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Your Looking at Movies textbook has a nice quote about Vertov and his film on page 428.
Vertov shows us how to frame reality and movement: through the human eye and the camera eye, or through windows and shutters. But to confound us, he also shows us--through such devices as the freeze-frame, split screen, stop-action, slow motion, and fast motion--how the cinematographer and editor can transform the movements of life into something that is unpredictable. He not only proves that the camera has a life of its own, but also reminds us of the editor, who is putting all of this footage together. Reality may be in the control of the artist, his camera, and its tricks, but it also finds definition within the editor's presentation and, ultimately, the viewer's perception.
In your first well-developed paragraph, please discuss this quote in relation to a five minute piece ofMan With a Movie Camera. Be sure to describe shots cinematically, as if I've never seen the film before. Discuss elements of editing, such as the juxtaposition of shots, rhythm, montage, etc.
In your second well-developed paragraph, discuss this quote in relation to a film of your choice. Try to be as specific as possible in your descriptions and speak cinematically when you discuss the film. If you'd like to come into the library during a free period to watch a clip of a film I have that you've seen, please see me. Remember: the earlier the better.
Due: Monday, December 1
The movie man with a movie camera is very unique in its use of editing in order to create a film that would be entirely a random sequence of shots in several differnet cities on the random acts of everyday citizens into being an amazing film that shows the unique view of the camera's eye, or the Kino-eye, and how the editor really is the one area of cinema that can have a huge impact on how the movie is put together and shown, and thus effects the viewers' interpretation of what is seen overall.
ReplyDeleteI believe that one scene really in particular can be used to show this relationship, showing the relationship between the shots in a special way that creates a certain cinematic idea that makes this scene unique, using shots that are filmed without acting, making meaning by combining these shots. This scene is mostly about sports and activities that are going on in the city after work is done. The scene starts after we see an under shot of a girl dancing at a dance class as we saw earlier. The scene starts and we see a girl running around the basketball field playing basketball with a group of her friends. This scene has been edited to be extremely fast paced in order to show to fast paced nature of the game. As the scene continues, we are confronted with the the siting type of jump cuts, which shake up the viewer's understanding of the scene, as we jump angles and positions around the field, even braking the rule of 180 degrees possibly. Although this is hard to tell because it
is all ready hard to tell where things are in position to the camera and figures. So we as the viewer seem to be involved directly in the craziness of the basketball game. So just through the editing now we have created an establishment between just us and the the game, making the reality on screen seem more real. Then something really interesting occurs. We see the ball that we assume is the basketball go way up into the air and is it comes down it lands back down in a soccer field instead of going toward the basketball bey, utilizing the graphic match cut ti have continuity between these two sections of the scene, so we make conections between the sports, but not in the sports themselves as we see when the soccer sequence continues to have mostly jump cuts of kids hitting the ball with their heads, to kids fighting for the ball with their legs, and shots of the goalie trying to save the ball several times. Although there is some continuity in this scene like when we see.the ball toll away from the goalie and then it rolls in another shot towards a kids legs, using a match on action cut. Another graphic match cut is also used when we see a kid running to get the ball, but then we have a graphic match cut of a kid long jumping over the camera lens and landing in a sand pit, but then there is another match cut, as we see the sand pit and the guy running to the left, we cut to a scene of people on motorcycles driving in a sand circle l, driving towards the left. This continuity between the different activities shows the similarity of these activities that take place to entertain people in their everyday lives, but the jump cuts create discontinuity between the people playing, showing the activeness and out of control stlye of the games played.
Another film that relates much to the quote is a film that was very much influenced by this type editing, which is the film Run Lola Run. Run Lola Run uses several of the editing types used in Man with a Movie Camera, including things like the freeze frame and slowed action, and several instances of split screens. There is however one major difference between these two films, Run Lola Run uses these editing techniques with a narrative invlolved as well, which gives the editing a different meaning in the narrative. Things like the split screen in this film are used to express to us several different persepectives of both Lola and Manni and even sometimes showing us the clock in a third portion if the split screen in order to show us the altered temporal relations in the movie and to emphasize how close Lola was to reaching Manni before 12. The slip screen in Man with a Movie Camera is more used to create an interesting viewing experience like when the Man is using his camera, filming on a giant movie camera. Also the whole film is very fast pawed just like in the scene with the sports being really fast in motion. This sets the rhythm of the movie, leaving us in suspence throughout he entire length of the movie, especially.while she is runnning, kwpping the pattern with her breathing, steps, and the math on action cutting. This film doesn't.use to many jump cuts like Man with a Movie Camera does, buts that's because Run Lola Run needs to.make narrative sense, unlike Mam with a Movie Camera, where there is no narrative to tell, but still.uses the editing to create meaning and a viewing experience for the audience.
