Reality in Film

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the way that both Robert J. Flaherty and Dziga Vertov attempted to grapple with the complexities of reality through the cinematic process. The paper explores the ways that both Flaherty and Vertov utilized the newly emergent technology of the motion picture as a means of recording the external world. Ultimately, the paper thus considers whether the filmmakers were successful in eliciting a truthful representation of reality.

From the Paper:

"Robert J. Flaherty and Dziga Vertov were two of the earliest proponents of documentary film. While the former lived and worked in the United States and the latter lived in Russia, both directors wound up having a significant impact - not only on the evolution of documentary film, but on the evolution of film in general. In the 1920s, when the motion picture was still a fragile, emerging art form, they managed to produce documentary films that have in many ways come to define both the limitations and possibilities of the genre. In the course of this essay, we will examine the way that both filmmakers attempted to grapple with the complexities of reality through the cinematic process."

Sample of Sources Used:

• DeBartolo, John. "Man With a Movie Camera," 2001. Retrieved 8 February 2008 from http://www.silentsaregolden.com/DeBartoloreviews/rdbmanwithmoviecamera.html
• Flaherty, Robert, dir. Nanook of the North, 1922.
• Sherwood, Robert. "Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North." The Documentary Tradition, Lewis Jacobs, ed. New York: Hopkinson and Blake, 1974.
• Vertov, Dziga, dir. The Man with the Movie Camera, 1929.
• Vertov, Dziga, dir. Enthusiasm, 1929.

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