“Vitebsk Me Deadly,” Chagall, and a Deadly Mystery
At the beginning of the semester, we covered Dr. Deirdre Dempsey’s use of digital media in her Theology classes. Here, we want to highlight one of the videos that came about from that project.
As a reminder, this assignment for Dr. Dempsey’s Theology and Visual Art class asked her students to pick an artist or an art movement to research. Then students had to write a script, design a storyboard, and create a video explaining the important historical and theological context surrounding their topic. One of the videos Dr. Dempsey recommended to us was created by Alex Barrington, Rachel Harmon, and Dana Morgan and called “Vitebsk Me Deadly.”
Unfortunately, because of copyright issues, we can only show a muted trailer of the video they created. The music used, “Private Investigator” by Graham de Wilde, is still under copyright. Alex and the team didn’t expect their video to be featured publicly, which is typical for students creating digital projects. However, it’s always good to think about the future and if you’re interested in best practices for copyright and fair use, check out our quick guide.
For context, here’s a summary of the story Alex, Rachel, and Dana told:
Film noir style, black and white, with music in the background playing throughout.
Bill (Alex) gets a call about stolen Marc Chagall works: The Bible illustrations, I and the Village, and White Crucifixion. He meets up with Deborah (Rachel) and Nancy (Dana), who know a bit about Chagall. Deborah gives some background information on his life: a Jewish man who lived through World War II. Bill visits Lynne, the victim of the crime. She gives an account coming home and discovering the theft. She also found a magnifying glass, perhaps left behind by the thief. Bill, Nancy, and Deborah go out looking for clues and find a shoe, a pen, and a watch. Back at the office they contemplate the significance of these clues. Bill spends the night looking at the illustrations. Each detective narrates the theological and historical context of an etching: Abraham Weeping for Sarah, Crossing of the Red Sea, I and the Village, and White Crucifixion. Pondering the clues, Bill calls a friend at the FBI. He waits for his contact, who never shows up. As he stands to leave, the screen goes black and we hear a shot. The mystery is never solved.
I chatted with Alex to discuss the group’s process and creative choices. For their research, the group looked at The Bible series illustrations to understand the biblical context of each picture and to see how the biblical and historical contexts were connected. Chagall was a Jewish man living in France at the start of World War II, so his experiences of occupation, religious persecution, and ultimate escape shaped how he saw the world and, in turn, how he presented these views in his work. The group used their research to add analysis to each painting or illustration they feature in their video. Once they had an idea of the kind of story they wanted to tell, a mystery, the group had to create a storyboard. This was one of the scaffolding assignments Dr. Dempsey required students to turn in to make sure students were staying on track. Rachel, Dana, and Alex ended up deciding to create a film noir style mystery because “it sounded fun.” Using slides on Powerpoint, the group planned out the storyline. Next, they needed to film. Using equipment from the College of Communications,* the group filmed around campus, enlisting the help of Lynne Shumow, the Curator of Education and Community Outreach at the Haggerty Museum. After filming came what many of us would find difficult, but was easy for Alex: the editing. Using the Mac Lab 12 provided by the Digital Scholarship Lab, Alex used iMovie to edit and create the story the group wanted to tell. At the end, the group created a creative and interesting video. I asked Alex what he thought about this project and using digital media in classes overall. He said what he particularly liked was having “a lot of freedom in terms of creativity and picking what to focus on. This was a fun project and a different way to pull in the research we did. Having deadlines and those scaffolding assignments really helped.”
*The Digital Scholarship Lab, located in the lower level of Raynor Library, also checks out recording equipment for three-day loans. For more information, click here.
