"The Strike" was born out of his theatrical experiences and still wore their mark. This first cinematographic work reflects, as in a mirror – by inverting – the production of the "Gas Masks". But the film gets tangled in the wreckage of an excessive theatricality which was foreign to Eisenstein. However, from the specific concerns of the theatrical staging from "The Gulf", "Listen, Moscow ! ", "Gas Masks" was born a new notion: the mise-en-cadre.
"The Strike" marks the beginning of Eisensteinian montage. At its core, at this stage, it is thought that combining two images gives rise to an idea, unique, the whole being created thusly being superior to the sum of the two constituent elements. Montage consists for Eisenstein, in the creation, through the relationship of two images, of a nervous shock (provided, of course, with the dramatic sense of the action), in order to determine within the consciousness of the viewer an idea, and then, a set of ideas due to which the work can be led to the emotional or dialectic finality.
Eisenstein discovers a whole new mathematics and physics of generating emotion. Starting this impressive work of research of his own creation, which he will continue until the end of his life, Eisenstein discovers the intimate laws of the artwork. From now on, aesthetic thinking will go parallel with creation, becoming, in constant alternation, both its explicitness and often its engine. *
When you seek to generate new emotions through the means of research work of your own creation, on which you can count on in the process of acquiring new information and knowledge, you inevitably reach a surprising finding, an unexpected conclusion. Emotions, viewed through the prism of research work, are those that undoubtedly support the intimate laws of creation, being superior by the intensity with which it fuels man’s momentum towards great goals.
This proves, in the context of strengthening the role of a guide in seeking new forms and means of directorial expression, your main consistency in daring to try new things in the triangle of moments stolen by the lens, which you experience through an uninterrupted continuity of the narrative thread. The research work of creation, in parallel with aesthetic thinking, must give rise to an image that represents you as the main landmark of a new type of opening to an immediate reality that seems to have been specially formed to ensure a fulminating result in matter of reception of the theatrical performance, so as to ensure an unwavering conviction about the uplifting role of art.
Montage, at the same time, is a consequence of developing notions, concepts, ideas derived from using those findings that have an experimental character and do not respect the traditional construction procedures. Which implies a certain degree of reporting to the act of rendering a scene in particular or repeatedly.
And the director who is consistent in assessing "the control he exercises over art", honors leadership in that he determines within the consciousness of viewers an idea and then a set of ideas due to which the work can be led to emotional finality.
That wellspring of "superior whole", performed by expanding a notion that can become the precise foreshadowing of a key moment, is in fact an effect of the continuous inclusion of experiencing a work of art, an image of an event in the plane of reality, in the context of personal experience – in deciding what you want to convey.
Emotional finality, as a pale spark become a huge fire, is the success of creating a unique image, customized, with direct effects to the understood possible attributed to the notion of "inner listening and transformation". It is the uppermost point of a development that reinforces the version of that model of spiritual experience obtained through the consistency of the manifestation of imagination and creativity.
The Key Moment of The Director is associated with expanding notions stemming from increasing consistency in daring to try out new things in the construction of montage, which culminates through an unexpected conclusion. This conclusion is the guiding force of inspiration towards designing a new vision.
* Note: Ion Barna - Eisenstein , Youth Publishing House, 1966.