ReplyDeleteSo overall, it can be said that films like Man with a Movie Camera and Run Lola Run are able to use their editing techniques in order to effect the entire effect of the movie on the viewer.
(I wrote an intro, as well as the two assigned paragraphs)
ReplyDelete(Intro) Man with a Movie Camera is a revolutionary film, changing what the perception of the relationship between the editor and the viewer was in cinema from then on. This film consists of a series of seemingly random shots, but it is the editor (Dziga Vertov’s wife, Elizaveta Svilova) who pieces these random shots together to create and change some very important things. Firstly, she broke the mold of a linear film that the world was used to up until that point. As well, she created characters that were not present in the film. It is implied in this film that the characters are in fact the cameraman (from the title of the film), the Soviet Union as a living breathing organism, and her, the editor.
Man with a Movie Camera is a special kind of film that's not really meant to entertain the audience, but to show the significance of editing and how reality and the camera lens control each other. In a particular part of the film, a woman is shown getting her hair cut, nails done, and working in a factory. Throughout this part of the film, I noted tons of things happening all at once, which only made things more chaotic. First off, shots were cutting way too fast for you to even understand what was going on. Random instances of the camera roll appeared every now and then, which reminded you of the apparent randomness of the composition of shots within the film. The whole film seems to be played at super speed, which only further emphasizes how crazy things can become without orderly editing. I found this interesting because it really emphasizes the importance of the editor as a human and a motion picture expert. Editing of shots is extremely crucial when it comes to making films, and it dramatically impacts the final outcome. If the shots are tossed around like salad much like they were in the film, then we become aware that the editor wants us to feel a sense of things being out of order.
ReplyDeleteAnother movie that I would most closely relate this to is Battleship Potemkin, which is highly acclaimed for its quick cuts and use of discontinuity. The quote Vertov used most closely applies to the "Odessa Steps" scene. The scene involves soldiers marching down seamlessly endless stairs in a uniform pattern, killing many civilians and taking tons of lives. Much like "Man with a Movie Camera", the shots are quick to cut, and displacement is very apparent, adding to the overall sense of chaos. Positions of figures in relation to others is extremely difficult to determine, but it doesn't matter, because the editor still gets his point across.
Both "Man with a Movie Camera" and "Battleship Potemkin" involve a montage of clips with a lack of rhythm and flow, but while one tells a story of a crew's quest for freedom, another convey's a message of an editor's attempt at recognition.
In Man With A Movie Camera, the first aspect that surprises me is that it is an experiment and how the first few titles explained that there is no story, acting or intertitles, but since there is none of that, there is a international language created. This is because there are no words, and there are objects in the shots that intertwine with the other shots, creating many Kuleshov effects. Another thing that I noticed during the film was that as the experiment progresses, the more intricate and difficult the shots are.
ReplyDeleteAs for the quote, Vertov uses all the things that human nature sees in normal life and puts it on camera in different ways. In one scene (21:00ish)there is a shot of two cars are side by side. The man with the movie camera on the one car, and the family doing their ordinary human things on the other car , no acting. This first shot is supposed to show us what is happening and representing his intentions even more. The next shot is in the camera lens of the camera just seen before. If you were to think of this shot in reality, it would just be a normal action of someone looking over at the other car. You can tell that the camera man is trying to make the camera as low as possible. The only difference is that the shot is at a higher angle and humans aren’t that tall. Noting that this is happening all while the cars are moving. This moving aspect makes the shot more difficult to take and see. Then there are a couple more experiment shots of the same two in different directions. There is also a shot of the horse carrying them looking panicked. The intention of this shot could be to seen the audiences reaction. Suddenly there is just a montage of pictures and not a moving camera, establishing the shots again and their surrounding areas. Thinking normal reality again, these are pictures that one usually sees through the eye normally when they are spanning the area. Speaking of eyes, a couple times during the experiment film, especially the end, there are shots looking through a camera lens with an eye on one of the sides, establishing that the cameraman is also looking at these things that the viewer is.
