Video essay
A video essay is an essay presented in the format of a video recording or short film rather than a conventional piece of writing; the form often overlaps with other forms of video entertainment on online platforms such as YouTube.[1][2][3][4] A video essay allows an author 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
[edit]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 (Super Size 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]
Other notable film essays
[edit]- Chris Marker's Sans Soleil (1983)
- Morgan Fisher's Standard Gauge (1984)
- Ross McElwee's Sherman's March (1986)
- Su Friedrich's Damned If You Don't (1987)
- Jonathan Caouette's Tarnation (2003)
- Elvis Mitchell's Is That Black Enough for You?!? (2022)
Popularity
[edit]While the medium (or as film scholar Eric Faden called it "media stylos") has its roots in academia,[16][18] it has grown dramatically in popularity with the advent of online video-sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.[19][20] In 2021, the Netflix series Voir premiered featuring video essays focusing on films like 48 Hrs and Lady Vengeance.[21][22]
Fellow video essayist Thomas Flight observes videos about popular media receiving more clicks as part of the video essay economy.[23]
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%).[24]
Notable examples
[edit]Frequently cited[25][26][27][28][29][30] 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)[31][32][33] 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.[34] 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.[35] Other video essayists include pioneering African American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs,[36] Korean-American filmmaker Kogonada, British film scholar Catherine Grant,[37] American experimental filmmakers Thom Andersen and Mark Rappaport (the latter known as the "father of the modern video essay")[38][39][40] and French media researcher Chloé Galibert-Laîné.[41]
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.[42] 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.[43]
Youtuber and critic Jacob Geller has received acclaim for his videos on art and social justice, and published a print collection of his video essay scripts in 2024.[44][45]
Notable video essays
[edit]1980s/1990s
[edit]- Rock My Religion (Dan Graham, 1984)[46][47]
- Snow Job: The Media Hysteria of AIDS (Barbara Hammer, 1986)[48]
- Ethnic Notions (Marlon Riggs, 1987)[49]
- Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, 1988)[50][51][49]
- Color Adjustment (Marlon Riggs, 1992)[49]
- Rock Hudson's Home Movies (Mark Rappaport, 1992)[52]
- Black Is... Black Ain't (Marlon Riggs, 1995)[53][49]
- From the Journals of Jean Seberg (Mark Rappaport, 1995)[52]
- Red Hollywood (Thom Andersen and Noël Burch, 1996)[54][55][56]
2000s
[edit]- Writing Desire (Ursula Biemann, 2000)[57]
- Los Angeles Plays Itself (Thom Andersen, 2003)[58][59][60][61][62]
- A Fair(ly) Use Tale (Eric Faden, 2007)[63]
- The Documentary's New Politics (Eric Faden, 2008)[64][65]
- Mr. Plinkett's Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review (Mike Stoklasa, 2009)[66]
- Unsentimental Education (Catherine Grant, 2009)[67]
2010s
[edit]- The Spielberg Face (Kevin B. Lee, 2011)[68]
- The Unloved (Scout Tafoya, 2013-present)[69][70]
- What is Neorealism? (Kogonada, 2013)[16]
- The Directors Series (Cameron Beyl, 2014-present)[28][71][70][72]
- Film Meets Art (Vugar Efendi, 2016-2017)[73][74]
- Holy Motors: Man without a Movie Camera (Kyle Kallgren, 2016)[30]
- I Am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck, 2016)[28]
- The Rise (or Return) of Christian Films? (The Royal Ocean Film Society, 2016)[30]
- The Social Network - Sorkin, Structure and Collaboration (Lessons from the Screenplay, 2016)[30]
- Spielberg in 30 Shots (Jacob T. Sweeney, 2016)[75]
- Stanley Kubrick - The Cinematic Experience (Lewis Bond, 2016)[75]
- Studio Ghibli in Real Life (KOJER, 2016)[75]
- The Argument (With Annotations) (Daniel Cockburn, 2017)[70]
- The Empty Screen (Mark Rappaport, 2017)[28]
- Frames and Containers (Charlie Lynne, 2017)[28]
- Koyaanisqatsi and Its Complex Legacy (Kyle Kallgren, 2017)[28]
