<P> Montage theory, in its rudimentary form, asserts that a series of connected images allows for complex ideas to be extracted from a sequence and, when strung together, constitute the entirety of a film's ideological and intellectual power . In other words, the editing of shots rather than the content of the shot alone constitutes the force of a film . Many directors still believe that montage is what defines cinema against other specific media . Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin, for example, claimed that words were thematically inadequate, despite silent cinema's use of intertitles to make narrative connections between shots . Steve Odin traces montage back to Charles Dickens' use of the concept to track parallel action across a narrative . </P> <P> Confined to the project of Soviet expansion, film theorists of the USSR cared little for questions of meaning . Instead, the writing sought the praxis of filmmaking and theory . The pragmatic and revolutionary application of these movements stands in harsh contrast to ideas being developed simultaneously in Western Europe . Socialist Realism characterized the emergence of art within the constraints of communism . Constructivism, an extension of Futurism, sought a pre-modern integration of art into the everyday . Soviet theorists had a clear job before them: theorize in order to aid the cause of the Communist Party . The ethical and ontological dimensions explored in the West were tabled in lieu of film's potential to reach the millions in far reaches of Soviet territory, where literacy was scarce . Film was a tool with which the state could advance the dictatorship of the proletariat . It was no surprise that most of the Soviet film theorists were also filmmakers . </P> <Ul> <Li> Continuity editing--Continuity, like montage, situates editing as the driving formal element of narrative film making . DW Griffith developed and implemented a grammar of film through his use of continuity editing by establishing a logical progression of shots as to make a story intelligible to the audience . Continuity differs from montage in both its production, effect and intention . <Ul> <Li> Production--Continuity maintains a subservience to a predetermined narrative . For example, in Griffith's pinnacle film Birth of a Nation, the editing was completely determined in reaction to the script's narrative . Montage, on the other hand, holds that the dialectical collision of images creates a film's meaning, and thus is less concerned with a script than it is the synthesis of associations between shots . </Li> <Li> Effect and Intention--Continuity editing is oriented spatially; meaning it fills gaps between locations and moments in a film's narrative progression . The 180 degree rule, in which an imaginary straight line is imposed by a director in order to create logical association between characters / objects that require a shot - reverse shot, is used to solidify the spectator in a relation to the image in a way that makes visual sense . Montage may include these elements as well, but is not determined by them . Space can be discontinuous in order to disorient a spectator . For example, Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera documents the everyday activities of people from various locations in the Soviet Union, but never gives priority to a continuity of action . </Li> </Ul> </Li> <Li> Sergei Eisenstein--Though not the inventor of montage, Eisenstein codified its use in Soviet and international film making and theory . Beginning with his initial work in the Proletkult, Eisenstein adapted montage to the cinema and expanded his theories throughout his career to encompass the internal nature of the image . He was the most outspoken and ardent advocate of montage as revolutionary form . His work has been divided into two periods . The first is characterised by "mass dramas" in which his focus is on formalizing Marxist political struggle of the proletariat . His films, Strike and The Battleship Potemkin among the most noted of the period, centered on the capacity for the masses to revolt . The second period is characterized by a shift to individualized narratives that sprang from a synchronic understanding of montage inspired by his foray into dialectical materialism as a guiding principle . The shift between the two periods is indicative of the evolution of Marxist thinking writ large, culminating in an understanding of the material underpinning of all social and political phenomena . Though largely uncredited by contemporary filmmakers, Eisenstein's theories are constantly demonstrated in films across genres, nations, languages and politics . </Li> <Li> The Kuleshov Effect - Lev Kuleshov's work is largely considered the basis from which all montage theory is derived . The Kuleshov Group, composed of Kuleshov and his students, set out to determine the essence of cinema . Rote repetition of the components of the cinema plagued their initial findings: competent acting, provocative lighting and elaborate scenery were not intrinsic to the filmic form . In a study of two films - "an American and a comparable Russian one" - the group identified the American film as extraordinary given the short average shot time . They then inferred that the American organization of shots was perceptually appealing to audiences . Lengthy shots, as seen in the Russian film, make the task of mentally interpreting a pattern difficult . In an essay published in Vestnik Kinematografii in 1916, Kuleshov first coined the term montage to explain the phenomena of shot succession . In a pinnacle experiment, Kuleshov combined independent shots of Ivan Mosjoukine, a bowl of soup, a woman in a coffin, and a woman on a sofa . The strategic ordering of the shots had a marked effect on audience interpretation of the Mosjoukine's neutral expression . This experiment demonstrated cinema's unique capacity as an art form to conjure specific reactions from the relationship between indexical images . It further demonstrated that montage is dialectical in nature, and that the synthesis of images creates unique political meanings . Recently, Kuleshov's conclusions have been brought into question . In The Kuleshov Effect: Recreating the Classic Experiment, Stephen Prince and Wayne E. Hensley contest Kuleshov's findings as unscientific and merely a product of cinematic myth . They conclude that "Kuleshov's effect - understood in terms of shot juxtapositions rather than associational cues - may tell us little about film or visual communication, but its lingering power tells us a lot about the symbolic uses of the past ." </Li> </Ul> <Li> Continuity editing--Continuity, like montage, situates editing as the driving formal element of narrative film making . DW Griffith developed and implemented a grammar of film through his use of continuity editing by establishing a logical progression of shots as to make a story intelligible to the audience . Continuity differs from montage in both its production, effect and intention . <Ul> <Li> Production--Continuity maintains a subservience to a predetermined narrative . For example, in Griffith's pinnacle film Birth of a Nation, the editing was completely determined in reaction to the script's narrative . Montage, on the other hand, holds that the dialectical collision of images creates a film's meaning, and thus is less concerned with a script than it is the synthesis of associations between shots . </Li> <Li> Effect and Intention--Continuity editing is oriented spatially; meaning it fills gaps between locations and moments in a film's narrative progression . The 180 degree rule, in which an imaginary straight line is imposed by a director in order to create logical association between characters / objects that require a shot - reverse shot, is used to solidify the spectator in a relation to the image in a way that makes visual sense . Montage may include these elements as well, but is not determined by them . Space can be discontinuous in order to disorient a spectator . For example, Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera documents the everyday activities of people from various locations in the Soviet Union, but never gives priority to a continuity of action . </Li> </Ul> </Li>

Who proposed the idea of dialectical montage in cinema