Non-Continuity Editing

 

SOVIET CINEMA: 1920s

Montage editing:

does not serve narrative, as does continuity

Films are "editing constructions"

Exploits discontinuities between shots, such as jump cuts

Jump cuts occur when the 30 degree rule of camera placement is violated. Each camera position must be varied at least 30 degrees from previous one to avoid a jump cut.

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Sergei Eisenstein: Battleship Potemkin

Individual shots are "montage cells

Shots arranged for "maximum collision" of graphic elements

Creates patterns of images to stimulate senses & thought

Encourages active audience participation

Uses montage to create essay films, rather than narrative ones.

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French Avant-Garde 1920s

Fernand Leger: Ballet Mecanique

Abstract film made by a Cubist artist

 

Deconstructs objects documentary reference (its analog in the real world)

Objects are fragmented and abstracted

Elimination of Plot

Repetition of Action

Nearly subliminal images

 

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French New Wave (starts 1959)

This film movement had various styles within it. A prime user of discontinuity was

Jean-Luc Godard (A Bout de Souffle) Breathless 1959

Techniques:

Jump Cuts

Non-diegetic inserts

Non-diegetic Inserts occur when filmmaker cuts from a scene to a metaphorical or symbolic shot that is not part of the film's diegesis

 

Creates temporal ellipses (gaps)

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