Video Essay as a Mode of Nomadic Thought: A Self-Reflective Evaluation of Three Different Experiments
Abstract
This study explores the academic potential and unique value of video essays, positioning them as an creative form of thought and knowledge production. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari's concept of "nomadic thought," the paper establishes a framework for an epistemology that sits between creative and academic practices. It argues that video essays can serve as an alternative to traditional methodologies, particularly in media and film studies. As a form, the video essay has the potential to blur the lines between researcher and subject, fostering a more fluid and dynamic approach to academic inquiry. This study discusses how video essays can contribute to new ways of questioning and thinking through their aesthetic, affective, and relational capacities, drawing on the author's experiences and insights gained from three different video essays. By including self-reflective evaluation in these works, the author links the process of creating video essays to the epistemological debates in the study’s theoretical part. Additionally, the study examines how post-quantitative methodologies, rooted in Deleuze's philosophy of difference, can provide a framework for video essays. It is essential to discuss new methods in media and film studies that minimize the distance between the researcher and the research object. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the academic value of video essays within this framework and to understand their epistemological implications. Shifting from representational thinking to a relational thinking practice has the potential to initiate a transformative process, opening up new research avenues in digital media and reshaping our understanding of film studies.
Keywords
Nomadic thought post-qualitative inquiry video essay onto-epistemology performative research
Ethical Statement
This study has been conducted in full compliance with scientific research and publication ethics, with no ethical violations. All sources used in the study have been appropriately and thoroughly cited.
Supporting Institution
Çukurova University Scientific Research Projects (BAP) Unit
Project Number
SBA-2021-13455
References
- Adorno, T. (1991). Notes to literature, volume 1 (S. W. Nicholsen, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
- Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(3), 801–831. https://doi.org/10.1086/345321
- Braidotti, R. (2011). Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory. Columbia University Press.
- Braidotti, R. (2013). Posthuman. Polity Press.
- Colebrook, C. (2002). Gilles Deleuze (1st ed.). Routledge.
- Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and Repetition (P. Patton, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
- Deleuze, G. (2011). Spinoza: Pratik Felsefe (U. Baker & A. Nahum, Trans.; 2nd ed.). Norgunk.
- Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1994). What is Philosophy (H. Tomlinson & G. Burchell, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
- Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (2005). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (B. Massumi, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/203963?origin=crossref
- Er, S. E. (2021). Gilles Deleuze’ün Fark Felsefesi. Çizgi Kitapevi.
- Grant, C. (2014). The shudder of a cinephiliac idea? Videographic film studies practice as material thinking. Portuguese Journal of the Moving Image, 1(1), 49–62.
- Grant, C. (2021). On present and future academic filmmaking modalities [Keynote speech]. Academic Filmmaking: Modalities, Experiment and Decolonisation Conference.
- Grant, C., & Gürkan, İ. (2021). Catherine Grant ile Video Essay Üzerine [Sinecine]. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1619576
- Greene, J. C. (2013). On rhizomes, lines of flight, mangles, and other assemblages. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(6), 749–758. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.788763
- Gürkan, İ. (2022). Film Eleştirisinde “Sanat Erotikası”na Doğru: Videografik Eleştiri ve Haptik Bakış. SineFilozofi, 7(13), 61–80. https://doi.org/10.31122/sinefilozofi.1022827
- Hardt, M. (2012). Gilles Deleuze: Felsefede Bir Çıraklık (İ. Öğretir & A. Utku, Trans.; 1st ed.). Otonom Yayıncılık.
- Harris, A. M. (2016). Video As Method. Oxford University Press USA - OSO.
- Haseman, B. (2006). A Manifesto for Performative Research. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy, 118(1), 98–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X0611800113
- Heath, C., Hindmarsh, J., & Luff, P. (2011). Video in qualitative research: Analysing social interaction in everyday life (Repr). Sage.
- Hein, S. F. (2017). Deleuze’s New Image of Thought: Challenging the Dogmatic Image of Thought in Qualitative Inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry, 23(9), 656–665. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800417725354
- Jackson, A. Y. (2017). Thinking Without Method. Qualitative Inquiry, 23(9), 666–674. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800417725355
- Keathley, C. (2011). La caméra-stylo: Notes on video criticism and cinephilia. In A. Klevan & A. Clayton (Eds.), The language and style of film criticism (pp. 176–192). Routledge.
- Keating, P. (2021). The video essay as cumulative and recursive scholarship. The Cine-Files, 15. https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=comm_faculty
- Lather, P. (2013). Methodology-21: What do we do in the afterward? International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(6), 634–645. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.788753
- Lavik, E. (2012). The Video Essay: The Future of Academic Film and Television Criticism? Frames Cinema Journal, 1(1), 19.
- Luttrell, W., & Clark, E. (2018). Replaying Our Process: Video/Art Making and Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 24(10), 775–785. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800418800106
- Manning, E., & Massumi, B. (2014). Thought in the act: Passages in the ecology of experience. University of Minnesota Press.
- May, T. (2005). Gilles Deleuze: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press.
