thoughts on vertov

What I find so fascinating about Vertov’s Man with the Movie Camera is that it was the first film to employ most of the techniques he used in it. Today, but beginning probably 50 years ago, every art history class is set up for double slide presentations because that is the best way to compare and contrast images. Graphic design is primarily the art of superimposition and graphic analogy because these techniques so simply convey a complex idea. And every film made today includes at least his technique of montage. Vertov’s method of filmmaking was so effective and caught on so quickly around the world that I wonder if artists and filmmakers consciously choose their methods today, or if they just use them instinctually. Almost instantly after the production of Man with the Movie Camera Vertov’s techniques spread worldwide: Eisenstein, Potemkin, then Godard and so many others. Even theater picked up on his suprematist technique of displacement, or astrangement, with Brecht’s “alienation effect.” I wonder if people would appreciate good film, good art, more if they knew its history as we are learning this semester. I think knowing the relationships between artists and their ideas makes my experience so much richer.