Revisiting Video Art that May Inspire Your Creativity
By: Jamie Cohen
Tags: Creativity, Video Art, Vídeo Storytelling, Curated, New Media

Video creators have so much power when it comes to producing content that bends what we would objectively call a narrative style. Being a video producer means that you are in control of your audience — you control the eyes, the time, and the mind of the viewer. The tools we have access to, from iMovie to Adobe Premiere, are more powerful than we often think. We have control in our timelines to produce any possible conceptual outcome. Our cameras are not just devices to mimic our human eyes, but to bend the ability of what we can do. Cameras can be tools we use to manipulate angles, capture reality, archive and document.

In the age of the connected web, there’s been some absolutely standout videos that have changed the way I have thought about video in general. Since we are inside and have the time to enjoy some of the more creative content of the past decade and use it to inspire our creativity. The following is an annotated clips list of a variety of videos that I feel push the boundaries of video art from remix to mind benders to unrestrained artwork.

Remix

Kutiman-Thru-you

Kutiman is one of the most talented artists in the remix space. In this very classic YouTube piece, Kutiman collected clips from around YouTube to create a masterpiece.

Duncan Robson-Percussive Maintenance

When you have a beat in your head, you can use any media to create a remix. Here Duncan Robson rethinks the sounds in films.

Video Stories

Already Alive-NYC Dark

Reconsidering the documentary. This is a great piece to look at again because it evokes the uncanny feelings of unease and emptiness in a place that exists in our memory in complete difference.

Mark Cersosimo-This is My Home

Telling stories in small spaces. We take our spaces for granted. Using the camera, we can change the way we understand our things. Use this piece to reconsider your space and how you can tell that story.

Daniel Sax-THE GAP by Ira Glass

This is possibly the most important video on this list. It is a very important reminder of the normal feelings that you have a gap between your mind and the creative process.

Paxson Woelber-The World Beyond the World

By traveling we collect memories and we collect our digital archive. With our time inside, now may be the best time to connect a favorite poem or essay to your wonderful images.

Experimental

Susie Sie-The Essence of Sound

Sound has a texture. It is physical. We take for granted that its invisibility means it doesn’t exist unless we can hear it. This is what sound leaves as its essence in this short film.

rachel knoll-Listen and Repeat

This is one of my favorite experimental films I’ve ever seen. The artist rachel knoll used a bot to capture tweets that used the phrase “nobody listens” and broadcast those tweets into a vast, empty forest.

Thomas Blanchard-KINGDOM OF COLOURS

This is a beautiful piece with no visual effects or graphics, just reconsidering paint flows when mixed with water and soap.

Use your tools to tell new stories

As a video producer, you have control over your audience in ways you may not realize. The screen is two-dimensional and your world is three. You record in realtime, but the edit controls the outcome. Things are never what they seem and you have that control.

In conclusion: