With cameras in computers, cell phones and who knows where else, we seem to take for granted that cameras can go anywhere. In the early development of the movie camera, they were much more stable and harder to move around. When this new technology started to become popularized, film makers started experimenting with the range of possibilities.
In 1929 Russian Director Dziga Vertov produced Man with a Movie Camera, a highly experimental Russian film exploring the possibilities of how the camera can be moved about. Many of the film technique we now take for granted (tracking, slow/fast motion double exposures et al) were first used, or popularized in this movie. Originally a silent film performed to live orchestral music, The Cinematic Orchestra reset the movie to their own sound track in 2002 which assists the overall arc of the storyline. Check out a snippit on youtube or better yet, track down the whole movie. Not really the movie you wanna invite friends and pop popcorn for, but a great piece of cinematography. (and the sound track is wicked also!)
Posted by Steve Mynett
