Dziga Vertov
Books
Feldman, Seth. Evolution of Style in the Early Work of Dziga Vertov. New York, NY: Arno Press, 1977.
---. Dziga Vertov: A Guide to References and Sources. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1979.
Hicks, Jeremy. Dziga Vertov: Defining Documentary Film. London, UK: I.B. Tauris, 2007.
A retelling of Vertov’s career from teenage newsreel editor for Cine Week through his avant-garde documentary filmmaking and the international reception after his death. By analyzing Vertov’s development and reception Hicks contends that the director’s revolutionary editing approach shaped how Soviets viewed their lives. Through a historical and textual analysis of Vertov’s films, Hicks provides a greater understanding of the director’s political, social and ideological motives.
North, Michael. Machine-Age Comedy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Focuses mainly on the work of Charles Chaplin, but a section discusses Keaton’s connection with Dziga Vertov. He bases his comparison on the similarities that can be found between The Cameraman (1928) and Man with a Movie Camera (1929).
Papazian, Elizabeth, Astrid. Manufacturing Truth: The Documentary Moment in early Soviet Culture. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2009.
Petric, Vlada. Constructivism in Film: The Man with the Movie Camera: A Cinematic Analysis. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge Press, 1987.
Petric conducts a detailed thematic and formal analysis of Vertov’s film Man with a Movie Camera by examining the film’s segmented structure, use of montage, political commentary and exploring the construction of Soviet ideology within the film. The final third of the Petric’s text includes detailed appendices containing an annotated bibliography of all of Vertov’s published and cinematic work, an expansive bibliography on writings about Vertov and over five hundred frame enlargements from the film.
Roberts, Graham. The Man with the Movie Camera: Film Companion. New York, NY: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2000.
Features a brief historical overview of the Soviet Union’s political state prior to the film’s release as well as a thorough textual analysis of the film. Graham analyzes sequences through shot-by-shot breakdown to explain what Vertov achieves through narrative organization, camera movement and editing.
Vertov, Dziga. Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1984.
Vertov’s theories, addresses, press releases, diary entries and other writings are compiled in this collection. A comprehensive introduction by Annette Michelson assists in offering direct insight into Vertov’s constructive practices and use of political ideology. Vertov explores the various facets of editing, including the manipulation of film speed and montage methods in relation to his revolutionary approach to the cinematic form.
Zimmermann, Patricia. Reconstruction Vertov: Soviet Film Theory and Radical American Documentary. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
Articles
Lawton, Anna. “Rhythmic Montage in the Films of Dziga Vertov: A Poetic Use of the Language of Cinema.” Pacific Coast Philology 13 (1978): 44-50.
Examines Vertov’s theories of montage and how the director challenged traditional approaches to construct revolutionary meaning. Through a structural analysis of the film, Lawton examines Vertov’s use of parallelism, juxtaposition, disassociation, and repetition as methods of creating visual rhymes and associating meaning through montage.
Leyda, Jay. “An Interview with Mikhail Kaufman.” October 11 (1979): 54-76.
Contains anecdotes pertaining to the making of Vertov’s films, including the production process of Man with a Movie Camera.
MacKay, John. “A Revolution in Film: The Cinema of Dziga Vertov.” Artforum 49 (2011): 196-202. Print.
Mjolsness, Lora Wheeler. “Dziga Vertov’s ‘Soviet Toys’: Commerce, Commercialization and Cartoons.” Studies in Russian & Soviet Cinema. 2.3 (2008): 247-267.
Rohdie, Sam. “Dziga Vertov.” Montage. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2006, 79-84.
Turvey, Malcolm. “Can the Camera See? Mimesis in The Man with a Movie Camera." October 89 (1999): 25-50.
Explores the use of Vertov’s camera as a self-referential point and addresses its metaphorical value in narrative of Man with a Movie Camera. Turvey’s arguments examine the relation between human and machine and how Vertov associates them in his construction of an idealized Communist state.
Online articles
Carson, Alexander. “Kino-Cock: The Virility of The Man with a Movie Camera, a Metastudy.” Synoptique. 14 (May 2010).
Chamberlain, Carloss James. “Dziga Vertov: The Idiot.” Senses of Cinema. 41 (2006).
Smith, Michael G. “Dziga Vertov: Wild Man of Soviet Montage.” White City Cinema. (May 2011).
