Audiovisual Film Histories for the Digital Age. From Found Footage Cinema to Online Videographic Criticism

The essay focuses on videographic criticism as a form of audiovisual historiography. The introductory section proposes a brief reflection on those material and cultural changes which make it possible for cinephiles and scholars to resort to practices of appropriation and reuse of film images that were once the prerogative of smaller groups of artists and professionals. The second section aims at historicizing online videographic criticism, thus retracing its steps from the work of early practitioners to its progressive institutionalization. Finally, the essay addresses some examples of audiovisual essays that focus on film history issues to argue for the innovative potential of the audiovisual approach.