MWAMC:
A Propos de Nice:
- The 1920s
- cinema should be regarded as primarily a visual medium
- critics hated the coming of the sound, dialogue-driven narrative was perceived as dragging cinema backwards as a form of theatre.
A propos de Nice (About Nice):
- A documentary about Nice
Unmediated -> not edited to appease certain people, without bias?
Realist vs Expressionist
Realism:
- Representation: As unmediated as possible
- Visual Aesthetic: Simple
- Principle: Respect/Truth
- Intent: Spectator reflection
Expressionism:
- Representation: Highly mediated
- Visual Aesthetic: Highly constructed
- Principle: Manipulation
- Intent: Spectator 'agitation'
APDN: expressionistic -> designed to make people angry about the rich
APDN:
- directed by Jean Vigo, France, 1930
- Silent short documentary
- Photographed by Boris Kaufman (brother of MWAMC's director Dziga Vertov)
- Film depicts life in Nice, France by documenting people in the city, daily routines, a carnival & social inequalities
- Vigo described the film in an address to the Groupement des Spectators d'Avant-Garde: 'in this film, by showing certain basic aspects of a city, a way of life is put on trial... the last gasps of a society so lost in its escapism that it sickens you & makes you sympathetic to a revolutionary solution'
- Although French, heavily influenced by Soviet Modernism & Constructivism - not least through family ties to Vertov - & as such sits firmly in that genre
- Is a montage film
- Mediates to the point where its nearly fiction but its still a documentary
- APDN & MWAMC are both modernist, constructivist & city symphonies films
3 movements which influenced APDN:
Modernism
- Strong commitment to the machine, inc machinery of cinema, as a progressive force, promises to create a bold new future
- Culture celebrates invention of whole new way of life; period when 'modern' life = invented
- Looking forward, sense of new/different world under construction & experienced materially & psychically
- In opposition to the idea of films constituting 'art movements', is the idea they're contributing to an international effort to understand through experimentation what's possible within medium of cinema, an understanding informing art cinema & popular cinema equally
- Challenges & progresses what's been done before
Constructivism
- Sergei Eisenstein, greatest filmmaker-as-theorist of all, used his 1st feature (Strike) as a laboratory experiment in power of montage
- However should be careful never to limit Soviet Montage to editing -> better to call moment Constructivism which links developments in cinema to wider artistic innovations of the time
- Constructivism celebrates the machine (inc human machine) with new theories of acting & physical movement based one exploring mechanics of human body & communication -> uses ideas of mechanisation of society -> move to industrialisation
City Symphonies
- A type of constructivist cinema
- Early 20's (when silent era of film-making still in full swing): genre of city symphony emerged
- What constitutes a CS is somewhat fluid but broadly speaker it's defined as a poetic, experimental documentary that presents a portrait of daily life within a city whilst attempting to capture something of the city's spirit
- More specifically, refers to films that are influenced by the form & structure of a musical symphony, although it's debatable as to how many of the films labelled as city symphonies conform to this pattern. The city symphony tag is very slippery -> questionable whether even its most famous example (MWAMC) is a true city symphony
City symphonies is a product of constructivism which is a product of modernism which is a product of expressionism
Montage: puts shots in a non-chronological order, designed to create a specific meaning, idea of collage editing
Need to know what left wing is to help understand Vigo's concepts
Context:
Social:
- '29: Soviet Revolution into & beyond its first decade -> socialist unrest across Europe & world to varying extents
- Ideas about role of work classes rights changing -> power to question wealthy & status quo growing rapidly
- Spain -> homeland of Vigo's parents & when Vigo was young -> under a military dictatorship
- Vigo's father, a prominent Anarchist journalist, imprisoned for political views, dying whilst incarcerated under suspicious circumstances
Historical:
- Prior to Wall Street Cash -> wealthy, inc. those in France, lived highly opulent life styles, v. different to poor & the wealthy's own circumstances post '29
APDN takes a modernist & expressionist view on wealth & the rich -> hypocritical of them
Political:
- By association with Vertov's brothers, Vigo associated with Revolutionary LEF group (Left Front) -> members included Rodchenko, Mayakovsky & Eisenstein -> all prominent socialist film-makers -> Vigo's peer group & people he spent his time with were pro-USSR, pro-Socialist Revolution, very left wing, staunch advocates for fairness, harsh critics of private wealth & riches
A socialist making a condeming film of wealth, riches & capitalism, different to the others in Russia who celebrates the equality through their films
Technological/Institutional:
- Vigo, suffering from tuberculosis, worked as an assistant cameraman for a small company in Nice
- After his father-in-law gave him & his wife $250, Vigo bought his own Debrie camera
- Summer of '29 in Paris: Vigo met Boris & Mikhail Kaufman (brothers of Dziga Vertov). Boris was interested in Vigo's idea about making a film on Nice & them (with their wives) created a script
- Vigo saved ends of film from his work in order to shot APDN & filming underway by year's end
- In the film, Vigo wanted to avoid a travelogue approach & show boredom of upper class in casinos & at the shore + struggle of poor inhabitants in slums
- Vigo & Kaufman unable to shoot inside casinos, instead they decided to concentrate on strength of images & rely on editing phase
One of the very first low budget independent style of filmmakers
'man with a movie camera' by Vertov in 1929
Dziga Vertov:
- Vertov was a pioneer of constructivist.
