The Men with the Movie Camera : The Poetics of Visual Style in Soviet Avant-Garde Cinema of the 1920s

Unlike previous studies of the Soviet avant-garde during the silent era, which have regarded the works of the period as manifestations of directorial vision, this study emphasizes the collaborative principle at the heart of avant-garde filmmaking units and draws attention to the crucial role of camera operators in creating the visual style of the films, especially on the poetics of composition and lighting. In the Soviet Union of the 1920s and early 1930s, owing to the fetishization of the camera as an embodiment of modern technology, the cameraman was an iconic figure whose creative contribution was encouraged and respected. Drawing upon the film literature of the period, Philip Cavendish describes the culture of the camera operator, charts developments in the art of camera operation, and studies the mechanics of key director-cameraman partnerships. He offers detailed analysis of Soviet avant-garde films and draws comparisons between the visual aesthetics of these works and the modernist experiments taking place in the other spheres of the visual arts. Unlike previous studies of the Soviet avant-garde during the silent era, which have regarded the works of the period as manifestations of directorial vision, this study emphasizes the collaborative principle at the heart of avant-garde filmmaking units and draws attention to the crucial role of camera operators in creating the visual style of the films and their responsibility for the poetics of composition and lighting. In the Soviet Union of the 1920s and early 1930s, owing to the fetishization of the camera as an embodiment of modern technology, the cameraman was an iconic figure whose creative contribution was encouraged and respected. Drawing upon the film literature of the period, Philip Cavendish describes the culture of the camera operator, charts developments in the art of camera operation and studies the mechanics of key director-cameraman partnerships. He offers detailed analysis of Soviet avant-garde films and draws comparisons between the visual aesthetics of these works and the modernist experiments taking place in the other spheres of the visual arts. -- rear cover. Introduction -- The theory and practice of camera operation within the Soviet avant-garde of the 1920s -- Eduard Tisse and Sergei Eisenstein -- Anatolii Golovnia and Vsevolod Pudovkin -- Andrei Moskvin and the Factory of the Eccentric Actor (FEKS) -- Danylo Demutskyi and Oleksandr Dovzhenko -- Conclusion. Philip Cavendish. Includes filmography. Includes bibliographical references and index. "Unlike previous studies of the Soviet avant-garde during the silent era, which have regarded the works of the period as manifestations of directorial vision, this study emphasizes the collaborative principle at the heart of avant-garde filmmaking units and draws attention to the crucial role of camera operators in creating the visual style of the films and their responsibility for the poetics of composition and lighting. In the Soviet Union of the 1920s and early 1930s, owing to the fetishization of the camera as an embodiment of modern technology, the cameraman was an iconic figure whose creative contribution was encouraged and respected. Drawing upon the film literature of the period, Philip Cavendish describes the culture of the camera operator, charts developments in the art of camera operation and studies the mechanics of key director-cameraman partnerships. He offers detailed analysis of Soviet avant-garde films and draws comparisons between the visual aesthetics of these works and the modernist experiments taking place in the other spheres of the visual arts."--Back cover Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration and Conventions Abbreviations Introduction CHAPTER ONE The Theory and Practice of Camera Operation within the Soviet Avant-Garde of the 1920s CHAPTER TWO Eduard Tisse and Sergei Eizenshtein CHAPTER THREE Anatolii Golovnia and Vsevolod Pudovkin CHAPTER FOUR Andrei Moskvin and the Factory of the Eccentric Actor CHAPTER FIVE Danylo Demuts'kyi and Oleksandr Dovzhenko CONCLUSION The End of the Golden Age Filmography Bibliography Index