Discuss how far your chosen films reflect aesthetic qualities associated with a particular film movement.

Discuss how far your chosen films reflect aesthetic qualities associated with a particular film movement. 

sapphire collins

'man with a movie camera' by Dziga Vertov and 'a Propos de nice' by Jean Vigo are my chosen films both of these films are the pioneers of the Constructivist art movement that showcases the conversion of how people view the Bourgeoisie as a defect of capitalism. It encapsulates the uprisen of industrialisation and the increasingly progressive nature people of Russia  (a man with a movie camera). Constructivism art according to its manifesto is  'purely technical mastery and organisation of materials' and that art should directly reflect the modern industrial world. Vertov and Vigo both are constructivist and pioneer the constructivist movement through there films.

Film is a relatively new invention, the film itself is an expression of modernism. Within this context, Vertovs MWAMC (1929)  pioneered the movement and should be considered one of the best films of its time because of its importance in the history of art. It's essentially a time-capsule that allows the modern-day spectator to watch an abstract view on how the people of 1929 dealt with the oppression of the bourgeoisie and their attempt to reject it. Vertov being a constructivist, for him, montage was part of the selection process. The combination of shots would affect the audience, making them aware. He founded the experimental group Kino eye together with his wife Elisaveta Svilova (co-editor) and his brother Mikhail Kaufman (cameraman). They felt the task of the Soviet film was to document reality ‘to reveal the truth’ and were opposed to the fiction film that depended on artifice.

'A popos de nice' was directed by Jean Vigo and photographed by Boris Kaufman (brother of dziga Vertov) the film depicts life in Nice, France by documenting people in the city, daily routines, a carnival & social inequalities. from Vigo's manifesto, he proclaims '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 its a french film, its heavily influenced by soviet modernism and constructivism-not least through family ties to Vertov, and as such it sits firmly in that genre.


Specifically in MWAMC, Roughly a third of the way through the film, Vertov uses a sequence involving trains and trams in order to showcase communistic expansion and innovation in the Soviet Union. He praises this new technological advance via the use of muscular filmmaking. 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 merging.  Vertov was heavily influenced by the soviet USSR government, to incorporate Russian propaganda in MWAMC to display Russia in more of positive light and to appeal to global superpowers. Even though Vertov was governed by the governmental pressures he still was able to incorporate 'film hooliganism'.  Sergei Eisenstein, a Soviet contemporary of Vertov, dismissed him as a “hooligan", due to Vertov’s almost fetishistic experimentation with the possibilities of the medium.

Another example of this would be 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 fast pace moving camera showing the reality of how fast pace life can be.; 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



in 'A popos de nice'  about a quarter way through, there is a high angle shot of seemingly well-dressed middle-class people walking along the beach. Because the camera is seemingly distant from the civilians this dehumanises them and gives a sense of them being unattainable. Throughout the film, we see more of these shots looking down on the middle-class citizens. Illustrating how he Thinks low of the working-class individuals and highlights his dislike for them. Show the city symphony as represents the population excluding the middle-class, and how the rest of society has a dislike for the middle class due to their elaborate lifestyle and potential arrogance.  


In conclusion, both 'APDN' and 'MWAMC' display aesthetic qualities in there films to reflect the attitudes they have towards the societal issues that they want to overcome and begin to change. Both films have a big part in film history itself. Because they pushed the film to new lengths with new innovative aesthetic techniques such as film hooliganism, muscular filmmaking and meta-analysis in film, and these features have never been seen before. Therefore these films acted as a forefront to pave the way for other filmmakers in the future.