Ryan Griffis +

arts343 :: time arts 1

projects

These are general descriptions of the projects and are not substitutes for their full discussion in class. The presentations and lectures that accompany these discussions are designed to give the class a more thorough understanding of the requirements and expectations of each project.

Project 1 : Cutting Sequential Rhythms

Motion is defined by time and space and can have many attributes. Rhythm is perhaps the most basic trait of motion. Rhythms can be either rigid or loose and can take on distinct directions and features. Visual flow can be expressed as linear rhythm, circular rhythm or even as rhythm within chaos. The difference between rhythm and chaos can be a subtle distinction, because there is usually some sense of rhythm to chaos.

Part 1- Rhythm
Using FCP, create 2-4 montage sketches that achieve a sense of rhythm (make as many as you like, but bring in a minimum of 2 for critique next week). Don't be precious. Experiment while following these parameters:
- Create a collection of 100 or more images on a theme - your theme can be anything: toasters, trees, cats, cars, hair, whatever.
- Using Photoshop, crop, zoom or otherwise alter the scale of a select group of images, so that you have a group of images that vary in detail, color and quality. * Your images should all be the same resolution (72ppi) and size (640x480) before you're ready to bring them into FCP.
- Bring these still images into FCP and create a sequence from them that achieves a sense of rhythm (without the help of any sound)
- Your sketches should be a minimum of 30 seconds long but no longer than 2 minutes.
- Your sequences should exhibit a consideration of the temporal (time) and visual transitions - think about how much time you give to each image, how often an image might repeat, the visual juxtapositions you create with each "cut", how a "space" might be created by changes in scale between images, how does the difference or similarity between sequential images affect a sense of rhythm.

Part 2-Chaos/Focus
Using the same technical parameters as above create 2-4 sketches that begins with a sense of chaos and resolves to a point of focus. Discover ways to capture and direct attention. Isolate different combinations to bring about focus.

FINAL OUTPUT
Your final product for this assignment should be at least 4 Quicktime movies. We will view them in class on Thur Jan 24.

Assignment 02: Stop Motion Animation

**Work with a partner!

GET A PARTNER , RESERVE A VIDEO CAMERA (DON'T WAIT!) AND A TRIPOD FOR WEDNESDAY JANUARY 31 FOR YOUR CLASS TIME

PRE-PRODUCTION (before 1/31/08)
* With your partner decide what you would like your animation to be about and how you will make it.
* Content: Narrative? Abstract? Poetic? Ridiculous?
* How does it look? What kind of materials will you use? Paper-cut-outs? Clay? Shaving cream? You'll need to bring these materials to class - make sure you have them. You might also need extra lights and anything else that you need to shoot your animation. Try to anticipate everything you'll need.

PRODUCTION (on 1/31/08)
* In the lab on Wednesday January 30th use i-StopMotion to record animation sequences.
* Output the animation sequences to Quicktime movies. You can save the Quicktime movies (on your hard-drive or on your Netfiles) and edit them together in Final Cut Pro.

POST-PRODUCTION (after 1/31/08 but before the class presentation of your final pieces on 2/5/07)
* Import your Quicktime movies into Final Cut Pro.
* If you'd like, import some sound or music into Final Cut Pro.
* Create a final Quicktime movie that has sound. The final movie should be from 15 seconds to 1 minute long. Be prepared to show it to class on Monday February 5.

Assignment 03: The Long Take

This project will consist of 2 parts, 1) a long shot produced with a stationary camera (yes, meaning that the camera cannot move at all) and 2) another long shot produced with a moving camera.
Both will use a single photographic image as the starting point from which to construct a narrative (or non-narrative) sequence that addresses notions of before/after or cause/effect. The image you select (from a set of provided images) is to be considered as an in-between state, from which you construct a sequence that provides an imagined before/after or cause/effect.
Both should be between 30 sec to 2 minutes in duration. Additional sound can be added and/or edited in.
Think about storyboarding these out. It might help since you're doing everything in one take to know what you need. And you might need help... find some folks to help you and return the favor.
There won't be any time in class to work on this... at least not much.

Check these out: A collection of cinematic long takes, ranging from Alfonso Cuaron to Godard.

Deadline: Feb 14 - Edit both takes together in FCP, with a 5 second break in between and export as a single quicktime file for presentation.

Assignment 04: Audio Walk (or sit or stand)

The assignment will consist of an audio work designed to be listened to while moving through a specified space or otherwise occupying that space. Your work can consist of multiple tracks or a single track, but should end up somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-5 minutes total. Your sound does not need to be produced as a private listening experience, but can be proposed as a public projection of sound into the space.

Using Audacity/Soundtrack/or Final Cut and sound that you've recorded out in the field (with a Marantz or Zoom H2 audio recorder), you will create an experiential "sound space" that will be experienced in inhabited space.

