Name: Cine-Olho
Rating: 4.28 (9 reviews)

209 reviews5 followers

December 3, 2022

WRITINGS:
WE are cleansing kinochestvo of foreign matter of music, literature, and theater; we seek our own rhythm, one lifted from nowhere
else, and we find it in the movements of things.
WE invite you:
to flee-
the sweet embraces of the romance,
the poison of the psychological novel,
the clutches of the theater of adultery;
to turn your back on music,
-to flee-
out into the open, into four-dimensions (three + time), in search
of our own material, our meter and rhythm.
Radical necessity, precision, and speed are the three
components of movement worth filming and screening.

The main and essential thing is: The sensory exploration of the world through film.

Freed from the rule of sixteen-seventeen frames per second, free of the limits of time and space, I put together any given points in the universe, no matter where I've recorded them. My path leads to the creation of a fresh perception of the world. T0 decipher in a new way a world unknown to you.

1. kino-eye, challenging the human eye's visual representation of the world and offering its own "I see," and
2. the kinok-editor, organizing the minutes of the life-
structure seen this way for the first time.

Three-fourths of the human race is stupefied by the opium of bourgeois film-dramas.

And one day in the spring of 1918... returning from a train station. There lingered in my ears the sighs and rumble of the departing train, someone's swearing,. a kisS, someone's exclamation, laughter, a whisper, voices, the ringing of the station bell, the puffing of the locomotive…. whispers, cries, farewells. And thoughts while walking: I must get a piece of equipment that won't describe, but will record, photograph these sounds. Otherwise it's impossible to organize, edit them. They rush past, like time. But the movie camera perhaps? Record the visible. Organize not the audible, but the visible world. Perhaps that's the way out?

Kino-eye as the possibility of making the invisible visible, the unclear clear, the hidden manifest, the disguised overt, the acted nonacted; making falsehood into truth. Kino-eye as the union of science with newsreel to further the battle for the communist decoding of the world, as an attempt to show the truth on the screen-Film-truth.

The moment and the manner in which we admit life into the lens and the way in which we fix the trace that remains determine the technical quality; they also determine the social and historical value
of the footage and subsequently the quality of the whole object.

The actual theme of today's debate, "Art and Everyday Life, interests us less than the topic, say, of "Everyday Life and the Organization of Everyday Life," since, I repeat, it's precisely in this latter area that we work and consider it proper to do so.

Our basic, programmatic objective is to aid each oppressed individual and the proletariat as a whole in their effort to understand the phenomena of life around them.

If we really want to understand the effect the motion picture has on the viewer, then we must first settle two things:
1. which viewer?
2. what effect on the viewer are we talking about?

Very Simple Slogans
1. Film-drama is the opium of the people.
2. Down with the immortal kings and queens of the
screen! Long live the ordinary mortal, filmed in life at his
daily tasks!
3. Down with the bourgeois fairy-tale script! Long live life
as it is!
4. Film-drama and religion are deadly weapons in the
hands of the capitalists. By showing our revolutionary
way of life, we will wrest that weapon from the enemy's
hands.
5. The contemporary artistic drama is a vestige of the
old world. It is an attempt to pour our revolutionary
reality into bourgeois molds.
6. Down with the staging of everyday life! Film us as we
are.
7. The scenario is a fairy tale invented for us by a writer.
We live our own lives, and we do not submit to anyone's
fictions.
8. Each of us does his task in life and does not prevent
anyone else from working. The film workers' task is to
film us so as not to interfere with our work.
9. Long live the kino-eye of the proletarian revolution!

A scenario is the invention of an individual or a group of people; it is a short story that these people desire to transfer to the screen. We do not consider this desire criminal, but presenting this sort of
work as cinema's main objective, ousting real film-objects with these little film short stories, and suppressing all the movie camera's remarkable possibilities in worship of the god of art-drama-this we cannot understand and do not, of course, accept.

The first question: "Don't some of the shots in The Eleventh Year rely on symbolism?"
No. We do not emphasize symbolism. If it turns out that several shots or montage phrases, when brought to perfection, develop the significance of symbols, we do not panic or feel we must exclude them from the film. We believe that a symbolist film and a series of shots constructed on the principle of expediency but developed to the significance of symbols are two completely different concepts.

Kino-eye = kino-seeing (I see through the camera) + kino-writing (I write on film with the camera) + kino-organization (I edit).

Kino-eye is:
Montage, when I select a theme (choosing one from among thousands of possible themes);
Montage, when I make observations for a theme (choosing what is expedient from thousands of observations on the theme);
Montage, when I establish the viewing order of the footage on the theme (selecting the most expedient from thousands of possible groupings of shots, proceeding from the qualities of the film footage as well as from the requirements of the chosen theme).

Now a word or two about efficiency and montage. The efficient
should coincide with the beautiful.
Take the racing automobile, for example, meant to go so many miles per hour maximum and made in the shape of a cigar. Here is both beauty and efficiency.
We feel that one must not think only of the beauty of this or that shot. First of all, one must proceed from considerations of efficiency. This means that one adapts the angle from which a given object can best be seen. Frequently an efficient angle of this sort represents a new viewpoint for us, one from which we're not yet accustomed to see this or that object. But as soon as it becomes a cliché, repetitious, it ceases to be efficient, that is, effective.

