Soviet Mainstream Cinematography. The Silent Era

Soviet Mainstream Cinematography: The Silent Era is a survey of cinematographic practice in Soviet mainstream cinema from 1918 to 1936. The author draws particular attention to the creative input of cameramen in the film production process and examines methods of collaboration between directors and camera operators. He relates his study of film to parallel trends in still-photography and painting, and traces the continuing impact of pre-revolutionary cinematic norms on the production process. A timely contribution to cinema scholarship, this scholarly work offers a new perspective on supposedly 'progressive' and 'reactionary' aesthetic preferences, and calls into question the assumed division between the avant-garde and mainstream in Soviet film.