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"Of all the great innovators of the Soviet cinema, none speaks so directly to the issues of our time as Dziga Vertov" The basic principle of kino-eye is that it involves not only a disappearance of the border between the camera and the eye but a dissolution in the stages separating the process of film production as well. In this essay I will elaborate on Vertov's conception of kino-eye. I shall also study kino-eye in practice, as applied by Vertov in his 1928 film The Man with a Movie Camera. Finally I shall examine Eisenstein' appraisal of the theory. In all, my intention is to reveal the ambitions and deep tensions within Vertov’s thought and practice. Kino-eye- motivations Vertov has been described as belonging to the ‘constructivist generation’ in that he had great “…disdain of the mimetic, his concern with technique and process, their extensions and disclosure…” (Vertov, p. xxv) All of these elements are apparent within the Kino-eye doctrine and can be seen as one of the initial causes of the theorem. One of the motivations for creating Kino-eye was Vertov’ distaste for fiction film-making; he described fiction films as “a "hellish idea" invented by the bourgeoisie "to entertain the masses" he also described them as "poison" and "film vodka". Vertov construed traditional narrative techniques as not just bourgeois, but as ideological; as producing a fictive coherence to the everyday world that produced illusion rather than truth, entertainment rather than revelation. Hence, the critiques of the techniques of narration are, in part, politically motivated. Vertov thought that there was an intimate relation between the intrinsic features film, its unique language and capacities, and the critique of the bourgeois world. Film in its essence, he thought, would be at one with the ambitions of socialism. Equally importantly, then, his desire was to "...affirm the future of cinema art by rejecting its present.” As things stood he felt that cinema had become far too entwined or, in synthesis, with the other arts, such as literature and painting, at far too early a stage in its development: "We are for a synthesis at the zenith of achievement of every art form - but not before." In brief, in typically modernist fashion, Vertov wanted first of all to establish what was distinctive and particular to film as a medium, to reveal its particular potencies, since, until they were known, film would remain a way of re-presenting images whose natural home was elsewhere, say literature or the theatre. The future of film as such, and the political future ideally converged for Vertov. Kino-Eye: A. Notes towards a definition and B. The doctrine in practice A. Notes towards a definition To properly define Kino-Eye it is important to first define what montage meant to Vertov, for the doctrine of Kino-Eye is a montage theory. In From Kino-Eye to Radio-Eye Vertov states that “Montage means organizing film fragments into a film object…writing something cinematic…” (Vertov, p. xxix) he then goes on to say that, montage does not function in the same way as other types of film in that it is controlled by the theme rather than by those working with the footage; “Every Kino-Eye production is subject to montage from the moment the theme is chosen…it is edited during the entire process of film production.” (Vertov, p. xxix-xxx) In another of his lectures Vertov outlined the stages of montage production 1. Evaluation of documents (books, manuscripts, photos etc.) “directly or indirectly related to the assigned theme”. 2. Montage Synthesis- This is essentially the plan of shots 3. General montage- The synthesis of “…the notations on film by the camera.” 4. The general construction of the film via the use of ‘intervals’ taking in to regard in the movement from one frame to the next, relations in light and shade, relation of speed of recordings etc.
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