Videographic Film & Media Studies: Spring 21

FMMC0334 Spring 2021, MW 2:00-3:15pm, Axinn 105

Month: April 2021

On Video Art vs Online Culture

Great conversation today about the boundaries between videographic criticism vs. online video vs. found footage films vs. video art vs. [whatever else]! I hope we might continue the discussion here outside of class. Here are a few links to spur your thoughts (as well as the various links from the Week 10 Schedule:

  • Arthur Jafa’s video “Love is the Message and the Message is Death” got cut-off in-class – here’s a (illicit) link to watch the whole thing.
  • More on Jafa: the New Yorker profile I mentioned, and a short piece on his video, including an embedded link to a “pirated gallery video” of the work.
  • On the question of exhibition contexts, you might consider “Videographic Frankenstein” – this was an in-person exhibition at Stanford curated in 2018 by Shane Denson (Stanford professor, scholar of Frankenstein, and videographic critic) in honor of the 200th anniversary of the book. The exhibition was in a room with a number of monitors with headphones, so you could focus on one of around 8 videographic pieces at a time. This online publication curates those pieces for ongoing consumption. As you’ll see, the pieces range from more conventional videographic essays to more experimental “art” pieces. (I contributed a video that’s more of the latter, in a deformative vein…)

I look forward to seeing what more y’all have to say about these boundaries between art and criticism, online access vs. in-person exhibition, free vs. (very) expensive, how such works speak to different audiences, etc.!

Week 10 Schedule

April 26 – Videographic Responses

  • Submit videographic response drafts to Google Drive
  • Watch in class

April 28 – Video Essay and/or Video Art

Jen Proctor, “A Movie” (which, as Creekmur discusses, is a remake of the classic found-footage experimental film “A Movie” by Bruce Connor)

Mark Rappaport, “The Empty Screen”

Christian Marclay, “Telephones”

Week 9 Schedule

April 19 – Share Abstract Trailers

Post Abstract Trailer videos to Google Drive and discuss in class

For this week’s Video Commentaries, choose a video from the Black Lives Matter Video Essay Playlist.

April 21 – Visiting with Cydnii Wilde Harris and Will DiGravio ’19 (via Zoom)

We will meet with two rising stars in the videographic world, Cydnii Wilde Harris and Will DiGravio.

Cydnii Wilde Harris (she/her) is a film scholar and video essayist, whose work largely concerns the representations of marginalized communities, particularly the depictions of Black and brown women and femmes in film and television. She holds an M.A. in Cinema Studies from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and a B.A. in English from Spelman College.

Will DiGravio is the host of The Video Essay Podcast and writes the weekly newsletter, Notes on Videographic Criticism. He holds an M.Phil. from the Centre for Film & Screen at the University of Cambridge and a B.A. in Film & Media Culture from Middlebury College.

Before the meeting, check out some of their work below, as well as a few videos that they want to discuss with us:

First off, listen to the episode of Will’s “The Video Essay Podcast” featuring a conversation with Cydnii. As part of that podcast, Cydnii discusses one of her videos as well as one by another creator that you should watch:

Will is also sharing a video essay-in-progress that he is working on:

Additionally, you may be interested to see the excellent video essay Will produced for this class in 2017!

We will also discuss Cydnii’s video “The Original Ending”:

As discussed in the podcast, Cydnii and Will collaborated to co-curate the Black Lives Matter Video Essay Playlist. There are dozens of videos on the list – I asked each of them to choose one to discuss with our class. Cydnii selected:

And Will selected “Unlocked by Jazmin Jones“:

Week 8 Schedule

April 12 – Discuss Plans for Abstract Trailers & Portfolios

Jason Mittell’s trailer for “How Black Lives Matter in The Wire“:

Alex Ho, “Gazing at Chineseness in Nezha Conquers the Dragon King“:

Noah Liebmiller, “Why the Eye?” (from 2017 course):

Nicole Morse, “Some People Like Hearing Sad Things” about Transparent

Elizabeth Alsop, “The Television Will Not Be Summarized” about Twin Peaks: The Return

April 14 – Share Desktop Videos

  • Do weekly video commentaries (try to look at desktop documentaries)
  • Upload and discuss Exercise #6 – Desktop Videos

Week 7 Schedule

April 5 – Share Deformative Videos

  • Export deformative videos & discuss in-class

April 7 – Assignment #6 Workshop – Desktop Video

Watch “Right Now Then Wrong” by Kevin B. Lee

Watch “Watching the Pain of Others” by Chloé Galibert-Laîné  (note: turn on English captions if you don’t speak French…)