OUGD601 - Research: Constructivism in Film: The Man with the Movie Camera

Although documentary film, The Man with the Movie Camera (1929) is an example of constructivist film making and artistic experiment. Dziga Vertov, the director, saw cinema as a universal language that was more powerful than any other means of communication.

'One of the more suitable means of artistic production was the relatively new medium of film, an art form that, given its ability to convey messages to vast audiences and its capacity to reconstruct all components of natural movement, had an immense appeal for the constructivist artists: they considered it the most powerful tool available to educate the people.' Petric, 1987, 5

The Constructivists considered artists as engineers who build "useful objects" whilst actively contributing to society. Their abstract techniques of art combined with the industrial elements were optimistic and forward thinking. Vertov's The Man with the Movie Camera is no exception of this, he combines imagery of industry and machinery, montaged with life and society. His images are constructed in a way that communicates a rhythmic aesthetic. The movement of Russian Constructivism can be seen to have an almost identical effect on the graphic arts and film making.

Petric, V (1987) Constructivism in Film: The Man with the Movie Camera A Cinematic Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press