Feldman, Seth. Evolution of Style in the Early Work of Dziga Vertov. New York, NY: Arno Press, 1977.
---. Dziga Vertov: A Guide to References and Sources. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1979.
Hicks, Jeremy. Dziga Vertov: Defining Documentary Film. London, UK: I.B. Tauris, 2007.
A retelling of Vertov’s career from teenage newsreel editor for Cine Week through his avant-garde documentary filmmaking and the international reception after his death. By analyzing Vertov’s development and reception Hicks contends that the director’s revolutionary editing approach shaped how Soviets viewed their lives. Through a historical and textual analysis of Vertov’s films, Hicks provides a greater understanding of the director’s political, social and ideological motives.
North, Michael. Machine-Age Comedy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Focuses mainly on the work of Charles Chaplin, but a section discusses Keaton’s connection with Dziga Vertov. He bases his comparison on the similarities that can be found between The Cameraman (1928) and Man with a Movie Camera (1929).
Papazian, Elizabeth, Astrid. Manufacturing Truth: The Documentary Moment in early Soviet Culture. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2009.
Petric, Vlada. Constructivism in Film: The Man with the Movie Camera: A Cinematic Analysis. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge Press, 1987.
Petric conducts a detailed thematic and formal analysis of Vertov’s film Man with a Movie Camera by examining the film’s segmented structure, use of montage, political commentary and exploring the construction of Soviet ideology within the film. The final third of the Petric’s text includes detailed appendices containing an annotated bibliography of all of Vertov’s published and cinematic work, an expansive bibliography on writings about Vertov and over five hundred frame enlargements from the film.
Roberts, Graham. The Man with the Movie Camera: Film Companion. New York, NY: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2000.
Features a brief historical overview of the Soviet Union’s political state prior to the film’s release as well as a thorough textual analysis of the film. Graham analyzes sequences through shot-by-shot breakdown to explain what Vertov achieves through narrative organization, camera movement and editing.
Vertov, Dziga. Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1984.
Vertov’s theories, addresses, press releases, diary entries and other writings are compiled in this collection. A comprehensive introduction by Annette Michelson assists in offering direct insight into Vertov’s constructive practices and use of political ideology. Vertov explores the various facets of editing, including the manipulation of film speed and montage methods in relation to his revolutionary approach to the cinematic form.
Zimmermann, Patricia. Reconstruction Vertov: Soviet Film Theory and Radical American Documentary. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
Articles
Lawton, Anna. “Rhythmic Montage in the Films of Dziga Vertov: A Poetic Use of the Language of Cinema.” Pacific Coast Philology 13 (1978): 44-50.
Examines Vertov’s theories of montage and how the director challenged traditional approaches to construct revolutionary meaning. Through a structural analysis of the film, Lawton examines Vertov’s use of parallelism, juxtaposition, disassociation, and repetition as methods of creating visual rhymes and associating meaning through montage.
Leyda, Jay. “An Interview with Mikhail Kaufman.” October 11 (1979): 54-76.
Contains anecdotes pertaining to the making of Vertov’s films, including the production process of Man with a Movie Camera.
MacKay, John. “A Revolution in Film: The Cinema of Dziga Vertov.” Artforum 49 (2011): 196-202. Print.
Mjolsness, Lora Wheeler. “Dziga Vertov’s ‘Soviet Toys’: Commerce, Commercialization and Cartoons.” Studies in Russian & Soviet Cinema. 2.3 (2008): 247-267.
Rohdie, Sam. “Dziga Vertov.” Montage. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2006, 79-84.
Turvey, Malcolm. “Can the Camera See? Mimesis in The Man with a Movie Camera." October 89 (1999): 25-50.
Explores the use of Vertov’s camera as a self-referential point and addresses its metaphorical value in narrative of Man with a Movie Camera. Turvey’s arguments examine the relation between human and machine and how Vertov associates them in his construction of an idealized Communist state.
Online articles
Carson, Alexander. “Kino-Cock: The Virility of The Man with a Movie Camera, a Metastudy.” Synoptique. 14 (May 2010).
Chamberlain, Carloss James. “Dziga Vertov: The Idiot.” Senses of Cinema. 41 (2006).
Smith, Michael G. “Dziga Vertov: Wild Man of Soviet Montage.” White City Cinema. (May 2011).