The film that I chose to analyze for the quote is Run Lola Run. As Lola runs the route three times in a row, the viewer notices more and analyzes more in which as the routes go on, and makes you want to see more about these routes (different angles, cuts, takes,etc.). The film accomplishes this by have different aspects of her running with different additions to the plot, along with the same rhythm and pattern as the first. The comparison between these two films is that they have similar editing aspects but Run Lola Run puts a narrative to it.
(sorry mine is a little late! i meant to get it in earlier but there was a happening.)
The film Man With a Movie Camera is an interesting specimen. It is clearly shown in the beginning that it was just an “experiment in cinematic communications” the communication being the way editing can influence the meaning of a film. There is no storyline to it, only a series of shots showing how people live their daily lives. This film really shows how an editor plays an important role in shaping the way the viewer interprets meaning in the film.
ReplyDeleteOne scene that that really shows how an editor can have a great impact on the film is right in the beginning of the film. The scene starts with a man working with a camera in a theatre. After the man goes off screen, we see several different shots of the theatre – 7 to be exact – all at different angles. Some are close-ups on different things such as lights or chairs or ropes in between sections, and some were landscapes of the entire theatre. The amount of shots is not necessarily needed, but this is an experiment, after all. Then the camera cuts to the same man working with some film reels and trying to get the projector working. There are about 5 shots of just this action, showing close-ups and different angle shots of the equipment, and all have face paced cuts. The curtains go open and then the chairs start to come down. The interesting this about the shots of chairs is that the camera’s eye is only showing those specific rows in the frame. Later, when everyone is seated in the theatre and the film is ready to start, we start seeing close-ups on the band instruments, then a shot of the whole group, and then there are medium high angle shots of the musicians and the instruments. The shots are a little fast-paced here, as well. When the man starts the film, the cuts get more fast paced, showing the musicians again but this time as they are doing the actions. The pace picks up in an instant. Another part of the film that seems to be very fast paced is the very end, when the camera cuts back and forth between shots of the film shown in the theatre and action that is occurring in Man With a Movie Camera. There is like 12 shots showing the same action of the man riding on a car with his camera and the women in the car talking, all within 5 or 6 seconds. Although these scenes have lots of different angles and cut speed, the editor puts them into a sequence that makes sense. We know that the man is showing a film with a band/orchestra playing and lots of people have come to see it. In the later scene, clearly know that the audience is watching the man film people talking while riding on a car.
One film that can relate to the quick cuts is Battleship Potemkin. This film thrives on having fast paced shot cuts, especially during time of panic. The scene where the ships workers were starting to revolt shows the quick paced shots, as well as some discontinuity editing. The camera would show some of the people fighting, some getting dragged across the ship and up stairs, some getting thrown into the ocean, and then all of a sudden jump to a shot of a light like no one would notice because of the fast cuts. It is truly remarkable the amount of discontinuity this film can show but still have a feasible meaning in it.
Man With A Movie Camera is not your average cinema. It doesn't have much of a storyline or narrative to it. The film is compiled of many different shots of real life happenings. There aren't hired actors. Because it is a silent film, the audience cannot hear what the people on screen are saying. The characters use body language to help connect with the audience. A new, rapid style of editing is introduced in this film. This is called discontinuity. For example, in the scene where the man is laying on the tracks and about to be hit by the train. The camera shows a long shot with the man laying off center, on the tracks, and the train fast approaching. Then, right before the man gets hit, the shot changes to show close ups of the man's various body parts. Then, a close up of the man's face, a shot of the train, a shot of the man dreaming, and then back to the tracks. This discontinuity editing creates a sense of chaos amongst the audience. The rhythm of the shots is really choppy. The director manages to slip a shot of the man dreaming in the middle of the train craziness, to show to the viewers that it wasn't actually happening. It was just a nightmare. I found this very interesting. The con to discontinuity editing, is that the viewer must pay close attention at all times. Or else, they might miss a quick, but vital shot.
