Montage, or the soviet idea of montage, is a filming technique relying heavily on editing. The idea was heavily explored by soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, and was used in the famed "Odessa steps" scene from the film Battleship Potemkin. He believed that using a series of related/similar images and the "collision" of them was able to manipulate the feelings and emotions of the intended audience and create a sort of metaphor. Through the juxtaposition of two independent shots was key to this idea.
The odessa steps
The key use of this technique is seen during the film Battleship Potemkin, particularly the "Odessa steps" scene, which has become one of the most iconic scenes in cinematic history. The scene make use of montage by splicing together the scenes of violence, through the different victims in the crowd, and horrors inflicted on the civilians, and the machine-like march of the Tsarist troops down the steps, from the marching of their boots to wider shots showing the entire scene. The use of montage here is particularly effective as it contrasted the antagonistic tsarist troops and the innocent civilians, and given the time of release during soviet rule worked effectively as a propaganda tool in highlighting the success of the bolsheviks.
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