DZIGA VERTOV AND THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA

DZIGA VERTOV AND THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA

Dziga Vertov, born David Abelevich Kaufman, and also known as Denis Kaufman was born 2nd January 1896 and died 12 February 1954. He was a director, screenwriter, and theoretician of documentary film, one of the creators of its language. He came to Soviet documentary film in 1918, inspired by the ideas of the revolution, and became known as a vivid innovator and experimenter.

His filming practices and theories influenced the cinéma vérité style of documentary moviemaking and the Dziga Vertov Group , a radical filmmaking cooperative which was active from 1968 to 1972. Vertov's brothers Boris Kaufman and Mikhail Kaufman were also noted filmmakers, as was his second wife, Elizaveta Svilova. They were against Hollywood and the fantasy world it created in their films. They believed that film had to show reality and not fantasy. Portraying a current and realistic world through film was their main goal. Which is why Vertov & the other camera man were seen in a few scenes throughout the film. The camera was not only a tool, but a part of the camera mans body.

MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA

His most famous film was Man with a Movie Camera (1929) which depicts a day in a Russian City, although it was actually filmed in several cities over the course of four years! His film making aesthetic was driven by his political beliefs as a Communist and he was heavily influenced by Eisenstein’s use of montage. 

This work, shown in Germany, France, England and the United States after its initial release, fell into almost total obscurity for the next thirty years. Now widely regarded as the most formally inventive and intellectually complex film of the silent era, Man with a Movie Camera has become a touchstone for discussions of documentary, experimental practice in film, and cinematic self-reflexivity. The film was also, however, his last collaboration with Mikhail Kaufman: relations between the brothers had become strained during the production of The Eleventh Year, and they were on non-speaking terms until 1933.

HIS TECHNIQUES

He experimented with different type of cinematic shots which were his purely avant-garde. 

They went to pretty deep lengths to film some scenes from recording under a moving train and even over a water fall. The film displayed numerous techniques used today from double exposures to playing with fast and slow motion, freeze frames, jump cuts, split screens, close-ups, stop motion animation and even more.

Preparing to film under the train

Filming at the top of a waterfall

 

Filming under the moving train

 

The first technique is fast cutting. This technique is only possible in postproduction in both old film and nowadays. The process involves switching between different scenes at a rapid pace. This means that each scene is only shown for a few seconds. Fast cutting adds some drama and chaos to the film along with breaking continuity of any action that is going on. (See Video below)

The next one is the Dutch angle. This is a very simple technique that Vertov is known for being one of the first filmmakers to use. There is no editing trick for the technique; it only involves tilting the angle of the camera to one side to record a shot. This style of recording gives a sense of uneasiness to the shot. 

Vertov is all about altering perception of the real world, and he uses this trick to achieve it. When he combines this technique with other such as fast cutting, the scenes usually evoke confusion and chaos while the viewer is trying to understand the reality being portrayed. 

Example of a Dutch angle

The next technique is very often used in Man With a Movie Camera, it is called Double exposure. It's the process of exposing a roll of film to a scene to capture it after the film has already been exposed to another subject. The resulting effect is both scenes overlaid on top of each other. 

Vertov uses this technique multiple times to give the viewers a completely new view of the subject. These perceptions cannot be experienced with human's eyes by themselves, but can be seen by the help of a camera machine. By means of this effect he can achieve very strange images such as the one below.

Example of Double exposure

The next technique is Split screen. One of the most famous scenes from The Man with a Movie Camera is the showing of a cameraman on top of a camera, which comes from using a horizontal split screen. It allows the viewers to see more than one image in one shot which usually has a meaning to it. 

Example of Split screen

Furthermore, the following techniques used are slow and fast motion. Both of these effects are obvious deviations from reality. No one can see life in slow or fast motion without the help of a camera, and Vertov is one of the first to fully demonstrate the power of this technology. Fast motion helps build tension as if something is about to happen, it makes the audience feel nervous, anxious and stressed. Slow motion can build suspense, because the audience is waiting for the result of what will happen.

   EXAMPLE OF FAST MOTION

EXAMPLE OF SLOW MOTION      

 
Close to the end of the documentary, Virtov shows a clip which involves his camera tripod moving on its own which is a technique called stop motion animation. This animation must have been very difficult for him to create at the time with the minimal equipment.

Vertov is all about altering perception of the real world. However he still thought that films has to portray the real events and actions of the real world. 

Personally I really enjoyed watching The Man with the Movie Camera because although some scenes were very confusing, I loved his experimenting of different shots which made each of them stand out in their own way. I have learnt that it's good to try something new, even if it doesn't turn out the way you want it to it's worth trying. I also think I will be using some of these techniques for my preliminary task such as the double exposure since I find that it will give an artistic effect.