Editing in Potemkin, 1925

                                       Directed by Sergei Eisenstein

 

Resources for Teaching Film

Context:  In Odessa, 1905, Czarist Russia.  Frustrated and angered by poor shipboard conditions, the sailors of the Russian ship Potemkin are near mutiny.  They are served maggot-ridden meat, gruel, and dry bread.   One of the sailors, washing dishes, comes across a plate that is engraved, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  Enraged, he smashes the dish.  How is this shown? (13.06)

 

The smashed plate:

 

1        CU of hands washing plate

2        Reaction shot of sailor

3        CU of his hands moving plate around so that he reads the saying

4        Reaction of sailor--he is still reading

5        CU of his hands moving the plate around

6        Reaction shot as he looks up, an angry expression in his eyes

7        CU of plate in his hand

8        Wide shot of other sailors at wash basin--another one leans over to

                   read the inscription

9        Reaction shot of the sailor--anger in his face is plain

10      Quick wide shot of the three sailors at the wash basin--we can see sailor

                   holding plate in his hand--he begins to lift the plate

11      High angle of the three sailors--he begins to lift the plate over his head

12      Tight shot of that sailor--lifts plate over his head--

13      Back to previous shot--his hand moves down swiftly

14      But now to tight shot again--his hand moves back over his other shoulder--

15      Dark close-up of his angry face

16      Wide shot again--this time similar to 11 and 13, his hand above his head--

                   he throws his arm down violently--

17      Wide shot, same as 10, shows the plate smashing onto the edge of the

                   table, and then shots fades out

 

NOTE: The action of the sailor smashing the plate required 8 shots--Eisenstein was interested in extending the action with uninflected shots--as if to show the rage of the sailor--he lifts the plate above his left shoulder, then down and up above his right shoulder, and then he smashes it down.  Shot 15 is especially important--a quick close-up of his enraged face.  Eisenstein creates a montage effect--expanding the impact of the dramatic action with shots that go in the same direction--eight shots to express “rage” at such mistreatment at the hands of the officers.  This action sets up the climactic action explored below--when all of the men decide to mutiny.

 

The Captain’s Threats:

 

1. Action: The captain orders a general muster.  Everyone stands on the deck.  The captain threatens to hang the sailors who are disobeying orders.  The overview wide shot is a high angle looking down upon the bow of the ship.  The captain stands above the “Admiral’s Hatch,” in a position of power, the sailors stand in line two and three deep on the left and right sides of the ship.  The other offices stand with their backs to the bow and facing the Captain. 

 

2. Six shots are devoted to the Captain’s approach from within the ship onto the deck.  Note how the music (horns) introduces him.  Then shots of the sailors and officers lined up on deck.  Back to the Captain.  He holds the center of the frame and commands all before him, to his left, and to his right.  He asks that the men who ate the gruel take two steps forward.  All the petty officers and a few sailors step forward.  Note reaction shot of the First Lieutenant.  He looks to his side and we CUT to a pov shot of the sailors lined up . . . Note the visual metaphor: under the gun!

 

3. Then the Captain, still in the center of the frame, commands that the remainder of the sailors be hanged on the yardarm.  Then follows a series of reaction shots, point of view shots, and reaction shots of various individuals as they look up at the yardarm: the sailors imagine themselves hanging there, but the officers see only the yardarm--they can’t imagine themselves hanging there.  Instead, they smirk at their safety and the sailor’s peril.

 

4. The captain calls out the guard from below decks.  As the guard musters, parallel editing sets up another scene to compare.  Vakulinchuk, one of the sailors, urges the other men to muster at the gun turret.  After the guard has lined up, Vakulinchuk calls out again and this time the other sailors respond.  They muster at the gun turret.  But the First Lieutenant and other officers stops a handful of sailors and pushes them back toward the bow.  Then the Captain orders them shot on the spot. 

 

The Firing Squad:

 

5. Note how the director has separated the various characters and set up future shots.  Each division can become an editing track of its own (e.g., shots of the Captain barking orders, or shots of the sailors at the bow).  What are the possibilities now?

 

Captain Golikov

First Lieutenant

Other officers nearby

Soldiers trapped at the bow of the ship

Soldiers under the turret

Soldiers in the firing squad

 

6. The next mini-drama is another demonstration of the power of the Captain, who manhandles two of the sailors who try to escape down the “Admiral’s Hatch” behind him.  He throws both of them onto the deck and declares that he will have the men shot.

 

7. Eisenstein has shown that he develops the drama by drawing upon “individuals” within larger groups.  For example, Vakulinchuk is one sailor who has become the focus of several shots--thus, he has become the leader of the mutineers.  We know no other sailor as much as we know him.  Eisenstein does the same thing in the next scene with one of the sailors in the firing squad.  He becomes disquieted when he sees a tarp brought up that will be thrown over the sailors trapped at the bow.  Parallel editing will show (in 6 quick shots--3 reaction shots of the sailor) how disheartened he is by being required to fulfill his duties. This mini-drama suggests that the men at the firing squad may not shoot after all.

