Who is the director of the first Russian color film "Battleship Potemkin"?

In the history of world cinema there are a number of iconic works that for many years and decades have determined the main directions of the development of this art. First of all, they include the film "Battleship Potemkin" by the Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein. This film has become a classic not only domestic, but also world cinema.

about the author

The future director of the first Russian color film "Battleship Potemkin" Was born in 1898 in Riga, in the family of the famous city architect M.O. Eisenstein. In the same city, the future director received a secondary education in a real school. The destiny of the future classics of the world cinema was undoubtedly influenced by such hobbies of childhood as drawing cartoons and cartoons, as well as acquaintance with the basics of professional photography. Sergei Eisenstein continued his education in the capital of the Russian Empire, enrolling in 1915 at the Petrograd Engineering Institute.

After the revolution

To art in general and to cinema in particular, the future director of the first Russian color film "Battleship Potemkin" came not at once. Before that, there was a service in the Red Army on the fronts of the Civil War and numerous trips around the country. Sergei Eisenstein was already a mature, formed man, by the time he came to the famous theatrical figure Vsevolod Meyerhold in the State Higher Directing Workshops. He combined the study with the famous master with the work of the decorator in the theater of Proletkult. Without this school of theatrical creativity, the director of the first Russian color film could not open up to the full extent of his outstanding talent. And ahead of him awaited the brilliant career of one of the most recognized in the history of world cinema directors.

From the theater to the cinema

In the early twenties, the theater world was forced to turn to a new, to that time mankind, unknown, art of cinema. And Sergei Eisenstein, who in a few years will become known to the whole world as the director of the first Russian color film "Battleship Potemkin", was at the very top of this revolutionary coup. Just now the battle of the Civil War has died down and in new Russia, among other things, a new cinema has begun to be created. Sergei Eisenstein was among his founders. From the very first works he declared himself as a mature master, not like anyone else. Eisenstein characterized a unique way of thinking with expressive visual images, working on major plans and unexpected angles. The films of this author could not be confused with others for only one particular editing features, from episode to episode revealing the growing dynamics of the development of the plot.

The cycle of films about the Russian revolution

In any art work there is always some element of chance. Not everyone knows that the director of the first Russian color film "Battleship Potemkin" originally planned to shoot something not quite what brought him later world fame. Eisenstein planned to shoot a whole series of films, dedicated to the most important events of the Russian revolution. He was removed with the approval of the Soviet government and consisted of seven parts. One of the parts of the cycle, The Strike, was already filmed and successfully demonstrated in the country's cinemas, when the author was asked to concentrate his efforts on the events of the first Russian revolution of 1905.

In Odessa

From the whole vortex of the events of the first Russian revolution Eisenstein chose only one, in his opinion, the most striking episode. The director of the film "Battleship Potemkin" filmed it in the city where events took place twenty years ago, taken for the script of his own film. There were a lot of people in the city who not only witnessed everything that happened in those days, but also took part in everything directly. They happily responded to the author's proposal to take part in the mass scenes of the film. The participation of Odessa citizens in the shooting can not be underestimated. People often acted as consultants and were able to tell the director many correct decisions of those or other scenes. Most cinematographic textbooks include detailed analysis and frame-by-frame analysis of the famous scene of the shooting by the troops of the insurgent people on the Potemkin Stairs.

Riot on the battleship

A lot of non-professional actors participated in the mass scenes on the insurgent ship. Looking at these old shots today, one can only admire the fact that these completely distant people both from the theater and from the cinema were able to penetrate with such precision the idea that the director wanted to translate on the screen. "Battleship Potemkin" is also unique in that the role of the insurgent people in it is not attracted extras, and direct participants in the revolutionary events and the Civil War. And no one else could be so persuasive in this role. The film keeps in suspense until the last frame and compels to empathize both the sailors of the rebellious "Battleship Potemkin", and the citizens of Odessa, who spoke in their support.

Red color

Sergei Eisenstein entered the history of world cinema as the author of the first color film. It should be understood that at that time there was not even an audio cinematograph. And the technology of color photography was in the stage of theoretical development. That's why so amazing was what Eisenstein did. Enlightenment visited the author already at the stage of editing the picture - to take and paint manually on the film a flag on the insurgent battleship. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of a genius gesture - the movement of a brush with red paint, which the director has done. "Battleship Potemkin" - color film. The first in the history of mankind. And it does not matter that the color there is only one and in one episode. The resonance from one brush movement was of a worldwide scale. The film was seen not only in the Soviet Union. The "Battleship Potemkin" was demonstrated with great success all over the world and was recognized by numerous polls as one of the most outstanding works of world cinema. Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein in the twenties created the cinematographic language that will become so popular in the coming decades - a special growing rhythm of changing personnel, large contrasting plans, sharp unexpected camera angles. Today it is a widespread style of so-called "clip-on" thinking. And many of those who actively use it, do not even suspect that invented all these techniques is none other than the author of the famous film "Battleship Potemkin" Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein.