Social:Video essay

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Short description: Video content that advances an argument

A video essay is an essay, but unlike a written essay, utilizes a video's structure to advance an argument, persuade, educate, analyze, or critique; often in an entertaining way.[1][2][3][4] A video essay allows an individual to directly quote from film, video games, music, or other digital mediums, which is impossible with traditional writing.[5] While many video essays are intended for entertainment, they can also have an academic or political purpose.[6][7] This type of content is often described as educational entertainment.[8]

Predecessors

A film essay (also essay film or cinematic essay) consists of the evolution of a theme or an idea rather than a plot per se, or the film literally being a cinematic accompaniment to a narrator reading an essay.[9] From another perspective, an essay film could be defined as a documentary film visual basis combined with a form of commentary that contains elements of self-portrait (rather than autobiography), where the signature (rather than the life story) of the filmmaker is apparent. The cinematic essay often blends documentary, fiction, and experimental film making using tones and editing styles.[10]

The genre is not well-defined but might include propaganda works of early Soviet filmmakers like Dziga Vertov, documentary filmmakers including Chris Marker,[11] Michael Moore (Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11), Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line), Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) and Agnès Varda. Jean-Luc Godard describes his later works as "film-essays".[12] Two filmmakers whose work was the antecedent to the cinematic essay include Georges Méliès and Bertolt Brecht. Méliès made a short film (The Coronation of Edward VII (1902)) about the 1902 coronation of King Edward VII, which mixes actual footage with shots of a recreation of the event. Brecht was a playwright who experimented with film and incorporated film projections into some of his plays.[10] Orson Welles made an essay film in his own pioneering style, released in 1974, called F for Fake, which dealt specifically with art forger Elmyr de Hory and with the themes of deception, "fakery", and authenticity in general.

David Winks Gray's article "The essay film in action" states that the "essay film became an identifiable form of filmmaking in the 1950s and '60s". He states that since that time, essay films have tended to be "on the margins" of the filmmaking the world. Essay films have a "peculiar searching, questioning tone ... between documentary and fiction" but without "fitting comfortably" into either genre. Gray notes that just like written essays, essay films "tend to marry the personal voice of a guiding narrator (often the director) with a wide swath of other voices".[13] The University of Wisconsin Cinematheque website echoes some of Gray's comments; it calls a film essay an "intimate and allusive" genre that "catches filmmakers in a pensive mood, ruminating on the margins between fiction and documentary" in a manner that is "refreshingly inventive, playful, and idiosyncratic".[14]

Popularity

While the medium has its roots in academia, it has grown dramatically in popularity with the advent of online video-sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.[15] In 2021, the Netflix series Voir premiered featuring video essays focusing on films like 48 Hrs and Lady Vengeance.[16][17]

Notable video essayists

Frequently cited[18][19][20][21] examples of video essayists and series include Every Frame a Painting (a series on the grammar of film editing by Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos)[22][23] and Lindsay Ellis (an American media critic, film critic, YouTuber, and author formerly known as The Nostalgia Chick) who was inspired by Zhou and Ramos's work.[24] Websites like StudioBinder, MUBI, and Fandor also have contributing writers providing their own video essays. One such contributor, Kevin B. Lee, helped assert video essays' status as a legitimate form of film criticism as Chief Video Essayist for Fandor from 2011-2016.[25] Other video essayists include Korean-American filmmaker Kogonada, British film scholar Catherine Grant, American experimental filmmaker Mark Rappaport (known as the "father of the modern video essay")[26][27][28] and French media researcher Chloé Galibert-Laîné.[29]

In 2017, Sight & Sound, the magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI), started an annual polls of the best video essays of the year. The 2021 poll reported that 38% of the essayists whose work received a nomination are female (which implies an increase of the 5% from the previous year), and that predominantly the video essays are in English (95%).[30]

In 2020, curator Cydnii Wilde Harris, along with Will DiGravio and Kevin B. Lee, collaboratively curated The Black Lives Matter Video Essay Playlist, highlighting the medium's activist potential.[31] Because the video essay format is digestible yet often emotionally impactful and can be created without requiring expensive equipment, it has served as a crucial tool for filmmakers and community organizers who have been marginalized from mainstream film criticism and media production.[32]

Notable video essays

Academic application

Academics, especially in regard to film, find video essays great for critique and analysis.[5] Academics also believe that video essays are an excellent way for students to explore creativity whilst being scholarly.[42] Professors have found that students benefit and become better writers after learning how to make video essays.[43][44]