We described our documentary films as the pathos of facts, the enthusiasm of facts.

The movement of thought, the movement of ideas, travels along many wires but in a single direction, to a single goal. Thoughts fly out from the screen, entering without verbal translations into the viewer's consciousness.

The contents of Three Songs develop in spiral-fashion, now in the sound, now in the image, now in a voice, now in an intertitle, now through facial expression alone- with no music or words-now through movement within the shot. now in the collision of one group shot with another, now smoothly, now by jolts from dark to light, from slow to fast, from the tired to the vigorous, now through noise, now through silent song, a song without words, through thoughts that fly from screen to viewer without the viewer-listener having to translate thought into words.

From the viewpoint of the ordinary eye you see untruth. From the viewpoint of the cinematic eye (aided by special cinematic means, in this case, accelerated shooting) you see the truth. If it's a question of reading someone's thoughts at a distance (and often what matters to us is not to hear a person's words but to read his thoughts), then you have that opportunity right here. It has been revealed by the kino-eye.

The idea that truth is only what is seen by the human eye is refuted both by microscopic research and all the data supplied by the technologically aided eye in general. It is refuted by the very nature of man's thought.

For fifteen years I studied writing in film. To be able to write with a camera not with a pen. Hindered by the lack of a film-alphabet, I attempted to create that alphabet. I specialized in "factual film writing." I strove to become a newsreel film writer. I learned this at an editing table.

Man freed from capitalist slavery. Man freed from the condition of the "robot." Man freed from humiliation, from hunger, unemployment, poverty, ruin, Man with his right to creation, with his rich, productive development, with his mastery of technology, science, literature, art. To show the behavior of these men on the screen. Is there any finer task for the artist?

"Is the filming of a "living person," of his behavior, his emotional experiences possible in a documentary-poetic, unstaged film?"

An experiment's an experiment. There are all kinds of flowers. And each new breed of flower, each newly produced fruit, is the result of a series of complex experiments.

As a matter of fact, everything I have done in cinema was connected, directly or indirectly, with my persistent effort to reveal the thinking of the living person.'

DIARY:
Everyone has something of the poet, artist, musician. Or else there are no poets, artists, or musicians.

The millionth part of each man's inventiveness in his everyday work contains an element of art, if one must use that term.

With your camera you enter the whirlpool of life, and life goes on.

I'm always doing something, but never what's required. In school, for example, when a lesson was assigned, I'd read the whole book, skipping the assignment. When I forced myself to read the
assignment, I couldn't understand a thing. Two "I"s. One observes the other. One's a critic, the other a poet. And it's as if there were a third "I" observing both. First "I": You've been told to study the lesson. Second "I": Why have I been told? Who's ordered me to? I don't want orders
"from... up to.." I want to write poetry, to play the violin, to solve a math problem The third "I" joins in the argument: Enough discussion! I, the conqueror of nature, the conqueror of desires, of chaos, throw the switch: heart, beat more evenly, brain cells, dress ranks! Forward, to
work, in a united front! Quickstep! The main thing is to concentrate on the important, the decisive
point.
Give up smoking. Eat less. Get up earlier. Do, not what you want, but what needs to be done. You must want what is needed. A plan for each day and a long-range one for the next five years. Laziness is wanting to do what you want, not what is necessary. Fight laziness.

Who is it, then, that does not like me? I am a living man: To be liked is absolutely essential to me. So are care and attention. It is essential that promises given me be kept.

You have to get to know each individual to bring out his best aspects, to become familiar with his biography and experience, to maintain relations with him, not in the sense of returning his greeting, but of removing obstacles in the way of his creative development. The individual should not feel alone and isolated. A friendly word cheers one up, gives one strength and confidence. That friendly word, plus occasional real support are especially essential when we find ourselves up against the wall in production-administration, or in everyday life.

If I had my way, I'd write such films not with words, but directly with image and sound. Just as an artist works, not with words, but with pencil and oils. Just as a composer writes a sonata, not with
words, but directly with notes or sounds.

We're not afraid of any creative difficulties. We love them; we delight in overcoming them.

Is it possible that I too am acting out a role? The role of seeker after film-truth? Do I truly seek truth? Perhaps this too is a mask, which I myself don't realize?
Hardly. I like people. Not everyone, but those who speak the truth. That's why I love little children. I am drawn to such people. That's why I love folk art. Truth is our object. All our techniques, methods, genres, and so forth are means. The ways and creation are various, but the end must be the same: truth. Living conditions, working conditions, means of transportation, conservation of documents, the request for a particular camera, for film stock--these are means. Who needs films that do not attempt to reveal the truth? If you cannot make a film that contains truth, then make none at all. No need for such pictures. All means for truth's sake. Demand these possibilities and means. In this situation, an unassuming attitude is dangerous and inappropriate. Truth is not pleasing to everyone. You speak an unpleasant truth; they smile and conceal their malice. Hatred of the pleasant falsehood. Few possess it.

