Video Essays: The First Ten Years
Desktop Lecture delivered at the Merz Akademie, May 30 2017.
Over the past decade (2007-2017), the video essay has become a widely popular form for people to share their understanding of film, media and popular culture. The form is practiced by a wide variety of people of different backgrounds and interests, from professional filmmakers to amateurs; from obsessive movie fans to academic scholars. The video essay has radically changed the landscape of moving image culture, allowing a greater number of people to contribute to a collective appreciation of film and media. I celebrate my 10th anniversary of making video essays by giving a personal tour through the last decade of video essay production.
I am currently Professor of Crossmedia Publishing at the Merz Akademie, which you can learn more about here.
This presentation is adapted from a series of blog entries I wrote during my residency at the Harun Farocki Institut in 2017. In this series I reflected on my involvement in video essays as the scene evolved from 2007-2016.
2008: Collaborations and Aspirations
2011 Part 1: Connecting to Legacies
2011 Part 2: Hired, Fired, Viral, Hired Again