How does A Propos De Nice reflect the social, political, historical, institutional and technological context of its time? (and more questions)

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How does A Propos De Nice reflect the social, political, historical, institutional and technological context of its time?

Technological and Institutional Context notes:

Institutional: The business behind it
Technologies:
Evidence of his basic use of technology. How can we see that he did not have an extensive budget.

Vigo stands apart from any cinematic tradition, a political and artistic rebel who lived and worked in poverty on the margins of the film industry. Institutionally, due to Vigo's limited budget, he had to simplify his technological choices. Firstly, in terms of performance, Vigo largely included in the film, members of the public going about their daily lives rather than paid actors. By using ordinary people and choosing not to pay actors, or if not hiring very few actors, to work on the film, Vigo would have saved a significant sum of income. Secondly the setting of the film being Nice, was filmed in a non-studio setting. This would have meant that Vigo would have not needed to invest in realistic and decorative sets to represent Nice, which would have amounted to a large sum of money. In contradiction to this point however, the establishing shot used at the beginning of the film would have to have been filmed from an aeroplane and would have been expensive to film, this counters this argument and suggests that to an extent, Vigo did have a more extensive budget.

Jonathan's paragraph:

A propos de Nice reflects social political and historical context of its time through showing the immorality of the upper class in Nice. The match dissolve used when showing the woman's different clothes is used to show the audience all the different and unnecessary outfits which upper class women own. The use of her naked after the final match dissolve reflects the useless nature of each outfit. Here, Vigo is trying to express that lack of care the capitalist upper class have for others. Vigo expresses this opinion throughout the film as he was part of socialist revolutionary movements and despised the capitalists and the right wing as his Father was killed by right wing extremists during the Spanish civil war. At the time socialist ideology was spreading rapidly and A Propos de Nice was a method of propaganda which Vigo was using to promote his agenda. This can further be seen through the recurring motif of transitions between the calm life of the rich and the hard life of the poor in Nice.

Another example of this is the low angle shot used of the factories. This creates an atmosphere fear and suggests the capitalist government is run based around intimidation. It also shows the damage that capitalism causes to the scenery in Nice which is a problem ignored by the upper class while they relax at the beach. Vigo is creating a sense of naivety around the upper class and condemning them for destroying a place full of picturesque scenery.

A Propos de Nice reflects the social, political and historical context of the time through Vigo's socialist point of view insulting the current society and expressing his revolutionist ideology against capitalism.

How does a propos de Nice show the features of modernist cinema in the 1920s?

- opening establishing shot allows the audience to view the whole city. also suggests a celebration of modern machines which allow the high establishing shot to to be taken.

- the tilting shots used to capture the cities architecture hints at a critique from Vigo of the upper-class indulgence in luxury, and of the old way of life which created a rigid class divide.

- the stark contrast between the languid nature of the middle-class, and the suffering faced by the working-class acts to condemn the vast class divide, which was persistent in French society until the rise of the left wing working class in the early 20th century. the long shots are used when filming the the contrasting ways of life in order to portray the opulence and luxury of the middle class appearance compared to the deprived working class.

- although Virgo's film lacks the celebratory feel of many modernist films, it does critique the unequal French society which manifested from capitalism and previous fascist leaderships. Virgo doe in this sense present ideas of modernism through the critique of an outdated way of life.

Realist vs expressionist
In the preparation of the restaurant and painting the mascots scene, Jean Vigo uses quick cuts to demonstrate a realist event but in an expressionist manner. The motif in the scene is this idea of setting up the finished product in order for people to be entertained, thus condemning the class divide between the rich and the poor; one of the key themes Vigo explores in this film.  This can be seen through the layout and rapidity of the shots which have been purposefully constructed to show that it is the poor who have to take on all the manual labour in order for the wealthier to receive excess joy and disregard the work that has been put in for them to be entertained. The irony of this section about work is that it only takes up forty five seconds which in reality would take hours to achieve, thus linking back to this idea of expressionism as Vigo is manipulating the whole concept of time. 

Alice's paragraph:

Handheld cameras are used throughout A Propos de Nice. It can be argued that Vertov uses this technique to heighten social realism and demonstrate the busy bustling beach city. By doing this, Vertov sutures the audience into the film and allows them to become part of this world. 5:10-5:14 is one example of where this technique is used. As the audience, we see well-dressed people, some of them walking dogs. Another example is at 6:23 when we see a low angle handheld shot pan of a boat sale. The theme of us as the audience 'watching' the middle class is recurring throughout the film. It can be argued that Vertov used the shot of the boat sales to emphasize the idea that the middle-class are dominant in society and overpower the lower classes. This captures the city symphony as it captures the ideology of the 1930's that the middle-class were the 'ruling' class, with their leisure activities and lifestyle dominating society.

High angle shots are also used throughout A Propos de Nice. As these are shown, it as if the viewer is watching over the city. At 6:06-6:10 and 6:14-6:18 we are shown a high angle shot of seemingly well-dressed people walking along the beach. Throughout the film, we see more of these shots looking down on the middle-class citizens. From this, we can infer that Vertov thinks low of the working-class and highlights his dislike for them. This can be argued to show the city symphony as it can be argued that Vertov represents the population excluding the middle-class, and how the rest of society has a dislike for the middle class due to their elaborate lifestyle and potential arrogance.