Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 film project titled, “Battleship Potemkin” (based on year 1905)
The “Battleship Potemkin” project was well made in many ways. The acting was much more in line with what really was going on in each scene. The music lent itself to be a great accompaniment to the entire film project as a whole. It’s amazing to me that there isn’t much I can really pick out that left me feeling like I want to fall asleep. Even the trampling over everyone in the crowd was done in such a realistic way that it made you feel as if you wanted to help the women, children and those who cannot make the next hop, skip or jump to safety.
The most impressive of all was the camera angles and views we are shown, such as, the multiple Points of view (POV) that this film shared with the viewers was beyond my expectation. I can count at least four changes of POV throughout many of the battle scene in which the crew had entangled themselves with the captain and staff members alone.
Sergei even went to great lengths to utilize transportation to follow a boat or two from another moving object solely for the camera angle. Not to forget the heights he used to give the viewer that large circumference of area in which the masses either fought with one another or the townspeople rushed to shore to the funeral. I felt as if I was there, at the funeral and once again running to safety with the fellows townspeople and crew that for awhile there, stood up to the captain and gunmen, yet we are on the other end of the gun for a short period of time.
Luckily, we had the smart to retaliate and overcome the small defeat and persevered through it all and to our benefit; the bright red flags were hung to show that we are not alone in this effort any longer.
In general I think Eisenstein did quite a bit to introduce the presentation of feet into film--they play a very important role throughout and are on frequent display, especially with some of the angled shots you mention. During this particular viewing I was particularly struck by the shots upward through the grating as they moved above.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Eisenstein does much to create the effect that the viewer is there and part of the crowd. While in the case of Bauer's films we were "objective observers" who were clearly watching what was taking place from outside--Eisenstein pulls us in and along with the action. We'll take a look tomorrow at some of the ways in which he does this.