 

8. Note how Eisenstein shows the sailors trapped at the bow being covered with the white tarp.  After it is brought in, and after the mini-drama noted above, we focus on two shots that emphasize the whiteness of the tarp--then a third shot showing the trapped sailors backing away in terror--then three quick shots of the tarp being raised and lifted above the men.  We don’t really see the men being covered--we see the threat of them being covered and experience their terror. 

 

9. Then Eisenstein shifts our attention to reaction shots--the first row of the firing squad, then the long dark  “shadows” of the officers on the deck, and then more reaction shots as the climactic moment looms:

 

Transition to Climax:

 

1.       Wide shot of the deck, high angle.  Firing squad advances.  Other sailors

                   mill about behind the firing squad.

2.       First line of the firing squad.  Guns at the ready.

3.       Low angle shot looking up into the big guns of the turret--we are looking

                   right into the barrels.

4.       Wide shot of the battleship at anchor in the bay (terrible model, isn’t it?).

                   This shot helps establish the battleship as “character”--it also

                   relieves some of the tension and suggests that everyone on the ship

                   is part of a community, but this community is being threatened.

5.       Low angle wide shot of an Orthodox Priest who stands above a stairs. 

                   Title: “Lord, drive the unruly spirit from thy children!”

6.       Close shot of the priest--the clouds behind him seem sulfurous, stormy.

                   He is an awful vision of hatred.

 

Climactic Montage

Defeated:

 

7.       Wide shot of the men under the tarp.

8.       First Lieutenant gives the order to the firing squad.

9-11   Three quick cuts show the firing squad raising their guns to their shoulders.

12.     Reaction shot of Vakulinchuk--he lowers his head.  Obviously feeling

                   defeated.

13.     Other sailors move back.

14.     The sailors under the tarp.

15.     Other sailors behind the firing squad lower their heads.

16.     Firing squad at the ready.  You may recognize the sailor in the lower right             as the man who was disquieted by the tarp earlier.

17.     Officers react.

18.     Priest reacts.

19.     Officer stares straight ahead, a determined look in his face.

20.     First Lieutenant turns around and barks a command.

21.     Men under the tarp.  Two of them drop to their knees.

22-24 Three quick shots of the firing squad--one the men go to attention, the

                   other  focuses on their rifles.

 

Feeling of Hope:

 

25.     Shot of Vakulinchuk, still under the gun.  Now he looks up (before he had

                   looked down).

26.     Shot of firing squad, same as 24.

27.     Insert close-up of the Priest’s cross as he taps into his palm.

28.     The life preserver of the ship.  (An ironic image--who will “save” these men?)

29.     The bow of the ship, Low angle, showing the bow “towering” over the

                   observer.

30.     Close-up of the bugle held in the bugler’s hand--who will sound the alarm?

31.     Men under the tarp.  Another man drops to his knees.

32.     FIRST close-up of Vakulinchuk--his face shows outrage.  Title: Vakulinchuk

                   makes a decision. 

33.     First Lieutenant makes a command.  Title: “Aim and Fire!”

34.     Close-up of Vakulinchuk--he cries out!  Title: “Shipmates!  Who are you

                   firing at!”

 

The Firing Squad Wavers:

 

35.     CLOSE shot of the one man in the firing squad we saw earlier--he stands for

                   all the others.  He wavered before, and now he will waver again.

                   Title: “The rifle barrels wavered.”

36.     High angle shot of the rifle barrels doing just that.

37.     Wide shot (making him look smaller) of the First Lieutenant, shouting

                   orders.  Title: “Shoot!”

38.     Reaction shot of two of the men in the firing squad.  They lower their guns.

39.     Close shot of our man in the firing squad.  Title: “Shoot!”

40.     Wide shot of First Lieutenant, enraged, as he runs toward the firing squad.

41.     Wide shot, high angle, showing the entire deck, and now the First                                   Lieutenant runs around like a miserable ant, yelling at the men

42.     Close-up of the First Lieutenant.  Title: “Shoot!  You scum!”

43-46 Four shots of the firing squad members lowering their weapons.

 

Vakulinchuk the Hero:

 

47.     Close-up of the First Lieutenant screaming at them.

48.     Wide shot of the First Lieutenant as he grapples with one of the men in the

                   firing squad.

49.     Reaction shot of Vakulinchuk, who urges the other sailors on.  Title: “Grab

                   the rifles!”

50.     Shot of men moving quickly.

51.     Vakulinchuk in close-up, all action.

52.     High angle of Vakulinchuk scrambling up onto the turret.

53.     High angle wide shot of Vakulinchuk standing on the turret, his back to the

                   camera.

54.     Reverse angle of Vakulinchuk, low angle, as he raises his hands in the air.

                   Title: “Kill the brass mounted tyrant!”

55.     CLOSE-UP of Vakulinchuk: “Shoot them down!”

 

The mutiny ensues. 

 

Notes written by Robert Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke,  © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota, 
Reprinted by permission of the author for educational use only