Lesson 3: “Director of my Own Life: Self Portrait Video Montage” Assignment Intro

Montage:

– Movies, Television.

juxtaposition or partial superimposition of several shots to form a single image.
a technique of film editing in which this is used to present an idea or set of interconnected ideas.

– any combination of disparate elements that forms or is felt to form a unified whole, single image, etc.

– Dictionary.com

Examples of Montages from Film

A montage is a collection of short, somewhat disconnected images/video clips all working together to represent a larger theme/storyline

The video equivalent of a collage

Overarching Concept of this Assignment

To sum up this whole project in a few words, this is a self-portrait video montage. You will be collecting and creating a number of short audio clips, video clips and still images and editing them together to make a 1 minute video about who you are, whatever this means to you. You will use the images and the way you edit them together to tell a story in the form of a montage. This story can be told in many different ways (abstract, literal, linear, non-linear, etc.) so long as it includes the following:

it must include a few original video/audio clips (i.e. clips you recorded yourself), but you may supplement your project with free video/audio clips found online

images/video/audio must represent the story you wish to tell either by being symbolic, meaningful or narrative (there will be no dialogue to explain the story, you must show, not tell the story)

editing of images/video/audio should reflect a mood/emotion/theme/narrative associated with your story

—

This video is about you, but other than that, it can be about anything. It can be about:

– Your life as a whole (i.e. your journey to the person you are today)

– 1 specific memory and all the sensations of it (emotions, touch, smell, sounds, etc.)

– Some aspect of your family history

– What goes on in your head when you drift off

– A day in the life of you

– How your hobbies/personal passions affect you/make you feel

– Anything else related to your life and what you would like to express about it

See the examples below for more potential angles you might want to come at this from

Today’s Activity

You don’t need to worry about all aspects of your project today. Today is just about beginning to plan your overarching concept/narrative and beginning to collect some video/audio clips you might be interested in using for your final project:

Here is the brainstorming/planning sheet from today if you misplace yours

video-brainstorm-sheet

Examples of Video Self Portraits

Here are some examples of video self portraits I found online to help get your brain started in thinking of what kinds of topics you could do and some directions that you might make them.

You could make your self portrait montage about:

A defining personality trait or characteristic