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Film Studies in Motion – A Web Series in 7 Episodes
"Film Studies in Motion", a Web Series created by Kevin B. Lee and Volker Pantenburg, will present weekly selections of analytical video essays on the web in preparation for their presentation "Whatever happened to Bildungsauftrag? – Teaching cinema on TV and the Web".
Anyone who has an Internet connection and wants to expand their understanding of cinema can behold the remarkable abundance of analytical video essays on the web. Proliferated in just the last five years, these meticulous readings of title sequences, thorough investigations of film style and montage decisions, dialogic inquiries of acting or mise en scene have created a genre in its own right. They can be found on websites like IndieWire’s Press Play, Fandor, Moving Image Source and Audiovisualcy, on the last of which curator Catherine Grant has categorized these works under the term "videographic film studies." The essays are expressions of a cinephilia 2.0, fueled by weblogs, internet-journals and streaming platforms, produced from DVDs and digital media, laptops and DIY editing software.
Kevin B. Lee and Volker Pantenburg will present weekly selections from this genre, as well as some key works from before the era of online video (many of which are now available online).
Epidode 7: Critics and Scholars on Video
The online video essay format opened a new playing field for critical and scholarly analysis of movies, providing opportunities for innovative explorations of films while also challenging the established conventions and limitations of text-based film criticism and scholarship. In its early stages, the video essay format was legitimized by the involvement of such prominent critics as Jonathan Rosenbaum and Matt Zoller Seitz and scholars such as Nicole Brenez and Kristin Thompson. One characteristic of these early videos is that they often resembled narrations of written texts with the video serving a secondary role as illustration. Over time, the relationship between text and media has evolved into more sophisticated works that seek to fully utilize the potential of the medium to illuminate itself. As more people continue to adopt the medium to advance their scholarship, the creative and analytical possibilities of this emerging genre will continue to evolve.
Slow Food. Oxhide II and the art of dumpling making
David Bordwell (2011)
Slow Food. Oxhide II and the art of dumpling making
John Cook’s Slow Summer revisited
Michael Baute, Volker Pantenburg, Stefan Pethke (2008)
John Cook’s Slow Summer revisited
Episode 6: Personal obsessions
The widespread accessibility of online video creation and sharing allows us to explore and indulge our fascinations with films in unprecedented ways, as seen in these four examples: a close scrutinizing of a seemingly throwaway moment in Preminger’s “Anatomy of a Murder;” extended, heartfelt contempt for the Star Wars prequel; a fixation on Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” and the “spectacular improbabilty of its plot;” the sensation of sleeplessly watching Cronenberg’s “Dead Ringers” after days of “Occupy Wall Street.” Immersed in distinctly personal perspectives, these videos make explicit what is implicit in all the videos presented in this series: that subjective engagement is what brings flavor and fire to our analytical endeavors.
Physical Instincts. The Phantom Limbs of Dead Ringers
Gina Telaroli (2012)
Physical Instincts. The Phantom Limbs of Dead Ringers
Jonathan Rosenbaum on Gertrud and The Sun Shines Bright Jonathan Rosenbaum on Gertrud and The Sun Shines Bright
Episode 5: Auteur Studies
As auteur theory remains a central component of film studies, the medium of online video has generated new perspectives and approaches to understanding the director’s vision and process. One remarkable aspect that can be found in this selection of videos is the extent to which the format allows the video creators to personalize their appreciation of a director’s work. These videos convey the creator’s individualized perspective through their narration or editing techniques, as well as the act of appearing on screen, even as they consciously incorporate or mimic the style of the director. This interplay between the creator and their subject gives video auteur studies a unique quality of its own.
Dreaming of Jeannie - John Ford’s Stagecoach
Tag Gallagher (2003)
Dreaming of Jeannie - John Ford’s Stagecoach
Episode 4: Precursors: TV, Cinema, Contemporary Art
There is a a tradition of “Videographic Film Studies” which lies before the Internet. Some TV channels, like the West-German WDR, but also TV programmers in other countries, initiated an impressive variety of programmes on cinema that combined thorough analytical observations with an inventiveness of visual forms and techniques. Found footage has also been used in experimental cinema and contemporary art. Most examples of this audiovisual legacy remain either overlooked or invisible as they are stacked away in archives or private catalogues. For this reason, this episode mostly gathers fragments and snippets instead of entire essays.
4 (a): Television:
Cinéma Cinémas (1982-1991, Antenne 2)
Anne Andreu, Michel Boujut, Claude Ventura
Cinéma, de notre temps (1964-1972, ORTF; since 1989, la 7 / arte)
André S. Labarthe, Janine Bazin
Pedro Costa: Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (2001)
WDR Filmredaktion Harun Farocki: Workers leaving the Factory (1995, excerpt)
4 (b): Cinema / Contemporary Art:
Episode 3: Remixes: Parody, Supercut and Mashup
Appropriating and recombining existing footage has been a prime strategy of art and analysis for a long time. With the immense circulation of movies on the web and the accessibility of editing software, this method is no longer restricted to experimental cinema or contemporary art, but has become part of a wider remix culture. This episode gathers recent examples from a wide range of practices and one historical precursor, Joseph Cornell’s Rose Hobart, made in 1936. Some of them are driven by critical intentions, some by sheer enthusiasm for iconography and rhythm.
Razzle Dazzle Part 6: The Takeaway
Aaron Aradillas, Steven Santos, Matt Zoller Seitz (2010)
Razzle Dazzle Part 6: The Takeaway
Everything is a Remix. Part 2: Remix Inc.
Kirby Ferguson (2011)
Everything is a Remix. Part 2: Remix Inc.
The Endless Night: A Valentine to Film Noir
Serena Bramble (2009)
The Endless Night: A Valentine to Film Noir
Episode 2: Cinematic Techniques on Display
The video essay format has quickly shown its abilities to illuminate and critique the techniques of filmmakers in ways that surpass the reach of traditional text-based analysis. This selection of videos creatively engages with various films to reveal surprising insights into the many dimensions of cinema: cinematography, editing, sound, etc. The backgrounds to these videos are similarly varied: “Variation on the Sunbeam” and “Chaos Cinema” are works by students; “Blow Out” was produced for a national television program; “Low Budget Eye-Candy” was made by an independent filmmaker as a kind of manifesto; and “Following” was produced for an alternative news magazine.
Episode 1: Four Approaches
To begin the series, here is an initial sampling of exemplary works from the emerging genre of online video essays on cinema. Combined they cover a wide range of subject matter (a genre, a sequence in a film, a cinematic motif, a director’s body of work). They demonstrate a variety of stylistic approaches to the video essay form, using an array of techniques: montage and rhythm, split screens, narration, creative use of on-screen text, etc. These works, some of them conceived as multi-part series, are made typically on computers with consumer-grade editing software, but they display an ingenuity that is comparable to that of the films they explore.
Diary
on David Holzman Part 1: The Sons and Daughters of David
Kevin B. Lee (2011)
The
Substance of Style, Pt 5: The prologue to The Royal Tenenbaums,
annotated
Matt Zoller Seitz (2009)
The prologue to The Royal Tenenbaums, annotated