Pudovkin vs. Griffith: An Approach to Cinematic Language
Amanda Albini
October 12, 2015
Pudovkin vs. Griffith: A Comparative Essay
Throughout the early years of film, very rarely were there filmmakers that pushed the boundaries with their unique styles and concepts of editing in film like Vsevolod I. Pudovkin and D.W. Griffith. Many say that these two filmmakers were much ahead of their time. Both men were storytellers who found new and creative ways to demonstrate how a story can be expressed. This was achieved through a heavy focus on the ability to edit their film.
Film editing is described as the joining of one shot with another. The two conjoined shots have the capability to go in many different directions. They can show alternate places in time, location, etc. These two along with other innovators at the time showed the type of impression editing could really have on an audience. They created and mastered techniques such as: the close-up, the extreme long shot, the cutaway and the tracking shot (Dancyger 5)
D.W Griffith is …show more content…
Pudovkin, who was a Russian filmmaker and theorist, also had groundbreaking theories about editing. He goes into depth on these theories in his book called Film Technique and Film Acting (Dancyger 13). Pudovkin goes on record saying film is built, rather than shot. Specifically, each individual shot is a brick and the bricks and other materials are used together to create a certain effect. Pudovkin tries many different methods including lengthening and shortening shots, awkward positioning and overall construction of the scene. He expresses that, with the ability to edit, anything you can photograph can be expressed much more through cinema. Pudovkin explains further that the structure and position of shots is what help images come alive and form a more vivid story. Pudovkin supports his innovative thoughts in book, “to show something as everyone sees it is to have accomplished nothing” (Pudovkin
Amanda Albini
October 12, 2015
Pudovkin vs. Griffith: A Comparative Essay
Throughout the early years of film, very rarely were there filmmakers that pushed the boundaries with their unique styles and concepts of editing in film like Vsevolod I. Pudovkin and D.W. Griffith. Many say that these two filmmakers were much ahead of their time. Both men were storytellers who found new and creative ways to demonstrate how a story can be expressed. This was achieved through a heavy focus on the ability to edit their film.
Film editing is described as the joining of one shot with another. The two conjoined shots have the capability to go in many different directions. They can show alternate places in time, location, etc. These two along with other innovators at the time showed the type of impression editing could really have on an audience. They created and mastered techniques such as: the close-up, the extreme long shot, the cutaway and the tracking shot (Dancyger 5)
D.W Griffith is …show more content…
Pudovkin, who was a Russian filmmaker and theorist, also had groundbreaking theories about editing. He goes into depth on these theories in his book called Film Technique and Film Acting (Dancyger 13). Pudovkin goes on record saying film is built, rather than shot. Specifically, each individual shot is a brick and the bricks and other materials are used together to create a certain effect. Pudovkin tries many different methods including lengthening and shortening shots, awkward positioning and overall construction of the scene. He expresses that, with the ability to edit, anything you can photograph can be expressed much more through cinema. Pudovkin explains further that the structure and position of shots is what help images come alive and form a more vivid story. Pudovkin supports his innovative thoughts in book, “to show something as everyone sees it is to have accomplished nothing” (Pudovkin