The Battleship Potemkin Assignment

Eisenstein uses many different visual editing techniques to convey emotion and themes in his film. In one particular scene, he uses camera angle to portray a specific theme. When all of the solders are in the battleship, most of the camera shots are taken from the turret looking down at them. This was a very intense scene that contained a power struggle between the solders and the captain. The camera angle showed the dominance and power that the captain had over the rest of the crew. The crew looked cowardly in comparison to the captain. Every time the captain was in a scene alone, a low angle was used to show his superiority. Once the solders start to over take the battleship, the camera angle changes and becomes neutral to show that the playing field has evened out and the captain has lost his position of power.

Eisenstein's use of symbols is incredibly striking in The Battleship of Potemkin. One of the most obvious examples is the use of the crucifix during the first rebellion scene. Most Christians believe that revenge is a sin, and wrath is one of the Cardinal sins, no matter the context. Eisenstein wishes to exemplify a circumstance in which revenge is entirely necessary, and the Church is indeed incorrect. Similarly, when the Jesus figure is killed, religion is therefore "dead". Also, the blanket covering the sailors before they are set to be shot is used to show how to the higher authorities, their identities are unimportant and their sailor "status rank" defines them instead. Another interesting symbol is the glasses, which actually reminded me of T.J. Eckleberg's eyes in Gatsby. They are constantly watching over (and judging) the workers. After the first rebellion, the glasses are seen hanging off of the ship, which illustrates how the sailors now have little to no restrictions. Finally, the meat can be used to symbolize the lower-ranked sailors' rotting dignity and individualism. They then are shown beating the meat, which demonstrates the idea that people (or in this case, objects) that are deemed "useless" or insignificant are "beaten up" by those in power.

Battleship Potemkin was Eisenstein's silent film that really put montage to good use. Montage was an innovative film editing technique that Eisenstein pioneered in the early days of motion picture. This techniue uses a series of shots and displays them to the viewer, so that the viewer can make assumptions about what is happening in the film. Clearly, without the use of the special effects we have today, montage was one of the few ways to interestingly convey events and emotions in silent film.
Montage is important in this film because it seems to be the only way Eisenstein can string together various shots for the viewer, making it the backbone of the film.

Mitch -- Eisenstein to me does not use the direct symbols we saw in Griffith's Birth of a Nation, in the sense that something doesn't pop out at you the moment you see it. This being said, however, Eisenstein still uses symbols that are used as propaganda in Russia. The symbol that stood out to me most was the way in which Eisenstein used the ship's gun turret as a "throne" if you will. Basically the captain would be atop the gun turret looking down on the sailors. This represents two things. 1) That the captain is belittling the sailors aboard the ship by looking down on them at all times and showing his power over them and 2) The gun turret above the sailors suggests that force is the only way in which these sailors can be controlled. But Eisenstein suggests that in these sailors must fight force with force if they want to be liberated.

Tanner- In the beginning of the film there is a scene of water crashing against the dock, i believe this represent the Russian sailors and workers coming together to over through their current government through pure brute force. The situation on the boat starts very poor, but is able to quickly deteriorate due to the officers taking their rage out on to the recruits, the maggot infested meat, and the recruits refusing to eat the soup. I was also wondering if the sailors cleaning the ship and the dishes represented them trying to cleanse themselves of the officers and join the revolution. The recruits are then dehumanized by the captain to herds them like cattle into a corner. Before the men are executed to set an example, one sailor speaks out and stops the riflemen. The riflemen and the sailors then revolt against the officers, but sadly the voice who started the rebellion was silenced and became a martyr for their cause.

Eisenstein uses much more dramatic and influential camera work and editing than seen in Griffith's film. The shots are generally short and quickly cut to the next one, which greatly assists in adding to the dramatic feeling of several scenes, such a the one in which the crew overthrows the officers of the Battleship. As seen in "Birth of a Nation", Eisenstein also utilizes camera angles in order to convey a sense of power, or lack thereof, of certain characters. This is displayed as many of the shots of officers, especially the captain, were shot from a low angle.

Eisenstein creates much more plot in the Battleship Potemkin than Griffith and his symbols are much more subtle. The scenes are very fast paced with a lot of action throughout the beginning of the movie. There is symbolism in the crew because though they are weaker they get together and strategize to overthrow the captain. The captain is dictating over his crew similarly to the kings and the churches. It is even shot from a high angle where the crew is under the turret or the power of the captain. Eisenstein often cross cuts to a religious figure to show the importance of religion and that it is always watching watching over them.

I am very impressed by the comments to this point. There are some excellent insights, particularly the interpretation of the film's symbols. I am still amazed by Eisenstein's visual imagery, even after seeing the film numerous times. Keep up the good work!

Eisenstein's dramatic intensity is expressed mainly through music and the speed of the cuts. During a particularly suspenseful moment (when the sailors are waiting to see if the squadron will fire or not, for example), the music becomes much slower with various pauses in between beats. The cuts are also slower, and there are many close-ups, like on the canon or the actor's faces (especially the eyes, which are deemed as "the window to the soul"). During an action-packed, "edge of your seat" scene, the cuts are so fast that it's almost hard to grasp what is happening. The music is extremely speedy, similarly to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's piano masterpiece, The Flight of the Bumblebee. During calmer, less-intense moments, the music is happier, and the cuts are normally-paced, which almost makes the mood even more suspenseful because such moments seem out of place in the action-packed film.