- liked montages
- combo of shot affected the audience, making them aware.
- founded experiment group kino eye
- consisted of his wife(editor)
- brother(cameraman)
- believed that soviet film should document the reality
- symphony
- film hooligan
- city symphony
- muscular filmmaking
- self reflective-meta
CONTEXT
SOCIAL:
- 1929 the soviet revolution into and beyond its first decade.
- ideas about the role of the new Soviet citizen.
- openness to experiment initiated under Lenin now beginning to close down under Josef Stalin.
historical:
- 1928 Stalin introduced the first five- year plan whose chief aim was to rapidly expand industrial production to bring a vast country into line with western Europe.
political:
- vert associated with the revolutionary LEF group. 1928 the first all-union party congress on film questions criticised 'formalist devices' as used by Eisenstein and others. these were considered to make films inaccessible to a mass audience
technological:
- Vertov had worked on propaganda trains and edited whilst on the train
institutional:
- early 1922 'Lenin proportion' 75% fiction film 25% documentary film.
man with a movie camera
-meta-narrative
-awareness of its own creation
-mechanically controlling the natural elements illustrating how powerful Russia has become by joining the modern world.
Discuss how far your chosen film or films reflect aesthetic qualities associated with a particular film movement.
The final sequence of the film conveys the constructivist value of disassociating with all symbols of capitalist Russia. One of the key sequences within the finale begins with the 'melting' of the Bolshoi Theatre. Vertov achieves this 'melting' by covering one side of the camera and rotating it left and right with two different shots to create this split-screen illusion. This represents to the spectator the products of Russia's capitalism metaphorically 'melting' at the hands of its believers; essentially meaning the bourgeoisie have brought their own downfall upon themselves. This is displayed as a punishment for the way the proletariat were treated until their rise.
The very final scene encapsulates the kino group's exploration of the postmodern constructivist movement and celebrates experimental cinema. Vertov uses many intercutting, fast pace shots of a bird's eye view shot of a mass group of people in the centre of Moscow. Vertov wanted to demonstrate his virtuoso film making by using the birds-eye view shot. We then it cuts to Kaufman, with the moving camera in dynamic movement; then onto a low angle extreme close up of Svilova- specifically her eyes -as she edits the film; and a series of shots of trains and other forms of new technology moving rapidly across the screen.
This gives the impression that Svilova is watching over the diegetic events of the film; in effect, she is controlling them. The Kino-Eye group believed in experimenting with the potential of cinema to record the truth. Therefore, the editor's role is celebrated here. This final sequence is all about the gaze of Svilova, and also the gaze of the camera lens; it is a newfound way of capturing modernity. Of how the modernist, revolutionary, constructivist vision or the future has taken over cinema, but also the world at large. Vertov's juxtaposition of the clock pendulum and the rapidly moving train - presented via quick, two frames cuts-perfectly encapsulates this aesthetic.
