Dziga Vertov: Creating reality as we want to see it.

By Nancy Cantu Harris

Just as explained by Alfred Hitchcock, editing is more than cutting, it is assembling; and from the words and work of Dziga Vertov we realize that in order to convey a message through film, the way we connect one image to the next one is as relevant for the story as the music, lighting, and dialogues.

Original film poster of
Man with a Movie Camera

Pioneer of the documentary genre, Vertov reveals that, as determined as he was to capture and present reality on film, the editing process allows for the filmmaker to “amend” the truth in the way that best suits his or her intentions, either for technical convenience –for example, one scene that occurs later in the plot could be filmed earlier during principal photography due to weather conditions or location availability, or because it adds to the impact that the story wants to achieve –“such structuring of the film-object enables one to develop any given theme, be it comic, tragic, one of special effects, or some other type.¹”

Film editing or, for our purposes in class, video editing, is no different than editing a text. One can acknowledge that, in writing, words can lead the reader to perceive the characters according to the intentions of the author.

For instance, when telling a news story, the reporter might use adjectives or nuances that will cause a subject to be portrayed in a manner that will evoke either sympathy or rejection. We all do this “editing” of reality to favor our purposes. 

Let’s pretend for a moment that we are describing the appearance of someone we like; it is not the same to call someone “beautiful” as to say he or she is “striking,” even if our concept of beauty is always personal, we all would be inclined to think that someone “striking” is a little higher in the “looks” scale than someone who is simply “beautiful.”

The same thing happens when editing film. Even if the images we have filmed for a documentary are a true reflection of reality, the order in which we present them can project a constructed “reality” according to the way we see it. “I make the viewer see in the manner best suited to my presentation²”, explains the director of Man with a Movie Camera.

As someone who doesn’t feel that belongs in the realm of creativity, I feel a great amount of respect for the way Vertov used film to convey his vision of reality. “My path leads to the creation of a fresh perception of the world. I decipher in a new way a world unknown to you³,” he stated, and he certainly did.

(1) Vertov, Dziga, 1896. Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov (1984) University of California Press. Page 20.

(2) Vertov, Dziga, 1896. Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov (1984) University of California Press. Page 16.

(3) Vertov, Dziga, 1896. Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov (1984) University of California Press. Page 18.