Film Studies Daily Log

Friday, March 19

We went over the reading assignment -- excerpts from Eisenstein's "Dickens, Griffith, and the Film of Today" -- and discussed both Eisenstein's ideological contempt for and technical admiration of Griffith's films. Griffith's use of cross-cutting and other film editing devices, derived from the novels of Charles Dickens, were "a revelation" to the early Soviet filmmakers. Those filmmakers took those techniques to a new level, developing a theory and practice of "montage." Students received a further handout on "Soviet Montage" which summarizes those developments, to be read by Monday.

HW due Monday:
Read today's handout (see above) and review Friday's (see below).

HW due next Friday:
Single-scene analysis (outside viewing).