Analysis of Vertovs Film :: essays research papers

In the clown players 1991 film The do drugs Movie, the art of cinema verite is taken to heights of realism not seen since Roberto Rosselinnis triumphant Rome, Open City. By combining realistic settings, lighting, sound, and so on with keenly observant camera placement, the filmakers draw us into a world very few of us ever actually see outside the creature comforts of a theater. Dziga Vetov, in his essays on the nature of man as seen through the Kino-Eye, touched upon something that the makers of The Drug Movie argon obviously very aware of. That is, the camera, much so than anything human, will see to the core of its target. Beyond the actors, beyond the sets and special effects, is the soul of the film. If the emotion is pure and the situations genuine, than the camera is but a window to the truth. The antic Players pick up crafted a finely nuanced example of this cinematic honesty with The Drug Movie.The films opening is startling and today draws us into the unfolding drama . We are given a brief glimpse of a very annoying girl mentioning her hometown of Coral Springs Florida. The scene quickly shifts to smooth than the glare of an incandescant ceiling lamp. Within this brief montage, the filmakers have raised our expectations and shifted them within a few brief moments. This masterful use of cinematic usage is but a foreshadowing of the upcoming events. Nothing is what it seems and nothing can be predicted. Like life, this celluloid canvas is painted with the ever-shifting brush of the unknown.From the lamp, the camera pans to our players. ternion males, two white, one black sit around table. As they talk, their dialogue is somewhat muted and difficult to decifer. It soon becomes painfully obvious that we the viewer are not privy to this cabal. Again, the Clown Players continue to exhibit complete control over their audience. As the camera cuts in for a snuggled view of the group, we finally hear the topic of their intense exchange. Two of the men are working diligently on a model car. One of them, light beam ( Chriss Celentano, beautifully underplaying his rather nebbish character) is thoroughly absorbed in his work. Across from him, Dirk (Big A in another of his unfortunately underdeveloped characterizations) flips through an instruction book. The clowns have blocked their scene in order for the viewers attention to fall upon the young man seated at the head of the table.