The first assignment was a new form of videographic expression that we invented for the workshop: the Videographic PechaKucha. A typical PechaKucha is an oral presentation format that has strict parameters for the timing of slides: twenty slides lasting exactly twenty seconds, each auto-playing, resulting in a presentation last- ing precisely six minutes and forty seconds. The concept behind such strict but arbitrary presentational parameters is to force presenters to adhere to a rapid pace of a ‘lightning talk’, while creating a uniform rhythm for visual materials. The effect is that every PechaKucha feels similar on one level, but allows for great creative variation within this uniform rhythm and structure.

Our videographic variant consisted of ten video clips of precisely six seconds each, coupled with a continuous one-minute audio segment, all from the same film. This one-minute video proved to be an ideal first assignment because its limited scope allowed participants to become familiar with some of the basics of video editing while also enabling them to make new discoveries about their films through their search for clips and to experience new revelations through image and sound juxtapositions.