In 2014, a new peer-reviewed academic journal, [in]Transition, was created to have a platform for scholarly videographic work and video essays. [in]Transition is a collaborative project between MediaCommons and the official publication of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Journal of Cinema & Media Studies'. The goal of [in]Transition is to bolster videographic work as a legitimate and valid medium for scholarship.[45]

Since 2015 under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and under the auspices of Middlebury’s Digital Liberal Arts Summer Institute, Professors Jason Mittell, Christian Keathley and Catherine Grant have organized a two-week workshop with the aim to explore a range of approaches by using moving images as a critical language and to expand the expressive possibilities available to innovative humanist scholars. Every year the workshop is attended by 15 scholars working in film and media studies or a related field, whose objects of study involve audio-visual media, especially film, television, and other new digital media forms.[46]

In 2018, Tecmerin: Revista de Ensayos Audiovisuales began as another peer-reviewed academic publication exclusively dedicated to videographic criticism. The same year Will DiGravio launched the Video Essay Podcast, featuring interviews with prominent video essayists.[29]

In 2021, the research project Video Essay. Futures of Audiovisual Research and Teaching funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation started, led by media scholar and video essayist Johannes Binotto, with Chloé Galibert-Laîné, Oswald Iten, and Jialu Zhu as main researchers.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "WATCH: Best Film Video Essays of 2020" (in en-US). 2020-12-27. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-video-essay-examples/. 
  2. ↑ McLaughlan, Paul. "LibGuides: How to do a Video Essay: Home" (in en). https://ecu.au.libguides.com/video-essay/home. 
  3. ↑ "Video Essays" (in en-US). https://owl.excelsior.edu/online-writing-and-presentations/multi-modal-writing/multi-modal-writing-video-essays/. 
  4. ↑ Bernstein, Paula (3 May 2016). "What is a Video Essay? Creators Grapple with a Definition" (in en-US). Filmmaker Magazine. http://filmmakermagazine.com/98248-what-is-a-video-essay-creators-grapple-with-a-definition/. Retrieved 2017-07-05. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Naremore, James; Hanstke, Tamar (2023-06-18). "A Short Interview with Dr. James Naremore" (in en). Cinephile: The University of British Columbia's Film Journal 17 (1): 5–7. doi:10.14288/cinephile.v17i1.198233. https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/cinephile/article/view/198233. 
  6. ↑ Higgin, Tanner (2018-01-23). "Why and How to Use YouTube Video Essays in Your Classroom" (in en). Common Sense Education. https://www.commonsense.org/education/blog/why-and-how-to-use-youtube-video-essays-in-your-classroom. 
  7. ↑ Roose, Kevin (2019-06-08). "The Making of a YouTube Radical" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/08/technology/youtube-radical.html,%20https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/08/technology/youtube-radical.html. 
  8. ↑ University, Azeezah Ibraheem, Near East (2023-03-13). "The Growing Popularity of Video Essays" (in en-us). https://studybreaks.com/tvfilm/the-growing-popularity-of-video-essays/. 
  9. ↑ Laura Rascaroli (2008). "The Essay Film: Problems, Definitions, Textual Commitments" (in en). Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media 49 (2): 24–47. doi:10.1353/frm.0.0019. ISSN 1559-7989. http://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/framework_the_journal_of_cinema_and_media/v049/49.2.rascaroli.html. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cinematic Essay Film Genre . chicagomediaworks.com. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
  11. ↑ (registration required) Lim, Dennis (July 31, 2012). "Chris Marker, 91, Pioneer of the Essay Film" . The New York Times . Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  12. ↑ Discussion of film essays . Chicago Media Works.
  13. ↑ Gray, David Winks (January 30, 2009). "The essay film in action". San Francisco Film Society. http://www.sf360.org/features/the-essay-film-in-action. 
  14. ↑ "Talking Pictures: The Art of the Essay Film". Cinema.wisc.edu. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
  15. ↑ Bresland, John. On the Origin of the Video Essay. Department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University & New Virginia Review, Inc.. ISSN 1540-3068. http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v9n1/gallery/ve-bresland_j/ve-origin_page.shtml. Retrieved 2017-07-05. 
