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.