
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Which director on our syllabus made popular Russian films before and after the Revolution?
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Iakov Protazanov
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In what ways does Aelita demonstrate pre and/or post-revolutionary aesthetic trends?
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Pre-revolutionary: German expressionism - relate to Aelita when they're on Mars because of the angular architecture.
Post-revolutionary: - Constructionism (Vladimir Tatlin with his model for a "Monument to the 3rd International" in 1920, was supposed to be a monument for an organization fighting for worldwide revolution. Would be a building with radiowaves and use latest technology to put forward socialism - turned revolution into aesthetics) relate to Aelita's emphasis on radio technology (in Mars, radio towers and electrical wires everywhere, Aelita's hat looks like it could receive radio signals). Constructionism also used a lot of sharp lines, tension between utilitarian and experimental aesthetics, such as Natasha's dress with stripes. At the end the poster for rubber tires is similar to the importance of rubber Galosh shoes of the time. Another way it demonstrates the old and the new is in Loss's character, because he's always day dreaming and he dresses old-fashioned and fancy, and he's jealous of his wife. Yet he's new because he's an engineer. Natasha is new because she has a job at a checkpoint for veterans wounded in civil war and then at an orphanage. She's old because she ultimately submits to the male. Mars is old because there's monarchy, slavery and serfdom. It's new because of the futurist aesthetic and new technology. |
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What was the New Economic Policy, and when was it in effect?
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Proposed by Vladimir Lenin, it was a new, more capitalism- oriented economic policy necessary after the Civil War to raise the economy of the country, which was almost ruined. Nationalization of industry, established during the period of War Communism, was revoked and replaced by a system of mixed economy which allowed private individuals to own small enterprises[1] , while the state continued to control banks, foreign trade, and large industries. 1921-1928.
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How does Aelita engage with Soviet culture during the NEP?
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Aelita engages with this culture by showing a cultural fascination with technology, crowded trains, abuse of government officials with rations, and many ads but empty shops.
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What are the main features of Eisensteinian "montage" as articulated in the three Eisenstein articles we read?
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Attraction - any aggressive moment in theatre that subjects the audience to emotional/psychological influence.
Non chronological - "a film cannot be a list of events, it has to have this aspect of moulding the audience's emotions. Conflict - by showing two dynamic objects a synthesis will evolve. It reveals the contradictions of being, forms a view by showing opposing passions. Juxtaposition - shots of opposite things to create an effect ("Strike" - shows cow being slaughtered and workers on a strike) |
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What is significant about Eisenstein's editing and shooting techniques in The Battleship Potemkin?
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Every scene portrays conflict - of levels, textures, substances, chaos and order (straight line of soldieers on steps with peasants running), organic and inorganic matter, the line and the "swarm."
Attractions - swarming maggots on the meat, hammering of meat with the drum in score, music, boy shot on steps, soldier steps on his hand, blood on head. Baby carriage rolling down stairs - shows wheels of carriage and then quick edits to people dying. Angles to show people running. Conflict of age. Blood staining white gloves. Close-up of bloody eye. Not chronological. Conflict of tempo: quick moving chaos, carriage slowly starting to roll down the stairs. Conflict between what is shown and what isn't shown: not showing soldiers' faces dehumanizes them but closeup of peasant faces getting beat. Conflict of graphic: baby in front of angular buildings. Conflict of lighting: dark boots of soldiers casting shadows on stairs as they march in unison. |
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In what sense might Eisenstein's editing techniques resemble futurist or cubist paintings?
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Futurism - (an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city.) He used quick edits to and closeups to make the filming almost abstract.
Cubism - (In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context). Objects are broken up through quick editing to represent the subject in a greater context and allows for the viewer to see things they might not have otherwise seen. |
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What aspects of filmmaking are of greatest concern to Vertov in the writings we read by him?
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The "Kino Eye" - exploration of the world through film. They insisted that the cinema of the future be the cinema of fact: newsreels recording the real world, "life caught unawares." Vertov proclaimed the primacy of camera ("Kino-Eye") over the human eye. The camera lens was a machine that could be perfected infinitely to grasp the world in its entirety and organize visual chaos into a coherent, objective picture. At the same time Vertov emphasized that his Kino-Eye principle was a method of "communist" deciphering of the world.
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In what specific ways does Vertov depart from established filmmaking traditions in Man with a Movie Camera?
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There's no plot, dialogue, characters or professional actors.
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What sort of visual effects does Vertov use in Man with a Movie Camera?
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Superimposition (two shots at the same time), camera man inside empty can of beer, slow motion, sped up motion.
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What does Schklovsky think the goal of art is, and how does "estrangement/defamilliarization" achieve this goal?
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He thinks the goal of art engages is to engage our aesthetic mode of perception, and helps us see things differently. He argued for the need to turn something that has become over-familiar, like a cliché in the literary canon, into something revitalized. "The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. The technique of art is to make objects ‘unfamiliar’, to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. Art is a way of experiencing the artfulness of an object; the object is not important."
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Who wrote the screenplay for Bed and Sofa, and what is estranged/defamiliarized in that film?
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Victor Schklovsky.
