Soviet Documentary & Propaganda

University:
California State University, Northridge
Course:
CTVA 311 | History of Global Cinema
Academic year:

2012
Views:

156

Pages:

12
Author:

Matthias Jones

Soviet documentary & propaganda “Of all arts, the cinema is the most important for us” Lenin Russia • • • • • Ruled by the Czar 1905 Russo-Japanese War 1905 Revolt 1914 World War I 1917 February Czar deposed, Kerensky heads provisional government • 1917 October Bolsheviks seize government, establish Soviet Union (1917-1991) • Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin Montage – Film Editing • Lev Kuleshov – Creative Film Experiments • Eisenstein’s Montage of Attractions Cinema as propaganda 1917 – Bolshevik Revolution 1919 – film industry nationalized VGIK – State Institute of Cinematography – founded Documentary filmmakers of the 1920s: committed Marxists wanted to educate and indoctrinate Soviet people Prominent types of non fiction film in the 1920s: Newsreel-indoctrinational series Compilations of archival footage tracing recent history Epic-scale celebrations of contemporary Soviet life Dziga Vertov • • • • 1896-1954 Worked on Soviet agitprop train 1922-25 Kino-Pravda, Kino Eye 1929 Man With the Movie Camera Kino Glaz theory & practice of filmmaking Close relationship between filming process and human thought “Machine eye” of the camera is more perfect than the eye His film practice demanded anti narrative, antif ictional forms to arrive at the ‘truths’ of the actual world Instead of exotic subjects (Flaherty) Vertov zeroes in on contemporary reality – records facts found in real life The ideological meaning of this reality comes out through editing (montage) – reality ‘deciphered’ by Communist worldview Fascination with technology & machines – futurism & modernity Films by Vertov Kino Pravda - 1922-25 23 series of short films propaganda newsreels, 20 minutes, 3or 4 reports to inform & indoctrinate covering life in the Soviet Union No recreation or direction – ‘life as it is’, ‘life caught unawares’ Nitty-gritty naturalism – vs. Flaherty’s romantic naturalism Screen journalism – communicated dynamically with audience In Kino Pravda clash Vertov’s artistic and ideological impulses Kino Eye (Kino Glaz) – 1924 feature –length documentary w/ vignettes & anecdotes – investigative journalism Vertov’s masterpiece: Man with the Movie Camera 1929 – dense, complex experimental film impressionistic montage of Moscow life from dawn to dusk – ‘city symphony’ examines filmic illusion in relation to reality Uses wide range of special effects: split screen, animation, slow motion, speeded motion Cinematographer – Vertov’s brother, Mikhail Kaufman Other Vertov films One-sixth of the World 1926 Symphony of the Dombas 1931 Three Songs of Lenin 1934 Other filmmakers Esther Shub pioneered the compilation documentary reconstructed Russian history through editing diverse materials – newsreels, home movies, archival records 1927 – The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty Russian history from 1912 to 1917 Victor Turin made the documentary epic Turksib 1929 about the construction of the Turkestan/Siberia railway The documentary impulse of Eisenstein His cinema is very close to the documentary impulse Subjects related to actual life lived recently People in relation to their institutions - social, economic & political His purpose is to inform & involve emotionally regarding - Bolshevik Revolution, origins & struggles - support for the new Soviet State Key films: Strike 1924 Battleship Potemkin 1925 October 1927 The General Line 1929

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