Who Is Dziga Vertov:

Dziga Vertov, aka Denis Kaufman, was a Russian documentary film and newsreel director. He is best known for his movie, “Man with a Movie Camera”. Which to this day is still referred to as “the eighth-greatest film ever made”. The movie, published in 1929, was directed by Vertov and filmed by his brother, Mikhail Kaufman and also edited by Vertov’s wife, Yelizaveta Svilova. When it was published it was actually heavily criticised as it was deemed to have “form over content” along with other things such as it being too fast-cutting and self-reflexive.

The movie is best known for it’s range of cinematic techniques used, most for the first time ever in cinematic history. These were things like: multiple exposure, fast motion, slow motion, freeze frames, match cuts, jump cuts, split screens, Dutch angles, extreme close-ups, tracking shots, reversed footage, stop motion animations and self-reflexive visuals.

The movie itself, like Koyaanisqatsi, has no commentary. It is also in black and white and, while it shows lots of people, features only one actual character, the man with the movie camera. The meaning of the movie was to create an absolute and universal cinematographic language completely free of theatrical or literary language. The movie shows shots of places in a city, the buildings and the people, also similar to Koyaanisqatsi, while also cutting back to the audience in the theatre watching from time to time.

Personal Response:

I like the selection of effects the movie has, I can try and replicate them in my own. The things I’d like to try are the giant man, seen above, Dutch angles, unstable exposure, reverse shots, even maybe change the aspect ratio, match cuts and jump cuts. The question however is what movie to use these cinematic techniques in. The choice is still between Storm Ciaran Aftermath and Life in St. Helier. Either however could easily have these edits be applied to.