VSEVOLOD PUDOVKIN

Vsevolod Pudovkin (16 February 1893 – 30 June 1953) was a Russian and Soviet film
director, screenwriter and actor who developed influential theories of montage. Pudovkin's
masterpieces are often contrasted with those of his contemporary Sergei Eisenstein, but whereas
Eisenstein utilized montage to glorify the power of the masses, Pudovkin preferred to
concentrate on the courage and resilience of individuals.
Vsevolod Pudovkin's major contribution to the cinema is as a theorist. He was fascinated by the
efforts of his teacher, the filmmaker Lev Kuleshov, in exploring the effects of montage.
Vsevolod Pudovkin was a Russian filmmaker who developed many modern influential theories
of montage. The five relational editing techniques of Pudovkin are as follows:
Contrast: Contrast forces the viewer to compare two opposing scenes in their mind.
Parallelism: Parallelism is often used to jump from one time period or a location to another.
Symbolism: Visual or auditory representation of another object. The use of one object or action
(a symbol) to represent or suggest something else.
Simultaneity: Action occurring at the same time in two different locations, the camera will cut
away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions
but this is not always the case.
Leitmotif: Repetition. Visual Leitmotif‘s (leading motifs or guiding motifs) is a theme, or other
coherent idea, repeated to associate with a particular idea, person or situation. It is a technique
that accompanies the reappearance of a person, object or situation. Clearly defined so as to retain
its identity if modified on subsequent appearances, and whose purpose is to represent or
symbolize a person, object, place, idea, and state of mind, supernatural force or any other
ingredient in a dramatic work.
Pudovkin's Film Technique simply explained that editing was the aspect of film art form which
was completely unique, and which separated it from all other art forms.
The ability to show a simple action like a man cutting wheat from a number of angles in a brief
moment, to be able to see it in a special way not possible except through film -- that this is what
it was all about