I do not work for money. This must be understood. If I worked for the money, I would not be earning, on the average, less than any other director. Less, perhaps, than a number of the women who do our film splicing. My films are my children. No one can suffer more, be more concerned over the health and fate of her child than its mother.

By now, at this stage of my cinematic studies, I no longer edit films according to parts, titles, or episodes. I edit the entire film all at once: that is, I let all the pieces at my disposal interact with each
other all at once.

Creative labor - that is the sweetest relaxation. Senseless idleness and waiting--that is the most agonizing labor, the most destructive of the human organism.

He's a hunter. A hunter of film-shots. Shots of truth. Film-truth. He does not shut himself up in an office. He leaves the cage of his room. Paints from nature. Observes. Experiments. Takes his bearings in strange surroundings. Makes instant decisions. Camouflages, making use of natural resources. And at the vital moment, fires accurately. A film-sniper. Calmness, bravery, coolness, initiative, self-control. No clerical or other procedures. Simultaneous decision and implementation.
He's a scout. An observer. A marksman. A pathfinder. An explorer.
But he's a poet as well. He penetrates life for artistic purposes. He synthesizes his observations into original works of art. He makes artistic discoveries. Pours precious grains of genuine truth into songs
of truth, epics of truth, into a symphony of objective reality.

"If we, Russian observers, compare ourselves with the Japanese, we perceive far fewer nuances in their faces than do their fellow countrymen. That is because we are not familiar with the Japanese, we have not become accustomed to distinguishing among therm, with that power of attention one has for those related to ourselves.
Still more striking is our limited ability to distinguish when we
pass from man to the world of animals and plants; there all rooks
are black, all sparrows grey." (Prishvin, The Cranes' Homeland)

The educational must not be opposed to the poetic. Entertainment must not be opposed to edification. It's a question of interpenetration. The enrichment of poetry through science and of science through poetry. Not dispassionate information, but the music of science. The poetry of reality.

The poetry of science. The poetry of space. The poetry of unknown numbers. The poetry of immensities. The poetry of masses numbering millions. The poetry of happiness. The poetry of sorrow. The poetry of dreams. The poetry of friendship. The poetry of love. The poetry of universal brotherhood. The poetry of the universe. The poetry of labor. The poetry of nature.

The joy of truth, but not of apparent truth. The joy of seeing in depth, through makeup, through acting, through a role, through a mask. To see weeping through laughter, through pomposity paltriness, through bravery-cowardice, through politeness--hatred, through a mask of contemptuous indifference -the concealed passion of love. The joy of doing away with "appearance," of reading thoughts, and not words.

Everyone understands that a radio-film must be heard, a silent film must be seen. But not everyone understands that an audiovisual film is not the mechanical combination of a radio-film and
a silent film, but the uniting of both so that independent existence of image or sound line is eliminated. The result is a third composition that is neither in the sound nor the image but that exists only in the continual interaction of sound recording and image.

Generalization as a "bird's-eye" view of life, seizing the largest possible range of phenomena. The artist should be able to show forth all the beauty and uniqueness of individuality--while at the
same time disclosing the general, characteristic features of a people, of an era, of life that lie within.

An artist should do what stirs him deeply, what is interesting and proper to him.

A director has to love his work, for "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." All the attention, strength, and power of the director must be focused on a single, big, beloved work, not dispersed in various
trivial tasks. You can throw yourself headlong into any subject.

But not just this self-enamored fool. Many people don't realize that this complicated path of mine finally leads to extreme simplicity, to the same complex simplicity as that in the smile or pulse of a
baby. Flick a switch and a city is flooded with light. Flick a switch and electric trains whisk past. The complex becomes simple. But a complex path led to the first electric light bulb. Film-truth is a still more complex task.

Although in reality they seem like only small subjects. It's just that you can't detail them in advance, since they involve observations made during the process of shooting. You can't predetermine them…

There can be no development without breaking the rules. When we forget that, we find ourselves in a blind alley.

Repetition is the one thing impossible on earth. If I do not record on film what I see at this moment (when I see it), then you can be certain I'll never record it. I diagnose and record at the same time. Not afterwards, not before, but only at the precise moment. A second later there will be something different. Better or worse, but different. It will not be exactly what I need, but something else. That's
particularly true of human behavior.

A man's efficiency factor is inversely proportionate to his garrulousness.

Not a film, but a filing cabinet.

Resist easy profit. Let those who sow reap the fruits of their labors. Encourage the art of the bold gardeners, not that of the fruit pickers.

Here we confront the organization of documentary footage in a superior form. Shots enter into organic interaction; they enrich one another, combine their efforts, form a collective body, thereby releasing surplus energy.

Cine-Olho

Dziga Vertov, Luis Felipe Labaki (Translator)

About the author

Dziga Vertov

Ratings & Reviews

Friends & Following

Community Reviews

Join the discussion

Can't find what you're looking for?