User:Cameron Kletke/Esfir Shub

- (I've been editing a pre-existing article on Esfir Shub, everything in bold is what I've written and changed/added from the pre-existing article. )

notes

Stock and archived footage-extensive amount of footage from old newsreels. filmic archive for Russian revolution- technological political, artistic expertise, incredibly comprehensive

incredibly comprehensive meticulous approach to editing and piecing together preserved and reused stock and archived footage-

early life- not privileged ?? lower middle class

education- good//not much info to add--

career- could be split into important years? no

goskino- good overview of specific film career time 1922

BAD CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER- referenced 1916 film editing under Goskino heading, which was in 1922 and should be moved to Career (above)

I think everything under the headline Career could be formatted better, instead of 'goskino' and 'documentaries' it could be 1916- 1922

and then 1927

and then later work

silent historical film- celebratory dramatization of the 1917 October revolution commissioned for the tenth anniversary of the event-

Lead
Esfir Ilyinichna Shub (Russian: Эсфи́рь Ильи́нична Шуб; 16 March 1894, Surazh, Russian Empire – 21 September 1959, Moscow, Soviet Union), also referred to as Esther Il'inichna Shub, was a pioneering Soviet filmmaker and editor in both the mainstream and documentary fields. She is best known for her trilogy of films, Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (1927), The Great Road (1927), and The Russia of Nicholas II and Leo Tolstoy(1928). Shub is credited as the creator of compilation film and is known for her revolutionary approaches to editing and assembling preserved and archived footage.

Early Life
Shub had a relatively privileged upbringing, which allowed her to travel to Moscow before the revolution. Shub was actually born into a lower-middle class family, 'relatively privileged' is a reductionist statement that takes away from her appreciable excursions. Edited to : "Shub was born into a lower middle class family, and travelled to Moscow before the revolution.

Career
After moving to Moscow, Shub became involved in the Soviet avant-garde world, specifically in constructivist theatre. Shub edited a wide range of films. Noted is her first work, a complete re-editing of Charlie Chaplin's 1916 film Carmen, which was the first Chaplin film ever to be seen in the Soviet Union. In 1918, after working as Vsevolod Meyerhold’s private secretary in the Soviet administration at the head office of the TEO Theatre Department of the Narkompros (People’s Commissariat of Education), she began collaborating with the stage director Vsevolod Meyerhold and poet Vladimir Mayakovsky on several theatrical projects. During this time she also became involved with the Left Front of the Arts (LEF) group.

Original version and subsequence bolded edits:
In 1927, Shub released her first documentary, Padenie dinastii Romanovykh. She was commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. (this isnt confirmed and the reference used for this fact is egregious; a link to a magazine?? I found a more reliable source to reference this ) It was released at the same time as Eisenstein’s October. However LEFists ( LEF,there's no link to Eisensteins October or anything either which I've added and changed ) critiqued his film for being too personal, deeming the impersonality of Shub’s work more exemplary of the Revolution. Soviet film theorists praised Shub’s invisible authority as truly revolutionary, for it was consumed effectively as propaganda. In the making of these films, Shub collected an extensive amount of footage from old newsreels. The way in which she catalogued everything enabled the establishment of a filmic archive for the Russian Revolution. Shub’s extensive efforts and technical approach to filmmaking reveal her technological, political, artistic expertise. "Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (1927) is one of Shub’s most famous surviving films and what many film historians classify as the first compilation film or Soviet montage. Originally titled February, screenwriter Mark Tseitlin and Esfir Shub collaborated on a documentary-style film centred around the decline of the Russian monarchy. Shub traveled to Leningrad in 1926 to obtain the footage she needed for the film. She spent two months examining more than 60,000 meters of film (much of which was damaged) and chose 5,200 meters to take back to Moscow. She made the film because there was no visual record of the Russian Revolution. The movie is made up of stock and archived footage that Shub meticulously preserved and reused. The film covers the years 1912 to 1917, recounting the moments before, after and during World War I, and then ending with the October Revolution. The amount of footage Shub recovered and shot for this film is incredibly comprehensive. - I deleted that sentence for redundancy and to make sure this doesn't sound too essay-formatted) Film theorist Alla Gadassik suggests that without her intervention in 'sourcing, untangling and preserving neglected rolls of film, it is highly likely that none of this footage would survive the following decades.' Her dedication to the project is evident and proves Shub’s skills of compiling, cataloging, and editing archival film. (redundant and can be ommitted, deleted this sentence) Shub’s contribution to the history of compilation film was influential in the United States in the 1930s and during World War II. Historians Jack C. Ellis and Betsy A. McLane note that, “nothing like Shub’s films had existed before them, and her work remains among the finest examples of the compilation technique.'"Shub traveled to Leningrad in 1926 to obtain the footage she needed for the film. She spent two months examining more than 60,000 meters of film (much of which was damaged) and chose 5,200 meters to take back to Moscow. She made the film because there was no visual record of the Russian Revolution. The movie is made up of stock footage and film that Shub shot herself to make up for the lack of documentation.-'''this sentence is blatantly incorrect, I haven't been able to confirm this at all. she never shot her own footage, she simply found archived footage and reworked it in her film, im planning on deleting this false information in the wiki article) (added instead: "The movie is made up of stock and archived footage that Shub meticulously preserved and reused."''' The film covers the years 1912 to 1917, recounting the moments before, after and during World War I, and then ending with the October Revolution. The amount of footage Shub recovered and shot for this film is incredibly comprehensive. (addded) Film theorist Alla Gadassik suggests that without her intervention in "sourcing, untangling and preserving neglected rolls of film, it is highly likely that none of this footage would survive the following decades." Her dedication to the project is evident and proves Shub’s skills of compiling, cataloging, and editing archival film. Shub’s contribution to the history of compilation film was influential in the United States in the 1930s and during World War II. Historians Jack C. Ellis and Betsy A. McLane note that, “nothing like Shub’s films had existed before them, and her work remains among the finest examples of the compilation technique."- added the end of the quotation.

