A Deep Trace In The Artist's Life

Artistic leadership involves the ability to combine the various elements of the environment, life with facts, and movement with time, creating a holistic cinematic experience.

That moment, by which he allowed himself to be intoxicated at the time, left a deep mark on the artist's life ("the floating bridge... revealed to me for the first time the charm of this attraction that has never left me since"). It's almost like a collective rhythmic dance, which unites in a unique symphony the movement of dozens of people... And in this painting, the main thing is the rhythm, the calculation of space, of time weighed down to the second. Streams of people in ebb and flow, sometimes integrating into the clockwork of the giant collective effort, sometimes breaking away, in order to then, in another cycle of the process, rigorously established, reintegrate into the general movement.

The strict division of time and space, the alternation of the movements of the different tributaries of the mass; nature and people merged into one whole. Hell yes! - isn't this the basis of the fusion of different objects of the environment with people, of life with facts, of movement with time? And in the film, as a whole, and in the joining of its fragments (of montage sequences), and in that specific engineering of space and time that puts in front of the lens extremely complex mise-en-scenes of mass episodes or the gestures of the characters, combining the singular action with the action general, combining the action with the calculated time, the intensity of the action with the reserved space, the gesture with the word, combining the idea with the sensory image, the ideational conclusion with the emotional shock. Therefore, the first school where Eisenstein learned the art of editing was the officers' school.

Merging people with nature and integrating individual actions into a collective flow is the essence of a well-orchestrated kingship capable of creating an impactful cinematic image.

"Systems of narrative extension are in the reference plane of the film, they actually represent the turning points of the story. Sometimes a central sequence appears in the viewer's visual field and several parallel sequences located symmetrically to the one mentioned, but with increasingly subtle emotional intensities. They have the role of amplifying and shading the main message. Secondary sequences are surrounded by thematic nuances. For this reason, the interpretation of the film consists in determining the number of scenes and the fraction of inter-relationships with which the two narrative systems are intertwined, that is, the emotional distance between the two main narrative threads is determined, so as to create an optimal tension.

As a result, the difference between the two narrative perspectives is equal to the number of sequences amplified by their visual and aural impact, determined by the contrast and rhythm of the montage. Complex narratives can be built through this montage method, but the difference between the two narrative threads must not be too great to maintain that coherence of the overall narrative. So, the general structure of the film must be conceived in advance with a less precise technique (for example, by writing the script), a fact that denotes a meticulous planning of the entire creative process.

Creative leadership manifests itself in the ability to make every gesture and every movement an integral part of the overall narrative, combining individual complexity with collective intensity.

Here we consider Eisenstein's inter-differential comparator for calibrating film sequences in the socio-historical context, very important for a faithful reconstruction of the era. For the very precise realization of the montage, Eisenstein used an editing rig based on the scheme proposed by his experience in engineering and art many years before. This approach allowed him to create a 'unique symphony' of movement, where rhythm, calculation of space and time were weighed down to the second.

The ebb and flow of images integrates, sometimes in the clockwork of the collective effort, sometimes breaking away from the general rhythm, so that then, in another cycle of the narrative process, rigorously established, it reintegrates into the general movement of the film. This specific engineering of space and time puts before the lens highly complex mise-en-scenes, combining singular action with general action, gesture with word, idea with sensory image, and ideational conclusion with emotional shock.

The bottom line is that Eisenstein's cinematic technique represents a unique synthesis between scientific rigor and artistic sensibility, creating a complex and deeply emotional visual language."

The essence of artistic leadership consists in merging different elements - people, nature, time and space - in a single rhythmic movement, like a complex mechanism of visual and emotional orchestration that conveys a unitary and captivating story.

A deep mark in the artist's life is left in his conception of cinematic rhythm and harmony, because the experience left a deep mark on him, the situation revealing to him a new perspective on the fusion of visual and emotional elements. I say this because this influence is clearly reflected in his directorial style, in that he rigorously weaves together every element of the scenes as soon as he perceives their potential to create a coherent and engaging narrative.

* Note: Ion Barna - Eisenstein, Tineretului Publishing House, 1966.