Battleship Potempkin

1. Rewatch the up to 0:45. What atmosphere do the contrasting shots create? How does Eisenstein create a sense of foreboding alongside the overriding atmosphere?
Sergei Eisenstein uses a series of shots to convey happiness and excitement using various shots of people waving and smiling with joy. The obvious text that suddenly pops up saying “Suddenly...” (0:44) communicates to the audience that “Suddenly...” something bad happens. Also the “...” express a long pause or an interruption.

Another part of the montage scene that Sergei Eisenstein uses to cause a sense of foreboding would include the clip of a flag that seems to belong to a boat or a battalion (0:29). This helps build up to the sudden text because through the use of montage, the audience thinks that the people associated with the flag are in the city to rescue them, when “Suddenly…” something contradictory happens.

2. Watch the rest of the clip again. How does Eisenstein create a contrast between the soldiers and the people? How and why does our view of the people's feelings towards the soldiers change?
One noticeable contrast between the soldiers and the people is the colour of clothing, the soldiers are dressed in white, and the people are dress in black (or assorted clothing such as white shirt, black trousers). This is a clever contrast because the film is in black and white, therefore, there needs to be a stand out between the two different groups.

The people in the film also showed emotions such as fear, sadness and worry. The soldiers however are emotionless like robots; they follow commands and continue to fire at the people.
The audience’s views on the feelings the people have in the direction to the soldiers are significantly changed from the point of 0:46. Sergei Eisenstein uses a series of techniques to help illustrate how these feelings change. He changes the tempo of the music from a slow pace to a faster pace to make the audience think that the people are unorganized and it has changed into an action sequence. The music orchestra was also changed from strings (high and peaceful) to drums and wind instruments (low and fearing).