Lessons With Eisenstein

by Sergei Eisenstein, Vladimir Nizhny

English (translation)Original Russian

Genres: Art

Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a Soviet film director and film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is noted in particular for his silent films Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1958). In its 2012 decennial poll, the magazine Sight & Sound named his Battleship Potemkin the 11th greatest movie of all time.

Eisenstein was among the earliest film theorists. He believed that editing could be used for more than just expounding a scene or moment, through a "linkage" of related images. He developed what he called "methods of montage":
1) Metric
2) Rhythmic
3) Tonal
4) Overtonal
5) Intellectual

Eisenstein's articles and books—particularly Film Form and The Film Sense—explain the significance of montage in detail. His writings and films have continued to have a major impact on subsequent filmmakers.

Reviews

[Amirhossein · Rating 5 out of 5]

بهترین کتابیه که در زمینه کارگردانی سینما خوندم و چقدر دلم خواست که دانشجوی آیزنشتاین بودم. آیزنشتاین استاد چقدر شگفت‌انگیز و غافل‌گیر کننده است.

نکته متمایزکننده این کتاب از باقی کتاب‌ها با زمینه مشترک اینه که اساسا ماهی‌گیری رو بهتون یاد میده نه اینکه بهتون ماهی بده. باقی کتاب‌ها فقط یه سری اصول و قواعد تقریبا بدرد نخور و دست و پا گیرن. اما اینجا آیزنشتاین به دانشجوهاش دقیقا آموزش میده که چطوری از متن به میزانسن برسن و از میزانسن به نماها و دکوپاژ.

[Daniel Granville · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rare and special book indeed. Few copies since the sixties are still extant so it might be difficult to locate; reading it, one understands that this though this difficulty is likely due to the book having a concentrated and specialist readership, really it’s rarity and value abounds in how S. M. Eisenstein aided his students in thinking along the creative path. Much like Virgil guiding Dante through the realms of the Commedia, where each constituent part reflect and are related to the grand scheme of the whole, here Eisenstein stresses the ultimate import of the creative process itself. The right answer to a creative construction is arrived at by asking concrete and specific questions. This is an artful practical guide sampled from the mind of a true craftsman, and makes for necessary reading for all those who seriously wish to become talented film directors.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

like Pound, Goethe, Shakespeare, Dante, da Vinci, Wang Wei, et al, Eisenstein absorbed whole lakes of culture and civilization and sweated out diamonds defining the time and times, then and since.

More or less denied access to his medium of cinema by Stalin, he took to teaching and writing. Perhaps "Film Form/Film Sense" might be a better place for some to begin (with "Film Sense" being many people's favorites). You can skim or skip over the obligatory references he makes to revolutionary Soviet history without signficiant loss, but his work's still has dynamic today as over 75 years ago.

[Alper Ünalan]

okuma bora

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The man who is credited with inventing the film montage is profiled in this book, which is the writers experience of taking Eisenstein's cinema class in France. Not for casual film fans, this book is all about motivation vs. camera placement and in depth theory on scene structure and shot selection. One of the books profiled by Eisenstein for scene work is Crime And Punishment by Dostoevsky, which started me on the Russian kick. This little gem of a book is an invaluable tool for filmmakers.