The Language of New Media Prologue

Reading Lev Manovich's The Language of New Media Prologue, one learned alot about the purpose and meaning behind the movie. Manovich emphasizes key points to the reader in order to explain the concept of the Man With A Video Camera.
Incorporations of camera controls marks a historic moment in video. Manovich explains "Directing the virtual camera becomes as important as controlling the hero's actions" when filming something. The incorporation of the camera is important to the context of the video because otherwise, there would be a loss of solid foundation in the movie. Editing and Montaging was also important to the making of this video. The montaging created false realities that built a story out of a collection of different stories. Broken pieces were collected to become one image. Zoom was critical in the movie. Utilitizing the zoom allowed for concentration. The cameraman is compared "to a surgeon" who uses the zoom to allow for the best performance. Modernization also adds to the complexity of Man With A Video Camera. Adding limitations of physical space, it forces the viewer to acknowledge the intention of the actions. The relations between the objects creates another story in itself for each scene. Vision and perspective have an influence on the viewers outlook on the movie. The perspective and view constantly changes in the video confusing the viewer. The question is always who is the view the camera is depicting, whether it be computer, a person, or different people and different narrators is never answered.
The levels of viewing are split into three different layers. The first, is the cameraman's view from behind the camera, and what he can see that the viewer cannot. The second being the viewer and the audience's. What the camera portrays is what the viewer sees, but with the use of editing and montaging, what the audience sees is not always what is really there. Lastly, the film itself is a level of viewing. What the film records is different to what the other two levels may see and because of the many different locations that the video takes place in also changes how the film records what is captured. The director, Dziga Vertov never resolves to a certain type of cohesive language in a way or portrayal speaking. The film is untamed and the "effects" and techniques are endless, allowing for chaos in the video. Turning the "effects" into artistic language was possible through the lack of constant view. He then used the term "kino-eye" to describe skewed views that allowed for an artistic perspective. Manovich then explains that the camera becomes part of the cinema's apparatus. The camera decides what we see and how it is filmed allowing for it to be the main narrator. Manovich also says that Vertov overcomes the limits of human vision and coins the term "kino-eye" mentioned earlier which means he uses "new techniques of obtaining images and manipulating them", which he says can be used to decode the world.