Going as far back as early Soviet filmmaking, one notable feature film to analyze the multiple ways of capturing footage on camera is Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera. This documentary is well known for how it centers around Vertov and his brother, cinematographer Mikhail Kaufman, going around numerous areas in Russia and experimenting with what you can get out of any shot. Although, it is a very divisive feature amongst film buffs and historians, as some either love it for how technically brilliant it is, and others find it boring and even pointless for how it offers little substance besides the techniques. I agree more with both sides, because they do sum up the film quite well.
The main intent Vertov had in mind for this feature was to utilize every silent film editing technique at the time in order to capture a typical day in Moscow. With that in mind, the shear variety in craftsmanship is quite admirable, from dissolves, to spilt screens, to montages to even stop-motion animation. It really paints the feature as a highly experimental work of art, mainly for how creative and playful Vertov and Kaufman got in terms of capturing everyday life. In addition, the film also juxtaposes to the film reels being edited by Vertov's wife Elizaveta Svilova and people in a theater viewing the work, as if there are meant to be multiple points of view in how people view films theoretically.
However, as technically marvelous as the film is, that's all you really get out of it at the end of the day. If not for the impressive camera and editing tricks, this film would be nothing more than just your slice of life escapade collection in a foreign country. In other words, as Sergei Eisenstein put it best, Vertov put more emphasis on form than content. It doesn't help that some of the montages can run at such a rapid pace that it becomes excruciating to watch after some time. Maybe the reason was to perplex the viewers in certain areas to create a sense of chaos, but it never helps when the human eye cannot process everything within such a short amount of time (I think some Hollywood blockbusters have taken too much influence from this).
So overall, while Man with a Movie Camera is not a picture for everyone, it is worth studying for the editing techniques alone. That is the most you will gain out of it, but at least it will offer some proper guidance in some other department of filmmaking. It's hard to say whether or not editing can make or break a feature, since that all depends on what is planned out accordingly by the filmmaker. In this case, given how everything was planned more on what locations can be filmed at instead of subject matter necessary for a documentary, consider this the ultimate experimentation in classic Soviet movie magic the world has ever known.
The main intent Vertov had in mind for this feature was to utilize every silent film editing technique at the time in order to capture a typical day in Moscow. With that in mind, the shear variety in craftsmanship is quite admirable, from dissolves, to spilt screens, to montages to even stop-motion animation. It really paints the feature as a highly experimental work of art, mainly for how creative and playful Vertov and Kaufman got in terms of capturing everyday life. In addition, the film also juxtaposes to the film reels being edited by Vertov's wife Elizaveta Svilova and people in a theater viewing the work, as if there are meant to be multiple points of view in how people view films theoretically.
However, as technically marvelous as the film is, that's all you really get out of it at the end of the day. If not for the impressive camera and editing tricks, this film would be nothing more than just your slice of life escapade collection in a foreign country. In other words, as Sergei Eisenstein put it best, Vertov put more emphasis on form than content. It doesn't help that some of the montages can run at such a rapid pace that it becomes excruciating to watch after some time. Maybe the reason was to perplex the viewers in certain areas to create a sense of chaos, but it never helps when the human eye cannot process everything within such a short amount of time (I think some Hollywood blockbusters have taken too much influence from this).
So overall, while Man with a Movie Camera is not a picture for everyone, it is worth studying for the editing techniques alone. That is the most you will gain out of it, but at least it will offer some proper guidance in some other department of filmmaking. It's hard to say whether or not editing can make or break a feature, since that all depends on what is planned out accordingly by the filmmaker. In this case, given how everything was planned more on what locations can be filmed at instead of subject matter necessary for a documentary, consider this the ultimate experimentation in classic Soviet movie magic the world has ever known.