And so we turn to labor. To animation.

But what conjoins the two? Wouldn't it make more sense to organize animation under "effortless mobility" (i.e. visual fields no longer bound by gravity, by live-action shooting constraints, by embodied mechanics)? Well, perhaps. In fact I initially considered organizing this week's materials under a rubric such as "mobility" or another related synonym.

I've pivoted to labor in part because the stop-motion puppetry work of Metis filmmaker Amanda Strong is predicated on hand-made puppets (she usually constructs at least two separate figures for each character), while the black-and-white drawings that comprise Satrapi's Persepolis (designed to look like the graphic novel she wrote under the same title, and on which the film is based) was so difficult the producers tried to persuade her to create a live-action version. The film that now exists took a team of 20 animators 3 years to create.

"Labor" might also make sense as an organizing term for us since you are (most likely) getting a sense of how painstaking digital video editing can be, even with the modest exercises and techniques we're developing thus far.

Your assignment this week is to work on audio mixing and scripting/recording a voiceover, and I've added a variety of video essays on/about/employing voiceovers to your assignment page. Here, however, I want us to focus a bit on broader questions about videographic criticism. Thus, the readings for this week are not "about" Amanda Strong or Marjane Satrapi, although I encourage you to browse some on-line sources and think about these two authors a bit more. You might want to look back at the first chapter of Patricia White's book, Women's Cinema, World Cinema (from last week), for instance, which includes a short section on Persepolis. And for those who are interested, here is a good essay on Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes), which was published in FMH in winter 2022 in a special issue on "Decolonial Feminisms": Is a Non-Capitalist World Imaginable FMH.pdf

Readings

But I'd like you to focus a bit on the scholarship that considers the origins, structure, and knowledge-effects of videographic criticism. The essay most often cited is Christian Keathley's (2011) so make certain to read that one first. You'll notice that others play off Keathley's concepts in a variety of ways while seeking to track the evolution of this academic modality.

1. Christian Keathley, "La Camera Stylo: Notes on Videographic Criticism and Cinephilia" (2011)— Camera-Stylo Keathley.pdf

2. Andrew McWhiter, "Film Criticism, Film Scholarship and the Video Essay" (Screen, 2015)—Video Essay in Screen (2015).pdf

3. Adrian Martin and Christina Alvarez Lopez, "Introduction to the Audiovisual Essay: A Child of Two Mothers" (NECSUS, 2014)

4. Samantha Close, "Feeling our Way through the Spectrum of Videographic Criticism," Academic Quarter (Special issue on Academic Filmmaking, fall 2024). This is a short creator's statement for the video essay which is also embedded in the text. Both are "about" videographic criticism, in different ways. Her approach to Minecraft, and to the "hand drawn" approach feels especially apt in our week on animation created by women directors. Enjoy! Feeling Our Way (Close)-1.pdf

Films

BIIDAABAN (THE DAWN COMES), 2017

Biidaaban streams on YouTube through the website for Spotted Fawn Productions and runs a total of 19 minutes. I strongly encourage you to explore the larger website for Spotted Fawn Productions, which includes links to all of Strong's short films and other materials pertaining to indigenous filmmaking. (Please note that the digital file of this film that I provided this week includes the red “subscribe now” button at the bottom right side of the YouTube frame. I couldn’t find a way to turn it off—if you’re able to do so, please share advice!).

PERSEPOLIS (2007, English captions), 97 minutes

FROZEN (2013), Optional film for the week, and thus available to use for your voiceover assignment. But make certain to watch the two required films regardless.