Formalist film theory prioritizes form over content, emphasizing techniques like montage and defamiliarization. It rejects realism in favor of stylization, using editing, cinematography, and mise-en-scène to create meaning beyond narrative.

This approach influenced movements like Soviet Montage and avant-garde cinema, shaping film analysis and criticism. Its impact continues in contemporary filmmaking through innovative visual styles and experimental techniques.

Key Principles and Techniques of Formalist Film Theory

Principles of formalist film theory

• Form over content prioritizes construction techniques over narrative or themes
• Montage theory juxtaposes shots to create meaning through intellectual combination of unrelated images (Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin)
• Ostranenie defamiliarizes familiar elements enhancing audience perception (Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera)
• Unique properties of film emphasized visual composition, movement, and rhythm
• Rejection of realism favors stylization and abstraction (German Expressionist films)
• Formalist analysis breaks down films into constituent elements studying their interplay

Formalist techniques for meaning

• Editing techniques create meaning through rhythmic patterns, graphic match cuts, and intellectual montage
• Cinematography utilizes camera angles (low, high, Dutch tilt), movements (tracking, panning, zooming), lens choices (wide-angle, telephoto), and lighting styles (high-key, low-key, chiaroscuro)
• Mise-en-scène incorporates set design, props, costumes, makeup, actor positioning, movement, color palette, and visual motifs to convey meaning

Defamiliarization and Impact of Formalist Theory

Defamiliarization in film theory

• Ostranenie makes familiar appear strange heightening audience awareness of the medium
• Challenges automatic perception through unusual camera angles, distorted visuals, non-linear narratives, and exaggerated performances
• Relates to montage by creating new meanings through juxtaposition
• Emphasizes artificial aspects of the medium through stylization

Impact of formalism on cinema

• Influenced Soviet Montage movement (Eisenstein, Vertov, Kuleshov)
• Contributed to avant-garde and experimental cinema (abstract films, structural films)
• Impacted narrative filmmaking through innovative editing and increased attention to visual style
• Developed close reading techniques for film analysis and criticism
• Influenced later movements (French New Wave, New German Cinema)
• Remains relevant in contemporary cinema through visual effects, music video aesthetics, and stylized genre films (neo-noir, hyper-realism)