ReplyDeleteAnother film that uses discontinuity is the film we recently watched in class, Battleship Potemkin. During the battles and revolts, the editor uses a variety of shots that are all different lengths and angles. This adds a sense of chaos and makes the viewers feel as if they are at the battle themselves. It makes the scene come to life. The effect on the audience is much stronger. Like stated in the quote from our Looking At Movies textbook, the editor uses the camera's lens and connects it to the human eye. Whatever the eye would see on set, the camera portrays. Which I find extremely interesting. Especially in Battleship Potemkin. It portrays to the audience the realness of the events at that time, and doesn't hold back.
The extremely distinctive styles of editing that are used within Man With A Movie Camera, along with the camera movements and the kinesis in the frame. Towards the end of the film, there is a scene where several different instrumentals are shown being played, including an accordion, a piano and spoons. Once the instruments are shown, the speed of the shots after (people playing chess) increase to a faster than normal pace. The shot of the man playing the spoons is matched with close-up shots of peoples’ faces. When the spoon player plays faster, the duration of the face close-ups gradually become shorter, until they are each small fragments of a second. This technique makes the shots look as though they are overlapping each other as one.
ReplyDeleteThough we can not hear anything, the excitement that is created by rhythm of the shots within specific scenes, replaces sound in a way.
The quote about Vertov can also be related to the film Run Lola Run, especially in the scene when she is running through the city in an attempt to reach Manni. For some parts, the audience could lose the feeling of spatial continuity. There are also parts of the film that happen simultaneously, but is still hard to understand due to the complexity of the editing.
For my inserted section, I will be choosing a genre completely different from anything Mitchell chose. As a matter of fact, it will be a combination of a number of genres, consisting of metafiction, as well as philosophical fantasy. Metafiction is characterized by characters that know they are within works of fiction, and comment on that fact. Philosophical fantasy is fiction that questions some philosophical aspects of reality. I’ve chosen these genres because I plan to write an excerpt of a story where the narrator is a human, far in the future, who has unlocked the powers of God. With these powers, they have to confront the questions of what this power entails, how they should use it, and if it’s their duty to revive humanity, or start their own form of civilization.
DeleteFor this story, I’ve chosen to use a first-person narrative from the perspective of our God to be, who is talking directly to the reader. As this person has written this section, it’s unclear whether they know directly who or what is reading their passages, or if they are merely speaking to a prospective audience, but their announcement that they works outside of the third dimension and his omniscience suggests that they know each reader individually. Seeing this, they talk to the user casually and friendly, sometimes with a touch of humor, to make their message seem more realistic, and show the subtle similarities between God and a man.
My unique character is a human far in the future that, through the predation of every other human on Earth, has become something akin to the ultimate being, referring to itself as “God.” The character is shown to be elevated above the third dimension, as well as having an omnipotence, extreme physical power, and the ability to create life. The setting is Earth in 3210, where literally all of mankind besides this lone figure are dead. It’s up to our narrator to decide what happens next with everything, and our character decides to put the decision into the hands of those in the past. My character holds all of mankind inside itself, but is wholly alone. This section would fit right into the middle of Sloosha’s Crossin’, and the only editing that would need to be made would be to the end of Sloosha, to suggest that man would accelerate back to civilization by the end of 1000 years. No other character would receive this account, but the narrator seemingly sends the section directly to the reader, as well as the surrounding sections of Cloud Atlas, to outline the continuity of time. This section would be titled “Genesis.”
Kinship between man and God would be a new theme, as well as the power of the mind, and thorough isolation. The theme of predation introduced by Mitchell would return. I personally have always felt man has a close tie to God, and this is how I can show it. The isolation will play a role, because humans need companionship and our narrator won't have that. Hydra returns in this story, this time taking on the form of a formula that gives people the ability to assimilate the life forces of others into a single body. Predation comes into play, because even though our narrator is God, they still have human instincts, including the desire to feed on the weak.
