Dziga Vertov: The Foundation Of Film Editing

V.I Pudovkin said that, “the foundation of film art is editing.” (Giannetti 2001:133)

Early editing dates back to the late 1800’s. What became known as the Silent Period, 1885-1930, saw immense experimentation and new ideas blossom in terms of film editing which developed as different visionary individuals who still influence how we edit today, shaped it.

Dancyger (2011:3) states that the first motion pictures date back to 1895, and editing was minimal if not non-exist. These films were about one minute in length. The cameras were placed without screen direction or compositional considerations and even lights were a variable. For example Thomas Edison’s films simply recorded an act or incident in a single long shot. Even George Mélés’ fourteen-minute

Luis Bunuel, whose focus on setting one image off in reaction to another, became known as the theory of Visual Discontinuity, also took up Dovzhenko’s theory.

Whilst Pudovkin stayed with bourgeois cinema and Eisenstein was too intellectual with his approach, a man by the name of Dziga Vertov remained adamant on realism for the revolution. For example in his film The Man With The Movie Camera (1929), he constantly reminds the audience of the immense artificiality of cinema. With Vertov’s approach being far more liberal and hinging on experimental he contributed greatly to the cinéma vérité or “truthful cinema”

ETB

She is given a seat at a desk and realises that she is indeed dead. The Devil tells Scarlet her transgressions and she regrets how she led her previous life with her lover. Rabiger (2007:67) states that order and duration are how the audience perceive the story. On our first look at the devil, the ultimate antagonist, I will utilise a medium shot whereby we hear the devil’s voice but only see her body in frame and not her head. This serves to draw on the audience’s suspense before revealing the antagonist. Looking at order, Scarlet enters the room, is welcomed and sits down. These shots must be cut together in a clear order to show smooth movement of the action. A quick insert of the Devil tapping her fingers together in wait as Scarlet enters also portrays how Scarlet is in fact being expected to arrive in hell to the