This "sound space" can be a plot-based narrative, abstract narrative, historical docu-tour, or some form heretofor unimagined by human kind.
BUT - IT MUST CORRESPOND TO SOME INHABITABLE SPACE & HAVE A BEGINNING AND END. Everyone in the class (or most of us) must be able to actually occupy the place/space (although, not necessarily all at the same time)

As a point of courtesy (and sanity), please use headphones when editing in the lab.

Your "sound spaces " should make us of a clear three-level spatial structure, containing three simultaneous layers of sound: a foreground, a middle ground, and a background. Sounds in different layers of depth should be recorded separately and mixed together, instead of recorded in unison.

In all three levels, your sounds should be unique and chosen carefully, but it is sometimes helpful to think of these levels as increasingly specific as they rise up a pyramid-like structure. Those in the base layer, the background, are usually less distinct, even ambient, but are often needed throughout the track(s). The middle-ground levels of the second layer are often a little more distinct, perhaps the noises of other people in the room, and can more easily fluctuate, hesitate, change. The foreground sound is usually the loudest, the clearest, and the least reverberating. It also may not need to be present more than for one quick appearance.

Your audio sources should be recorded by you using the Marantz, H2, or using a video camera (less desirable). You may only employ music in the background or middle ground. Narration CANNOT be the only form of audio employed.

Export an mp3 (or WAV) sound file.
We will cover putting the files online as a podcast in class

Consider:
• choice of sound (identity, specificity)
• juxtaposition (how do sounds mixed together create space and meaning)
• volume of playback in the mix
• conditions of original recording scenario
• reverb or other illusion of space introduced in production
• quality of sound likely occurring in space of listeners

Specific projects of note: Ultra-Red (check out their Public Record + Public Space Occupations), Janet Cardiff (have a listen and read an interview), Sarah Kanouse's Don't Mourn, NY Society for Acoustic Ecology, Platform's While London Burns

Some audio recording info & tips
- 9 components of sound
- Basic field recording techniques
- About Bit Depth and Sampling Rate And some examples
- More on audio recording and tech

Some sources for archival and remixable sounds
CC Mixter
Internet Archive (audio)

Assignment 05: Interrogating Interviews

For this project you will partner with 2 other people to form a crew of 3. During the interview one of you will be the sound-person, one will be the camera-person, and one will be the interviewer. Then you will edit the final pieces together.

THE INTERVIEW
Find someone to interview, or maybe 2. Arrange a time and place to interview the person. Interview them.
Whatever you decide as a group to interview someone about, construct a story through your selection of questions. Don't just tape someone rambling about anything/everything/nothing. Find someone interesting, or someone who might have something interesting to say.
Shoot between 10-30 minutes worth of footage.

THE EDIT
Make two 2-3 minute videos. The FIRST edit should be true to what you interpret as "the spirit of the interview" - true to what you believe is the intent of what your subject said and meant. In the SECOND edit completely alter the meaning and spirit of the interview.

CONSIDER THIS:
What do you leave in? What do you cut out? What story do you - as the maker/editor - choose to tell? What nuances can completely alter the meaning of interviews?

Not Advertising

This project will involve the production of two 30 second videos designed to function in the context of television advertisements. Rather than advertising a product, however, your videos will do one of the following options:

1. use the conventions of video adverts to communicate a narrative that has nothing to do with advertising at all
2. create an advertisement for an idea/concept/philosophy as if it were a consumable product.

Method
1. First, develop and reseearch a starting point - what is the context in which your not advertisement would be viewed (what would be the ideal channel and time, during what kind of programming - what does any of this tell you about your audience?
2. Create an analysis of the ads and/or programming that would surround your ad. What are the conventions, tropes and codes used? How are the stories within the programming and ads communicated - both explicitly and implicitly? What assumptions about the world are present?
This should all be in writing, and maybe even accompanied by drawings.
3. Create storyboards for each video. You should have at least 3 storyboards with detailed descriptions about what's going on and both the implicit and explicit actions.
4. Shoot, capture, edit your videos
* You can also work with some motion graphics/typography (we will do some tutorials in After Effects), but these elements should be used in a complimentary role, not as the primary elements.
** You can also use "found" footage - try archive.org for some good, and mostly public domain, video.

Timeline
2 weeks - Final 2 videos due Thursday April 17.

Some things to look at and read

Chris Burden's TV ad + TV Hijack
Valie Export's Facing a Family
Stan Douglas' Monodramas
Paper Tiger Television - a historic (since 1981) media activist video org
Center for Urban Pedagogy's Public Housing Television (a video)
Reading: Television-Art or Anti-Art, Dieter Daniels