This week’s video essay was chosen quite intentionally, especially after watching the required video by Ian Garwood. Women in the film industry are in the minority, especially in positions of higher esteem like directors or directors of photography (Cinematographers). To no surprise, women representation in video essays is also meager. The video essay for this week, Consent in Cinema touches on the topic consent and the lack thereof this permission, especially by male directors. In this video essay, I will say I expected ways in which consent in movies was handled – by the fictional characters. What I found, however, was an even more intriguing video that highlighted multiple people who have failed to ask for consent and believed this was justifiable through their positions as directors or as cis heterosexual actors. One example of this is in the filming of an action that showed nudity without telling the actor what was being recorded. This is not for artistry or the spur of the moment – one does not get to dictate or further their creative work at the cost of others wellbeing and consent. This perverse notion stems from a long holding history of patriarchy and lack of repercussions to men who perpetrate these ideas. I could go on about the ways in which toxic masculinity has affected creativity, the film industry and a lack of women in multiple fields of work, but I’ll leave that for a later time.

This video essay is also unique in the sense that it is a direct response to some news in the media world and is fully narrated. Images and video back up the narration and as specified in the video description this was done hatefully. This, however, does not take away from the point of this video. A powerful message especially in making something about this topic public – as in Ian’s video – due to the omnipresent nature of the internet anyone can and will react. Thus it takes guts to put this up in a hyper-male space. The use of narration in this piece is very personal and thus the framing of the language allows for the message to touch on people’s values and emotions. Given the topic of this video, the language and tone are more powerful than a lecture would be – especially to people who may disagree. (reading some George Lakoff and Cognitive science things about framing and connections to words). Overall, what I learned from this video essay, is that narration and personal dialogue can enhance a video in different contexts and to consider multiple ways of sharing a video essay – not only to talk about the mise en scene of a movie (for example) but to touch on very real and palpable issues in the film world that go less announced.