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.