Film as Essay with Ersan Ocak
Masterclass 1
FILM(MAKING) FOR KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION
In the first masterclass, we will discuss film as an audiovisual medium for knowledge production. We will ask many questions of “how”:
How can we utilize film as an audiovisual teaching and learning material?
How can we analyze film(s) for knowledge production?
How can we use the digital video camera as an apparatus for generating data and collecting evidence?
How can we consider the digital video camera as an apparatus for thinking?
How can we make an essayistic film as a creative act of generating research question(s) and making a scholarly elaboration?
18 March 2025 • 15:00-18:00
Table Of Content
MASTERCLASS 2
ESSAY FILM(MAKING) AS A RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Essay film is a type of documentary through which we can generate research questions and produce knowledge in an audio-visual form. In other words, essay filmmaking is an artistic research methodology through which you can generate data, collect evidence, make analysis, and produce knowledge. Hence, it is a creative mode of expression that brings art and science together. In this masterclass, we will watch fragments from several essay films and discuss the audio-visual production of knowledge. We will also reproduce some parts of Joris Ivens’ film “Regen” (Rain, 1929) with our video footage from contemporary Amsterdam, which workshop participants will produce.
20 March 2025 • 12:30-15:30
REFERENCES
Man with a movie camera, 1929
Considered one of the most innovative and influential films of the silent era, Dziga Vertov’s Man With A Movie Camera utilizes time-dissolves, split screen, jump cuts, slow motion and freeze frames, which were at the time new.
Kogonada
Kogonada is known for his video essays analyzing the content, form and structure of various films and television series. We looked at his analysis of Wes Anderson’s films and his obsession with symmetry. Ersan recommended watching his 2017 film, Columbus.
City films
Documenting the pulse of the city as film culture begins to unfold.
References
Vilém Flusser: Towards a Philosophy of Photography ; Mieke Bal: Narratology; John Ellis; Kevin B Lee; Catherine Grant; Chantal Akerman ; along with Russian film-makers of the 1920s including Sergei Eisenstein.
IMAGES
Ersan’s enthusiasm, insight and intellect had us all captured. His deconstruction of August Sander’s iconic Young Farmers, 1914 image warrants special attention.
BIOGRAPHY
DR ERSAN OCAK
Dr Ersan Ocak graduated from the City and Regional Planning Department/METU (B.Sc.) in 1993. He got his master’s degree from Urban Policy Planning/METU and Ph.D. in Social Sciences/Bilkent University. He worked as a research assistant at the Political Sicence and Public Administration Department at METU (1994-1997). He became a filmmaker at METU-GİSAM (Audio-Visual Research & Production Center) (1998-2004). He was invited to Başkent University, Radio-TV-Cinema Department as an instructor (2004-2007). He was one of the founding members of the Media & Cultural Studies Graduate Program at METU and gave visual culture and documentary courses in this graduate program. He worked as an Assistant Professor at Bilkent University in the Communication & Design Department (2011-2017) and established NewMedia_OpenLab.
Ersan Ocak joined the TED University Faculty of Architecture and Design in August 2017. He taught undergraduate courses in the City and Regional Planning Department and graduate courses in the Architecture and Urban Studies Master Program. In 2021, he founded the Visual Communication Design Department. He serves as the founding chairperson and teaches design and cinema courses in this department.
He has given courses on urbanism, (visual) cultural studies, documentary, essay film, filmmaking, new media, and visual communication design at undergraduate and graduate levels. He has publications on urbanism, urban poverty, oral history, memory, documentary, i-docs, and essay film. Ersan Ocak also produces experimental video works, makes documentary and essay films, and develops video performances and installations. His recent core research/practice interests are essay film and i-docs.
