--- tags: cd --- # Film Essay Workshop Series for AFVS 70: The Art of Film ![alt text](https://files.slack.com/files-pri/T0HTW3H0V-F0314LFDPU7/image_from_ios.jpg?pub_secret=395746a1f9) Media & Design Fellow Wesley Simon has developed a series of Essay Film workshops during the fall term, designing a series of scaffolding exercises that will be used to teach students how to create films essays in AFVS70 in spring 2022. Working with a group of Learning Lab Undergraduate Fellows (LLUFs) as user-testers, Wesley’s essay film workshops introduced students to the basics of video essay composition and editing. Each week, Wesley gave the LLUFs a specific task to complete, and once the group gathered, they discussed each student’s film-essay-in-progress. This approach to the assignment encouraged the students to draft the film essay in a manner analogous to drafting any academic essay. Wesley’s workshops also foregrounded the importance of feedback and revision to the film essay composition process. Even though this series of workshops supports the creation of a film essay assignment for AFVS70, it is a prototype that could be adapted for a range of courses. Wesley facilitated three workshops about video essays in the fall 2021 term and plans to run more sessions in the spring semester.