Exercise: Epigraph

Assignment 3: Epigraph 

Select a sequence from your chosen film for this week (either Blackboards or Capernaum although For Sama is also an option) and a quotation from a critical text  (not specifically related to your film) of no longer than 10 sentences. Alter the video sequence in some noticeable way using at least two different types of transitions or effects.  (You may also edit “out” material in the chosen sequence if you like, which will shorten it.  But do not re-edit video into a different sequence).   Either replace or significantly alter the soundtrack. The quotation should appear onscreen in some dynamic interaction with the video. The video should not be longer than 3 minutes.

Videographic Examples

I'm recommending 6 video essays here, all of which run between 3 and 4 minutes.  Please watch them all and consider the various, dynamic ways that these creators are integrating the written word in relation to other components of the video track and audio track.

1. I'm a fan of Catherine Grant's video essays in general, as you know.  The simplicity of her short piece on film as a musical medium, Forte-Piano Links to an external site. Links to an external site.  (2021, 3 min) which uses a quote from a scholarly text about music in conjunction with an early silent film made by Alice Guy-Blache, is a useful example of the kind of "work" an epigraph exercise can do.  She created this exercise for herself to test out an idea which has since become a much larger project.  

2. I also recommend this project on synchronized sound (or lack thereof) by Johannes Binnoto, Synced Links to an external site.  (2022, 3.5 min), which uses written text to admirable ends in a piece that is "about" the paradoxical connections (and disconnections) of image and audio

3. In the first version of this Media Lab seminar that I taught in spring 2023, Ben Coldwell made this epigraph exercise, Fire and Ecstasy Links to an external site., using Portrait of a Lady on Fire (the only film in our class that I also included in that first iteration).  The dynamic interplay between quoted words and video is exemplary.

4. There is a growing collection of "Moving Poems Links to an external site." made by video essayists who excerpt a single video sequence out of a film or media object (much like your exercise asks you to do), and then add a written poem (or poems) so that the words appear in dynamic relationship to that audiovisual excerpt.   Here is one terrific example from this project, which plays with the relationship between a Langston Hughe's poem "Harlem" and the 1961 film version of Lorraine Hanston's play, Raisin in the Sun.  Notice how the movement of the written text participates in the visual arrangement of the film’s represented actions: Moving Poem: Raisin in the Sun Links to an external site.(3 min).  

5. Another interesting collection of video essays that must adhere to specific formal parameters is called the "Screen Stars Dictionary Links to an external site.," which Ariel Avissar edits for Tecmerin.  In this series, contributors create a short video out of films or other media that feature a particular star.  They then "define" that star's identity by choosing a single word and elaborating the dictionary definition of that word through epigraphs.   To help you think about how words can be arranged in relationship to audiovisual material, I'm including here two examples, each of which uses written text (dictionary definitions of "Mask" and "Voice" respectively) to illuminate some component of the star identities of Tom Cruise and Julie Andrews, respectively.  Think about the choice of font as you watch these—you'll notice larger, blockish fonts employed in the piece on Tom Cruise, and a more delicate, almost antiquated script in the approach to Julie Andrews—and how the words appear on the screen, sometimes in one quadrant or another, and sometimes in the middle, etc. 

Tom Cruise: See Under "Mask" (4 min) Links to an external site.

Julie Andrews: See Under "Voice" (4 min) Links to an external site.

A Manifesto for Videographic Vulnerability 

As promised, I'm embedding A Manifesto for Videographic Vulnerability Links to an external site. here.   Bookmark this page!  Reference as needed in the coming 6 weeks!.  

DaVinci Resolve Tutorials

We are very fortunate that James Watkins has agreed to come introduce us to the process of animating graphics in DaVinci Resolve.  He will be visiting us during the last hour of class on Monday, April 14, to help orient us to the basic applications necessary for the Epigraph exercise.

As we discussed in class, there are many ways to animate text in DaVinci.  One is by using keyframes in the Edit page, as explained by the first two tutorials listed below.  Another approach employs nodes in the Fusion page, as explained by the latter three tutorials below.  If you are new to editing, I recommend working with keyframes in the Edit page.  But if you are up for the challenge, the Fusion page is pretty nifty!

Text Animation Made Simple Links to an external site. by Wampus.  This tutorial runs 10 minutes.  And you’ll notice the use of keyframes—this time to move the words or characters, rather than the volume of the respective audio track as you likely tried in voice over exercise.  

Understand Keyframes in Just 5 Minutes Links to an external site. by MrAlexTech.  This 5 minute tutorial offers a very sensible, easy to grasp approach to using keyframes in the Edit page to animate images (or text).  He employs an image for the demonstration, but this same set of techniques holds true when working with a text box.

Animate Text Like a Pro—Five Fusion Techniques in DaVinci Resolve Links to an external site. by Ryan Osborne.  This session runs 16 minutes, and covers all the basics for animating text.  Please know in advance that there are application-specific terms, like "Fusion Composition" (which you'll create in the Edit Page, drag onto your Timeline, and then click on once you enter the Fusion Page.  This will be a text box you can play with in manifold ways by “transforming” it  (using a node) and “merging” it (with another node) and so on.  But what is a “node,” you ask?   

Fusion Node Order Finally Explained Links to an external site. by Casey Faris.  This session runs just over 23 minutes.  I’ve been fascinated to learn about Nodes in DaVinci Fusion this week (which seem to function much like legos, in my personal opinion).  You don’t have to do a deep, deep dive into Nodes for your epigraph, but this tutorial explains what Nodes are and how they function more broadly.  

Everything You Need to Start Using Fusion [in 56 min] Links to an external site. by Casey Faris.  This is one of the only tutorials I’ve seen in which the speaker is teaching the skill to a specific person, and they both appear on the screen throughout.  If feels like you're sitting in on a private tutorial session and works really well.   (also, notice the bread-making metaphor for grasping how nodes function.  makes perfect sense!)