shot change creates a new perspective

Joe ChamasAvant Garde Film Midterm115Question #4 Man with The
Movie Camera Shot Change constructs a New
Perspective
The traditional rules for editing from shot to
shot had always tried to give the impression of a continuous action taking
place in front of the camera. Dziga Vertov, the director, contested this
old-fashioned filming style in the movie Man with a Movie Camera. Using
multiple shot changes and variations Vertov strayed away from the norm
and created a novel technique. He strongly thought that, as a whole, the
general public was stuck in a rut and they were lost in the commonalities
and banalities of the habitual world. The camera man, the main
character in the movie, was used as the vehicle to show the globe a new
perspective on life. Vertov decided on making the movie encompass a
full day in Russia. This interesting idea allows the audience to take in the
director's new concepts and reflect upon the many visual themes, also.
Time and space play a key role in the film as images and events are both
skewed throughout the duration of the movie. Time was used by Vertov
as an important factor in editing as well as in the daily lives of humans.
With editing he utilized the essence of time to his advantage.
Vertov wanted a certain rhythm of cuts to exist in the movie. He desired a
choppy effect. The cameras, themselves, were supposed to produce a
rithym in movements, too. The point was he wanted to make as many
cuts and rigid motions as possible to make the film appear as hark jerky
as possible to the audience. One reason was that he did not at all want
the continuous motion of normative movies to be present. He desired the
ebb and flow which daily life really is. He perceived that life was not one
smooth ride without any bumps or collisions, but rather it was kind of
unpredictable filled with jarring incidents at every corner. The other
reason for the director's use of cuts and camera movements was he
wanted to make sure people remembered that they were watching a
movie and that they were not in some fantasy land. At one point in the

middle of the film there was a scene with Vertov's wife clipping and
editing the movie in a studio. Then there was a still-frame before the
movie continues. This was done so viewers would again realize they
were watching a movie, because too often people take things for granted.
Other uses of time were implemented by Vertov to ensure the
viewers understood they were watching a movie. There were a multitude
of different sequences involved in this film.One intriguing occurrence was
how Vertov showed the movie goers going in and out of movie houses.
This was the first time in a movie that people were actually seen going to
and from these theaters. Vertov made sure he got in all the features of
daily life. He was not filming actors, what he was doing was filming real
lives and real alive people playing the roles. Another interesting
sequence was when the camera man was shot by another camera. The
camera man was on one carriage and he was being filmed from another
carriage. There was a lot emphasis put on the work place. Heavy labor
was the common bond between the workers in Russia. There were
scenes of laborers in factories, outside, and in mines. Vertov made sure
he showed all aspects of Russian life and he pointed out the balance
which should exist. In doing so there was a large portion of leisure
scenes. Although the Russians were hard workers, they did need time to
relax. The movie showed a lot of sporting events and the fascinating
concept in these activities there was a an equal proportion of women and
men. Vertov showed the film with an equality of the sexes. Both the work
scenes and leisure ones got longer throughout the movie. The
sequences keep getting longer and this is the case with another
sequence - the life cycle. The order of the cycle is messed up with birth,
marriage, and death all represented. As the progress of the day
progressed the sequences generally got longer. Along with the idea
of time being important, space represented a key element in Man with the
Movie Camera. The director Vertov utilized the camera to view both

vertical and horizontal motion. He also developed the idea of close-ups
and long shots to give the audience more of a perspective on life. It was
used as another method for making the experience more realistic.
Space was also related to some visual themes in the film. Vertov tried to
show all the little minute details of life on film. Even going back to the
working motif, the camera zeroed in on the busy hands moving and
working in the factory. The camera gave a view of mechanical objects
which open and close and turn - life moving gears and machinery. There
were some other shots of things which start to move, are at rest, and
come to a stop. This movement of gears and inanimate objects were
closely related to human conduct. Human lives in Russia seemed to
have a mechanical nature to them as everything was structured and
rough. That is why Vertov demonstrated how work should not be the only
important activity in daily life. Leisure has to be included along with the
work to ensure that balance. Man with the Movie Camera had three
effects which Dziga Vertov created. Firstly, the film gave an excellent
view of daily life in Russia. It was a documentary with a the camera man
as the constant figure. Secondly, he showed the world new techniques
on editing and especially camera work. One huge development was the
creation of trick photography. The third reason for this movie surrounded
a more global idea. Vertov designed the movie to try to jump start film as
a means of communication. He wanted film to become the universal
language binding all nations, ethnicities, and languages. The camera
would become "a cinema-eye more perfect than the human eye for
exploring the chaos of visual phenomena filling the universe."