216 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding MediaFigure 6-7 Still of an eye
refl ected in the lens with
aperture visible from The
Man With the Movie Camera,
directed by Dziga Vertov.
(Courtesy Amkino Corporation/
Photofest)When many people think of non-fi ction motion pictures, they imagine
the clear presentation and discussion of a topic through the use of interviews,
printed facts, and an obviously structured arrangement of events or analysis.
However, documentary fi lms can follow approaches that are highly unorthodox
and creative. In the same decade as Robert Flaherty, Soviet fi lmmaker Dziga
Vertov directed Th e Man With the Movie Camera (1929), a non-narrative
documentary that highlights the role of the cameraperson in its infl uential
and wildly inventive portrait of the Soviet city in the late 1920s.
Vertov and his collaborators invented the term “Kino-glaz” to describe
the camera as an eye, the creative instrument of the cinematic artist. Vertov
explained his goal as a fi lmmaker to be “Kino-pravda,” meaning cinema-truth,
which he described as capturing “life caught unawares.” In Th e Man With the
Movie Camera, he and his creative team wanted to express the potential of
this “eye” to communicate directly to the viewer, so their silent fi lm did not
include any written explanations. Vertov’s unit fi lmed a wide range of images
on streets and public spaces and in factories and apartments, and together
they created an associational essay on the communicative power of motion
pictures and their ability to depict life in the Soviet Union at that time.Turning the Camera to the World
From its inception, one of the most important abilities of the camera has
been to capture a view of the physical world of its time. It is no surprise
that the most common practices of amateur fi lmmaking are in the realm of
the documentary. A parent will turn on a camera and shoot footage of the
family. People will be standing on the sidelines of school games, cameras setCopyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).