Man with a Movie Camera - Spectacular 1929 silent movie by Dziga Vertov
August 10, 2021 3:05 PM Subscribe
A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention. (SLYT) "It made explicit and poetic the astonishing gift the cinema made possible, of arranging what we see, ordering it, imposing a rhythm and language on it, and transcending it." ~~ Roger Ebert
There was an overall plan. He would show 24 hours in a single day of a Russian city. It took him four years to film this day, and he worked in three cities: Moscow, Kiev and Odessa. His wife Yelizaveta Svilova supervised the editing from about 1,775 separate shots -- all the more impressive because most of the shots consisted of separate set-ups. The cinematography was by his brother, Mikhail Kaufman, who refused to ever work with him again. (Vertov was born Denis Kaufman, and worked under a name meaning "spinning top." Another brother, Boris Kaufman, immigrated to Hollywood and won an Oscar for filming "On the Waterfront.") ~~ Roger Ebert
Man with a Movie Camera -- Wikipedia
Man with a Movie Camera's usage of double exposure and seemingly "hidden" cameras made the movie come across as a surreal montage rather than a linear motion picture. Many of the scenes in the film contain people, which change size or appear underneath other objects (double exposure). Because of these aspects, the movie is fast-moving. The sequences and close-ups capture emotional qualities that could not be fully portrayed through the use of words. The film's lack of "actors" and "sets" makes for a unique view of the everyday world; one that, according to a title card, is directed toward the creation of a new cinematic language that is "[separated] from the language of theatre and literature".
There was an overall plan. He would show 24 hours in a single day of a Russian city. It took him four years to film this day, and he worked in three cities: Moscow, Kiev and Odessa. His wife Yelizaveta Svilova supervised the editing from about 1,775 separate shots -- all the more impressive because most of the shots consisted of separate set-ups. The cinematography was by his brother, Mikhail Kaufman, who refused to ever work with him again. (Vertov was born Denis Kaufman, and worked under a name meaning "spinning top." Another brother, Boris Kaufman, immigrated to Hollywood and won an Oscar for filming "On the Waterfront.") ~~ Roger Ebert
Man with a Movie Camera -- Wikipedia
Man with a Movie Camera's usage of double exposure and seemingly "hidden" cameras made the movie come across as a surreal montage rather than a linear motion picture. Many of the scenes in the film contain people, which change size or appear underneath other objects (double exposure). Because of these aspects, the movie is fast-moving. The sequences and close-ups capture emotional qualities that could not be fully portrayed through the use of words. The film's lack of "actors" and "sets" makes for a unique view of the everyday world; one that, according to a title card, is directed toward the creation of a new cinematic language that is "[separated] from the language of theatre and literature".
Well that is amazing! the film is also available on Kanopy ; the version I found has the same score, and subtitles for the title cards and some signage throughout the film. (you'll need a library account)
For those that don't want to watch the full hour, it plays at 2x with good continuity. Try the sports scenes at @ 45:00, or especially the double image effects in the Beer Hall section at @ 55:00. Ray Harryhausen must have been inspired by the clip with the lobsters.
posted by TDIpod at 4:31 PM on August 10, 2021
For those that don't want to watch the full hour, it plays at 2x with good continuity. Try the sports scenes at @ 45:00, or especially the double image effects in the Beer Hall section at @ 55:00. Ray Harryhausen must have been inspired by the clip with the lobsters.
posted by TDIpod at 4:31 PM on August 10, 2021
I saw it with the Alloy Orchestra playing live a few years ago. It's really mesmerizing.
posted by octothorpe at 4:53 PM on August 10, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 4:53 PM on August 10, 2021 [6 favorites]
Cinema!
posted by Mothlight at 5:04 PM on August 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Mothlight at 5:04 PM on August 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
In a wild coincidence, I literally just finished reading the introduction to Lev Manovich's "The Language of New Media" which combines stills from Vertov with excerpts from the text as a way of previewing the major points of the book's argument.
posted by Four String Riot at 5:22 PM on August 10, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Four String Riot at 5:22 PM on August 10, 2021 [2 favorites]
Considering it's such a landmark in film editing, I'm glad the OP made special mention of Elizaveta Svilova. It's her that you see in the film while she's actually in the process of editing it. In addition to the collaborations with her husband, Vertov, she also directed and edited many of her own projects.