- The Man Who Knew Too Much (Philip Brubaker, 2017)[76]
- Disney, The Magic of Animation (Kaptainkristain,2018)[70]
- How Video Essays Are Deceiving You (BluShades, 2018)[70]
- Michael Bay: Understanding a True American Auteur (Patrick H. Willems, 2018)[70]
- Never Just a Car (Thomas Flight, 2018)[70]
- Nostalghia Critique (Kyle Kallgren, 2018)[70]
- Sirk/Anti-Sirk (Christopher Small, 2018)[77]
- Sound in Hanna-Barbera (Patrick Sullivan, 2018)[70]
- The Sounds of 80s Movies (The Discarded Image, 2018)[23]
- Why This Is Rembrandt's Masterpiece (NerdWriter, 2018)[23]
- The Barber Approves: A Moment in John Ford's My Darling Clementine (Will DiGravio, 2019)[71]
- Criticism in the Time of TikTok (Charlie Shackleton, 2019)[71]
- The Extensions of Mad Men (Ariel Avissar, 2019)[71]
- Games, Schools, and Worlds Designed for Violence (Jacob Geller, 2019)[33][78]
- Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House (Jacob Geller, 2019)[44]
- News from Taxi Driver (Paco Casado, 2019)[79]
- Pan Scan Venkman (Cormac Donnelly, 2019)[71]
- The Problem Solving of Filmmaking (David F. Sandberg, 2019)[71]
- Why You Shouldn't Watch The Birth of a Nation (And Why You Should) (Kyle Kallgren, 2019)[71]
2020s
[edit]- Citizen Kael (Monica Delgado, 2020)[80]
- Data (Philosophy Tube, 2020)[33]
- How Edgar Wright Uses Sound (The Discarded Image, 2020)[81]
- The Life and Death of 3D (The Royal Ocean Film Society, 2020)[81]
- The Mysteries of Magick Latern Cycle (In Praise of Shadows, 2020)[81]
- The Real Futuristic Art and Locations Kubrick Found for A Clockwork Orange (CinemaTyler, 2020)[81]
- The Satirical Resurgence of Reefer Madness (Yhara Zayd, 2020)[82]
- The Unseen Terror of Possum (Ryan Hollinger, 2020)[81]
- Why is Cats? (Lindsay Ellis, 2020)[81]
- Three Minutes: A Lengthening (Bianca Stigter, 2021)[83]
- Train Again (Peter Tscherkassky, 2021)[83]
- Borrowed Dreams: Joseph Cornell and the Archive as Psychic Imprint (Stephen Broomer, 2022)[84]
- Disney Channel's Theme: A Mystery History (Defunctland, 2022)[84]
- Hanging Portraits: Obsession and Resurrection in Laura (Stephen Broomer, 2022)[84]
- A History of the World According to Getty Images (Richard Misek, 2022)[85][84][86]
- Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs (Dan Olson, 2022)[87]
- Makeover Movie (Sue Ding, 2022)[84]
- Richard Kerr: Field Trips (Stephen Broomer, 2022)[84]
- Riotsville, U.S.A. (Sierra Pettengill, 2022)[84]
- Spencer Bell, Nobody Knows My Name (Liz Greene, 2022)[84]
- The Accented Sound of Camp (Barbara Zecchi, 2023)[85]
- Film Geek (Richard Shepard, 2023)[88]
- Jill, Uncredited (Anthony Ing, 2023)[85]
- Journey to Epcot Center: A Symphonic History (Defunctland, 2023)[86]
- Rain: A Phenomenal Catalogue (Stephen Broomer, 2023)[85]
- Sound & Sight & Time (Victoria Oliver Farner, 2023)[89]
- Thelma & Louise: Rape Culture, Mudflaps and Vaginal Horizons (Dayna McLeod, 2023)[85]
- The Old, the New and the One Coming (Arturo J. Izaguirre, 2024)[90]
Academic application
[edit]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.[91] Professors have found that students benefit and become better writers after learning how to make video essays.[92][93]
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.[94]
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.[95]
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.[41]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "WATCH: Best Film Video Essays of 2020". StudioBinder. 27 December 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
- ^ McLaughlan, Paul. "LibGuides: How to do a Video Essay: Home". ecu.au.libguides.com. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ "Video Essays". Excelsior OWL. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ Bernstein, Paula (3 May 2016). "What is a Video Essay? Creators Grapple with a Definition". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- ^ a b Naremore, James; Hanstke, Tamar (18 June 2023). "A Short Interview with Dr. James Naremore". Cinephile: The University of British Columbia's Film Journal. 17 (1): 5–7. doi:10.14288/cinephile.v17i1.198233 (inactive 16 June 2024).
