CMS 570 VIDEOGRAPHIC CRITICISM: FRAMING FEMINISMS
Spring 2025—Mondays, 3:30-6:50 (DEN 156)
This graduate-level Media Lab course is a hybrid of critical film studies, feminist/queer theory, and video production, requiring seminar members to engage both conceptually and creatively. Our approach will employ a feminist, queer, anti racist and de-colonial framework for studying and producing new videographic forms of criticism often known as “video essays,” considering how such work produces new knowledge-effects while also generating a poetic impact.
Assignments will consist of weekly videographic exercises (weeks 2-7) and a final video essay on a topic of your choosing. No preexisting knowledge of editing software is required, although class members who lack any familiarity with non-linear digital editing programs will need to allot additional time for acquiring basic skills in the initial weeks of the quarter. We will also view and discuss many examples of scholarly video essays, working to both understand the increasing prominence of videographic criticism in Cinema and Media Studies over the past decade, and to envision new possibilities for future scholarly work.
Given our focus on videographic criticism, please know this is an experimental workshop class. Although we will read a few critical essays to engage current conversations about the women’s cinemas/queer cinemas we are watching together, our critical reading will primarily be devoted to new work on audiovisual scholarship. We also will be watching and producing short video exercises and essays in rhetorical forms that are likely new to most of you. For this class to succeed, it is important that everyone is willing to take chances with their work (sometimes you will not succeed) and provide feedback to others that is constructive and supportive as well as honest.
Every member of the class should have an external hard drive to store their video projects, and I recommend at least 1TB of space. However, you do not need to have a personal computer equipped with advanced editing software. You will be learning to edit with Adobe Premiere, and that software is available on a wide array of computers in Odegaard Library and elsewhere on campus.
***If you want to learn more prior to the start of spring quarter, you may wish to read my introduction to the fall 2023 issue of Feminist Media Histories: An International Journal, “Feeling Videographic Criticism,” in which I launched the publication of video essays in FMH and outlined the stakes for this kind of work in the field today. As I note, my approach in that essay was inspired by the first, and thus far only, version of this Media Lab seminar, which I offered under the title “Queer Feelings & Videographic Criticism” in spring 2023.
Class Credos
- Attendance, attention, participation, listening and careful viewing and reading (of required texts and of your peers' videographic projects). I expect the very best you can give.
- Good faith and good humor towards all members of the seminar. Disagreements are expected and encouraged, but personal attacks and intimidation are not acceptable under any circumstances.
- Your job as a seminar participant is to listen actively to what others say and advance the discussion. If you are a confident contributor, help bring others into the discussion, refer to other members of the cohort by name, and be positive about the contributions of those who do not say as much. In like manner, if you are a confident video editor, use your skills to help those less familiar rather than to show off your mastery of technique.
- Awkward silences and hesitation are okay. Don’t feel you need to rush to speak and don’t worry if you need a little time to articulate something. Contributing to discussion in seminar meetings is more than the frequency of the times you speak and the number of words you say. If you are struggling to articulate something, that’s probably a sign that you are saying something that is new and not obvious.
- Difficult subject matter: Please know that I will never do anything intentionally to shock or traumatize you. At the same time, we will discuss difficult subjects in this class, and nobody can predict the effect some materials may have on someone. If you are having difficulty, you may raise the issue as part of the seminar discussion, or contact me separately as needed.
- More than one thing can be true: cultural and aesthetic analysis (and, indeed, videographic criticism), only works if it is possible to hold onto apparently contradictory ideas at once and grasp how they can both be true in specific circumstances.
- You have the right to be wrong: part of learning, and one of the most lucrative elements of professionalization, is the ability to change one’s perspective. This is only possible in a community where ideas can be expressed and challenged, and when people are able to change their minds.
- To quote Oscar Wilde: "Be Yourself. Everyone else is taken."
