This week’s exploration of post-cinematic affect and sensation can be vividly illustrated by Thomas Flight’s 2023 video essay “How Nope Trick Your Ears”.

In this video essay, Flight analyzes Jordan Peele’s film Nope (2022), focusing on how sound design creates emotional intensity and immersive tension. By blending film clips, dynamic editing, and insightful commentary, Flight draws viewers into the sensory experience of the film itself. He demonstrates how post-cinematic affect operates not just through narrative but through the orchestration of sound, silence, and rhythm, producing a visceral response in the audience (Shaviro, 2021).

The video essay format itself is part of this new media affect, using audiovisual techniques to make film analysis an embodied, participatory event. As De Rosa (2022) observes, video essays like Flight engage viewers on both intellectual and sensory levels, allowing them to “feel” theory rather than simply read about it.

Through its sophisticated montage and sound analysis, “How Nope Trick Your Ears” exemplifies how post-cinematic affect is produced and circulated online, inviting audiences not just to understand but to experience the sensations of contemporary media. Personally, I found Flight’s breakdown of the film’s soundscape not only intellectually stimulating but also emotionally resonant, it made me aware of how deeply sound can shape a viewer’s sense of suspense and immersion. This kind of multi-sensory analysis is what makes contemporary video essays so compelling as both scholarship and art.

Sichen Liu 33775722

References
De Rosa, M. (2022). Video Essays and the New Affective Criticism. Media, Culture & Society, 44(7), 1345–1362.
Shaviro, S. (2021). The Rhythm-Image: Post-Cinematic Affect Revisited. Screen, 62(2), 246–259.
Flight, T. (2023). How Nope Trick Your Ears [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWPFMmuagQ4