Man with a Movie Camera (1929) is a groundbreaking (originally silent) documentary film presenting a day in the life of a Soviet city, capturing urban life, industry, work, leisure, and human activity.
Directed by Dziga Vertov and edited by Elizaveta Svilova, it celebrates innovative cinematic techniques and its experimental approach to filmmaking. Vertov used montage, fast and slow motion, split screens, freeze frames, jump cuts, and other editing innovations.
Sounds of My City is inspired by an album from the sound artist Tony Schwartz in which he collected a series of recordings in New York during the 50s, from conversations with taxi drivers, street performers and metro sounds.
Read more: https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/tony-schwartzs-new-york-recordings-sound-place-and-civic-identity
Over the last two years I have been recording sound and video materials in Kyiv, in an attempt to get a 'feel' of the city. It's part of a project about artists living in the city during the full-scale invasion.
I refer to this project as it was kind of the start of me 'collecting sounds' in an attempt to understand a city. The full film can be watched here:
https://vimeo.com/935157886
A more 'scenographic' example, this project titled 'Remote' is part of a series of sound walks by collective Rimini Protokoll. Exploring a city (in this case Tunis) through a guided audio experience. Audience members wear headphones and are led through a city as the soundscape and narration turn the familiar into the uncanny. It blurs the lines between theatre, walking tour, and social experiment.