Man With a Movie Camera

Man With a Movie Camera

            Russian director Dziga Vertov made “Man With a Movie Camera” as an experimental silent documentary film in 1929. There was no story and no actors. Vertov uses images of normal day people and things. Cutting between these everyday images creates a beautiful juxtaposition of the world through his eyes. Vertov uses so many interesting and eye catching shots. My favorite is the one with the eye within the lens of the camera and then in the reflection you can see the man cranking the camera. It’s just such an interesting idea and makes such a visually interesting picture that you have to watch it more than once. Vertov uses many different types of cinematic techniques such as double exposure, fast motion, slow motion, freeze frame, lots of jump cuts, split screens, lots of extreme close ups, tracking shots, and many more that I probably missed. Overall, the movie was visually beautiful as well as interesting and a great teaching tool for many cinematic techniques.