11.5 DISCUSSION - Editing Pt 2.

 11.5 DISCUSSION - Editing Pt 2.

Purpose

This discussion gives you the chance to apply the knowledge you attained through the reading to Man with a Movie Camera - the film viewed.

Directions

The Canvas Student GuideLinks to an external site. provides instructions for replying to a discussion postLinks to an external site..  Reread your notes and the skeletal outlines, and the assigned section of Chapter 8 , the end of chapter 8 analysis and the presentation. Apply your understanding of editing continuity/discontinuity editing, Russian montage,  pace, rhythm and duration from last week's module to Man with a Movie Camera. I chose it as this week's film to give you a chance to compare it to classical cutting. Both Russian/Soviet montage build scenes and sequences with emotional psychological impact in mind, but use very different techniques to do so. Use the vocabulary of filmmaking and give examples to bolster your analysis. Discussion topics should include, but are not limited to:

A discussion of themes of Man with a Movie Camera.

How do the smaller themes work to build a larger meaning?

"Discontinuity editing calls attention to itself as an element of cinematic form (pg. 300 Looking at the Movies, Barsam and Monahan). How does Man with a Movie Camera exemplify this statement?

Are there examples of associative editing, split screen, jump cut, ellipsis or other editing techniques that create discontinuity?

Are the areas in which Man with a Movie Camera exhibits continuity editing?

Are there other elements you noted in utilizing the skeletal outline for Man with a Movie Camera ?

Given the overall visual  style of the film was this style of editing expected - compare and contrast the style of cinematography with that of the editing.

TIPS:

In a discussion of, "at least three points", in the case of the possible topics listed above, keep in mind that a thorough discussion of your points is necessary.

Remember you must also respond to at least two other posts (responding to any of my responses/questions count) by Sunday at midnight. Your initial post should be at least 200 words in length. Apply the course content to answer the questions. Quotes from the text will strengthen your discussion, although they are not required. Be sure to write formally and cite all sources.

My post 11-11-21

I’m sure there were some deeper meanings about soviet work ethics in Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929) but overall, I found the film whimsical with the use of creative editing to entertain in showing a day in the life of Russia.

A pattern for me as a viewer was to see various juxtapositions, usually match on graphics and wait a while until it became clear a bit later as to what the theme was and thus what was happening. The smaller themes of the morning being still to turning into a bustling busy day were built up. It took a while to understand why I was watching a close up of a woman’s hand in her bed. Why was there an abandoned city? I think it took me until the parallel washing of the street and the woman washing her face to understand that the city was waking up. 

One match on graphics editing technique that was unique and fun was when the city was asleep. The editing match was on different mannequins in windows being still. Later in the film, when the pace of the city is awake and moving, there are again views of mannequins. However, they seem to be working. One has a sewing machine in front of it and the other is on a bicycle.

The editing examples were very advanced for me, but I did recognize split screens of city views that were also filmed in separate oblique angles. An associative editing example, of two different images that made me think of Kuleshov, was when there was an oblique angle of a huge smoke stack. The next picture was of a topless man who looked like he was covered in dust and oil. I assumed that this man was shoveling coal to feed the smoke stack bringing the city to life.

I realized on second thought, that I could not see him actually shoveling coal.  It was a medium shot of the man and his arms and torso were moving as if he was moving coal. Then there would be the picture of the smoke stack again.

There is a rather large continuity editing scene of a man with a camera standing in one car and filming another car next to him.  The other cars have well dressed people wearing fancy hats. We see the cameraman filming the other passengers and they wave back. There are a few different cars and passengers that are filmed.

Then the film goes meta in my favorite section. The music stops and there are matches on graphics of photograph stills. This is discontinuity editing as the film jumps to different still photos and then to cute triplicate pictures from a photo booth. This graphic match theme turns from photo stills to photo negatives being developed in a developing bay. The juxtaposition from there is to the developing of film. There,  an editor splices film, but we get to see the finished results of her clips in small intercuts. It’s an amazing original concept.

Then, part of the film she is working on is the film that we just saw filmed out on the street of the passengers in the cars and a white horse. We see just a glimpse of it. The full edited film will be revealed later in the grand ending at the theater.

It is a brilliant original work. A beautiful vignette of that time period and a good way to learn about numerous editing types. It seems he was also grateful to the editor to include her prominently in intercuts at the end working on the film being shown in finished film the theater. It's so clever.