A Critical Reflection on the Importance of Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera

Moyu Zheng

doi:10.54254/2753-7064/2025.29957

Communications in Humanities ResearchOpen access

A Critical Reflection on the Importance of Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera

Research Article

Open Access

A Critical Reflection on the Importance of Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera

Moyu Zheng ^1*

¹ University of Edinburgh

^*Corresponding author: s2856072@ed.ac.uk

Published on 26 November 2025

CHR Vol.99

ISSN (Print): 2753-7072

ISSN (Online): 2753-7064

ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-573-8

ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-574-5

Download Cover

Abstract

Giga Virtov's The Man with a Movie Camera is a 68-minute experimental silent documentary of the Soviet period of innovative art. Although it has been criticized for its strong experimentality, insufficient emotional depth and over-reliance on technology, it is still of great significance in the current digital media environment. This article believes that the film uses montage to break the linear narrative, integrate different space-time images, and lay the foundation for the modern digital visual information architecture. This core contribution has a far-reaching impact. Nowadays, short video platforms often use montage to attract audiences. In addition, the "Kino-Eye" theory provides a reference for immersive interactive visual perception, and the transparency of the media production shown by the film also enhances the audience's trust. In summary, it not only shapes the current digital media design, but also provides a classic analysis model that emphasizes visual appeal, immersion and transparency for future digital experiences.

Keywords:

Dziga Vertov, Man with a Movie Camera, montage technique, Kino-Eye theory, digital media transparency

View PDF

References

[1]. Azérad, H. & Schmid, M. (2024). Guy Gilles or the Cinepoetics of Presence. J. Comp. Lit. Aesthet., 47(2), 8-19.

[2]. Jacobs, S., Hielscher, E., & Kinik, A. (2018). The City Symphony Phenomenon: Cinema, Art, and Urban Modernity Between the Wars. Routledge. https: //www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315619989/city-symphony-phenomenon-steven-jacobs-eva-hielscher-anthony-kinik (Accessed: 4 Aug 2025).

[3]. Reese, C. (2024). Toward a Feminist Montage: Reading for the Cut in Ana. Mendieta's Sweating Blood. J. Cinema Media Stud., 63(2), 58-75. https: //www.proquest.com/artshumanities/docview/3181010776/D22D1A3A29E4255PQ/7?accountid=10673& sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals

[4]. Xu, P. (2025). Digital Media Design and Production Method Based on Multimedia Human–Computer Interaction Technology. Discov. Artif. Intell., 5(13). https: //link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44163-025-00232-w

[5]. Lee, M. (2020). Re-Discovering Liu Na’Ou and His Man with a Camera: Authorial I, Written Diary, and Cinematic Writing. Concentric Lit. Cult. Stud., 46(2), 195-215. https: //www.proquest.com/docview/2805238622/91A8A36F55B444BPQ/5?accountid=10673& sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals

[6]. Hielscher, E. (2020). The Phenomenon of Interwar City Symphonies: A Combined Methodology of Digital Tools and Traditional Film Analysis Methods to Study Visual Motifs and Structural Patterns of Experimental-Documentary City Films. Digit. Humanit. Q., 14(4). https: //www.proquest.com/docview/2553527249/F86B1DE31197446DPQ/3?accountid=10673& sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals#

[7]. Boyd Davis, S., Vane, O. & Kräutli, F. (2021). Can I believe what I see? Data visualization and trust in the humanities. Interdiscip. Sci. Rev., 46(4), 522–546. https: //www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03080188.2021.1872874?scroll=top& needAccess=true#abstract

References

[1]. Azérad, H. & Schmid, M. (2024). Guy Gilles or the Cinepoetics of Presence. J. Comp. Lit. Aesthet., 47(2), 8-19.

Cite this article

Zheng,M. (2025). A Critical Reflection on the Importance of Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera. Communications in Humanities Research,99,1-4.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies

ISBN: 978-1-80590-573-8(Print) / 978-1-80590-574-5(Online)

Editor: Enrique Mallen

Conference website: https://www.icihcs.org/

Conference date: 17 November 2025

Series: Communications in Humanities Research

Volume number: Vol.99

ISSN: 2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.

2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open access policy for details).