The scene that I chose from A Man With a Movie Camera focused on a bustling town and specifically a couple. I counted the start of the scene with the first aerial shot of the large parkway and road at 24:41. This particular shot is repeated many times, between almost every other shot, but at slightly different angles. Sometimes the aerial shot is ten seconds long, sometimes it lasts only a second. Sometimes the aerial shot seems slowed and sluggish and sometimes it appears even more sped up and hectic. In reference to the quote, this shot appears very modern, the framing that they were experimenting with is what we have become accustomed to today. And the fact that we are able to associate the more specific actions with the bustling city, that we get a feeling of business and a city in shots that alone would not have that feeling is the Kruschev affect…….. (This is the beginning of my first paragraph, the rest will follow)
ReplyDeleteWithin this scene, we focus on a few different actions, a couple being married then divorced for example, and the interspercing of the aerial shot gives a sense that all the scenes are connected somehow, if only through humanity. It is the camera and the editing that gives us this sense, and we are very aware of the importance of the man making the decisions about each shot. The viewer learns about the director and the editor through his choices, possibly because this is a type of a documentary.
DeleteThe free choice movie I chose to discuss with the quote was Battleship Potemkin. Particularly in the staircase scene, we experience the action of the soldiers marching down from every point of view and get the feeling of chaos and fear; this comes from the editing. Because so many different editing techniques are used, the camera takes on a truly unique perspective, and therefore the viewer does as well. It becomes unimportant to follow and understand every detail and more important to understand the feeling created as a whole.
DeleteMy 5 minute scene starts at 51:06 where the camera shows a man lifting up a barbell, but the scene is edited so that you see only his shoulders up and his calves down in a medium-long shot-which is quite unnatural, making the audience aware of the editing. And when he lifts the barbell there seem to be two pairs of arms each lifting up a barbell rather than a single pair lifting a single barbell. This shot is cut off by a woman on what seems to be a rowing machine. You watch her row for about 5 strokes in a medium shot that follows her hands, and then this shot gets cut off by a person in a long shot throwing shotput. This then cuts to a woman in what appears to be high heels on a stationary bike in a close-up of her feet. This then cuts to a repeat of the previous shot of the woman throwing shot. Then it shows a row of ballerinas practicing in a long shot at a sped up pace, followed by a repeat of the woman on a stationary bike, but slower than before. Suddenly we cut to a man throwing shot put at a medium long shot, and then a woman raising her leg into the camera’s viewpoint. This woman has an outrageous amount of headroom to accommodate for her leg swinging into the camera. And then it shows a woman straightening her hair looking towards the camera’s right while she bobs up and down for some reason, but then the camera uses the Kuleshov effect to show us why she’s bobbing up and down by giving a close-up of her feet on a machine that is bobbing up and down as well, and then we get a medium low angle shot of her bobbing up and down smiling at the camera- and THEN it uses the Kuleshov effect again in a medium long shot of her legs to show that she’s on a mechanical bull, and then it shows another farther away low angle shot of her riding the bull. and all this is in less than a minute. This definitely gives the audience an impact on the editor and causes alot of dissonance with the amount of discontinuity of the piece.
ReplyDeleteA film i chose to also represent discontinuity was Citizen Kane, but upon further recent research i realized that the film had very little discontinuity, so i switched my idea to a film that Mr. Mcdermott showed us in english class. This film is an australian impression of Macbeth from 2006. My scene begins in what seems to be a drug deal between Macbeth and the ‘Norwegian’ Asians. My scene begins when the elevator nearby dings and Macbeth and his crew pull out their guns and shoot the Norwegian Asians. The first shot is a low angle medium shot of a thug pulling out his gun and turning off the safety, when using the kuleshov effect, it shows Banquo shooting him with a submachine gun and then shows the same thug recoiling from the impact and falling down. The next shot is of Macbeth in the far right of the frame looking to the left, with his giant machine gun in the center. The film then uses the kuleshov effect to imply that Macbeth is shooting the thug in the elevator. It then shows a Norwegian Asian pulling out a knife and slitting the throat of an Australian thug. Two Norwegian Asian girls then take machine guns disguised as purses and shoot them at the camera, and then we see a man being hit by a billion bullets at once. This sort of thing continues for a minute or two using the Kuleshov effect the WHOLE time. Then the action slows down as Macbeth pursues two of the Norwegian Asians up a flight of stairs and the one closer to the camera goes down, shot by Macbeth (again implied with the Kuleshov effect). This all gives the audience an extreme sense of chaos because everything is happening so quickly when all of a sudden the speed of the film slows down to show the bad guy escaping.
