Candi's Response to Kino Eye by Dziga Vertov and Stan Brakhage's Metaphors on Vision

I think it was really insightful to see vision as slowly losing innocence in Metaphors on Vision. Visual communication is important and is definitely different than language though it shares some similarities. Sometimes vision does cause people to ignore other realms of perceptions and blind people to the external reality. Motion pictures and the act of showing things through sight creates a new world not just a new language.

In Dziga Vertov’s work I think it was interesting to see the camera as a kino eye. When you watch a film you see the direction and the focus of what the director wants you to see but in reality you can chose what to look at. The shot has a focus but unlike literature you choose how to interpret the image given and what the image exactly is. And unlike theater, the camera choses which part of the scene you must look at. It takes the audience out of the perspective of the spectator and allows the director to make the viewer see the action as a person participating in the action. Since cameras are constantly changing we can portray things better at each point.

When you look at it the great film makers usually are building things with the image and spaces that are shown. I really appreciate the comparison of filmmakers to Creators. When I see something that was made well it is like seeing a newly built world.