Man With a Movie Camera: The Global Remake is a participatory video shot by people around the world who are invited to record images interpreting the original script of Vertov’s Man With A Movie Camera, upload them to the project website where software developed specifically for this project archives, sequences and streams the submissions as a film. As people can upload the same shot more than once, infinite versions of the film are possible. Man With A Movie Camera was selected because of Vertov’s intentions as a filmmaker to document daily activities. The film itself is pretty much a database of shots. Although it is structured around a day from sunrise to sunset that day is synthesized using footage from three different cities and interrupted by a second narrative, which is the diary in the life of a cameraman (a worker). It is edited in anything but a linear fashion using techniques as sophisticated as today’s video editing softwares. There are no shots longer than 20 seconds, making it very contemporary in rhythm.

Man With a Movie Camera: The Global Remake explores the capabilities of the internet to achieve global collaboration by encouraging (organizing) culturally diverse participation and by developing software which accepts input from many sources (e.g. mobile phone, digital still camera, video, screen-grab) allowing for the greatest range of participation.

To ensure that uploads would not be from the usual places, the commission (www.biggerpictureuk.net) was used to commission 12 foreign correspondents (Brazil, Lebanon, Israel, Columbia, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, Japan, China, Korea, Mexico, Thailand) whose role is to spread the word through their mailing lists and to organize the upload of scenes or shots that add up to a minimum of one minute in length. The site contains a scene index, shot list and tags, allowing viewers to navigate the site in different ways. There is also a link to the original Vertov film. When users select a shot to upload, instructions appear to walk them through the process. It is asked that people respect the rhythm of Vertov’s original: each shot is logged indicating the duration of the shot. If someone were to upload four minutes rather than four seconds the software would adjust the upload to Vertov’s duration. Once a shot is uploaded it is cued for approval and once approved it becomes part of the stream. The software builds a new film each day reflecting the most recent uploads. The versions of the film alternate when it is screened.

In creating the database version, Vertov’s experiment enters the 21st century. Its original form and content pose interesting questions about the nature of documentary that are still relevant almost a century later. The remake invites interpretations.

Man With a Movie Camera: The Global Remake was intiated by Perry Bard (US), an artist who works with video, installations and public art and lives in New York. Her work has been shown worldwide. The core team: Perry Bard (concept, director), John Weir (software development), Steven Baun (sound design). Foreign correspondents are: Farida Batool (Pakistan) Soyun Bang (Korea) Fanny Cháker (Colombia) Zena el-Khalil (Lebanon), Liao Wenfeng (China), Mauricio Limon (Mexico), Simone Michelin (Brazil), Varsha Nair (Thailand), Ryu Nakagawa (Japan), Linda Rosenthal Nathanson (Israel), Arseny Sergeyev (Russia), Dragana Zarevc (Serbia). There are 95 users so far, access is open to everyone.