The Cinematographic Principle and the Ideogram

Film Theory Jackie M, Darien,

Melissa, Casey and Jackie C.

Define Ideogram

"The ideogram provides a means for the laconic imprinting of an abstract concept."

A written symbol that represents an idea or object directly

rather than a particular word or speech sound, as a Chinese character

Eisenstein's use of Ideograms in Film

Ideogram Binded to Cinematographic Principle

"Cinematography is, first and foremost, montage."

"Combine shots that are depictive, single in meaning, neutral in content -- into intellectual contexts and series."

    Collision or Linkage? 

Sergei’s Collision Method•Battleship Potemkin was the film that displayed Sergei’s new age idea of synthetic collisions.

• Sergei would use his collision method by pairing up image and subsequent image. To show the audience what was going on but in a different way. 

EXAMPLE USING 3 SEPARATE IMAGES

1.

2.

3.

Together, they form new meaning

Eisenstein Ideogram and Montage

In response to the idea of the ideogram, Eisenstein concluded that montage is “an idea that DERIVES

from the collision between two shots that are independent of one another”.

The following examples of the hieroglyphs are used by Eisenstein to illustrate a process of meaning generation

which can be adopted by the cinema, in the service of ‘intellectual montage’.

eye + water = crying

door + ear = eavesdroppingchild + mouth = screaming

mouth + dog = barkingmouth + bird = singing knife + heart = anxiety