Assignments and Grading
Class Participation and Peer Reviews: 30% of final grade
The first half of the quarter will be devoted to digging into required films, related readings, and watching the videographic exercises you have completed related to those films/concepts. Closer to the end of the quarter we will produce abstract trailers and rough cuts of your final projects and discuss them together.
There are two forms of preparation that will enable you to participate actively. First, make certain to bring a QUESTION about a film or reading required for that day. Be specific. Have in mind a passage in the respective reading, or bring a time cue for a scene or moment in the film or videographic essay you want to discuss.
Also be prepared to engage your peers' editing exercises both critically and constructively. At times, I will offer you specific questions to address when watching your peers' work and/or write brief reviews; at other times, you will be asked more generally for feedback. See "Class Credos" above. Together, we can form a powerful, collaborative community.
Videographic Exercises: 35% of final grade
There are 6 videographic exercises in this course (weeks 2-7), which you will create to learn the respective editing technique and also to explore the required films for the course. The first 5 exercises will be screened/discussed in class each week, and are due on Canvas each Sunday afternoon by 3:30 p.m. The 6th exercise requires you to select a "model" video essay, ideally one you consider an inspiration for the form and function of your final project. See weekly schedule below for details.
You will not receive written feedback on your videographic exercises, although we will have time to discuss them together. Here’s how the numbers break down:
5 Excellent.
4 You’re doing well, but stay focused. Remember the formal parameters for each exercise.
3 Your video exercise is incomplete.
2 Are you watching/reading the required course materials? If you’re confused, please schedule an office hour visit.
1 You likely forgot to read the assignment parameters, or you missed the deadline.
0 Not submitted.
Final Videographic Project 35% of final grade
A detailed overview of the parameters for your final project will be posted on the course canvas "assignment" page by week 4 of the course, and the final, polished version will be due Monday June 1, 3:30 p.m.. You will have ample time to develop this project by creating an Abstract Trailer in Week 8 and a Rough Cut in Week 10. The revised, polished version of your video essay is due Sunday June 8, 3:30 pm. Overall, you will aim for a professional, academic video essay that might be suitable for publication in a peer review journal of videographic criticism (such as [In]Transition or NECSUS, etc.).
Academic Integrity
Unless otherwise directed by your instructor, you must complete all assigned work on your own. You are expected to be familiar with the University’s policies concerning Academic Misconduct as outlined in the Student Conduct Code.
Evidence of plagiarism or academic dishonestly will result in an automatic failure of the assignment, and may result in further disciplinary action.
UW Statement on Access and Disability Resources
If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to your professor at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course.
If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.
Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructors, and DRS. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.
Religious Accommodations
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.
CMS Content Warning
Some of the material for this course may represent complex and difficult subject matter, including depictions of racism, homophobia and misogyny. In the interest of our collective learning and growth, we should do our best to make this classroom a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content.
The Department of CMS prepares students to critically analyze a range of topics and media forms, including challenging or controversial materials. CMS courses contextualize and historicize these materials in ways that promote thoughtful and sensitive engagement. The materials for this class have been chosen carefully and with intent, based on the most recent and relevant research and scholarship in this discipline and in related fields. If you have questions about the material, please make an appointment to speak with me.
I urge you to take care of yourselves however and whenever it becomes necessary. If you know that you are consistently triggered by any of the elements listed above, please familiarize yourself with the material on the syllabus in advance. Be aware that the University of Washington has mental health and psychological counseling resources available for students. Please visit this website for the UW Counseling Center for details.
UW Food Pantry
The UW Food Pantry supports individuals who may be experiencing food insecurity by increasing visitors’ access to shelf stable food products, produce, and ready-to-eat items at no cost. For more information about the UW Food Pantries location and accessing this resource, please visit:
(https://www.washington.edu/anyhungryhusky/the-uw-food-pantry)
Weekly Module Schedule 'At-A-Glance'
This schedule/syllabus is subject to revision throughout the quarter. We will do what seems to work best for our group—which may mean additional discussion of concepts/films, or study of existing video essays, or workshops on tricky elements of Adobe Premiere, or individual appointments—and we will adapt/adjust the format and expectations accordingly.