When the husband (Kolia) is sitting on top of the theater looking down at the city o Estrangement: • No one has seen the city from on top of the theater • Horses on top of the building: No one has seen them that close or behind them o He was sitting on the statue of Apollo’s chariot as if he was Apollo It also estranges the way people are inclined toward gender roles, with the wife, Liuda, taking off at the end. |
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How does Bed and Sofa engage with Soviet culture in the late 1920s?
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They live in a small living space, it encourages women to go into the work world, it portrays realities of the time. It shows that marriages and living situations don't always have to be the same, just as long as you're working.
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What aesthetic doctrine did the Communist Party impose on filmmakers, writers and other artists in the 1930s?
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Socialist realism
• Eliminated arts, etc. • Decreed single union of soviet writers o Bronski: basic demand we make of writers: write the truth! • Stalin called socialist realism as that which makes life lead toward socialism o represented revolutionary movements o reviewed as manifestations of new doctrine • Key principals: o 1. Party-mindedness o 2. Popular spirit (patriotism) o 3. Ideological commitment • Stalin: “socialist realism, being the basic of literature, demands from the artist the truthful historically concrete depiction of reality in its revolutionary development” at the same time, truthfulness must be combined with the ideology of remolding and educating people. • Remained the only sanctioned type of literature and art throughout the soviet period |
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Which main features of that doctrine does Chapaev exemplify?
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Party mindedness, rise of the common man (through education and having an awakening). Popular spirit (patriotism) by having a hero to relate to.
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What sort of character is Chapaev? For instance, how would you describe his personality, his class background, his education level, and his manner of speaking, gesturing, making decisions, and relating to others?
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He was an impulsive, uneducated peasant who required education about the importance of party discipline. He has a "folksy" character - he's always singing popular Russian folk songs. He's shown primarily in a positive light. Stands out from everyone around him.
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Who was the leader of the Communist Party and the Soviet government in the 1930s? How long was he in power?
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Joseph Stalin, 1922-1953
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What were the main goals of the first 5-year plan?
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The main concerns of the First Five-Year Plan focused on making the nation militarily, industrially, and financially self-sufficient.
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What were the "purges" and "terror," and when did they reach their peak?
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People were targeted for not being communist, so Stalin created a series of purges of people accused of anti-Soviet activity (1936-1938)
• spread to communist party leaders • eventually, virtually all the leaders from revolution in 1920s were executed or expelled from the party • ordinary people were encouraged to denounce people they knew • film industry was affected too • NKVD o Precursor to the KGB o Yezhov • Head of police • Executed o Photo standing in front of the Moscow-Volga Canal (1937) • The canal is featured in Volga Volga • Canal constructed by forced labor • Gave Moscow access to five seas and help eliminate shortage of drinking water at the time • Gulav? (purges) o 724,000 people identified sentenced to death during the peak: 1937-1938 o another study, 1-1.5 million, another 2-3 million o suicide also claimed the lives of many people • two of the finest Russian poets |
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How does Volga-Volga represent the relationship between art and the state?
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It showed that the state controlled what was artistically popular, and that people could please the state through their artistic talents.
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How long did the Soviet Union's involvement in World War II last?
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1939 - Stalin signs agreement with Hitler called the non-aggression pact
• Allows Germany to invade Poland • France and Great Britain declare war on Germany • Soviet Union extends influence into Eastern Europe o Takes over part of Finland • Hitler breaks pact with Soviet Union and invades Russia (1941) o Prompts USSR to join Allies o Major industrial plants in Russia were already moved out of the way so they wouldn’t be invaded by Germany • Includes the film industry |
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How does Volga-Volga engage with and/or offer viewers an escape from the historical context of the late 1930s?
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Everyone was getting killed, but the movie makes things seem happy.
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How does Eisenstein engage with the historical context of the 1940s in Ivan the Terrible?
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The real Ivan the Third was a ruler in the late 13th century whose state had disintegrated under pressure from Mongol invasion. He helped them free themselves in 1480. His grandson, Ivan the Fourth, was the first ruler to be crowned Tzar of all Russias. He greatly expanded boundaries with military victories and violent behavior in personal life, he even murdered his son.
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Consider Ivan the Terrible in relation to The Battleship Potemkin: what changed, and what remained constant, in Eisenstein's filmmaking style?
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SAME: He still uses quick editing and close-ups on people’s faces to show reactions. He uses conflict of lighting through shadows to produce an emotion.
CHANGED: The actors act less like reality. His fascination with shadows and Ivan’s beard distracted viewers from the purpose of the film, so he was forced to cut down on some of the aesthetic qualities. The narrative of the film is more like patterning and it doesn't have a plot structure. |
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Years, names of Eisenstein's two films?
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Battleship Potemkin (1926)
Ivan the Terrible, (1944) |
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Who was the director of "Man with a Movie Camera" and when was it made?
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Dziga Vertov, 1929
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Who was the director and screenwriter of "Bed and Sofa" and when was it made?
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Abram Room and Victor Schklovsky (1927)
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Who wrote "Art as Device" and what year was it written?
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Victor Schklovsky, 1917
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Who directed Chapaev and what year was it made?
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Georgii and Sergei Vasiliev, 1934
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Who was the director of Volga-Volga and what year was it made?
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Grigori Aleksandrov, 1938
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Who directed Aelita: Queen of Mars and what year?
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Iakov Protazanov, 1924
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