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Compilationism and Digital Media, from Documentaries to Audiovisual Essays

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The chapter focuses on the practices of appropriation and reuse of images in documentaries-the so-called compilation films-and audiovisual essays, to reflect upon the processes of contamination and hybridization between online media and documentary practices, as well as on ‘compilationism’ as an aesthetic strategy that subsumes the contradictions of the digital age.

The first part of the chapter offers a summary of the theoretical debate around compilation film, highlighting the difficulty of identifying the boundaries of an elusive category. Secondly, the chapter analyzes the contemporary forms of compilation film and online video essays based on the appropriation and reuse of images from other media such as cinema and television. This analysis focuses in particular on the relationship between images and spectators/makers that these practices seem to imply, offering a reflection on how ‘compilationism’ not only takes upon itself some of the contradictory tensions that define our relationship with digital images but can also suggest possible paths to navigate the complexity of the contemporary mediasphere.

Keywords: appropriation ; archive ; audiovisual essay ; Compilation film ; database ; montage ; online media ; videographic criticism

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Compilationism and Digital Media, from Documentaries to Audiovisual Essays
Intellect , 440 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781835950685_27
/content/books/9781835950685.c26
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References

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References

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  2. Arthur, Paul (2000), ‘The status of found footage’, Spectator: The University of Southern California, Journal of Film and Television, 20:1, pp. 57–69.
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  7. Blümlinger, Christa (2013), Cinéma de seconde main: esthétique du remploi dans l'art du film et des nouveaux médias, Paris: Klincksieck.
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  9. Coppa, Francesca (2008), ‘Women, Star Trek, and the early development of fannish vidding’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 1, https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2008.044.
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  12. Elsaesser, Thomas (2015), ‘The ethics of appropriation. Found footage between the archive and the internet’, Found Footage Magazine, 1, pp. 30–39.
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  13. Filmscalpel (2023), ‘Desktop documentary’, June 2021, https://www.filmscalpel.com/portfolio_page/desktop-documentary/. Accessed 30 June 2023.
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  15. Grant, Catherine (2019), ‘Dissolves of passion: materially thinking through editing in videographic compilation’, in C. Keathley, J. Mittell and C. Grant (eds), The Videographic Essay: Practice and Pedagogy, http://videographicessay.org/works/videographic-essay/dissolves-of-passion-1. Accessed 30 June 2023.
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  17. Grizzaffi, Chiara and Scomazzon, Giulia (2021), ‘Stories of haunted houses: Female subjects and domestic spaces in contemporary gothic films and TV series’, [in]Transition, 8:2, https://mediacommons.org/intransition/stories-haunted-houses-female-subjects-and-domestic-spaces-contemporary-gothic-films-and-tv-series. Accessed 30 June 2023.
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  20. Keathley, Christian (2006), Cinephilia and History, or, The Wind in the Trees, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
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  21. Keathley, Christian (2011), ‘Pass the salt … and other bits of business’, Screen, 52:1, Spring, pp.105–13.
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  22. Kiss, Miklós (2021), ‘Desktop documentary: From artefact to artist(ic) emotions’, NECSUS_European Journal of Media Studies, 10:1, https://necsus-ejms.org/desktop-documentary-from-artefact-to-artistic-emotions/. Accessed 30 June 2023.
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  24. Kubrick, Stanley (1980), The Shining, USA: The Producer Circle Company, Peregrine Productions, Hawk Films.
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  25. Lee, Kevin B. (2014), ‘Transformers: The Premake’, AlsoLikeLife, https://www.alsolikelife.com/transformers-the-premake. Accessed 30 June 2023.
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  27. Malavasi, Luca (2017), ‘Fare cosa, con quali immagini?’ Cinergie – Il Cinema e Le Altre Arti, https://cinergie.unibo.it/article/view/7380/7104. Accessed 30 June 2023.
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  33. Saussure, Ferdinand de ([1916] 2011), Course in General Linguistics (eds P. Meisel and H. Saussy, trans. W. Baskin), New York: Columbia University Press.
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  34. Steyerl, Hito (2009), ‘In defense of the poor image’, e-flux, 10, pp. 1–9, https://www.e-flux.com/journal/10/61362/in-defense-of-the-poor-image/. Accessed 30 June 2023.
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  36. Wahl, Chris (2012), ‘Sortation: On a user-based approach to digital meta-archives’, in A. Bordina, S. Campanini and A. Mariani (eds), L'archivio/The archive, Atti del XVIII Convegno internazionale di studi sul cinema. Udine Forum, pp. 191–95.
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