Soviet Montage and Realism

Pudovkin's constructive editing stated that a new meaning could be created though the juxtaposition of shots. He believed that each shot needed to have information that made new point. This was Pudovkin's attempt to break the boundaries of the classical editing style that everyone had seemed to adopt. Pudovkin took shots (mainly close ups) and put them together to create a unified meaning. As a formalists, he did not like long shots because he believed they were too close to reality, but he also did not like Griffith's close ups  because they offered no meaning. This constructive editing manifested itself into film when directors, like Hitchcock, made the realization that material does not dictate what is artistic; instead creativeness comes from the way shots are taken apart and put back together.

Lev Kuleshov, Pudovkin's mentor, was an influential Soviet film maker. His "Kuleshov effect" showed that emotion is formed by the juxtapositions and not by the actor's performance. Once the irght objects are placed/shown in the film, the audience created this emotion by themselves. He believed that in cinema, by connecting small fragments of details in form of short shots, a unified meaning could be created.
In this opening scene from Star Wars IV: A New Hope, the Kuleshov effect is clearly illustrated. The two main characters in this scene are the two robots, C3PO and R2D2, who lack the ability to express emotion. With all the action happening around them, it is evident that everyone is in a state of distress. The bright lights, explosions, and the sound/music all help build tension and makes everyone seem cautious. Not a single  emotion was expressed through the robots.

Eisenstein' montage reflected Eisenstein's idea that life was about constant change. He believe editing a film was also art that is why he experimented with unusual techniques from which he came up with the idea of a "montage." He produced contrasting images and simply put them together. Critics argued that his films lacked realism and getting the real meaning is too difficult. In the Odessa Step sequence, everyone seems to be happy in the beginning. This is illustrated through specific shots of people smiling and waving. Suddenly, there are gunshots and everyone is in a state of panic. The rest of the scene is a collection of shots depicting the the destruction brought forth by our fellow man. By contracting two atmosphere and focusing more on the negative, the montage is successful at making a statement about society. 

Andre Bazin was an editor of a French film journal. He wanted to benefit the film industry. He argued that films should reflect the director's personal vision. He believed editing could destroy the effectiveness of a scene. He was a big fan of reality and claimed that formalists were egocentric and manipulative. He also said that classical cutting was also potentially corrupting because it forced the audience to follow a shot sequence without being aware of its control over us.

Realist filmmakers strive to preserve the reality of a scene as much as possible. They use wide angle shots and deep focus to let the audience pick what they are interested in. A realist's editing is also hidden. It is never attempted to stand out because the film maker wants to show that nothing out of the ordinary is happening.

One of the techniques realist filmmakers use is the lack of too many close-ups. Close ups go against reality because in real life, we never get as close to the person or thing as some film makers may show in their films though close ups; instead, we are farther away form the action and see it happen in one long sequence. Realists also try to use as little editing as possible because they want to include these long sequences to further contain a realistic atmosphere.

Realism, Classicsm, and Formalism

I had an incredibly difficult time finding a movie that incorporated realism, classicism, and formalism form of editing. When I found a movie that had incorporated one of the elements, it lacked one other or maybe even both. The problem is that I just haven't seen enough movies that use all three types of editing. After a bit of thinking, I began thinking about TV shows and the first to pop into my head was Breaking Bad.

Although this clearly is not a movie, it is ,however, incredibly artsy and unique in all aspects, especially the editing and cinematography.

Realism

Realism is all about showing the truth. This is done my not altering the sequence in any way. In other words, a shot is held for an incredibly longer time period than really necessary to convey a message. This preserves all the realistic factors we find in real life. When trying to preserve realism, the shot is just one long take and the there is no editing done to alter the reality.

In this scene, Jesse is explaining his situation to Walt. Through the entire dialogue between Jesse and Walt, the camera is fixed in one position. The reason for doing this is to preserve the mood and the realistic factors of the scene. In one long take, we can see that Jesse is struggling to explain what his new responsibilities are going to be and what the cartel expects him to do. If this was edited in separate shots, it would take away from the realism. When we talk to each other in real life or hear others talking, we are also fixed in one position and only see from one angle. Also, when someone is talking we can easily hear them stutter. A realism edit simply tries to reflect real life as much as possible.

Classicism 

Classicism condenses all of the action without leaving any crucial information out. It is quick and right to the point. This is the style of editing used in most productions. It tries the tell the story the best way possible and focusing only on the characters rather than the filmmaker's techniques.

This shot is great example of classicism in effect. The perfect example is when you don't even see the cut happen.  In this scene, Walter is telling Jesse to get a list together so they get begin cooking. This scene is edited in a way that it is quick and right to the point. The cinematographer does not try to to wow the audience; instead, he/she is keeping it focused on the characters. This quick style of editing is a great tool to glorify the humor in a scene, which is exactly what is being done here.

Formalism

Formalism is the director's style to bend reality. Formalist directors don't want to preserve reality; they want to show the world through their own eyes or the eyes of a character. Most of the time, formalist shots,scenes, or sequences make no sense to the common person so they come off as a bit disturbing. 

In this sequence, we can see a series of shots that make no sense at all. First of all there is a grown man, Gale, singing his own version of a song in front of a green/blue screen. Along with that, he is trying his best to dance, but can't seem to make out any moves. The lyrics are absurd, there are galaxies exploding behind him, there are cars driving behind him, there is a rocket, waterfalls, and animals; however, none of them seem to connect together in a logical way, just like lil Wayne's music. By using this technique, the director is simply satirizing people and what they do in their free times and also trying to keep a comedic tone throughout the entire song because how outrageous it is.