Vertov / Leger / Manovich

Building Blocks of Film

• Frames (the actual still images recorded on film stock)

• Shot (one uninterrupted run of the camera)• Cut (a change from one shot to another)• Mise-En-Scene (what we see and hear in the

shot)• Cinematography (the angle, height, distance of

the camera taking the shot)• Editing (putting shots together)

Montage Theory

• Rhythmic juxtaposing of shots (often associatively related or purposively

contrasting)• Temporal Montage (sequentially alternating shots over time)• Spatial montage (simultaneously juxtaposing images on the same screen)

Vertov (and Leger) as Database Cinema

• Resist conventional narrative structures (through montage).

• Attempt to represent the collective experience rather than the story of an individual character.

• Work to develop a unique language of film (distinct from fiction, theater, or painting).

Continuing Influence of Vertov and Leger

• Offer meta-reflection about how the medium (cinematography) shapes our understanding of ourselves and our world.

• Cinematographic and editing techniques influences the development of later cinema, computer interfaces, and video games.

Key Questions

• How do these films envision the relationship between humans and technology?

• How have Vertov and Leger’s cinematic techniques influenced subsequent media composers?

• How do these films represent women and men differently?

• What kind of “arguments” do these films make about the societies / places / people that they represent?