'A Propos De Nice'
Benji (21:50)
Towards the end of 'A Propos De Nice', Vigo employs cross-cutting between a lady from the bourgeoisie of Nice and an industrial factory. The close-ups of the grinning rich lady, coupled with her jewellery and expensive attire, depict her as decadent and corrupt, whilst the low-angle shot of the factory helps emphasise the grand scale of the new, revolutionary building. The cross-cutting between the two shots forces the spectator to unconsciously compare the importance of the lady and the factory, with the factory being obviously superior. The director does this to discard any importance of the bourgeoisie, which the lady is part of, to inflict his communist views onto the spectator. The long, thin factory tower, in which its size is emphasised in the film, is a phallic object. The spectator's attraction to the factory tower not only would impress them, but the phallic shape also underscores the notion of the patriarchy.
Xander, Josh, Abi (18:40)
Roughly a third of the way through the film, Vertov uses a sequence involving trains and trams in order to celebrate communistic expansion and innovation in the Soviet Union. He praises this new technological advance via the use of muscular filmmaking and experimentation of different individual elements in the film. One of the ways this is most prevalent is through the use of split-screen and a canted camera angle. This is reflective of the social hierarchy as the rich on the right get richer whilst the poor on the left get poorer; however, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, which saw the overthrow of the aristocracy, there was a newfound sense of equality, so the canted split screen could be seen as representing the way in which rich and poor were starting to merge.
The Kuleshov effect, in which meaning is created via the juxtaposition of shots, is evident in the cut between the bicycle and the train in the same sequence, in which we can see old technology compared to new technology. Constructivism was influenced by Italian futurism, an art movement that celebrated movement, dynamism and new technologies. In the same way, Vertov dismisses the old technology of the bicycle and praises the new transport of trains. This technological advance reflects constructivism within the Soviet Union. The next scene starts to speed up whilst we see trams move past multiple times. This reflects time moving very quickly as society starts to speed up with new advances in life. This is a celebration of the Soviet Union advancing at a quicker pace than other countries, reflective of the ideal that Vertov holds of the trains and trams presenting the ideas of society moving forward and advancing. See passing in the foreground, these new modes of transport overlay traditional architecture in the background – a classical portico and Russian Orthodox church – which represent the 'old ways', as run by the bourgeoisie. These methods are seen as outdated and Vertov tries to get that idea to the spectator through his work; that bourgeoisie preoccupations must be superseded by the ‘new’.
Furthermore, in this sequence, Vertov uses a split-screen technique – itself a technical innovation – to make a horse and cart 'disappear'. This new 'split-screen' technique was created by filming the scene with half the lens covered and repeating with the other covered. Therefore, the horse seems to disappear under one half of the screen behind as Kaufman advances forward. This is reflective of the constructivist and futurist inspirations behind this film: the idea of leaving the old technology such as horse and carts and moving forward to modern, equal society, with technological advances such as trains and tram leaving behind the social hierarchy that plagues the society in the past.
The Kuleshov effect, in which meaning is created via the juxtaposition of shots, is evident in the cut between the bicycle and the train in the same sequence, in which we can see old technology compared to new technology. Constructivism was influenced by Italian futurism, an art movement that celebrated movement, dynamism and new technologies. In the same way, Vertov dismisses the old technology of the bicycle and praises the new transport of trains. This technological advance reflects constructivism within the Soviet Union. The next scene starts to speed up whilst we see trams move past multiple times. This reflects time moving very quickly as society starts to speed up with new advances in life. This is a celebration of the Soviet Union advancing at a quicker pace than other countries, reflective of the ideal that Vertov holds of the trains and trams presenting the ideas of society moving forward and advancing. See passing in the foreground, these new modes of transport overlay traditional architecture in the background – a classical portico and Russian Orthodox church – which represent the 'old ways', as run by the bourgeoisie. These methods are seen as outdated and Vertov tries to get that idea to the spectator through his work; that bourgeoisie preoccupations must be superseded by the ‘new’.
Furthermore, in this sequence, Vertov uses a split-screen technique – itself a technical innovation – to make a horse and cart 'disappear'. This new 'split-screen' technique was created by filming the scene with half the lens covered and repeating with the other covered. Therefore, the horse seems to disappear under one half of the screen behind as Kaufman advances forward. This is reflective of the constructivist and futurist inspirations behind this film: the idea of leaving the old technology such as horse and carts and moving forward to modern, equal society, with technological advances such as trains and tram leaving behind the social hierarchy that plagues the society in the past.
