Creator's Statement
The first TV Dictionary entry I watched was on The Chair. In his video, Ian Garwood brought several definitions of the adjective “critical” into conversation with a single scene from the series, accentuating the scene’s tragically-comic tone while playfully drawing out some of the series’ thematic undercurrents. The structure and effect of the video essay having stuck with me since, I had similarly planned to use only a single scene for my own entry.
Having watched Maid,[1] with its recurrences and echoes of space, this plan made less and less sense to me the more I thought about it. In my case, the advantage of showcasing separate but interlinked definitions of the noun “space” was that it allowed me to form interpretive connections between images appearing across the series. For instance, the second definition I use remains on-screen while clips from two separate episodes appear. In this instance, the verbal suggestion of confinement (“a limited extent”) acts as an interpretive bridge between a crawl space and a narrow hallway.
Like Maid, I wanted to take the viewer on a journey through different arrangements of space. I also wanted to mirror the protagonist’s predicament by recreating an experience of claustrophobia and relief through editing. In this sense, I was consciously “adopting” Maid’s tone rather than “deconstructing or subverting” it. [2]
As I rewatched my video essay in preparation for writing this statement, however, I discovered one area in which I had clearly diverged from the series. While the protagonist, Alex, is a vocal character throughout the show, it seems I’d essentially silenced her until the final episode. Only after the last definition of space – “the opportunity for privacy or time for oneself” – appears on-screen is Alex allowed to speak. In her monologue, she discusses her writing practice and the way it helps her to think, to feel.
The fact that I included Alex’s monologue on the (re-)discovery of her voice while also making this her first act of verbal speech in the video was not the result of a conscious decision on my part. I had thought intensely about how I might structure the video essay in order to most effectively draw out the ways in which Maid centers on contended spaces. In short, while my process cannot be wholly described as “Make first, think later,”[3] it seems that any number of editing decisions will always occur before/around/underneath conscious thought, adding undercurrents of meaning that are felt rather than consciously articulated.
[1] Maid 2021. Netflix.
[2] Avissar, Ariel. 2022. “The TV Dictionary: An Introduction.” CST Online. https://cstonline.net/the-tv-dictionary-an-introduction-by-ariel-avissar/ [Last accessed: 6 September 2023]
[3] Keathley, Christian & Mittell, Jason. 2019. “Scholarship in Sound & Image: A Pedagogical Essay.” The Videographic Essay: Practice and Pedagogy, Christian Keathley, Jason Mittell and Catherine Grant (eds.).
Biography:
Niki Radman is a video essayist, writer and occasional filmmaker based in Vienna, Austria. She holds a Master's degree in English Literature from the University of Glasgow and began exploring audiovisual criticism during her undergraduate studies in Film & Television. ‘Eye / contact,’ her video essay on the cinema of Barry Jenkins, was included in Sight & Sound’s poll for the ‘Best Video Essays of 2021.’
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