I like this Michael Nyman score from 2002, though it's a little too... Nyman-y at times?
Vertov's notes for the score as he intended it (including sound effects) were found in the late 1990s, and Alloy Orchestra was one of the first to perform it following the discovery. I'm pretty sure theirs is the score I heard when I first saw the film in school, and it's also on the Kino Eye blu-ray. Here it is on YouTube for anyone interested in a comparison.
posted by theory at 5:41 PM on August 10, 2021 [4 favorites]
I like this Michael Nyman score from 2002, though it's a little too... Nyman-y at times?
Vertov's notes for the score as he intended it (including sound effects) were found in the late 1990s, and Alloy Orchestra was one of the first to perform it following the discovery. I'm pretty sure theirs is the score I heard when I first saw the film in school, and it's also on the Kino Eye blu-ray. Here it is on YouTube for anyone interested in a comparison.
posted by theory at 5:41 PM on August 10, 2021 [4 favorites]
I saw it with the Alloy Orchestra playing live a few years ago. It's really mesmerizing.
There used to be a few DVD versions out there. I loved the version with the Alloy Orchestra soundtrack.
posted by mph at 6:04 PM on August 10, 2021
There used to be a few DVD versions out there. I loved the version with the Alloy Orchestra soundtrack.
posted by mph at 6:04 PM on August 10, 2021
Oh wild. I saw this in a film class in college and it's never really left my brain.
I had been wanting to see it again so I put the DVD on hold at the library way back in early 2020, then things got derailed when the library closed for covid, then I moved to a new library branch and cancelled the hold, then I got excited about 6 months ago when I saw it was on Kanopy, then I got bummed because my library doesn't do Kanopy, and then literally just last night I put it on hold again at the library figuring it was time to just go and get the dang thing so I can watch it again.
Well guess what I can do now.
posted by phunniemee at 6:21 PM on August 10, 2021 [4 favorites]
I had been wanting to see it again so I put the DVD on hold at the library way back in early 2020, then things got derailed when the library closed for covid, then I moved to a new library branch and cancelled the hold, then I got excited about 6 months ago when I saw it was on Kanopy, then I got bummed because my library doesn't do Kanopy, and then literally just last night I put it on hold again at the library figuring it was time to just go and get the dang thing so I can watch it again.
Well guess what I can do now.
posted by phunniemee at 6:21 PM on August 10, 2021 [4 favorites]
That was just as much fun as I remember it being 15+ years ago. Thanks for the link!
posted by phunniemee at 7:43 PM on August 10, 2021
posted by phunniemee at 7:43 PM on August 10, 2021
The Cinematic Orchestra’s album The Man With a the Movie Camera was produced to accompany the film and is my favorite soundtrack for it. Highly recommended.
posted by andreinla at 1:23 PM on August 12, 2021
posted by andreinla at 1:23 PM on August 12, 2021
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The English translation "Kino-Eye" appears to be available as PDF online here (note: I'm unsure of the copyright status of this site / pdf availability here)
The essay/mission statement "The Council of Three" starting on page 14 (page 76 of the linked pdf after intro) is a good text accompaniment to Man with Movie Camera. For example:
"The kino-eye lives and moves in time and space; it gathers and records impressions in a manner wholly different from that of the human eye. The position of our bodies while observing or our perception of a certain number of features of a visual phenomenon in a given instant are by no means obligatory limitations for the camera which, since it is perfected, perceives more and better.
We cannot improve the making of our eyes, but we can endlessly perfect the camera."
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 3:55 PM on August 10, 2021 [5 favorites]