Writing About Screen Media

Lisa Patti is Associate Professor of Media and Society at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She is the editor of Writing About Screen Media (2019); co-editor (with Tijana Mamula) of The Multilingual Screen: New Reflections on Cinema and Linguistic Difference (2016); and co-author (with Glyn Davis, Kay Dickinson, and Amy Villarejo) of Film Studies: A Global Introduction (2015).

• List of figuresList of contributors AcknowledgementsPart IStrategies for writing about screen mediaLisa Patti1. Introduction(Still) learning to write about screen media How to read this bookIn practice: Write your (writing) autobiography – Keep a journal – Accept invitations to experiment with your writing2. Writing practices: How to begin writing about screen mediaFraming CuratingCollaboratingStep-by-step spotlight: Peer reviewIn practice: Think like a programmer – Think like a designer – Think like an editor3. Entering the conversation: How to develop a critical argumentThinking with others: ArguingThinking on the page: Free writingStructuring your argument: OutlinesStep-by-step spotlight: Outlining your argumentTelling a story: EvidenceSetting the scene: Introductions Step-by-step spotlight: Analyzing introductionsMaking a last(ing) impression: Conclusions In practice: Write a blurb – Write a new ending – Write a script4. From notebook to network: How to use practical and digital writing toolsReadingWatchingWritingCitingGeneratingIn practice: Search without a search engine – Create a commonplace book – Show your work (of art)5. Elements of screen style: How to write about screen media formNotes Step-by-step spotlight: Drafting screening questionsTextsStep-by-step spotlight: Reading a screen media textContextsResourcesIn practice: Make GIFs – Make an audio commentary – Make an audio playlist – Make a video essay playlistPart IIWriters on writing about screen mediaObjects and events6. Writing about transnational cinema: Crazy Rich AsiansOlivia Khoo 7. Capturing moments: Writing about film festivals as eventsKirsten Stevens 8. Writing about experimental cinema: Andy Warhol’s Empire (1964)Glyn Davis 9. From meaning to effect: Writing about archival footageJaimie Baron 10. Making the absent present: Writing about nonextant mediaAllyson Nadia Field 11. Expressing race in Brazilian telenovelasJasmine Mitchell 12. Writing about music video: Tracing the ephemeralCarol Vernallis 13. Writing across divides: Locating power in K-pop music videosS. Heijin Lee 14. Playing to write: Analyzing video gamesTreaAndrea M. Russworm and Jennifer Malkowski 15. When it all clicks: Writing about participatory mediaLauren S. Berliner 16. Feeling out social mediaJulie Wilson and Emily Chivers Yochim 17. “A Very Black Project”: A method for digital visual cultureLauren McLeod Cramer 18. Writing about transnational media: From representation to materialityFan Yang 19. Writing about digital and interactive mediaDale Hudson and Patricia R. Zimmermann 20. (Un)limited mobilitiesRahul Mukherjee 21. Context is key: How (and why) you should write about outdoor advertisingBeth Corzo-Duchardt Methods and locations22. How sound helps tell a story: Sound, music, and narrative in Vishal Bhardwaj’s OmkaraNilanjana Bhattacharjya 23. Writing outside the text: A cultural approach to exhibition and moviegoingJasmine Nadua Trice 24. Writing about streaming portals: The drama of distributionRamon Lobato 25. Analyzing and writing about credit sequencesMonika Mehta 26. “We are not thinking frogs”: The archive, the artifact, and the task of the film historianKatherine Groo 27. Show me the data!: Uncovering the evidence in screen media industry researchBronwyn Coate and Deb Verhoeven 28. Researching and writing across media industriesDerek Johnson 29. The value of surprise: Ethnography of media industriesTejaswini Ganti 30. Listen up!: Interviewing as methodAlicia Kozma 31. The need for translation: Difference, footnotes, hyperlinksTijana Mamula Forms and formats32. Words and more: Strategies for writing about and with mediaVirginia Kuhn 33. Best practices for screen media podcastingChristine Becker and Kyle Wrather 34. Confessions of an academic bloggerHenry Jenkins 35. The research and the remix: Video essays as creative criticismJeffrey Romero Middents 36. Foregrounding the invisible: Notes on the video essay reviewChiara Grizzaffi 37. Review, edit, repeat: Writing and editing book reviewsAlice Leppert 38. Extracurricular scholarship: “Writing” my audio commentary of Losing GroundTerri Francis 39. The short, sweet art of blurb writingLeah Shafer 40. Bridging the gaps between scholarly essays and mass-market film writingNick Davis 41. Writing across the page without a lineHolly Willis Vantage points42. The algorithm strikes back: Writing about generative AIBridget Kies43. Hidden faces and digital affect: Writing about online fandomsOsarugue Otebele44. Documenting immersive media experiences with ArcGIS StorymapsMelanie Kohnen