Papers by Sonja Kirschall
Starting from an overview of different types of metamorphoses characters in films may undergo and... more Starting from an overview of different types of metamorphoses characters in films may undergo and the filmic means deployed to narrate and visualize these, I suggest the "sensomorphosis" as a specific form of change that ties character development to sense perception and that narrates transformations that protagonists undergo via perceptual changes in the way they experience their surroundings. Such changes are increasingly conveyed by a combination of filmic means that are evocative of certain contemporary TV spot aesthetics and that render sequences "hypersensual", easing the viewer into the protagonists sensorium as the liminal space where subjectivity is negotiated.
This paper looks at current forms of "heady" videos shared on YouTube or Reddit that are labelled... more This paper looks at current forms of "heady" videos shared on YouTube or Reddit that are labelled as "trippy" or "hallucinating" and seek to make the viewer feel dizzy and inebriated. I read these as contemporary manifestations of a long-existing desire for audiovisual stimuli to cause corporeal effects that will exceed the sense modalities the videos seem to address "originally", bringing about kinaesthetic, visceral oder tactile sensations. I suggest ASMR-Videos as a specific form of heady videos, offering a certain type of high that is predominantly tactile and sedative and show continuities between historic forms of trippy videos like the Mandala films of the 1960s or the rhythmic experiments of absolute film in the 1920s, and today’s use of filmic means to this end.
Social networks and media sharing platforms have only recently seen the emergence of a rapidly gr... more Social networks and media sharing platforms have only recently seen the emergence of a rapidly growing online community whose members feel united by their ability to experience a certain type of – primarily tactile – sensation. Termed Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR for short, it is described as a pleasant tingling of the skin, frequently accompanied by a feeling of deep relaxation. Those susceptible to the sensation find that it may be triggered by certain sensory stimuli, especially acoustic and visual ones. Accordingly, "ASMR videos" have been proliferating, in which amateur video makers are trying to induce ASMR in their viewers by deploying certain technical-aesthetic and narrative means. For most ASMR experiencers, sound plays a pivotal role and is thus subject to careful selection, production and design processes on the part of the video makers, indicating the emergence of certain standardizations. In this essay, I suggest ASMR videos as a potential object of media studies and examine the ways in which sound is functionalized in ASMR videos, taking into account their role as teletactile media artefacts which constitute a privileged site for exploring acoustic creation of space as well as different possibilities of immersive experience.
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Papers by Sonja Kirschall