#video essay
“Edvard Munch: What A Cigarette Means” from the Nerdist
Despite frequent criticism over his depictions of women, Sion Sono has created some of Japanese cinema’s most compelling female characters in films that are bold and always thought-provoking.
Natalie Ng talks about some of Sono’s womeninGUILTY OF ROMANCE,TAGandANTIPORNO - three films that explore female identity, sexual oppression and misogyny.
Natalie Ng talks about how good costume design can add more layers to a film’s storytelling and refers to the specific use of gloves in Park Chan-wook’s THE HANDMAIDEN.
sir, that’s my emotional support 1hr 49min video essay
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 14
A Field In England: The Presence of Absence
Ben Wheatley’s ‘A Field In England’ contains many unusual creative choices, from using tableau to re-dubbing audio, but each decision seems to be directed at one thing: absence. But to what effect?
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 13
Over The Garden Wall: What Makes The Unknown So Familiar?
If ‘the unknown’ in Over The Garden Wall is meant to be so mysterious, then why is it so familiar? This video looks at why the show’s creators might have chosen to reference so much nostalgic Americana in a Germanic fairy tale structure, and how it shapes 'the unknown’.
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 12
Zabriskie Point: Blowing Up and Breaking Down
How does the desert setting of Zabriskie Point reinforce it’s core themes, and what are those themes anyway?
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 11
Kill List: The Folk Horror Revival
Folk Horror has evolved over the years, from The Wicker Man in 1973 to Kill List in 2012, but why are we afraid of Folk? What is Folk Horror all about?
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 10
House of Leaves: The Horror of Fiction
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski encompasses many genres - postmodernism, romance, satire - but my personal catagorisation would be horror. So how does the book use the specific conventions of fiction, specifically written fiction, to explore this?
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 9
The Lego Movie: Constructing and Reconstructing Identity
The Lego Movie has been theorised to comment on many things, from capitalism to copyright laws, but here’s a look at what it might mean for our own identity.
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 8
Night In The Woods: Do You Always Have A Choice
Most narrative games are driven by the choices of the player, but most of the choices in Night In The Woods seem inconsequential. This video essay analyses how NITW uses familiar gaming conventions and mechanics to explore the very nature of choice in a universe that doesn’t care.
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 7
The Babadook: The New Physicality of Ghosts in Horror
Are ghosts becoming more physical? An analysis of how The Babadook uses the conventions and associations of a ghost story to explore notions of presence and absence in both horror and mental illness.
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 6
Sightseers: Creativity in a Caravan
Ben Wheatley’s dark comedy Sightseers takes a particularly bloody road trip through the British countryside, but with murder discussed in the same breath as creative writing, are we to draw a connection between the two?
What’s So Great About That?: Episode 5
Paprika: The Storm of Progress
Paprika introduces us to a psychedelic and surreal interpretation of the dreaming mind, but are these unconscious visions the only dreams it explores?
What’s So Great About That: Episode 31
Blue: The Most Human Colour
Blue is the world’s favourite colour, so what does this colour mean to us?
What’s So Great About That: Episode 30
Untitled Goose Game: Is it Good to be Bad?
The nameless goose of Untitled Goose Game has been declared an agent of chaos, but is it really chaos that makes inhabiting its destructive body so satisfying?
What’s So Great About That: Episode 29
Horror is the Best Genre (and here’s why)
When we weigh the merits of media, there’s a tendency towards to absolutes, towards seemingly objective statements. And this is similarly a feature of the writing on ‘why people like horror’, which tends to focus on scientific studies and cites the adrenaline of safe scares as the cause. But horror as a genre is much more concerned with the interstitial, the malleable, the uncertain - a genre that, even outside the context of art, strives to make a mockery of objectivity.
What’s So Great About That: Episode 28
The Speed (and Stillness) of Being Online (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the memes)
We’re all familiar with the idea that, with each passing decade, we’re moving ever faster, becoming more and more easily distracted - but, in the age of the hour long YouTube video and the increasingly overwhelming volume of media, can an argument be made for the opposite?
What’s So Great About That: Episode 27
First-Person Shooter: Mysterious Photography in Firewatch
We’re all good at finding evidence to justify our personal narratives, whether it’s believing we’re the centre of a conspiracy or using one minor mechanic to thematically explore and entire game. This essay looks at Campo Santo’s ‘Firewatch’ through the lens of its virtual camera.
What’s So Great About That: Episode 26
Kondo-Culture: The Fall of the House of Stuff
The recent decline of objects goes beyond decluttering, so why are we suddenly so keen on getting rid of things? And what role do objects play in our increasingly digital world? This essay follows the rise and fall of ‘stuff’, through art, philosophy and Marie Kondo.
