While watching “Man with a Movie camera” many different thoughts and opinions ran through my head during different points in the movie. As discussed in class, with a movie like this, without plot or characters, the audience should find things to focus on in order to stay connected to the film. While watching the film, one tactic that I seemed to have used was focusing on the scenes in which the director showed how the camera man was obtaining the shot. I started to notice the shot would at first show the camera man shooting the scene, then it would jump to what that shot looked like from the previous camera. For example, a scene that was repeated a couple times was the man with the movie camera laying on the train tracks in order to film the train approaching, it would then jump to his camera and show the train approaching and rushing over him. These repeated scenes and jump cuts kept me focused because I felt like it was the director directly talking to the audiance to show the complexity  or even dangerous activities he did in order to achieve the shots and angles his camera captured.

Another example of this was the scene in which the camera man was in the car filming the group of women. At first the viewer sees  the camera man filming the car next to his own, then the cut jumps to just what his camera is capturing and we see the unrehearsed reactions of the women being filmed. This scene not only showed a typical sight in Russian society, but also showed a typical sight of the directors life, the latter of which I felt was a strong influence of the film. Not only was the film a beautiful representation of the society he filmed, but also, a glimpse of his own life. I started to feel like this movie was a work to glorify movie making and avant -grarde; to show the art form of cinema. This movie showed the work he put into each shot while also commenting on the power he held with each shot.

Realizing that these shots may be apart of a conversation highlighting the beauty and work of art cinema, brought to light the power he held, as the director, over what images and feelings we saw and felt. He not only wanted to highlight the work and design he put into every single shot, but also show how much power over the audience these images held. Scenes like the ones showing the man with his movie camera as a giant, filming the city below him, or the stop action scenes making the lobster or the camera come to life represent how he can manipulate and control what the audience can see. The entire piece was to commemorate art cinema and all it has to offer. To show the hard work it takes in order to get the shots we see, as well as to glorify the power these images can hold.