Comparing Dziga Vertov's Film, Man with a Movie Camera and Run Lola Run
" The main and essential thing is : the sensory exploration of the world through film. We therefore take as a point of departure the use of the camera as a keno-eye, more perfect than the human eye, for the exploration of the chaos of visual phenomena that fills space."
- Dziga Vertov , Manifesto The Council of Three (1923)
The innovative theories and filmmaking techniques of Dziga Vertov revolutionized the way films are made today. Man With a Movie Camera (1929), a documentary that represented the peak of the Soviet avant-garde film movement in the twenties, displayed techniques in montage, creative camera angles, rich imagery, but most importantly allowed him to express his theories of his writings of Kino-eye (the camera). The film has a very simple plot that describes an average day in Russia, yet the final pieces of this film emerge a complex and fast-paced production that excites the audience. Vertov's ability to use radical editing techniques with unconventional filming to present ordinary things has inspired many directors around the world. And still now modern avant-garde movies apply many of these same techniques to dramatize simple and complex stories.
Vertov was one of the greatest innovators of Soviet cinema in the post WWI era. During this time, the freedom to make films was limited due to low stock of supply. Vertov and his colleagues had to be very creative and innovative if they were going produce anything at all. 'The Kuleshov Workshop', a workshop class at the Moscow Film School led by Lev Kuleshov included famous Soviet filmmakers like Vsevolod Pudovkin and Sergei Eisenstein, but excluded Vertov. This is significant to the ...
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...ught to life these ideas on a new level in Run Lola Run, which glorifies the camera's results with movement in every frame. Run Lola Run feeds the kino-eye with collision, contrast, and conflicting scenes, which make the film a huge success in giving the audience a new type of story with suspense, comedy and drama.
Works Cited
Bordwell, David (1972a) Dziga Vertov: An Introduction. In: Film Comment 8,1, pp. 38-45
Denkin, H., "Linguistic Models in Early Soviet Cinema." Cinema Journal XVII / 1, Fall 77; p.1-Lynton, Norbert, The Story of Modern Art, Oxford: Phaidon Press Limited, 1980
Mast, Gerald, Kawin Bruce F., A Short History Of The Movies. Allyn & Bacon, 2000.
Vertov, Dziga, Kino-eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov / edited with an introduction by Annette Michelson; translated by Kevin O'Brien. Berkeley, CA.: University of California Press, c1984.
Mast, Gerald and Bruce F. Kwan. A Short History of the Movies. Allen & Bacon,
The Bolshevik Revolution was a defining turning point in Russian history. This overall revolution consisted of two individual revolutions in 1917 which resulted in the overthrow of the Tsarist government and the formation of a socialist society led by Vladimir Lenin’s radical Bolsheviks. For a moment with such enormous weight like the Bolshevik Revolution, there will be various interpretations on the true results of that moment and the meaning and value of these results. The film Man with a Movie Camera deals with the results of the Bolshevik Revolution and the early Soviet Society it birthed as it utilizes footage of one day in this early Soviet Union, thus making it worthy of examination. In the film Man With a Movie Camera, Vertov impressively
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
The fourth characteristic states, “A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.” (221). Swales defines genre as different types of communication, not just verbal, but also written. Genres of a discourse community could be group messages, online posts, emails, notes, and more. Each discourse community is going to have different, specific genres they
...s appeared not so much to matter as the fact that he developed new techniques, devised camera approaches and sought always to bring out the potential of a still developing form. That he forgot--or overlooked--to bring the Marxist message to one of his films two years ago brought him that fatal kiss of all--the accusation from the authoritative Soviet magazine, Culture and Life, that his productions had been short on the prescribed Soviet requirement of art and interpretation of history” ("Sergei Eisenstein is Dead in Moscow”, New York Times, 1948) . In film, Eisenstein was known for his development of the montage sequence, his unusual juxtapositions, and his life-like imagery. In life he was known for his propaganda and belief in the plight of the working class. Eisenstein left an inevitable mark on his community, his time, the shape of a sub-culture, and his art.
Gaudreault, A 1990, ‘Showing and Telling : image and word in early cinema’, in Elsaesser, T & Barker, A, Early cinema : space, frame, narrative, BFI Publishing, London, pp. 274-281.
However, in stark contrast to The General, other films were being made around the world that did not follow a simple Hollywood structure, but rather were more experimental with what a movie could be. Man With a Movie Camera (1929), a very ahead of its time, utilized a completely different style of filmmaking that resonated strongly with the ideals of the Soviet Union. Thus, Man With a Movie Camera sought out to make the everyday people of the Soviet Union the stars of the film. This idea was completely revolutionary as well, and almost by necessity, introduced a new style of editing to fit the story—or rather the documentation—that director Dziga Vertov was trying to tell.
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In the presented essay I will compare the style of work of selected artists in the montage of the film. I will try to point out some general regularities and features of Soviet cinema. At the same time I will try to capture especially what is common in their systems and similar or conversely what differ. For my analysis, I will draw on the feature films of the Soviet avantgarde, namely these are the movies - The Battleship Potemkin (S. Eisenstein, 1925), Mother (V. Pudovkin, 1926) and The Man with a movie camera (D. Vertov, 1929).
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Marcus, Miriam. “Ten Plastic Surgical Risks You Need To Know.” Forbes, n.p. 10 October 2007. Web. 17 February 2012.
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