The Video Essay and Personal Storytelling

4.0 credits

Over the past decade, the video essay has become a digital form that increasingly offers makers a critical and creative means of self-expression. In this course, you will learn how to make a video essay, focusing on personal storytelling through videographic production. Working with a media object that is personally meaningful to you—ranging from a film or television series to a video game or literary text—you will develop the aesthetic and technical skills needed to produce your own video essay by the end of the semester. While we will read theoretical work on the video essay, watch video essays by talented makers, and do some reflective writing, the course is primarily a media production workshop. The first half of the semester will be devoted to a series of videographic exercises that let you develop proficiency in Adobe Premiere Pro through close engagement with your media object. The second half of the semester will be devoted to you making a full-length video essay that uses that media object to tell a personal story. No prior skill with Adobe Premiere Pro or any other non-linear editing software is required, though it is welcome.