Part of the documentary course Beyond Observational Cinema, which I teach in the second semester of the MA in Visual Anthropology, is a lecture on essay films. Students can then choose this form, among many others, for their assessed film at the end of the course. Here is an example from the 2015 course, made by Chao Chang and Sebastian Sommer. They were inspired by Mark Cousins’ films and by anthropological ideas about place and the city. This is how they introduce their Piccadilly Gardens Visual Essay:
“The Piccadilly Gardens are located in the very heart of Manchester. Being of significantly importance as Manchester‘s most famous nodal point, this place embodies several characteristics, attributes and functions. This film deals with the physical and social aspects of that place and with the people occupying and shaping it.”