The general grammar of the shot has developed to embrace the styles of these three film makers, so we don't notice when they're being deployed. Typically, shots that don't adhere to elements of Soviet Montage are considered jarring or obtuse, such is our familiarity and preference for certain elements of continuity produced by the Soviet Masters typified by three figureheads of film making whose contribution to cinema can not be diminished. ![]() It was an epochal shift in cinema.Įlements of montage theory still exists and can be evidenced across every film making style in the world, such is the impact of the Soviet Masters they're just so common, so well adopted into the grammar of film making that we no longer flag them up as important. Imagine every film being staged and produced in the style of a US sitcom, and then someone coming along and introducing camera angles, crane shots, pulleys etc. Prior to Montage theory, films were produced almost in the style of plays with a stage on which actions are performed, and the camera substituted for the position of an audience. Montage theory marked the beginning of a filmic language the idea that film is something to be edited in order to create meaning, and that composition is used to tell a story as much as what it is you're shooting with the camera. It is therefore not surprising that during the 6th International Film Festival of Odessa in 2015, the European Film Academy placed a commemorative plate on the stairs and put the Odessa Steps in the list of “Treasures of European Film Culture by the European Film Academy”.Whilst it's understandable to proclaim that Montage Theory doesn't receive the amount of 'attention' it deserves from Hollywood, this is closer to the concept of Montage Theory (MT) not receiving overt 'credit' when it does appear largely due to its indelible influence. The two most celebrated direct references to the scene could be seen in The Untouchables (1987) by Brian De Palma and Revenge of the Sith (2005) by George Lucas. There are references to the scene in many movies by directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola. The Odessa Steps sequence apart from being an important moment in the history of cinema also has a strong influence on filmmakers to this today. Photo by Bev Sykes on Flickr Photo by Vlasenko Photo by Adrian111 ![]() In the eleven years of his administration, Odessa grew in size, prospered and became the third largest city in the Russian Empire by population. ![]() Richelieu, although French, served in the Russian Imperial Army and was appointed the first governor of Odessa by Tsar Alexander I. The Roman-like statue was designed by the Russian sculptor Ivan Petrovich Martos. ![]() At the top of the stairs is the Duke de Richelieu Monument. In 1837, the decision was made to build an enormous staircase, which was constructed between 18. On the left side of the stairway, a funicular railway was built in 1906 to transport people instead of walking. The first staircase consisted of 200 stairs and was designed in 1825 by the Swiss-Italian architect Francesco Boffo and the Russian architect Avraam Melnikov. The stairs were originally known as the Boulevard steps or the Richelieu steps. Odessa, perched on a high plateau, needed direct access to its harbor. The actual Odessa Steps is a giant stairway in Odessa, which is considered the formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea, and its most famous symbol. Although the incident never happened and it was based on the fact that there were widespread demonstrations in other parts of the city, the scene is so powerful that it is often referred to as if it really happened. The moment, when a mother pushing a baby carriage falls to the ground dying and the carriage rolls down the steps amid the running crowd, is one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. The victims include an older woman, a young boy with his mother, a student in uniform and a teenage schoolgirl. A separate group of Cossacks fires at the crowd at the bottom of the stairs. In the scene, the Tsar’s soldiers in their white uniforms march down a flight of steps in a rhythmic, machine-like fashion, firing at the crowd. The Odessa Steps sequence is one of the most celebrated and influential scenes in the history of cinema and pictures the massacre of civilians on the Odessa Steps or Stairs (aka Potemkin Steps or Stairs).
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