Jemma Saunders (Penny)

Can confirm I love a letter! Check out this lovely reflection from Leo and if you have any thoughts, drop us a line.
Postcards also welcome.

One of my favourite video essays from the last year - so cool (and terrifying!)

"The presence of the filmmaker here is felt deeply through the use of a handheld camera (in this case a Tyco kids video camera)." John Bradburn's fragment published as part of our 3rd collection. Read more here fragments.video/2025/11/13/d...

Thanks to @benspatz.bsky.social for inviting me to talk about @fragmentsjournal.bsky.social this afternoon, alongside thought-provoking presentations from Ben, @ellwrig.bsky.social and Oscar Vinter on 'video ways of thinking'. Lovely to see colleagues excited about audiovisual research!

"At once commenting, reflecting, reinforcing, and completing each other, propelled along by a perfectly chosen accompaniment" Joel Blackledge's fragment published as part of our 3rd collection. Read more here fragments.video/2025/08/27/t...

Call for Applications!
Ways of Undoing invites videographic makers, scholars, and artists to apply to one of three intensive, week-long residential workshops (St Andrews 2026 | Vancouver 2027 | Tokyo 2028).
Funded accommodation & board provided.
Deadline: Feb 1, 2026
waysofdoing.com/ways-of-undo...

Illustration of jam on toast and a traffic jam in the background. Text reads: Join the second annual Video Jam hosted by The Essay Library, January 16-18, 2026. Participants will have 48 hours to create a video essay inspired by a given prompt. Learn more and join at theessaylibrary.com.

🚨 THE VIDEO JAM IS BACK! 🚨

📅 January 16–18, 2026

To celebrate five years of The Essay Library, we'll be coming together once again to create video essays in 48 hours.

Learn more + join: theessaylibrary.com#jam

#onatrainhomewiththesuninmyeyes Inspired by Chris Snow's 'On a train home with the Sun in my eyes' (2025) aka Maps & Diagrams https://mapsanddiagrams.co.uk/ Filming and editing…

A very short winter film project in response to Chris Snow's book 'On a train home with the Sun in my eyes). (See @mapsanddiagrams on Instagram)
vimeo.com/1151243688

"Sarah uses the adjective ‘uncanny’ at the end of her description, and her subtle deployment of ‘the sound of hand cream’ is instrumental in creating this feeling." @horror-scholar.bsky.social's fragment published as part of our 3rd collection. Read more here fragments.video/2025/08/27/e...

Lovely to be invited to vote in the @sightsoundmag.bsky.social best video essay poll again this year! And thanks to @colleenlaird.bsky.social for giving a mention to @fragmentsjournal.bsky.social and the brilliant Cheezit Timeline.

Our 3rd Collection of experimental videographic practice is now live. 12 fragments (from nine creators). Read our editorial and view them all here fragments.video

Saunders, J. (2025) ‘Built-in, not bolt-on: embedding employability in postgraduate study. A Film and Television placement module case study’ Abstract This case study reflects on the embedded ‘Placement and Training’ module that has been an integral part of the MA in Film and Television: Research and Production at University of Birmingha…

Wrote a case study about placements, employability and the MA Film & Television for the University's Education in Practice Journal - check it out here: education-in-practice.co.uk/saunders-j-2...

Péter Lichter and Bori Máté's fragment shows "just how much the definition of a fragment can be stretched". Read their extended exploration of the making of the film and watch it as part of our 2nd collection of fragments. Find our more here fragments.video/2025/07/28/t...

Can Birmingham regain its TV crown becoming Britain's Hollywood? Once a production powerhouse, producer and writer Steven Knight wants to put the city back on the map.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

This is why I'm weirdly happy to read about the caption: vimeo.com/959810774?sh...

Robin Hood review – Sean Bean gifts us the most gloriously bad TV offering of the year It ticks every box you could wish for in your olde worlde trash: Sean Bean as the Sheriff of Nottingham, faerie smut … and not a bad wig in sight! Hurrah!

I absolutely need to find a way of watching this. Delighted to hear it opens with a caption 'which sets out exactly where we are and what is happening without the need for a lot of dialogue and showing rather than telling'. Excellent. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

The reason the Right are so invested in the myth that the arts have no value isn’t because the arts don’t generate wealth (they do); it’s that studying the arts teaches people to imagine better ways of judging the value of an idea than by counting how much money it makes…

Every time I watch this I'm weirdly intrigued by how much water gets in the bag... @bolddecade.bsky.social

"In Joel’s piece (and his description) I enjoy the idea of returning to a ‘safe’ videographic space, in this case the supercut, though one which is less ‘cut’ and more ‘blend’." Joel Blackledge's fragment published as part of our 2nd collection. Read more here fragments.video/2025/07/03/t...

"There is something in its constructed-ness that seems to demand a normative reading of the video, i.e., what it is saying about this character—the wrestler—and how he is treated by the film and by himself." @arielavissar.bsky.social's fragment in our 2nd collection. fragments.video/2025/06/19/t...

Finally saw The Sound of Music on a big screen for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago, and it was glorious. Cinema trips are few and far between post-parenthood! #JulieAndrews

Julie Andrews. Screen Stars Dictionary. By Jemma Saunders (University of Birmingham) This is "Julie Andrews. Screen Stars Dictionary. By Jemma Saunders (University of Birmingham)" by JOURNAL OF AUDIOVISUAL ESSAYS on Vimeo, the home for…

In honour of Julie Andrews' 90th birthday tomorrow (and indeed, the 60th anniversary year of #TheSoundofMusic), here's the Screen Stars Dictionary entry I made a couple of years ago. 'Voice'.

#JulieAndrews #MaryPoppins #voice #videoessay @arielavissar.bsky.social
vimeo.com/828949634

"The physical recreation of a footage bin...from magazine clippings combines with the carefully arranged Cheezit timeline and other elements to be entirely familiar as an editing space" Benedetta Andreasi's fragment published as part of our 2nd collection. Read more fragments.video/2025/06/25/c...

“Wondersludge” is a sketch for a scene in my upcoming VR essay film. It’s presented here, in all its DIY glory. I no longer have the butcher knife.

Very happy to have contributed a (35-seconds-long) fragment to the 2nd collection of @fragmentsjournal.bsky.social, alongside fragments by @drdanobrien.bsky.social, @bolddecade.bsky.social , @ursmusically.bsky.social, and others!

We're looking for participants in our "Hollywood Memories" project. Please tell anyone you think might be interested!

Our 2nd Collection of experimental videographic practice is now live. 9 fragments (from eight creators) ranging from 35 seconds to an hour. fragments.video

My first time contributing to this! Check out the full compilation of 25 video essays about dreams here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeXz...

Yes! Tom has bought it for his steamdeck so I'm going to have a go! Looks about my level and vibe.

He'd get my vote!