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: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of June 2024 (link) - ^ Higgin, Tanner (23 January 2018). "Why and How to Use YouTube Video Essays in Your Classroom". Common Sense Education. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ^ Roose, Kevin (8 June 2019). "The Making of a YouTube Radical". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ Ibraheem, Azeezah (13 March 2023). "The Growing Popularity of Video Essays". Study Breaks. Near East University. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ Laura Rascaroli (2008). "The Essay Film: Problems, Definitions, Textual Commitments". Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media. 49 (2): 24–47. doi:10.1353/frm.0.0019. ISSN 1559-7989. S2CID 170942901.
- ^ a b Cinematic Essay Film Genre Archived 2007-08-08 at the Wayback Machine. chicagomediaworks.com. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
- ^ (registration required) Lim, Dennis (July 31, 2012). "Chris Marker, 91, Pioneer of the Essay Film" Archived 2012-08-03 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
- ^ Discussion of film essays Archived 2007-08-08 at the Wayback Machine. Chicago Media Works.
- ^ Gray, David Winks (30 January 2009). "The essay film in action". San Francisco Film Society. Archived from the original on 15 March 2009.
- ^ Brown, Bill, ed. (Spring 2009). "Talking Pictures: The Art of the Essay Film". Cinematheque. UW–Madison. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
- ^ Beyond the Essayistic: Defining the Varied Modal Origins of Videographic Criticism on JSTOR
- ^ a b c Is the Video Essay a New Avant-Garde? - The EDGE
- ^ IS IS THAT BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU?!? BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU? (YES, THANKS!)|Film Obsessive
- ^ Film Critics in Disguise: Pioneers of the Video Essay Discuss Their Art Form|No Film School
- ^ Bresland, John. "On the Origin of the Video Essay". Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts. Department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University & New Virginia Review, Inc. ISSN 1540-3068. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- ^ The Video Essay: The Future of Academic Film and Television Criticism? - Frames Cinema Journal
- ^ Stream It or Skip It: 'Voir' On Netflix - Decider
- ^ Netflix's Visual Essay Series Voir is Worth a Look|TV/Streaming|Roger Ebert
- ^ a b c 18 Great Essays from 2018 - Thomas Flight
- ^ Avissar, Ariel; Harris, Cydnii Wilde; Lee, Grace (18 January 2022). "The best video essays of 2021". British Film Institute. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
- ^ Liptak, Andrew (1 August 2016). "This filmmaker deep-dives into what makes your favorite cartoons tick". The Verge. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- ^ Oller, Jacob (14 December 2017). "The 17 Best Video Essays of 2017". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ^ Shields, Meg (13 December 2018). "The Best Video Essays of 2018". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Lee, Kevin B.; Verdeure, David (10 January 2010). "The best video essays of 2017". British Film Institute. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ^ The Best Video Essay Channels, Ranked - MovieWeb
- ^ a b c d Video Essayists|Raindance
- ^ Netflix explores the visual essay’s potential with the David Fincher-produced Voir|A.V.Club
- ^ Netflix cruelly announces David Fincher-produced video essay series, not a new season of Mindhunter|A.V. Club
- ^ a b c Williams, Wil. "The video essays that spawned an entire YouTube genre", Polygon, 1 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
- ^ Raftery, Brian (8 March 2019). "How YouTube Made a Star Out of This Super-Smart Film Critic". Wired. Conde Nast. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ "Kevin B. Lee". British Film Institute. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs: Positive Images|Current|The Criterion Collection
- ^ Video Essays in the Cinema History Classroom - Frames Cinema Journal
- ^ Deeper into Movies: The Video Essays of Mark Rappaport|ACMI: Your museum of screen culture
- ^ Video Essay: Mark Rappaport on The Empty Screen - Talkhouse
- ^ Image and Voice:The Audiovisual Essays of Mark Rappaport - Film Critic: Adrian Martin
