Abstract
Lumière Word Cloud (voicesonfilm, 2017) is a co-curated experiment in the design and execution of academic/student collaborative assessment methods at Third Level. Inspired by classroom conversations regarding the parallels between the earliest forms of cinema – as exemplified by the films of Auguste and Louis Lumière – and the ubiquitous gif file that now appears on every social media platform, Lumière Word Cloud also asks us to reconsider the position and role that cinema history occupies in the contemporary classroom. A film composed entirely of gif files, Lumière Word Cloud also acts as an opportunity to interrogate exactly what cinema means in 2017. The film does not seek to eschew narrative altogether but rather aims to demonstrate the multifarious ways in which the collaborative nature of a film’s construction can enhance our understanding of storytelling in the digital age. In this way, Lumière Word Cloud also stands as a challenge to more traditional understandings of not only assessment methods but also to older pedagogic models regarding the status of skills and the transfer of knowledge in the contemporary learning environment.
