Formalism vs Realism

Soviet Montage and Formalism

Formalism is a director's way of styling his film. It is not realistic, but in turn, somewhat like the opposite. Formalism is the visual representation of a director’s own perspective that came from within the artist and not anything portrayed in the actual world we live in. Every aspect has an artistic style and design that comes directly from the directors imagination. very easy to create a formal composition of the works. Usually, these concepts are usually recognizable as unreal and not occurring in our world. They use a wide variety of shots and also have quick cuts and sequences to help show what is happening in the film. There are many types of focus and shots which help to isolate an object or character so all the attention is on that only. Pudovkin's concept of constructive editing played a role as he believed it ruined the way people were to perceive and have their own opinion on film. He used close ups because he thought everything else was too realistic compared to it. The Kuleshov effect was using many images to convey a meaning. This is shown in today’s films as different people have many opinions on different things so when this is used, it gives the viewer a believable aspect. The Eisenstein Montage is the idea that montage could make an idea deeper than what is portrayed. This works in the “Odessa Step” sequence because it shows the juxtaposition and manipulates the viewers perception.  

Andre Bazin and Realism

Realism is using film to represent reality. showing or revealing the world and connecting it to the audience point of view. There are usually wide angles and long shot sequences in these types of films. The long duration of these sequences help to show real-life aspects to the shot to make it more realistic. As a result, there are a minimal variety of shots used. There are also minimal editing techniques used to preserve the integrity and world-like qualities that is being portrayed. The use of panning and tilting is also used. The use of deep focus is also critical because instead of focusing on a specific action or character in the shot, everyone and everything is in focus so that the viewer can notice all of the things happening at once which is similar to our own perspective through our eyes. Andre Bazin’s frustrations with Classical and Formalistic film making include the obstruction of a realistic point of view by using excessive editing, shots, and focus. He strived for a more unmanipulated approach in his film making. Realist filmmakers strived for the most realistic aspect they could include worldly shots in their film to make it seem more so the audience can relate to its ideas.

Advanced Editing Notes

The two short films: the "Arrival of a Train" and "Damsel in Distress" highly relate to aspects of Realism, Classicism and Formalism.

There is a high contrast between camera work including the composition of shots, their angles, and the movement of the camera. In "Arrival of a Train", we see a lonnnng, continuous shot of a train that is arriving at the station, hence the name. This is entirely one sequence shot as it is a single recording of time. The angle is static and does not change at all within the scene and this provides for one viewpoint and angle and offers the viewer a single perspective on what is happening in the shot. The camera is not moved at all the only movement in the shot is the entire train as well as the reaction of the people waiting to get on the train that are standing in the side area. In the short "Damsel in Distress", however, we see the exact opposite. shots literally last a couple of seconds and this duration plays a large role in how we see the movie because of the rapidness of the succession of events. There is a lot of movement, a wide variety of angles, and the majority of the shots are composed very differently.

Also, the edits of the shots in the films are differentiated. In "Arrival of a Train", there is no edit, cut, or jump in action throughout the entire scene. The entire thing is completely realist. On the other hand,  "Damsel in Distress" is the opposite as it highlights the ideas portrayed in techniques for fast, quick cuts that are very short in duration. In this film, there are two conjoined plot lines and we see both perspectives of the conflict while the protagonist is trying to get to the tracks to save the woman and the womans conflict of being very close to dying. There are many edits in this film to show the rising tension and conflict among the characters and their relationship.  

There are many interesting characteristics of how the story is being told in both short films. I found it highly interesting how the second film "Damsel in Distress" was told because it has a series of shots selection, angles, composition, characters, conflicts, and the plot was really well-developed and easy to understand although the shots didn’t have very long durations or slow pacing. This intensity helped to show the plot in a more beneficial way. In "Arrival of a Train", however, everything except for the people and train seems to remain completely static. It is very boring and there is nothing to truly anticipate. We see one perspective because the camera and angle do not move and this restricts the viewer from any further information so it is more boring and less informative about everything else happening.