Note: the below schedule include a few links, but you will find all the reading/viewing materials as well as exercise descriptions and other prompts for you on the MODULE page. As of week 2, the home page for our Canvas site will be MODULES.
INTRODUCTION
1.
Feeling Our Way (& Introductions), March 31
Read, Catherine Grant, "Shudder of a Cinephiliac Idea" (2014); "How Long is a Piece of String" (2014); "The Audiovisual Essay as Performative Research," NECSUS (2016); "Irresistible Instrumentalism," NECSUS (2022)
Watch, assorted video essays (see module)
Assign Pechakucha Exercise
Part I (Weeks 2-6)
2.
Quietude (& Pechakuchas), April 7
Films, The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993, NZ) & Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, Celine Sciamma, FR)
Read, Patricia White, intro to Women's Cinema, World Cinema (Duke UP, 2015); Olivia Khoo, intro to special issue "Women's World Cinema" in Studies of World Cinema (2021); and Vivian Sobchack, "What My Fingers Knew," from Carnal Thoughts: Embodiment and Moving Image Culture (UC Press, 2004)
Assign Voiceover Exercise
3.
Witnessing (& Voiceovers), April 14
Films, Persepolis (2007, Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud, IR/FR); Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes), (2018, Amanda Strong, CA); optional Frozen (2013, Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck, US)
Read, Christian Keathley, "La Camera Stylo: Notes on Videographic Criticism and Cinephilia" (2011); Andrew McWhiter, "Film Criticism, Film Scholarship and the Video Essay" (Screen, 2015): Adrian Martin and Christina Lopez, "A Child of Two Mothers" (NECSUS, 2014), and Samantha Close, "Feeling our Way through the Spectrum of Videographic Criticism," Academic Quarter (Special issue on Academic Filmmaking, fall 2024).
Assign Epigraph Exercise
4.
Displacement (& Epigraphs), April 21
Films, Blackboards (2000, Samira Makmalbaf, IR); Capernaum (2018, Nadine Ladaki, LB). Optional, For Sama (2019, Waad Al-Kateab, SY)
Read, Hannah Arendt, "We Refugees" (1943); Giorgio Agamben, "We Refugees" (1995); Girish Shambu, "For a New Cinephilia" (2019). Recommended: Jana Schmidt, "An Uncertain Movement: Bertold Brecht's Refugee Conversations" (2020)
Assign Multiscreen Exercise
5.
Untamed (& Multiscreens), April 28
Films, Girlfight (2000, Karyn Kusama, US); Pariah (2011, Dee Rees, US); Lady Bird (2018, Greta Gerwig, US); Optional Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009, UK)
Read, Catherine Grant, "Deja Viewing?: Videographic Experiments in Intertextual Film Studies" (2013); Max Tohline, "Supercut of Supercuts: Aesthetics, Histories, Databases (2021), and Katherine Groo, "Cut, Paste, Glitch, and Stutter: Remixing Film History" (2012).
Assign Deformation Exercise
6.
Dissolute (& Deformations), May 5
Films, True Detective: Night Country (Issa Lopez, 2024, US), and La Cienaga (Lucretia Martel, 2001, AR); Optional: Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, 2016-2019)
Assign Model Video Essay Exercise
PART II (Weeks 7-10)
7.
Videographic Models, May 12
Video essays, TBA
Assign Abstract Trailer
8.
Abstract Trailers, May 19
We will watch all abstract trailers in class; peer reviews due by Tuesday, May 20, 3:30 pm.
Assign Rough Cut
9.
University Holiday, May 26
No class. Work on rough cuts of final projects.
10.
Rough Cuts, June 2
We will watch all rough cuts in class; peer reviews due by Tuesday, June 3, 3:30 pm
*your final, polished video essay plus creator's statement is due Sunday, June 8, 3:30 pm