video art

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video art
Various video installations by Tony Oursler
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video art
Video art is primarily concerned with recording,
editing, and sequencing of images and sound,
often to create a narrative. Video art is
distinguished from traditional cinema in its
focus upon treating the formal and technical
aspects of the medium as the subject of the
video, and by its willingness to challenge and
depart from common cinematic conventions.
Bill Viola, Surrender
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video art
Video art falls into two main categories single
channel video and video installation. Single
channel video is synchronous, a serial
presentation of images as a single projection or
on a single monitor. Many video installations
are asynchronous, involving the parallel
presentation of multiple videos, often in a
constructed and controlled context or site.
Shilpa Gupta, UNTITLED Interactive video
installation
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video art
Scope-1. Refers to the extent of our perception,
the range of ideas presented or the amount of
time that is included.2. Also used to refer to
the range of action within a given moment
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composing the frame
Cropping-composing a shot paying special
attention to the scale and arrangement of the
subject and the edges of the frame. POV- point
of view. the distance, position, and field of
view of a shot Close up shots and tight
cropping construct the viewer as active
participants in the scene Long shots construct
the viewer as passive witnesses to the scene
establishing shot birds eye, aerial
low angle close up
over the shoulder detail, close up
medium shot long shot
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composing the shot

A shot consists of a continuous recording
interval that may be long or short. During this
interval the camera records movement both of
objects in front of the camera and of the camera
itself. Camera work includes tilt, pan, dolly,
tracking, boom sweep, and handheld. The use of
zoom and focus (shift depth of field) also create
a sense of movement.
David Fincher, Panic Room Click image to
watch Usually shots are fairly short as they are
in the title sequence. Compare this to the
complex 2 ½ minutes dolly shot that follows the
more conventionally edited title sequence.
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editing
A video or film is made up of a progression of
images. A single image is called a frame. A
shot is a continuous group of frames. A scene is
in turn made up of shots that depict a continuous
action in a continuous time space. A
collection of related scenes and shots is
referred to as a sequence.
10 individual frames constructing a shot. Shots
have a consistent or continuous POV
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editing
Video editing is the process of arranging shots
into scenes, scenes shots into sequences, and
sequences into the completed video. The order
in which shots, scenes and sequences are arranged
is called the chronology. The places where shots,
scenes and sequences meet are referred to as
transitions.
A sequence from Kubricks 2001 that uses a
graphic relationship to transition between shots,
seamlessly jumping a few hundred-thousand years
ahead in human history.
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editing
The term transition is used to refer both to the
visual method of segueing between clips and to
the type of relationship between clips. Common
examples of visual transitions include cut, jump
cut, fade, wipe, dissolve, and cross dissolve
(lap dissolve).
Still of a quick cross dissolve transition from
Segei Eisensteins Strike! Of 1924. A police spy
is visually linked to an owl to emphasize his
stealthy, nocturnal and blood thirsty traits.
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editing
Good editing carefully considers the how we
transition from one shot, scene or sequence to
the next. When editing shots into a scene,
typical transitions include action-to-action subj
ect-to-subject aspect-to-aspect The three lower
panels at right display both action-to-action
(sequential shots) aspect-to-aspect (different
views or POV of the same scene)
If this were a video, then the transition from
the top frame to the lower frames would be a
jump cut while the other transitions are just
cuts. Jump cuts have less continuity, connecting
frames with large displacements in POV or subject
.
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editing
It is a bit more difficult to arrange scenes into
a sequence because unlike the shots that make up
a scene there is usually no shared action, and
often no shared subject or location. To relate
scenes into a sequence you want to establish
graphic relationship- creates visual
continuity metaphoric relationship- creates
conceptual continuity movement relationship-
similar motion of the subject or the camera
creates continuity chronological relationship-
scenes naturally seem to follow each other in
time or as cause effect
Dali and Buñuel, Le Chien Andalou The opening
sequence uses 3 transitions graphic, movement
metaphor, to disturbingly powerful effect.
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editing
One of the most important determiners of a
videos dynamics or energy is pacing (tempo,
rhythmic relationship), the speed and rhythmic
flow an between shots, scenes sequences in the
video. Typically the editor will want to create
a variety of pacing in a video.
Click to play Breaking, a student experiment
using rhythmic editing.
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narrative structures
Narrative- the presentation of a sequence of
events or relationships Narrative structure- the
order, conventions, and point of view used to
organize the presentation of a narrative  Story-
a conventional narrative structure characterized
by a linear plot equilibrium-gt
conflict-gt resolution
Nam June Paik, TV Buddha. Video installation.
Video art is characterized by its willingness
to turn back upon itself to reflect upon the
conventions and narrative structures of cinema
and video.
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narrative structures
Linear narratives 1. Accumulative single plot
line that resolves a conflict provides a sense
of historic time 2. Cyclic events recur in
cyclical patterns that loop back upon themselves
no clear sense of permanent resolution provides
a sense of mythic time 3. Contagion shots are
linked together by shared elements but without a
clear sense of plot, conflict or resolution
provides a sense of achronological, parallel
time  
Richard Linklater, Slacker. This film produced
for 23,000 helped to spark the boom in indie
film we have been experiencing for the last 20
years. It uses a contagion narrative structure to
link a series of unresolved episodes into an
engaging portrait of Austins underclass. The
film follows various characters and scenes,
never staying with one character or conversation
for more than a few minutes before picking up
someone else in the scene and following them.
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narrative structures
Masters Johnson, graphs of female and male
patterns of sexual arousal
Mainstream cinema uses a narrative structure that
resembles the pattern of male arousal. Art
films use various narrative structures that more
closely mirror various patterns of female arousal.
Peder Hill, a typical linear accumulative 3 act
plot structure. Compare to the graph of male
arousal above.
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narrative structures
Non-linear narratives Elements do not appear in
chronological order or there is no clear
chronology 1. Montage a sequence of related
images that presents an idea or interconnected
ideas Similarity in form dissimilarity in
content Dissimilarity in form similarity in
content 2. Repetitive narrative Elements recur
to create a pattern or give emphasis to an object
or theme.
Click above to play Requiem Montage Note the use
of repetition and ambient sound.