On today’s show Will sits down with journalist, programmer, and video essayist Leigh Singer. We discuss his most recent essay, “The Movies Behind Your Favorite GIFS” and kogonada’s 2014 video essay, “Linklater // On Cinema & Time.” Listeners are also given their next homework assignment: videographic epigraphs.
The Pod Now Has a Newsletter!
“Notes on Videographic Criticism” will be a weekly newsletter and companion to the podcast. What will this newsletter entail? Short writings on video essays, news, links to newly published videographic work, information on the podcast, short interviews with creators, and more. Have thoughts on what should be in this newsletter? Tips? Videos? Articles? Events? Email me: willdigravio@gmail.com!
Homework: Videographic Epigraphs
I was overwhelmed by the response we received to the PechaKucha homework! More than 30 PechaKuchas were made by listeners, and many of you made more than one! They are all collected here, and those uploaded to Vimeo are in the showcase below. If you didn’t get a chance to make a PechaKucha, don’t worry! Email me the link at willdigravio@gmail.com and I will add it to the showcase and webpage. If I missed yours please let me know!
Your next assignment is a videographic epigraph. Here are the instructions from The Videographic Essay (Grant, Mittell, Keathley; 2019):
“Loosely following Catherine [Grant]’s model, we developed a ‘videographic epigraph’ assignment: we asked participants to select a sequence from their media object, and also a quotation from a critical text (not specifically related to the object) of no longer than five sentences. We asked them to alter the video sequence in some noticeable way using at least two different types of transitions or effects (but not editing multiple clips). The quotation should then appear onscreen in some dynamic interaction with the video. Further, they had to either replace or significantly alter the soundtrack. The completed exercise could not be longer than three minutes.”
Some changes for our purposes: the alterations are optional! Introduce transitions or effects and replace the audio for extra credit! Typically, attendees of the Scholarship in Sound & Image Workshop use the same media artifact for all exercises, but if you’d like to switch to a new media object go ahead! Please send me your videos by Saturday, May 16th! (I previously had the wrong date and day of the week. This is just general deadline to make sure I have received enough to talk about on the next episode of the podcast. If you miss the deadline, please still send it in!) Email willdigravio@gmail.com with links and any questions.
Here are some examples:
Catherine Grant has assembled a wonderful collection of epigraphic videos on Vimeo. Watch here.
Preview to Episode 15. Shannon Strucci
Our next guest will video essayist (StrucciMovies and Scanline) and podcaster (Critical Bits and Struggle SessionShannon Strucci. We will discuss Shannon’s 2018 video, “Fake Friends Episode Two: parasocial hell” and Harry S. Plinkett’s (Mike Stoklasa) review of Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace, a seven part video produced by Red Letter Media. Watch below:
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