Video essay : 150 points. 

Even though English departments value words, we have to admit that the dominant communicative power in a visual culture is not only the image, but the moving image:  television, film, and video games dominate the collective cultural attention span in North America.  For this assignment, I would like you to work in groups (one large group or two smaller groups), although if you have a clear individual project in mind, you can go-it-alone. 

Try out a video genre of your choice—anything from a commercial (or parody of a commercial) to a music video to a short documentary.  The final product can be as short as one minute and as long as three minutes.  The subject matter of the video essay can continue to be aspects of visual culture, or you can take a break and explore a different subject.  You might also consider working on the same subject for your video essay as you did for your photo essay—writers, artists, and academics frequently explore the same topic from a variety of perspectives and in a variety of mediums.  You can just have some fun, if you really want to.    

The recommended steps for this assignment are:

• Brainstorm (October 14): we'll do this in class.
• Storyboard (October 21): like a first draft of an essay.  You will give each other feedback.
• Have all footage shot; ready to edit (Oct 28)
• Final video completed (Nov. 4)

If you feel like you are ready to start shooting your video before Oct. 28, you are welcome to do so, of course. 

Practical goals for this assignment are to introduce you to using a digital video camera, and using digital video editing software.

Your final project should show awareness of how visual language works.  In other words, I am looking for you to demonstrate knowledge of these things in your video.

• You should compose your shots knowing what each kind of composition means (143-44 in Horn).
• You should use your knowledge of "transitions in space-time" appropriately and effectively (153-54 in Horn).
• You should make good, appropriate decisions about transitions (155-56 in Horn).
• You should know where on McCloud's big triangle your video-essay falls.
• You should draw on your knowledge of other aspects of visual language effectively: use of words, shapes, pictures, use of lines and color, etc.  (See McCloud and Horn for possibilities.)

Please write me a self-reflective memo for November 4^th that explains what aspects of visual language you were drawing on, and why you chose to draw on those aspects.