Course Helps Students See Video as Art
With the proliferations of such Web sites as YouTube and MySpace, video is increasingly becoming an integral part of communication. But its increasing popularity has also helped further its repute as a medium for art.
“Many think video isn’t art, but just TV. Others think it’s the most contemporary form of contemporary art you can get,” says Lydia Barnes, who teaches video production at Raritan Valley Community College. “The wide variety of reactions (to the art form) reflects the wide variety of people and artists out in the world.”
As it becomes a more mainstream art form, it seems more and more people are interested in learning the basics of video production. Many grad-school art students are coming back to video art, Barnes says. “Everyone wants to try video by the time they finish grad school, especially students in still photography.”
For RVCC students, they need not look far for an introduction. The college offers two levels of video production, and both are designed to help students gain experience and insight into this interesting form of art.
Students aren’t required to own video-making equipment if they want to take the class; the Media Center at RVCC has everything they need, including video cameras (shooting on mini-DV), tripods, lights, light stands and microphones. Students are then free to use that equipment to create narratives or abstract video art. In the video-production suite, located on the bottom floor of the Somerset building, students can capture their video onto computers and edit using Adobe Premiere, a popular editing program.
In Video Production I, students learn the basics of operating the camcorders and lighting equipment, film and video terminology, and the editing software to be used throughout the semester. For their first major project, students open a dictionary to a random page and create a quick video (usually around 30 seconds long) based on any one word on that page. The second and much larger project is the “bio” piece, in which a video at least three to five minutes long is produced about a person or thing that students do or could realistically know.
The variety of possibilities for these works of art is endless. A video project this semester in Barnes’ class about the word “erase” involved a piece of paper, a computer screen, and a blackboard filled with text being erased extremely quickly while heavy-metal music plays in the background.
Another project, on the words “green tea,” followed a young woman in her house as she wakes up in the morning, tired and disheveled, only to instantly look completely different and upbeat after a simple sip of her morning tea.
One bio project in the class this semester is a documentary on the neo-classical black-metal band Mutiny, with interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Sam Paulicelli, the drummer in the band and creator of the documentary, loves the class. “This is the best class ever,” he says.
With more people taking an interest in video production, and as technological advances lower the barriers to entry (particularly as more short- and feature-length films are being shot on digital video), it’s no wonder that the medium is increasing in use and popularity.
Students who take the video production classes at RVCC are encouraged to use their imaginations, “consider new ideas, and expand their expectations of art and themselves,” says Barnes.
“Video art is definitely a well-established and growing art form,” says Barnes. “It’s definitely not forgotten. Video is the optimal meeting point for someone who wants to be both a visual artist and a storyteller/writer.”