FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - ATS1119 TASK 4: VIDEO ESSAY + EXEGESIS
Do I need to film footage for my video essay?
No. All images and sounds for your video essay should be pre-existing content.
Should I appear in my video essay?
You shouldn’t film yourself for your video essay (as per the directive above). But you can record a voiceover if that suits the style. of your project.
How do I capture clips and other content for my video essay?
The Week 9 lesson and associated materials include detail on this. But here are some quick guides:
● Screen recordings on Mac –
https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/mac-help/mh26782/mac
● Iphone screen recording - https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT207935
● Android -
https://au.pcmag.com/android/87776/how-to-record-the-screen-on-your-android-phon e]
Be aware that some platforms (ie Netflix and other commercial streaming services) will not let you screen record.
What about copyright?
Students are allowed to incorporate copyrighted audio-visual material into their work for the purpose of research and study, under the Copyright Act 1968 (section 103C). You must reference all material correctly though (see question on referencing below for more detail).
Can I use generative AI for any part of this task?
No. Please don’t use AI for any part of your video essay, including generating images or voiceover.
Can I see a student example of a video essay produced for this unit?
Yes. The additional information and resources page on moodle contains some video essays produced in 2023, along with the exegesis for each.
What is an exegesis?
The term ‘exegesis’ means critical interpretation or explanation. An exegesis supports your creative project and plays an important part in contextualising your project in the field of enquiry. The tone of an exegesis should be reflective and critical.
For Assessment task 5, you need to write a 300 word exegesis to accompany your video essay. Your exegesis needs to explain the reasoning behind video essay, ie:
● What are you aiming to say in your video essay? What is your critical point?
● How do the ideas and approaches in your video essay relate to concepts from ATS1119 Communicating in the Digital Era?
Your exegesis must should show evidence of scholarly research (see below for more on this)
In writing your exegesis it’s important to bear in mind that you only have 300 words, so you need to scale your discussion accordingly and be economical.
Where can I see an example of an exegesis?
The video essays published in [In]Transition: Journal of Videographic and Moving Image Studies all include an exegesis in the form. of a ‘creator statement’ . Have a look at some examples to get a sense of this form. of writing and the different ways it can reflect on the video essay produced.
Do I need to provide references for the audio visual material (ie found footage) sourced for my video essay?
Yes! It’s very important to be careful with how you reference material in a video essay due to copyright issues.
The guide below explains what you need to reference and how. Please read this carefully and make sure you follow all requirements. You can refer to the Week 9 lesson for an example of how these credits should look.
- At the end of your video essay you need to include a credit screen(s) listing all videos, audio/music or podcasts used.
- Images and screen recordings do not need to be referenced (this includes tweets, instagram and tiktok posts etc..)
- Your credit screen(s) must clearly include the words ‘ For Education Purposes Only’ . This qualifies the above sources as Fair Use.
- References should appear on the screen for 6-10 seconds.
- Credits are not included in the 3 minutes time limit for the video essay.
Do I need to provide scholarly references in my video essay?
In short, no.
A key requirement for this task is that you demonstrate your understanding of ATS1119 concepts and critical approaches. This means making clear how the topic/case study you are exploring in your video essay relates to ideas from the unit. You can do this by using terms and language we have explored in lessons, tutorials and readings such as ‘participatory culture’ , ‘digital storytelling’ , ‘imagined audiences’ , ‘fan communities’ , ‘influencers’ etc …
However, this does not mean that you need to include lengthy explanations of these critical ideas or direct quotes in your video essay. Doing so is likely to disrupt the flow of your essay and ideas and take up valuable time.
We instead recommend that you use the exegesis to clarify and expand on these critical connections (see next question).
Do I need to provide scholarly references in my exegesis? How many?
In short, yes. But we are not specifying a minimum number.
As suggested above, have a look at some examples of exegeses in the journal [In]Transition to understand the style. of scholarly engagement typical in this format.
How should I present and submit the video essay and exegesis?
Both your video essay and exegesis need to be submitted via eportfolio. Please create a single page on eportfolio that contains your video essay and exegesis, then follow the instructions on the ‘assessment’ page for how to link to this page and submit on moodle.
Ideally your video essay will be embedded on the eportfolio page, rather than uploaded as a file. You can then create a block under this for your written exegesis. If you are not familiar with how to use the design elements of eportfolio please refer to the instructions on the ‘additional information’ page.