TCF112/Russian Formalism

Russian Revolution

• 1917: Socialist/Marxist revolution
  • Overthrew czarist government
  • Great experimentation in the arts
• 1934: Josef Stalin, Socialist Realism

Russian Formalism

• Literary criticism: original source of formalism
  • Viktor Shklovsky
    • "Art as Technique"
      1. Literature's essence
      2. Make familiar seem strange
         • Ostranenie

Russian Filmmakers Influenced by Formalism

• Lev Kuleshov
  • Friend of Shklovsky's
  • 1st film theorist

Created first film school

• • • Essence of cinema?
    • Montage
      • Alternative meanings:
        • French Montage = editing
        • U.S. Classical Montage = compressed presentation of information
    • Kuleshov's Montage
      • Editing constructs meaning
      • As in the "Kuleshov Experiment"
      • As in "creative geography"
• Sergei Eisenstein
  • Rejected "construction"
  • Advocated collision in montage
  • Five Methods of Montage
    1. Metric
    2. Rhythmic
    3. Tonal
    4. Overtonal
    5. Intellectual