The word “video” has developed a strange connotation. 

Although people now spend more time on YouTube and TikTok than Netflix, digital video is often seen as trivial, intellectually lazy, and unworthy of academic study. Certain genres are even feared to contribute to moral decay, “rotting our brains.”

As a video producer who grew up watching Kubrick films alongside Smosh videos, I want to challenge this implicit hierarchy of moving images through the design of my avatar representing the keyword “Video.”

By fusing video technologies, stills from viral videos, and a metallic head, my avatar explores our relationship to video technologies across media.

My avatar does not incorporate motion, one of video’s defining characteristics; however, this omission contributes to the piece’s greatest strength.

By stripping these elements away from their original contexts, the avatar recontextualizes the trappings of “video” and questions cultural assumptions of what video can and should be.

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Update: I realized that my avatar reflected a lot of my intellectual interest in spectatorship, but not my professional interest in production. I added the camera and audio recorder to represent this other vital side to my keyword.