  16. ↑ Stream It or Skip It: 'Voir' On Netflix - Decider
  17. ↑ Netflix's Visual Essay Series Voir is Worth a Look|TV/Streaming|Roger Ebert
  18. ↑ Liptak, Andrew (2016-08-01). "This filmmaker deep-dives into what makes your favorite cartoons tick". https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/1/12318900/kaptain-kristian-video-blogger-interview. 
  19. ↑ Oller, Jacob (2017-12-14). "The 17 Best Video Essays of 2017" (in en-US). https://filmschoolrejects.com/best-video-essays-2017/. 
  20. ↑ Shields, Meg (2018-12-13). "The Best Video Essays of 2018" (in en-US). https://filmschoolrejects.com/best-video-essays-2018/. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Lee, Kevin B.; Verdeure, David (10 January 2010). "The best video essays of 2017" (in en). https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/polls-surveys/annual-round-ups/best-video-essays-2017. 
  22. ↑ Netflix explores the visual essay’s potential with the David Fincher-produced Voir|A.V.Club
  23. ↑ Netflix cruelly announces David Fincher-produced video essay series, not a new season of Mindhunter|A.V. Club
  24. ↑ Raftery, Brian. "How YouTube Made a Star Out of This Super-Smart Film Critic". Wired (Conde Nast). https://www.wired.com/story/how-youtube-made-a-star-out-of-this-super-smart-film-critic/. Retrieved 9 February 2022. 
  25. ↑ "Kevin B. Lee" (in en). https://www2.bfi.org.uk/people/kevin-b-lee. 
  26. ↑ Deeper into Movies: The Video Essays of Mark Rappaport|ACMI: Your museum of screen culture
  27. ↑ Video Essay: Mark Rappaport on The Empty Screen - Talkhouse
  28. ↑ Image and Voice:The Audiovisual Essays of Mark Rappaport - Film Critic: Adrian Martin
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Avissar, Ariel; DiGravio, Will; Lee, Grace (14 January 2020). "The best video essays of 2019". https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/polls-surveys/best-video-essays-2019. 
  30. ↑ Avissar, Ariel (2022-01-18). "The best video essays of 2021". https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/best-video-essays-2021. 
  31. ↑ Harris, Cydnii Wilde (2020-08-13). "Video Essays That Address Race, Inequality, and the Movement for Black Lives" (in en-US). https://hyperallergic.com/580668/black-lives-matter-video-essay-playlist/. 
  32. ↑ "Seen and Heard: Selections from the Black Lives Matter Video Essay Playlist" (in en-US). https://opencitylondon.com/events/seen-and-heard-selections-from-the-black-lives-matter-video-essay/. 
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 REFRAMED NO. 14: MARK RAPPAPORT & THE VIDEO ESSAY|PopMatters
  34. ↑ Writing Desire|Video Data Bank
  35. ↑ Essay Film Festival: Los Angeles Plays Itself|Institute of Contemporary Arts
  36. ↑ Los Angeles Plays Itself - LUX
  37. ↑ Revisiting Thom Andersen’s ‘Los Angeles Plays Itself’ and Three New Movies for the Remake - Film Independent
  38. ↑ Kirbach, Benjamin (2014). "Critical Psychosis: Genre, Détournement, and Critique in Mr. Plinkett's Star Wars Reviews". Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies 16 (1): 109. doi:10.17077/2168-569X.1430. 
  39. ↑ The 20 Best Video Essays of 2020 - Film School Rejects
  40. ↑ The best video essays of 2020 - Polygon
  41. ↑ Martin, Michel (February 13, 2022). "Cryptocurrency expert slams NFT hype". https://www.npr.org/2022/02/13/1080210427/cryptocurrency-expert-slams-nft-hype. 
  42. ↑ D’Cruz, Glenn (2021). "3 or 4 things I know about the audiovisual essay, or the pedagogical perils of constructive alignment". Media Practice and Education 22 (1): 61–72. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25741136.2021.1832768?scroll=top&needAccess=true. 
  43. ↑ Evans, Christine (Spring 2022). "The Sharpening of Knives: Video Essays and Reflecting on Argumentation". The Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 61 (8). doi:10.3998/jcms.18261332.0061.803. ISSN 0009-7101. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.18261332.0061.803. 
  44. ↑ Nieminen, Juuso Henrik; Tuohilampi, Laura (2020-10-02). "‘Finally studying for myself’ – examining student agency in summative and formative self-assessment models" (in en). Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 45 (7): 1031–1045. doi:10.1080/02602938.2020.1720595. ISSN 0260-2938. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02602938.2020.1720595. 
  45. ↑ "About [inTransition | [in]Transition"]. https://mediacommons.org/intransition/about. 
  46. ↑ "Scholarship in Sound & Image" (in en-US). https://sites.middlebury.edu/videoworkshop/. 

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