INTERMEDIA ARTS FA 215 – Introduction to Digital Video and Interactivity Spring 2009 Instructor: Joel Tauber e-mail: [email protected] Office hours: email me for an appointment 215 Course Objective: An overview of Video Art, from 1970’s single-channel projects to current new-media oriented interactive and installation-based projects, will acquaint students with the medium of video, its relation to technology and its potential for interactivity in both analog performance and digital programming. To execute their own ideas, students will be trained to create work using the digital video camera, desktop editing and basic interactive programming. Course Description: This introductory class will acquaint the students with the computer, the digital video camera, video editing via Final Cut Pro, video presentation via DVD Studio Pro, and basic interactivity via Flash as well as the processes of production, reproduction and presentation that help define and disseminate this media into culture. An overview of Video Art, from 1970’s single-channel projects to current new-media oriented interactive and installation-based work, will support your further understanding of the history and potential of this medium. Discussions, screenings and readings will help establish a strong fine art platform for considering how you might progress and experiment in this area of art-making. While providing a basic familiarity with digital video, desktop video production and interactivity, this course will also develop a critical and interdisciplinary framework for evaluating digital work on aesthetic terms. Students will formulate objectives for their art projects through a careful consideration of the implications of video and interactivity for their own aesthetic interests. Required Materials Firewire external hard drive. The following drive is recommended: LaCie Hard Disk, Design by Neil Poulton eSATA, FireWire 400 & Hi-Speed USB 2.0, 500GB http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11062 $99.99 at the Campus Bookstore Video: 3 DVD-R (4.7GB, any brand) Mini DV tapes – source footage 1 CD-RW or 1 flash drive Headphones Web: USC e-mail account Student generated source materials Optional Books Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro 6 Diana Weynand, Peach Pit Press, 2007, ISBN: 0321502655 Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Hands-On Training Todd Perkins, Peach Pit Press, ISBN: 0321509838 Grading Attendance Attendance will be taken at all meetings and is MANDATORY. Your final grade can be dropped one full letter grade with 2 unexcused absences. 2 tardies = 1 absence. 4 unexcused absences can result in a failing grade. Grade Breakdown 10% - Participation in Discussion of Readings, Critiques, and Screenings 10% - Tech Project 40% - Project 1 [prep 1 and 2 – 10% / final project – 30%] 40% - Project 2 [prep 1 – 10% / final project – 30%] Projects: Projects are graded on the conceptual and aesthetic quality of finished work, technical/craft expertise, and conceptual and technical investment of time. No late assignments will be accepted. Participation Your grade will be lowered if you do not actively and constructively participate in critiques. Your grade will be lowered if you do not come to class prepared to productively work on projects during open studio times. Integrity Policy USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/gov/. Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/. Students with Disabilities and Academic Accommodations Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776. Roski Admissions Information For information and an application to become a Fine Arts minor, please visit http://roski.usc.edu/minors/ Please contact Antonio Bartolome at [email protected] or 213-740-7567 with any questions about a minor in the Fine Arts. To become a Fine Arts major, please visit http://roski.usc.edu/undergraduate_programs/ Please contact Penelope Jones at [email protected] or 213-740-9153 with any questions about majoring in FA. Applications are due October 1st and March 1st every year.” PROJECTS Explanation of Grading Project grades are determined based on your attention to and investment in the overall process of art-making. While the final product of your work will be the focal point of critiques and will be a major component of your grade, you must satisfy other criteria as well: Conceptual Merit: Your projects should be interesting and well thought-out. They will be evaluated in terms of degree of ambition and complexity, and should also reflect a growing understanding of the art historical and theoretical concepts discussed in class. Technical Execution and Effort: In addition to the overall level of skill you bring to your projects, they will be evaluated for the degree to which they answer the technical requirements of the assignment and the amount of in-class and out-of-class effort evident in the project. Planning and Organization: Because the overall process is often the most challenging and innovative aspect of art-making, your project grade will take into account the level of thought and preparation of your work at each stage: from initial proposal, through the stages of work, to the presentation of the final piece. On-time and thorough presentations are a significant aspect of your final project grade. Your project preparation will also be considered in this component of your grade (see below). TECHNICAL PROJECT The technical project will require the class to split into groups of 3 students. Each group of students will work as a team to shoot 3 short scenes. And, then each student will edit their own 30-second video from the footage their group shot. The group should develop a cohesive idea that links the 3 scenes together. While students should help each other shoot the 3 scenes, each member of the group must take the lead in shooting one of the three scenes. Each member of the group will have access to all of the footage shot by the group. The group may capture the footage together, but then each member of the group will be responsible to edit their own unique 30-second video from the footage that they gathered. The group must meet before the technical shooting day of class to determine what they will be shooting. You will have to consider how you will use the camera to create different kinds of shots. Consider not only the content of each shot, but also the form. Each scene should be shot in a variety of ways (playing with different camera movements, shutter speeds, aperture…). Each scene needs to incorporate tracking and panning shots, and each scene needs to utilize both the shotgun and lavalier microphones. This technical project will focus on technical learning including shooting, modes of camera movement, log and capture, basic editing, and exporting to QuickTime. Final technical projects will be presented for critique as an exported QuickTime file. PROJECT 1 “PERSONAL/PUBLIC SELF” Project Concept: This project will be a personal and social investigation of self, considering the public self that results from identity politics (such as gender, race, class, religion or nationality), and the personal self that exists through internal truths and personal mythologies. Your goal is to create an in-depth exploration of both a personal understanding of self and a social understanding of self, through image, sound, language and action. This project does not have to be narrative, and you are encouraged to consider more nonlinear, abstract and experimental means of communication. Most important is that you carefully consider what kind of representation will best suit your particular video project. Project preparation (step 1) Create a list of ten of things that speak about your identity in SPECIFIC ways. Your list should include specific and detailed narratives, experiences, or poetic images that are important to you and refer to your experiences in the world. Your list must refer to identity via the personal (your camping trip with your father, your fight with your sister…), while it addresses the social (such as what it means to inhabit your body/self as a member of a certain gender, race, religion, nationality). Think about the potential for each item on the list in terms of generating art. What specific stories and experiences can you share with the viewer that will function on a poetic / political / cultural level? Which of the 10 items on your list will you choose to develop into a video project? Project preparation (step 2) Following discussion with the instructor, you will choose one of the ten elements for further investigation. Your goal will be to illustrate how such an investigation would take place as a video, considering the roles of visuals, audio, time and movement.