Dziga Vertov has been credited as the father of documentary film capturing reality and a world that otherwise escapes our preoccupied eyes. Vertov’s 1929 masterpiece Man with a Movie Camera reflects his championed concepts of “life caught unawares” and “film truth” but were these captured in actuality? His ‘fly on the wall’ approach inspired many documentary filmmakers throughout the 20th century resulting in the birth of direct cinema throughout the western world. D.A Pennebaker approaches his 1967 ‘rockumentary’ Don’t Look Back touching on similar notions to Vertov and finds the perfect direct cinema subject in folk singer Bob Dylan.
In the 1920s Dziga Vertov experimented with a theory called kino-pravda or ‘film truth’. He strongly believed …show more content…
The film literally follows a man with a camera around four soviet cities. Not only does it show a cameraman at work it also shows the editing process with Vertov’s own wife as the editor. Furthermore, it shows an audience in a theatre viewing a film. Furthermore, by having the camera and cameraman superimposed on top of buildings Vertov is pointing out the many possibilities that film has to …show more content…
Made in the 1920’s it was a time when cinema was a relatively a new art form. The film takes Vertov’s idea that the camera is an instrument used by artists to ‘penetrate the essence of external reality’ (Petrić) and therefore capture film truth. He regarded this film amongst other works such as his Kino-Pravda series as a tool to help the audience of workers, peasants and ordinary citizens to see through a beyond mundane reality. The filmmaker claimed he could ‘raise profound truths about the nature of reality and the interconnections of human life’ (Boyle 2010).
Man with a Movie Camera concentrated on commonplace experiences, ignoring middle-class concerns and filming schools, marketplaces and cinemas in its place, using a hidden camera on some occasions. In doing this Vertov was capturing ‘life caught unawares’ filming from a ‘fly on the wall’ point of view. Therefore, creating a cinema ‘thing’ without scripts, without actors, without directors and without sets. By doing this with film he was ‘trying to achieve a total separation from the language of literature and theatre’ (Petric) believing that film needed no fabricated story, only
In the 1920s Dziga Vertov experimented with a theory called kino-pravda or ‘film truth’. He strongly believed …show more content…
The film literally follows a man with a camera around four soviet cities. Not only does it show a cameraman at work it also shows the editing process with Vertov’s own wife as the editor. Furthermore, it shows an audience in a theatre viewing a film. Furthermore, by having the camera and cameraman superimposed on top of buildings Vertov is pointing out the many possibilities that film has to …show more content…
Made in the 1920’s it was a time when cinema was a relatively a new art form. The film takes Vertov’s idea that the camera is an instrument used by artists to ‘penetrate the essence of external reality’ (Petrić) and therefore capture film truth. He regarded this film amongst other works such as his Kino-Pravda series as a tool to help the audience of workers, peasants and ordinary citizens to see through a beyond mundane reality. The filmmaker claimed he could ‘raise profound truths about the nature of reality and the interconnections of human life’ (Boyle 2010).
Man with a Movie Camera concentrated on commonplace experiences, ignoring middle-class concerns and filming schools, marketplaces and cinemas in its place, using a hidden camera on some occasions. In doing this Vertov was capturing ‘life caught unawares’ filming from a ‘fly on the wall’ point of view. Therefore, creating a cinema ‘thing’ without scripts, without actors, without directors and without sets. By doing this with film he was ‘trying to achieve a total separation from the language of literature and theatre’ (Petric) believing that film needed no fabricated story, only