- ^ a b Avissar, Ariel; DiGravio, Will; Lee, Grace (14 January 2020). "The best video essays of 2019". British Film Institute. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ Harris, Cydnii Wilde (13 August 2020). "Video Essays That Address Race, Inequality, and the Movement for Black Lives". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ "Seen and Heard: Selections from the Black Lives Matter Video Essay Playlist". Open City Documentary Festival. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ a b King, Andrew. "After Jacob Geller's Book, More YouTube Creators Should Release Their Work In Physical Form", The Gamer, 15 March 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2024
- ^ Engber, Corinne. "Running on Serendipity: Jacob Geller on Video Game Journalism", Jewish Boston, 16 February 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ Rock My Religion - Chicago Reader
- ^ Dan Graham's Rock My Religion (An Expanded Screening)|Experimental Cinema
- ^ Barbara Hammer: Short Films - ΛΑΛΑ|LALA
- ^ a b c d Blackness, Gayness, Representation: Marlon Riggs Unpacks It All in His Films - The New York Times
- ^ Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of Titles at National Film Registry
- ^ No Regrets: A Celebration of Marlon Briggs|BAMPFA
- ^ a b REFRAMED NO. 14: MARK RAPPAPORT & THE VIDEO ESSAY|PopMatters
- ^ TARGET AUDIENCES: THE FILMS OF MARLON RIGGS - Artfourm
- ^ Red Hollywood|Screen Slate
- ^ Red Hollywood - Harvard Film Archives
- ^ 'Red Hollywood' Looks at Work by Blacklisted Filmmakers - The New York Times
- ^ Writing Desire|Video Data Bank
- ^ Essay Film Festival: Los Angeles Plays Itself|Institute of Contemporary Arts
- ^ Los Angeles Plays Itself - LUX
- ^ Revisiting Thom Andersen’s ‘Los Angeles Plays Itself’ and Three New Movies for the Remake - Film Independent
- ^ Screening Los Angeles: An Interview with Thom Andersen - Parallax View
- ^ Recreation: Thom Andersen Discusses his Films - (Keyframe)
- ^ View of Interview with Eric Faden and Nina Paley|Transformative Works and Culture
- ^ In Dialogue: Eric Faden and Kevin B. Lee - The Videographic Essay
- ^ The Documentary's New Politics (2008) - MediaStylo.com
- ^ 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.
- ^ On Video Essays, Cinephilia and Affect - Girish Shambu
- ^ 'Liquid criticism': In Uppsala, a fresh look at video essays|Sight & Sound|BFI
- ^ The Tenth Anniversary of The Unloved|Features|Roger Ebert
- ^ a b c d e f g h i The best video essays of 2018|Sight & Sound|BFI
- ^ a b c d e f g The best video essays of 2019|Sight & Sound|BFI
- ^ The Directors Series: Stanley Kubrick · Cinephilia & Beyond
- ^ Watch: How History's Greatest Painters Inspired 39 Amazing Movies Shots|IndieWire
- ^ Watch: "Film Meets Art III" - Filmmaker Magazine
- ^ a b c The New Criticism: My 10 Favorite Video Essays of 2016 - Film School Rejects
- ^ Video Essay: The Man Who Knew Too Much on Notebook|MUBI
- ^ Video Essay: Sirk/Anti-Sirk on Notebook|MUBI
- ^ High School Redesigns Shouldn't Remind You Of Taking Cover In Gears Of War", Kotaku. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ FILMADRID & MUBI: The Video Essay—"News from Taxi Driver" on Notebook|MUBI
- ^ CITIZEN KAEL, A VIDEO ESSAY - desistfilm
- ^ a b c d e f The 20 Best Video Essays of 2020 - Film School Rejects
- ^ The best video essays of 2020 - Polygon
- ^ a b The best video essays of 2021|Sight & Sound
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- ^ a b The best video essays of 2023 - Polygon
- ^ Martin, Michel (13 February 2022). "Cryptocurrency expert slams NFT hype". NPR. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ 'Film Geek' Review: A Cinephile's Guide of New York - The New York Times
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- ^ The Video Essay|"The Old, the New, and the One Coming" on Notebook|MUBI
- ^ 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. doi:10.1080/25741136.2021.1832768 – via Taylor & Francis Online.
- ^ 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 (inactive 16 June 2024). hdl:2027/spo.18261332.0061.803. ISSN 0009-7101.
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: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of June 2024 (link) - ^ Nieminen, Juuso Henrik; Tuohilampi, Laura (2 October 2020). "'Finally studying for myself' – examining student agency in summative and formative self-assessment models". Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 45 (7): 1031–1045. doi:10.1080/02602938.2020.1720595. ISSN 0260-2938.
- ^ "About [in]Transition | [in]Transition". mediacommons.org. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ "Scholarship in Sound & Image". Scholarship in Sound & Image. Retrieved 25 October 2023.