Man With A Movie Camera

Man With a Movie Camera: The Global Remake is a participatory video shot by people around the world who are invited to record images interpreting the original script of Vertov’s Man With A Movie Camera and upload them to this site. Software developed specifically for this project archives, sequences and streams the submissions as a film. Anyone can upload footage. When the work streams your contribution becomes part of a worldwide montage, in Vertov’s terms the “decoding of life as it is”.

WHERE YOU COME IN
This website contains every shot in Vertov’s 1929 film along with thumbnails representing the beginning middle and end of each shot.

You are invited to interpret Vertov and upload your footage to this site to become part of the database. You can contribute an entire scene or a shot or multiple shots from different scenes.

TO UPLOAD
Goto the scenes, select one, then choose the shot or shots you want to upload to. Or goto shots by tag to see shots broken down by theme or content.

Only upload video or images which you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to use.

THE MOVIE
Everyday a new version of the movie is built. On the left is Vertov’s original. On the right is a shot uploaded from a participant. The uploaded shots are rotated each day if there is more than one. So the built movie may never be quite the same. Black shots are still waiting for an upload; perhaps you can fill it in?

BACKGROUND
Vertov’s 1929 film Man With A Movie Camera records the progression of one full day synthesizing footage shot in Moscow, Riga, and Kiev. The film begins with titles that declare it “an experiment in the cinematic communication of visible events without the aid of intertitles, without the aid of a scenario, without the aid of theater.” It is often described as an urban documentary yet the subject of the film is also the film itself –from the role of the cameraman to that of the editor to its projection in a theatre and the response of the audience. It is a film within a film made with a range of inventive effects –dissolves, split screen, slow motion, freeze frame–all of which are now embedded in digital editing software.

TIMING
Vertov’s rhythmic patterning unifies the film. The shots are listed as seconds and as frames as a guide.

INTERPRETING VERTOV
Vertov’s footage was shot in the industrial landscape of the 20’s.What images translate the world today? e.g. instead of the mining scene if you’re living in Silicon Valley you might film inside Apple headquarters, etc.

YOUR NAME,YOUR WEBSITE WILL BE LINKED ON THIS SITE
All material on this site is public domain

CONTACT
Please email perrybard@gmail.com for questions about this project.

*we reserve the right to eliminate inappropriate material