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.

Editing Tutorials

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.

I'll add links to additional YouTube tutorials as suggestions emerge from James' session.  For now, know that you'll be using the FUSION page.  To begin, check out these sites.

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.  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).  Other terms I'm still learning include "Nodes" and operations for "Merging" and so on.

ADOBE PREMIERE 

For those of you still learning to use Premier, here again is part 2 of the Adobe Premiere Tutorial  which you’ll find useful for the new skills required in this exercise.  This is the same document I inserted in last week's exercise.  Information on working with Titles appear in the final few pages: Adobe Premiere Pro Tutorial - Part 2.pdf, Download Adobe Premiere Pro Tutorial - Part 2.pdf,   [I’m inserting a note here belatedly as I just learned that the 2023 version of Adobe removed the “Legacy Title” option, which is primarily what is covered in this printed tutorial.  You will now find titling options under “Graphics and Titles” instead and, of course, by using the “Title tool” which is under the “Razor” tool we used for the Pechakucha, and also under the “Pen tool” you may have used for key frames in audio editing for the Voiceover, etc.].  

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OVERVIEW OF TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Premiere Pro – Working With Titles
  • Working with the Type Tool
    • Graphics -> New Layer -> Text
    • Can have multiple layers within the same graphic each with its own controls
    • Graphics -> Upgrade to Master Graphic
      • This will create a reusable text file in your project
      • Right click -> Duplicate to create different versions.
    • Working with Essential Graphics
      • Window -> Essential Graphics
      • Browse -> Thumbnail View

• Premiere Pro – Working With Video Transitions & Effects
  • Right click on a cut or at the beginning or end of a clip to apply a default transition
  • Effects Tab
    • Search
    • Click and drag a desired transition or effect
  • Working with opacity
    • Stacking video clips
      • V1, V2, etc.
    • Adjusting the opacity of the top most video track
      • Right click the “fx” box in the upper left corner of the video clip in the timeline or.
      • Click the Effect Controls tab in the Source Window and adjust the opacity percentage.

• Premiere Pro – Working With Audio Effects