While Man With a Movie Camera doesn't necessarily tell a distinct story, it does tell and even greater tale of life and its trials and tribulations through the eyes of simply a man. I strongly agree with the quote about Vertov and his work and although the film was an hour of no intertitles and no storyline, an audience would be kept captivated simply by the amount of cuts that are made and their own personal interpretation of what exactly was going on on the screen.The five minutes of footage I chose to analyze began at around 28 minutes. I viewed the first "idea" in this frame as very chaotic. There are several streetcars passing each other simultaneously, and on top of that people are walking through the streets. There is then a cut to an elevator where people are seen entering and leaving a building, and soon we'll return to the streetcar infested street. There is a short cut to somebody, presumably in the office the elevator led to, and then back to the street. This pattern continues for about 30 seconds longer as the frame appears to get more and more cramped. A compelling shot is when the camera is moving very quickly towards people who appear to be scrambling to get out of the way. As the idea progresses, the shots become more and more chaotic, filmed from angles and looking down from high buildings, and including fast cuts using the Kuleshov effect where we view a man's eye (perhaps the man filming) and then see various very quick off balance and twisted shots of the general world, buildings, and the street. As the idea progresses even more, the speed of the cuts increases until it looks as if the eye even fades into the background of the chaotic cuts. The next idea that presents itself is that of a woman on a phone who calls, who we can infer, are authorities of some sort. A few quick shots show the authorities leaving and driving away, with the man and the movie camera following them. As the woman hangs up the phone, she stumbles indicating that something is perhaps wrong. We soon see an injured man whose head proceeds to be wrapped in a cloth. A bell rings calling more authorities to help. As the truck comes to get him, we see an interesting cut to the eye of the man filming through the eye of the lens, which represents his personal view on the world.
ReplyDeleteAs cliche as this may or may not be, a film that I believe contained excellent editing is Star Wars (while all three original films were very well edited, for the purpose of brevity, I'll just reference the fourth episode). While some movies have fantastic edits to add a deeper meaning or provide continuity/discontinuity, for some films it is beyond a necessity to have good editing NOT ONLY for those elements (which are still present) but for the verisimilitude of the story as a whole. Star Wars is one of those films. No matter how much work the cinematographer, director, and designers do to make the movie seem "real," all their work would have been in vain were it not for superb editing. Lucas' full vision would not have been realized if he hadn't been very particular about the edits that were made to make the the universe and the planets on which the story was taking place seem real. The editing was designed for continuity. A movie such as Star Wars has a lot of information to take in, and the editing made it much easier and smoother for this information to be relayed onto an audience. On top of that, cuts to the outdoors - the ships, the Death Star, and the planets themselves, allowed us to really believe we were right there with Luke as he learned how to defeat the evil Empire.
In the first 5 minutes of the film, we witness a simple, every day action of people taking a trip to the theatre. Though this is an action that, to a viewer, would be mundane and routine, through various editing trips becomes surprising and different. Vertov sets up multiple establishing shots of the theatre, mostly wide shots of the seating from various angles, but attracts the viewers by adding kinesis to the otherwise still room, in this case a curtain fluttering, seemingly of its own accord. Vertov continues to make this scene odd by creating a shot rhythm that consists of a long wide shot of the theatre's seating, then putting in a short close up of an object in the theatre, then switching back to a long wide shot of the seating. Vertov continues to play with our observations by making the theatre almost come to life as the films reel is put in place; as the film screener pulls a rope on his camera set, the seats open up to accept those who would populate the theatre, etc. This becomes confusing, however, as we see movie goers flow into the theatre and take seats, only to have the shot cut to the repeated shot of the empty seats opening. This happens multiple times, the shot changing from a packed theatre to empty chairs, which is an unpredictable and confusing change for the viewer. After all of the seats are filled, we watch the orchestra, seemingly frozen in place, and cut back and forth between the orchestra players and their instruments, until they burst into action as if nothing was amiss.
ReplyDeleteAn obvious choice to parallel this would be the scene in Battleship Potemkin when we watch the sailors prepare for battle. We watch shots of the crew scuttling around the ship, making preparations for battle, all the while the cannons are being loaded and prepped for combat. These shots of the cannons are peppered in at random moments between the crew's action. Not only that, but the shots are often repeats, or the same action shown from different angles, or at accelerated/decelerated speed. The effect is that the viewer's attention is drawn to the importance and silent pride of the cannons, but they are left confused and thinking, much like the theatre scene from man with a movie camera.