- Mcwhirter, A. (2015). Film criticism, film scholarship and the video essay. Screen, 56(3), 369–377. https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjv044
- Mitchell, C. (2011). Doing visual research. SAGE.
- O’Leary, A. (2022). Overview: Videoessays and Filmmaking in an Academic Context. Videoessays and Academic Filmmaking: Practices, Pedagogies and Potentials. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZGN_IUnIHw&t=3109s
- Østern, T. P., Jusslin, S., Nødtvedt Knudsen, K., Maapalo, P., & Bjørkøy, I. (2023). A performative paradigm for post-qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Research, 23(2), 272–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941211027444
- Pink, S. (2001). More Visualising, More Methodologies: On Video, Reflexivity and Qualitative Research. The Sociological Review, 49(4), 586–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.00349
- Rascaroli, L. (2017). How the Essay Film Thinks. Oxford University Press.
- Shambu, G. (2020). The New Cinephilia (2nd ed.). Caboose. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1zcm3v6
- Shrum, W., Duque, R., & Brown, T. (2005). Digital Video as Research Practice: Methodology for the Millennium. Journal of Research Practice, 1(1).
- St. Pierre, E. A. (2013). The posts continue: Becoming. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(6), 646–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.788754
- St. Pierre, E. A. (2018). Writing Post Qualitative Inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry, 24(9), 603–608. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800417734567
- St. Pierre, E. A. (2021). Why Post Qualitative Inquiry? Qualitative Inquiry, 27(2), 163–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800420931142
- Türkgeldi, K., & Yiğit, O. (2022). I and the Other’s Face: Ethical Dilemmas In-between The Promise and Between Two Dawns. 5. Uluslararası Sinema ve Felsefe Sempozyumu. https://www.sinefilozofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ozet-bildiri-kitapcigi_2022-1.pdf
Abstract
Bu çalışma, video denemelerinin akademik potansiyelini ve ayırt edici değerini araştırmakta, onları yaratıcı bir düşünce ve bilgi üretim biçimi olarak konumlandırmaktadır. Deleuze ve Guattari'nin “göçebe düşünce” kavramından yola çıkan çalışma, yaratıcı ve akademik pratiklerin arasında konumlanabilen bir epistemolojinin çerçevesini belirledikten sonra video denemelerin özellikle medya ve film çalışmaları alanında, geleneksel metodolojilerden farklı bir alternatif sunabileceğini öne sürmektedir. Video deneme bir form olarak araştırmacı ve özne gibi ikili ayrımları aşmaya, akademik sorgulamaya daha akışkan ve dinamik bir yaklaşım getirme potansiyelini taşımaktadır. Çalışmada video denemelerin estetik, duygulanımsal ve ilişkisel kapasiteleri aracılığıyla yenilikçi bir sorgulama ve düşünme biçimine nasıl katkı sunabileceği yazarın üç farklı video denemesinden elde ettiği deneyimler ve iç görülerle tartışılmıştır. Üç farklı çalışmaya dönük özdüşünümsel bir sorgulama yürütülmüş video deneme yaratım süreci başta yürütülen epistemolojik tartışma ile ilişkilendirilmiştir. Deleuze’ün fark felsefesinden hareket eden bir onto-epistemolojik temeli sahiplenen post-nitel metodolojilerin, video denemeler için nasıl bir çerçeve sunabileceği de sorgulanmaktadır. Bu noktada medya ve film çalışmaları alanında özellikle araştırmacının, araştırma nesnesi ile mesafesini ortadan kaldırabilecek, yeni yöntemlerin tartışılması önem arz etmektedir. Video denemelerin akademik değerini böyle bir çerçeveden ele almak, epistemolojik çerçevesini anlamak çalışmanın temel gayesidir. Temsili düşünme ve sorgulama pratiklerinden ziyade ilişkisel bir düşünme pratiğini anlamak dijital medyanın yeni araştırma alanlarına ve yeni bir film akademisyenliği anlayışına doğru farklı patikalar açabilecek dönüştürücü bir sürecin başlangıcı olma potansiyelini taşımaktadır.
Ethical Statement
Bu çalışma kapsamında herhangi bir etik ihlal yapılmamış ve bilimsel araştırma ve yayın etiğine uygun davranılmıştır. Çalışmada kullanılan tüm kaynaklara doğru ve eksiksiz bir şekilde atıf yapılmıştır.
Supporting Institution
Çukurova Üniversitesi Bilimsel Araştırma Projeleri (BAP) Birimi
Project Number
SBA-2021-13455
References
- Adorno, T. (1991). Notes to literature, volume 1 (S. W. Nicholsen, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
- Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(3), 801–831. https://doi.org/10.1086/345321
- Braidotti, R. (2011). Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory. Columbia University Press.
- Braidotti, R. (2013). Posthuman. Polity Press.
- Colebrook, C. (2002). Gilles Deleuze (1st ed.). Routledge.
- Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and Repetition (P. Patton, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
- Deleuze, G. (2011). Spinoza: Pratik Felsefe (U. Baker & A. Nahum, Trans.; 2nd ed.). Norgunk.
- Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1994). What is Philosophy (H. Tomlinson & G. Burchell, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
- Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (2005). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (B. Massumi, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/203963?origin=crossref
- Er, S. E. (2021). Gilles Deleuze’ün Fark Felsefesi. Çizgi Kitapevi.
- Grant, C. (2014). The shudder of a cinephiliac idea? Videographic film studies practice as material thinking. Portuguese Journal of the Moving Image, 1(1), 49–62.
- Grant, C. (2021). On present and future academic filmmaking modalities [Keynote speech]. Academic Filmmaking: Modalities, Experiment and Decolonisation Conference.
- Grant, C., & Gürkan, İ. (2021). Catherine Grant ile Video Essay Üzerine [Sinecine]. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1619576
- Greene, J. C. (2013). On rhizomes, lines of flight, mangles, and other assemblages. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(6), 749–758. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.788763
- Gürkan, İ. (2022). Film Eleştirisinde “Sanat Erotikası”na Doğru: Videografik Eleştiri ve Haptik Bakış. SineFilozofi, 7(13), 61–80. https://doi.org/10.31122/sinefilozofi.1022827
- Hardt, M. (2012). Gilles Deleuze: Felsefede Bir Çıraklık (İ. Öğretir & A. Utku, Trans.; 1st ed.). Otonom Yayıncılık.
- Harris, A. M. (2016). Video As Method. Oxford University Press USA - OSO.
- Haseman, B. (2006). A Manifesto for Performative Research. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy, 118(1), 98–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X0611800113
- Heath, C., Hindmarsh, J., & Luff, P. (2011). Video in qualitative research: Analysing social interaction in everyday life (Repr). Sage.
- Hein, S. F. (2017). Deleuze’s New Image of Thought: Challenging the Dogmatic Image of Thought in Qualitative Inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry, 23(9), 656–665. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800417725354
- Jackson, A. Y. (2017). Thinking Without Method. Qualitative Inquiry, 23(9), 666–674. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800417725355
- Keathley, C. (2011). La caméra-stylo: Notes on video criticism and cinephilia. In A. Klevan & A. Clayton (Eds.), The language and style of film criticism (pp. 176–192). Routledge.
- Keating, P. (2021). The video essay as cumulative and recursive scholarship. The Cine-Files, 15. https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=comm_faculty
- Lather, P. (2013). Methodology-21: What do we do in the afterward? International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(6), 634–645. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.788753
- Lavik, E. (2012). The Video Essay: The Future of Academic Film and Television Criticism? Frames Cinema Journal, 1(1), 19.
- Luttrell, W., & Clark, E. (2018). Replaying Our Process: Video/Art Making and Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 24(10), 775–785. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800418800106
- Manning, E., & Massumi, B. (2014). Thought in the act: Passages in the ecology of experience. University of Minnesota Press.
- May, T. (2005). Gilles Deleuze: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press.
- Mcwhirter, A. (2015). Film criticism, film scholarship and the video essay. Screen, 56(3), 369–377. https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjv044
- Mitchell, C. (2011). Doing visual research. SAGE.
- O’Leary, A. (2022). Overview: Videoessays and Filmmaking in an Academic Context. Videoessays and Academic Filmmaking: Practices, Pedagogies and Potentials. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZGN_IUnIHw&t=3109s
- Østern, T. P., Jusslin, S., Nødtvedt Knudsen, K., Maapalo, P., & Bjørkøy, I. (2023). A performative paradigm for post-qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Research, 23(2), 272–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941211027444
- Pink, S. (2001). More Visualising, More Methodologies: On Video, Reflexivity and Qualitative Research. The Sociological Review, 49(4), 586–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.00349
- Rascaroli, L. (2017). How the Essay Film Thinks. Oxford University Press.
- Shambu, G. (2020). The New Cinephilia (2nd ed.). Caboose. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1zcm3v6
- Shrum, W., Duque, R., & Brown, T. (2005). Digital Video as Research Practice: Methodology for the Millennium. Journal of Research Practice, 1(1).
- St. Pierre, E. A. (2013). The posts continue: Becoming. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(6), 646–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.788754
- St. Pierre, E. A. (2018). Writing Post Qualitative Inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry, 24(9), 603–608. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800417734567
- St. Pierre, E. A. (2021). Why Post Qualitative Inquiry? Qualitative Inquiry, 27(2), 163–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800420931142
- Türkgeldi, K., & Yiğit, O. (2022). I and the Other’s Face: Ethical Dilemmas In-between The Promise and Between Two Dawns. 5. Uluslararası Sinema ve Felsefe Sempozyumu. https://www.sinefilozofi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ozet-bildiri-kitapcigi_2022-1.pdf
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Radio-Television, Communication and Media Studies (Other) |
| Journal Section | Research Article |
| Authors | |
| Project Number | SBA-2021-13455 |
| Publication Date | April 28, 2025 |
| Submission Date | January 23, 2025 |
| Acceptance Date | March 14, 2025 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2025 Issue: 48 |
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