Sergei Eisenstein

Born in Riga, Russian Empire
Died in Moscow, Russia

Eisenstein’s five principles of montage are: Metric Montage: The joining together of several shots so as to make the best use of a predetermined number of frames.  Tension is increased by shortening each shot whilst keeping the total length of the piece fixed. Rhythmic Montage: Shots are joined in a way that accentuates or conflicts with the action in the frame – e.g. many short shots together suggest fast movement; breaking the rhythm of the action will create tension. Tonal Montage: Exploits the emotional meaning contained in the shots to evoke a deeper reaction in the audience than the surface impression achieved with metric and rhythmic montage. Overtonal Montage: The synthesis of metric, rhythmic and tonal montage to achieve a more abstract effect. Dialectic (Intellectual) Montage: The juxtaposition of conflicting shots to evoke an intellectual or emotional reaction which is not contained in the individual shots.

“For example, in painting the form arises from abstract elements of line and color, while in cinema the material concreteness of the image within the frame presents - as an element - the greatest difficulty in manipulation.”

“Language is much closer to film than painting is.”

“Now why should the cinema follow the forms of theater and painting rather than the methodology of language, which allows wholly new concepts of ideas to arise from the combination of two concrete denotations of two concrete objects?”

“The profession of film director can and should be such a high and precious one; that no man aspiring to it can disregard any knowledge that will make him a better film director or human being.”

“Even in a less exaggerated description, any verbal account of a person is bound to find itself employing an assortment of waterfalls, lightning rods, landscapes, birds, etc.”