Man with a Movie Camera (USSR, 1929) Dziga Vertov
*Using the camera as a sensor*
The Man With a Movie Camera explores the possibilities of the movie camera in in the early days of cinema. The film aims to take observation beyond what people normally can see by for instance taking extreme camera positions. At the same time the film educates people about the posibilities of filming and editing by showing how the cameraman and editor work.
In the 1920s, Dziga Vertov aimed to support the Soviet Revolution with his radical new ways of filmmaking. In strong opposition to Hollywood’s dream factory, he wanted to build a ‘factory of facts’ as Tsivian relates on the DVD’s extra commentary track. Vertov was inspired by the specific qualities of the camera: “I am kino-eye, I am a mechanical eye. I, a machine, show you the world as only I can see it” he writes in one of his many pamphlets. Vertov believed that the camera could do better, more precise observations than the human eye and that we should exploit every possibility the camera and film editing offer. He was not afraid to change reality with the camera; he considered everything recorded by the camera to be real, as if the camera is a sensor that just relates factual data.
In his film Man with a Movie Camera (1929) Vertov gives a dazzling display of camera techniques that all catch life ‘unawares’. We see for instance a camera mounted on a car, following people in other cars while they drive home. This was not organised beforehand in any way, they ad hoc picked cars leaving the station. The sequence turns into an open game; it is a chase showing us the people in the car but also the observer with his camera on the car next to it. At first the women in the back of the car act as if the camera is not there but then they smile at it and wave. Vertov is not afraid to change the situations he observes. He wants to catch life unawares to see fresh, authentic reactions of people. If these are reactions to the camera that is fine too. In other sequences we see the camera take part in a football game and a motor race, hang out of a train or dangle above a water dam.
Using the camera as a sensor makes you see things in a new way. These techniques can make the familiar strange, a known design technique (e.g. Dunne and Raby’s Design Noir project) that could also be used when filming for design research to develop new perceptions of trivial products or situations.
On DVD in my archive, on VHS PAL available from the RCA library and on DVD from Amazon
Man with a Movie Camera (USSR, 1929) Dziga Vertov
*Using the camera as a sensor*
The Man With a Movie Camera explores the possibilities of the movie camera in in the early days of cinema. The film aims to take observation beyond what people normally can see by for instance taking extreme camera positions. At the same time the film educates people about the posibilities of filming and editing by showing how the cameraman and editor work.
In the 1920s, Dziga Vertov aimed to support the Soviet Revolution with his radical new ways of filmmaking. In strong opposition to Hollywood’s dream factory, he wanted to build a ‘factory of facts’ as Tsivian relates on the DVD’s extra commentary track. Vertov was inspired by the specific qualities of the camera: “I am kino-eye, I am a mechanical eye. I, a machine, show you the world as only I can see it” he writes in one of his many pamphlets. Vertov believed that the camera could do better, more precise observations than the human eye and that we should exploit every possibility the camera and film editing offer. He was not afraid to change reality with the camera; he considered everything recorded by the camera to be real, as if the camera is a sensor that just relates factual data.
In his film Man with a Movie Camera (1929) Vertov gives a dazzling display of camera techniques that all catch life ‘unawares’. We see for instance a camera mounted on a car, following people in other cars while they drive home. This was not organised beforehand in any way, they ad hoc picked cars leaving the station. The sequence turns into an open game; it is a chase showing us the people in the car but also the observer with his camera on the car next to it. At first the women in the back of the car act as if the camera is not there but then they smile at it and wave. Vertov is not afraid to change the situations he observes. He wants to catch life unawares to see fresh, authentic reactions of people. If these are reactions to the camera that is fine too. In other sequences we see the camera take part in a football game and a motor race, hang out of a train or dangle above a water dam.
Using the camera as a sensor makes you see things in a new way. These techniques can make the familiar strange, a known design technique (e.g. Dunne and Raby’s Design Noir project) that could also be used when filming for design research to develop new perceptions of trivial products or situations.
On DVD in my archive, on VHS PAL available from the RCA library and on DVD from Amazon