According to Shub, “the most successful and valuable filmmaking required ‘the greatest austerity of execution,’ rather than the ‘remarkable’ but irrelevant excesses...Eisenstein had indulged in when making October." Shub insisted that ‘mastery’ in filmmaking was not a matter of personal genius: ‘It is all a matter of technique…of aims and method. That is what we must talk about’.” the quotations here are aren't grammatically correct- this will be edited in the pre-existing article.

'''In 1927 Shub published the article "Rabota Montazhnits" or "The Work of Montagesses," which outlined the labour of women in editing. This article was published months following the distribution of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (1927) documentary, which is when Shub was struggling to gain recognition and directional credit for her film.''' -added

The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (1927)
In 1927, Shub released her first documentary, Padenie dinastii Romanovykh. She was commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, and to provide the first visual record of the Russian Revolution. The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty is one of Shub’s most famous surviving films and what many film historians classify as the first compilation film or Soviet montage. Originally titled February, screenwriter Mark Tseitlin and Esfir Shub collaborated on this documentary-style film centered around the decline of the Russian monarchy.

The movie is made up of stock and archived footage that Shub meticulously preserved and reused. Shub traveled to Leningrad in 1926 to obtain the footage she needed for the film, spending two months examining more than 60,000 meters of film (much of which was damaged) and chose 5,200 meters to take back to Moscow. The film covers the years 1912 to 1917, recounting the moments before, after and during World War I, and then ending with the October Revolution. Film theorist Alla Gadassik suggests that without her intervention in "sourcing, untangling and preserving neglected rolls of film, it is highly likely that none of this footage would survive the following decades." Shub’s contribution to the history of compilation film was influential in the United States in the 1930s and during World War II. Historians Jack C. Ellis and Betsy A. McLane note that, “nothing like Shub’s films had existed before them, and her work remains among the finest examples of the compilation technique."

Critical Reception
Eisenstein's October(1928), which was also commissioned for the tenth anniversary of the event, was criticized by LEFists (Soviet art journalists), for being 'too personal,' while deeming the impersonality of Shub's work more exemplary for the Revolution. Soviet film theorists praised Shub’s invisible authority as truly revolutionary, for it was consumed effectively as propaganda.

Sergei Emolinsky, a constructivist critic associated with Soviet art journal, LEF, praises both Shub and Vertov equally for their different attitudes towards documentary film. He explains that while, “Vertov ‘threw himself on the given material, cutting it into numerous pieces, thus subordinating it to his imagination...Shub regarded each piece [shot] as to a self-sufficient, autonomous entity’.” This first-hand critique of the two methods indicate that Shub’s dedication to journalistic cinematography was the catalyst for what documentary film classifies today, compilation film.

Later Works
In 1927 Shub published the article "Rabota Montazhnits" or "The Work of Montagesses," which outlined the labour of women in editing. This article was published months following the distribution of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (1927) documentary, which is when Shub was struggling to gain recognition and directional credit for her film.

In 1932, Shub helped spearhead the first Soviet documentary to have sound, called Sponsor of Electrification.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, she worked predominantly as an editor and spent time writing her memoirs both about her life and about filmmaking techniques. She also wrote a script titled Women (1933–34), which examined women's roles throughout history. Although this project was never filmed, the script reveals Shub's interest in feminism.