Digital Audiovisual Media Class Blog

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…

Music videos have long been a space for social and political expression. A more recent example is “This Is America” by Childish Gambino, which uses powerful visuals and choreography to address commentation on the United States gun violence and systemic racism and more. The layered symbolism throughout is not just about the music its a from of…

Its apparent that social media has completely changed the way we think about video. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat aren’t just for selfies and funny clips anymore. They’ve become spaces where people are experimenting with editing, storytelling, and visuals in ways that honestly feel pretty cinematic right? With technology advancements and the emergence of…

When we talk about game-changing shows in the third golden era of television, Orange Is the New Black deserves a spotlight. Premiering in 2013, during the early surge of Netflix original content, the show was more than just a drama hit, it was the beginning of a massive shift within how, when and where we…

While we know MTV as the channel that gave a platform to some of the most iconic music videos to ever hit our screens . It’s to question where these visuals emerged and all began?  Before music videos were even a thing, they were often described as ‘short films’, little visual journeys meant to accompany…

Despite significant strides in the entertainment industry, the representation of Black female artists remains disproportionately low. However it’s apparent there’s a landscape slowly shifting. Artists like Ojerime, ABRA, and FKA twigs are rewriting the rules and creating new pathways for avant-garde expression in music visuals. These artists are defining a new era of music video…

While post-cinematic video essays have emerged as a great medium for analysis, their underlying use of nostalgia and emotional manipulation encourages critical questions on their ethical resonance. These essays weave evocative imagery, music, and narration into a sensory narrative that shapes audience perception, a power which can easily get used to biased interpretation. Nostalgia is…

Instagram and TikTok have become two of the most important platforms for social activism, providing space for advocacy and community mobilization. The growing focus on aesthetics and virality has led to several critiques of performative activism, where ostensible support has far outweighed actual substantive impact. Performative activism has now become a symbolic gesture of viral…

YouTube has redefined the way creators interact with their audiences, but its reliance on parasitic social relationships – whereby viewers form unilateral emotional bonds with creators – raises ethical questions. While this bond fosters viewer loyalty and community, it can also exploit viewers for financial and emotional gain. Many creators build intimacy by sharing areas…

Music videos can be a very strong way to express oneself visually, but people usually criticize the aspect when it comes to using gender and ethnicity as commodities. This affair brings up a lot of issues, ethics, and culture which will be discussed about art as the creative and commercial side of it. The representation…