BattleShip Potemkin

BattleShip Potemkin

The battleship Potemkin was directed in 1925 by Sergi Eisentein. It was a film on the revoult on the battleship Potemkin during the 1905 revolution. This film is one of the best and most influential properganda film. Sergi also made a lot of revolutionary fikm making styles.

The scripting of the movie has been done very precises and exact. Sergi has divided the movie into five chapters. (Men and Maggots, Drama at the Habour, A Dead man calls for justic, The Odessa Staircase, The Rendez-Vous with a Squadron)

Due to lack of technique to record voices Sergi has used titles. The sound used is of an orchestra. The music is used very well, blending with the sences. The sound has added to the emtions which Sergi wants to create which has in turn added to the perspective of the film.

The establishing sence of the film is of a thrashing sea waves againt rocks. This is itself depictes that some conflict, some anger is brewing. The shot later on moves to the sailers comenting on the on going revolution agaist the Czarist regime and how they are sleeping. Sergi also very clearly shows the ill-treatment caused by the officers on the sailors. For example while they are sleeping and resting an officer comes along and disturbs them. Also we see the sailors protest against the use of the rotten meat for their meal to be supressed by the officers. The martyer ship of the sailors is done very spectactularly with first showing just like the soldiers at first the villagers did not care of the revoultion. However it was not long before the flight of steps was crowded with villagers to come and meet, join and support the sailors. This sence is done particulary beautifully with Sergi using a classic blending technique where an empty saticase dissolves into a hustling and crowded staircase.

Sergi uses special

The acting in the movie is melodramatic

The shooting techniques used by Sergi are very innovative. Many of the shot are still shot. There is no panning shots or rotation of the camera at all. He uses a lot of close up shot or medium ranged shots. We do not see much of point of view shots. Not much attention is given to lighting in the film. Sergi makes very good use of the close up shots to emphasies certain emotions and aspects (for example the maggots in the meat, or the expressions of the actors or the clenching of the fists).

Sergi has spend a lot of detail with editing. Mainly using features such as fade outs, fade in and dissolve.

Odessay Staircase scence is one of the most revolutionary film making techniques in the history of films. Sergi applies the theory of montages in this scene. Sergi used quick abrupt shot to make a scene. This was the first time it was done in filming.

In this scence he complies a number montages to create a spectaculator scene minute. One of major parts is when the child gets shot and the mother carries him to the soldiers. It is important because of the use of sound and the positioning of characters. As the mother and child neared the Cossacks the length of the shots shorten and moved across very fast. Talking about sound, just before the mother and child are shot, all sounds are stop. This gives a certain stillness to what is about to happen and sends a chill down the audience, allowing to join into the perspective of the film. Talking about the postioning of character, the Cassocks face is never show and only their back are shown. There are shot as this line of upright soldiers. Before the shooting of the mother and child all that is shown of the Cassocks is their shadows and a menacing hand over the woman and child. All this portays the Cassocks as a menacing, strong and heartless soldiers. Another imporatant scene is the dramatisation of the death of the mother and tipping of the baby carrage.

This is a very strong properganda movie.