Video Essay for Communications, Culture and Society
In the 21st century, the video essay has become increasingly prominent as an audiovisual form of writing, using images and sounds to explore diverse topics and disseminate information in ways that are not possible with text. By taking a hands-on approach, students will conceive, develop and produce their own analytic video essays, while developing skills with editing software. Through weekly assignments, viewings and group critique sessions, students learn to express themselves more effectively and creatively in audiovisual media. Students will also reflect critically on the relationship between knowledge and audiovisual aesthetics in producing different rhetorical effects and states of spectatorship for their audience.
This course provides students with a practical and critical engagement with the video essay as a mode of audiovisual communication. Students gain valuable experience producing media that has applications for numerous professional contexts related to communications.
This course is a mix of lectures, viewing and discussion and practical application through video editing and post-production. Students are expected to actively participate in class discussions and spend a reasonable time outside of the class meetings working on their video essay projects.
The final project (70% of final grade) is a video essay on a topic of the student’s own choosing, which should demonstrate many of the principles and techniques covered in the class. A short written reflection essay should also accompany the final video essay, reflecting on the production of the final project video.