The Video Essay Podcast The Video Essay Podcast

Today's episode features the first of five conversations between Chloé Galibert-Laîné, Kevin B. Lee and Johannes Binotto, recorded as part of the first exhibition of Filmexplorer’s Video Essay Gallery, “Home Positions”. Filmexplorer, a publication based in Switzerland, invited Chloé, Kevin, and Johannes to each curate video essays centered on various themes. This first exhibition is available on the Filmexplorer website until June 12, 2022. 

Episode topics include: "home as the uncanny place of defamiliarization, discomfort in embodiment and memory, trusting the experimental and amateur approach as revelatory, video essay as post-cinematic experience, video-essay as opening the potentialities of cinema, video essay as another form of temporality and the role of community in defining video essay."

A special thanks to the Filmexplorer team, Giuseppe Di Salvatore and Ruth Baettig, for this collaboration. 

Support the podcast on Patreon. Follow the show on Twitter. Learn more at the pod's website. Get the free newsletter.

This show is hosted, produced, and edited by Will DiGravio. Emily Su Bin Ko is the show's associate producer.

Music via Free Music Archive: [here] and [here].

Today's episode features a short conversation with Ariel Avissar, a lecturer, PhD student and Tisch Film School Scholar at Tel Aviv University, and the creator and curator of the ongoing TV Dictionary project. The premise of the project? Try to capture the essence of a TV series with only a single word. The task? Make a short video that pairs the dictionary definition(s) of that work with a clip or clips from a single series. 

[3:20] - The origins of TV Dictionary 

[7:48] - Inviting new (and experienced) video essayists to join the project

[10:28] - Why so little academic videographic criticism about TV? 

[14:30] - Who is contributing to the project? 

[15:29] - What kinds of videos are being made? 

[18:25] - How have creators responded to the process of making for the project? 

[20:08] - Collaboration with the Critical Studies in Television blog [more here]  

[25:13] - How to contribute to TV Dictionary 

Be sure to check out the ongoing series of blog posts on the CST blog:

Post 1 by Ariel; Post 2 by Dan O'Brien; Post 3 by Tomer Nechushtan

And also learn more about the upcoming roundtable dedicated to the project at the upcoming CST online slow conference. The roundtable will be held at 3:15 - 4:45 pm BST and feature Libertad Gills, Catherine Grant, Evelyn Kreutzer, Johannes Binotto, Ariel Avissar and Jason Mittell. More here.

Support the podcast on Patreon. Follow the show on Twitter. Learn more at the pod's website. Get the free newsletter.

This show is hosted, produced, and edited by Will DiGravio. 

Emily Su Bin Ko is the show's associate producer. 

Music via Free Music Archive: [here] and [here]. 

Today's episode of On Your Screen features a conversation with Professor Francesca Coppa, author of the new book Vidding: A History. We discuss the history of the form, the community of primarily women creators who pioneered vidding, online fan communities, the impact of technologies like the VCR, personal editing software and YouTube had on the form, and much more. Read and learn more about the FREE, open-access book here.

[1:34] - Francesca's background and scholarly interests

[8:45] - What is a vid? 

[13:20] - How do vidders convey the experience of watching? 

[18:30] - How does vidding differ and engage with other critical modes? 

[24:00] - The role various technologies have played in the history of vidding, and in particular the VCR

[34:30] - The work of women creators and the ways vidding interacts with and upends "traditional" film culture

[38:00] - The significance of vidding conventions

[43:29] - What is a dancing vid? 

[47:00] - How Francesca curated vids for the book

[56:00] - Francesca's take on videographic criticism, the influence of vidding, and the role of platforms

[1:09:00] - How vidders engage with remix culture and issues of piracy 

[1:14:00] - Francesca's advocacy for fair use legislation 

Support the podcast on Patreon. Follow the show on Twitter. Learn more at the pod's website. Get the free newsletter.

A special thanks to the show's associate producer, Emily Su Bin Ko. 

Today's episode begins with perhaps the most important news in show history: Emily Su Bin Ko has joined The Video Essay Podcast as associate producer! The show starts with a conversation between Emily and Will and an introduction to Emily and her work. 

The episode also features a conversation with Jordan Schonig, a lecturer at SUNY Binghamton. Schonig's work is particularly interesting in the ways it bridges divides between academic and popular videographic criticism. In 2020, Schonig founded the YouTube channel, "Film & Media Studies with Jordan Schonig," which features lecture-style videos that sometime dip into the essayistic to explore concepts in Film and Media Studies.

Schonig has also published academic video essays and is the author of the new book from Oxford University Press, The Shape of Motion: Cinema and the Aesthetics of Movement, which features audiovisual criticism in addition to the written text. We discuss his video, "The 'Wind in the Trees' from Early Cinema to Pixar," and Grace Lee's "What Isn't a Video Essay?"

0:00 - Introducing Emily Su Bin Ko

18:50 - Jordan Schonig's Origin Story 

21:44 - A Brief Encounter

27:23 - Video Camp & Working With Pretty Images

35:55 - Creating Videographic Criticism as an Early Career Researcher

41:06 - Starting a YouTube Channel

53:56 – "Lev Manovich's 'What is Digital Cinema' and 'Compositing'"

1:02:47 – Deciding Whether to Upload a Work to Vimeo 

1:06:55 – "The 'Wind in the Trees' from Early Cinema to Pixar"

1:21:20 - Zooming in On the Marginal

1:25:40 - "What Isn't a Video Essay?"

Support the podcast on Patreon. Follow the show on Twitter. Learn more at the pod's website. Get the free newsletter.

Music access via Free Music Archive here and here.

Today's episode features a conversation with Anthony Hon, the creator and curator of the popular Twitter account, Dancer on Film. We discuss Anthony's curatorial approach, how he thinks of his Twitter account as a rotating gallery, and his passion for the musical genre. Follow the account @DancerOnFilm. 

On Your Screen is a relatively new show dedicated to exploring various aspects of digital film culture. The show is a companion to The Video Essay Podcast. Learn more via the show's website.

Support the podcast on Patreon. Follow the show on Twitter. Get the free newsletter.

Today's episode features a conversation with Thomas Flight, one of the most popular and prolific video essayists currently working on YouTube. We discuss Thomas' origin story, his audience, and how he balances paying the bills as a full-time video essayist with his passion projects. We also discuss his video essay, "The Side of Scorsese We Don't Talk About," and a fantastic video essay by fellow YouTuber, Jacob Geller, "The Game That Won't Let You See All Of It." 

Support the podcast on Patreon. Follow the show on Twitter. Learn more at the pod's website. Get the free newsletter.

Music access via Free Music Archive here and here.