video art

Various video installations by Tony Oursler

 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 Bill Viola, Surrender

and depart from common

cinematic conventions.
 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
 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
 composing the frame

Cropping-composing a shot paying

special attention to the scale and
arrangement of the subject and the
edges of the frame. establishing shot bird’s eye, aerial

POV- point of view. the distance,

position, and field of view of a shot
Close up shots and tight cropping
low angle close up
construct the viewer as active
participants in the scene
Long shots construct the viewer
as passive witnesses to the scene over the shoulder detail, close up

medium shot long shot

 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.
David Fincher, Panic Room
The use of zoom and focus Click image to watch
Usually shots are fairly short as they
(shift depth of field) also create are in the title sequence. Compare this
a sense of movement. to the complex 2 ½ minutes dolly shot
that follows the more conventionally
edited title sequence.
 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
 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 Kubrick’s 2001 that uses a
graphic relationship to transition between
shots, seamlessly jumping a few hundred-
thousand years ahead in human history.
 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 Eisenstein’s Strike! Of 1924.
A police spy is visually linked to an owl
to emphasize his stealthy, nocturnal and
blood thirsty traits.
 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
subject-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 .
 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 Dali and Buñuel, Le Chien Andalou
time or as cause & effect The opening sequence uses 3 transitions:
graphic, movement & metaphor, to
disturbingly powerful effect.
 editing

One of the most important

determiners of a video’s
dynamics or energy is pacing
(tempo, rhythmic relationship),
the speed and rhythmic flow an Click to play Breaking, a student
experiment using rhythmic editing.
between shots, scenes &
sequences in the video.
Typically the editor will want to
create a variety of pacing in a
video.
 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-> conflict-> 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.

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   following them.
narrative structures
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 Austin’s
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
 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.
 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 Click above to play Requiem Montage
or give emphasis to an object or Note the use of repetition and ambient
sound.
theme.