Uit: Marie Seton, Sergei M. Eisenstein (Dennis Dobson, 1978) p. 385384 SERGEI M. EISENSTEIN spread over the opposite bank. The shore was overlaid with sacking ; "hoar-frost" on the trees was produced by covering the branches with white paint dotted with fluffs of cotton. The "ice", weighing 17.5 tons, was supported by pontoons filled with air and concealed under water. At a signal, the air was released from the pontoons and the "ice" submerged/ 1 The 'Battle on the Ice* was shot during the torrid days of July 1938. As Tisse later explained, this created special problems. 'It must be remembered that in summer the atmospheric perspective is considerably greater and the flocks of clouds are less dense, all of which, when mixed with the sunshine, suggests warmth. In winter, on the contrary, the dome of the sky is nearer the earth and the clouds are thicker and darker. 'We created a "winter sky" by two devices: careful composition of the scene, and the use of the proper filters. As a general rule, we avoided filming soft clouds. A severe aspect of the sky was successfully trans- mitted to the screen with the aid of a filter combining orange and bluish light. 'Many people have asked why we chose not to use motor-cameras. Had we wished to use a motor-camera we could have filmed twenty- four and a half frames per second. But what we wanted was to accen- tuate and intensify the rhythm of the battle. It should be borne in mind that the weapons used — the swords, lances, axes, etc. — were mostly props, and if filmed at ordinary speed, would have given the impression of being exceedingly light. Consequently, we shot almost all the battle scenes at a speed of from eight to twelve frames per second, thereby achieving a highly dynamic quality in all the various episodes of the "Battle on the Ice".' 2 Even though Sergei Mikhailovich was making a 'popular' film, he could not still the drive of his intellect and the seeking of his very being for 'creative ecstasy'. And once more he found it in the audio-visual effects created in collaboration with Sergei Prokofiev. As he revealed later in his writings, Eisenstein delved deeply into the matter of sound and imagery while making Nevsky, his first completed sound film. Through close collaboration with Prokofiiev, he was able to evolve new lines of theoretical thought which advanced his true interests. In this sphere, work on Alexander Nevsky was entirely satisfying ; in fact, as creatively enriching to Sergei Mikhailovich as any of his earlier work. Concerning their collaboration Eisenstein later wrote: 1 S. M. Eisenstein, 'Director of Alexander Nevsky Describes How the Film Was Made' (Moscow News, 5 December 1938). 2 'How Winter Scenes Filmed' by Edward (Eduard) Tisse (Daily Worker, New York, 16 April 1939). 'my subject is patriotism' 385 'You'll have the music by noon.' We leave the small projection-room. Although it is now mid- night, I feel quite calm. At exactly 11.55 a.m. a small, dark blue auto- mobile will come through the gate of the film studio. Sergei Prokofiev will emerge from the car. In his hands will be the necessary piece of music. At night we look at the new sequence of film. By morning the new sequence of music will be ready for it. This is what happened recently when we worked on Alexander Nevsky. . . . Prokofiev is a man of the screen in that special sense which makes it possible for the screen to reveal not only the appearance and sub- stance of objects, but also, and particularly, their peculiar inner struc- ture. . . . Among all the plastic arts the cinema alone, with no loss of ex- pressive objectivity, and with complete ease resolves all [the] prob- lems of painting, but at the same time the cinema is able to communi- cate much more. . . . The camera-angle reveals the innermost being of nature. . . . Montage structure unites the objective existence of the phenome- non! with the artist's subjective relation to it. . . . It is in this particular sense that Prokofiev's music is amazingly plastic. It is never content to remain an illustration, but everywhere, gleaming with triumphant imagery, it wonderfully reveals the inner movement of the phenomenon and its dynamic structure, in which is embodied the emotion and meaning of the event. . . . Having grasped this structural secret of all phenomena, he clothes it in the tonal camera-angles of instrumentation, compelling it to gleam with shifts in timbre, and forces the whole inflexible structure to blossom into the emotional fullness of orchestration. The moving graphic outlines of his musical images, which thus rise, are thrown by him on to our consciousness just as, through the blinding beam of the projector, moving images are flung on to the white plane of the screen. This is not an engraved impression in paint of a phenomenon, but a light that pierces the phemonenon by means of tonal chiaroscuro. 1 When Alexander Nevsky was finished, Eisenstein the creator of the intellectual film had evolved into the director of the spectacle film. Completed in the record time of a little more than a year, Alexander 1 S. M. Eisenstein, 'P-R-K-F-V', Preface to Sergei Prokofiev by Israel Nestyev (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1946), pp. ix et seq. 2B
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