Eisenstein seems to enjoy depicting change of power by filming people running up or down a flight of stairs. During the first scene of rebellion, the lower-ranked sailors are shown running up the ship's staircase, displaying their sudden rise of power. Similarly, during the massacre, the gunmen stand at the top of the stairs, and no one, not even the woman with the dead child, can reach the top. The oppressive government's high power frightens those below them, up until the point where the lower-ranked population is powerless.

Mitch -- Eisenstein does a particularly amazing job with the depiction of the drama and action taking part at the stairs of Odessa. The way in which Eisenstein dehumanizes the soldiers tormenting the civilians (wealthy and poor) by giving the soldiers no face is quite interesting. When the soldiers are tormenting the civilians, he makes the viewer side with the civilians with no questions asked. The dehumanization of the soldiers is just too much for the viewer to side with them. Also, the way he uses the camera angles to show the power the soldiers have. He even makes the power held by the soldiers even with the shadows. He shows the shadows (pardon the pun) over shadowing the civilians shadow's. This is interesting because that type of dehumanization and depiction of power is still seen in today's films and it all started with Eisenstein.

I felt as though the latter portion of the film that we saw today is really what makes this film amazing to this day. I was consistently drawn to what was occurring on screen. Eisenstein's portrayal of the menacing, inhuman troops contrasting the innocent civilians had me despising the Tsarist regime. The Odessa Steps sequence in particular showcased Eisenstain's skillful use of camera angles and editing. One part specifically that stood out was when the troops began to open fire on the people on the steps. The viewer was only shown people randomly falling to the ground. This combined with short, frequent close-ups and shaky camera movements added to the feeling of hysteria and panic that must have been felt by the civilians in the scene.

In the second half of the movie makes it very obvious of the power that the military has. It is clear of their power when the military is massacring the people on the stairs of Odessa. There are many dramatic instances that show the struggle and the fear of the of the civilians but the military keeps cruelly marching forward, stopping for nothing. Eisenstein dehumanizes the military to show that they are controlled by the state and that it is not a normal, human-like action to to treat the way that the people were being treated.

Eisentein uses the elements of editing to portray the theme of tension especially throughout the second half of the film. During the scene with the baby carriage, tension is built with the cutting between the military, baby falling, and the citizen’s reactions to what they can see. The two innocent bystanders are wearing glasses, which to me shows that they see what they want to see. The military is being shown to have great force with this innocent baby rolling down the stairs. When the mother gets killed the citizen’s immediately are horrified by the baby carriage more than all the death around them. The breaking of the glasses symbolizes the woman’s blindness towards the rest of the world. All around her people were being killed, yet all she could focus on was the baby carriage. In the scene near the end, all the solders are running around frantic on the battleship. To me the use of music is crucial. The tempo in the music speeds up and the action increases. The whole scene becomes more intense with the beat of the music that is being played. I did notice the opposition between Marx and Hegel in the film especially in the scene with the battleship. I thought it was interesting that Eisenstein repeated the shots of the engine moving on the ship to show how fast they were moving and it being directly proportional to how hard the solders were working.

Eisenstein does an exceptional job of demonstrating the power of the state. In the beginning he symbolized the dominance of the state through the camera's viewpoint atop the gun turret. In the Odessa steps scene, he again displays this through the sculpture of the czar at the top of the staircase wielding a sword looking down to the cathedral at the bottom. In addition he specifically makes sure not to display the faces of any of the soldiers to, in a sense, dehumanize them which causes his audience to sympathize with the people. Much of the action at the beginning of the Odessa Steps sequence involves images of people losing their balance, tripping, and falling as they desperately try to flee the gunfire. Eisenstein even strapped a camera to an acrobat and had him do a flip to obtain topsyturvy footage that approximated the point of view of someone falling headfirst downstairs. I also thought it was interesting how Eisenstein used blood running down a women's belt buckle to symbolize mother russia's bleeding.

1) I noticed that Eisenstein’s editing if more dramatic and outrageous than Griffiths
work. The montage effect adds intensity, suspense, and action to the film when in
reality they are only shots, created to capture action. Also, another interesting part
of Eisenstein’s filming is that he uses different camera angles to enrich a scene or
specific shot. He uses the shadow of the soldiers on the steps to show their power
over everything, their force. This camera angle heightens the sense of dominance
within the government. It also makes the scene look as if the soldiers are looking
down on the citizens, giving them almost a sense of higher power.

2) Eisenstein’s editing in the latter part of the film adds tension and intensity and
kept us, well my anyways, on the edge of my seat. The shots accumulated for the
scene with the child’s carriage are intense and the way they have been cross cut
adds to the intensity. You don’t truly know what’s going to happen to the child
until you finally see the baby carriage tip over and down the stairs. The ominous
cold reality of the soldiers’ guns adds for the tension between the citizens and the
soldiers. Another element of intensity and tension is added when the soldiers shoot
the woman in the eye, and the eyeglasses break. This shows her inability to see the
world for what it was before the ominous shadows imposed themselves on society.
Although there are many symbols of tension, I will only highlight one more, my
personal favorite. I truly enjoyed when the blood ran over the belt buckle of the lady
and how you described to us that it symbolized mother Russia and her bleeding out.
I found that quite interesting artistic and completely amazing cinematography.