SKILLS AND CONCEPTS

Through in-class and formal assignments students will demonstrate an understanding of the following skills and concepts:

• Creative problem stating and solving skills

• Comprehension of methods and process of time-based media

• Comprehension of concepts core to this course

• Understanding of formal theory of time-based media

• Application of motion, tempo, sequencing and duration to design

• Skillful use of tools central to time-based media

• Appreciation of time-based media relative to cultural context

• Clear communication of content and ideas

• Articulate expression of ideas and opinions in a critical context

• Interpretation of creative and applied ideas through an electronic medium

CONTACT INFORMATION

Raphael DiLuzio / AIM / iChat dvdviot / raphael@umit.maine.edu http://www.raphaeldiluzio.com

OFFICE HOURS: I am available online for text, voice or AV chat. My online screen name is dvdviot, you can use iChat, AIM or other compatible instant messaging program to log in and talk. It is highly recommended that you use iChat to enjoy the full features of what can be done. but other programs will work fine.

GRADING, CLASS POLICIES, AND COURSE EXPECTATIONS

Requirements: Keep up with work, readings, assignments, critiques and postings as per announced deadlines. Participate in at least one of the virtual visits to an artist studio or online discussion session. Complete final project and make final DVD of work for class.

Grading Standards: Meeting the above requirements in an average manner will result in a "C" as the final grade.  Better than average effort and execution will result in a "B".  An "A" is reserved for demonstrated exceptional creative development, application, innovation, effort, and an in-depth understanding of process. Failure to complete any of the above components of your grade with an average or better effort will result in a "D" or an "F" as your final grade.

Grading: Grades will be given on assignments (not exercises) and at midterm. Your grade is composed of the following separate parts:

• Overall demonstration of growth during this course

• Comprehension of process as it relates to content of this course

• Successful completion of all in class work

• Successful completion of all assigned projects

• Demonstrated ability to take risks relevant to objectives

• Documentation of creative process

• Skillful handling of media (technique)

• Overall quality of work

• Understanding and application of criticism

• Participation in class discussions and labs

• Attendance and punctuality

• Completion of all additional exercises and readings

1. •Final Project
   

Homework: You must complete all of the homework for this class by the announced deadline. Late work is not accepted.  All work done in this class will be uploaded to my .iDisk public folder into the NMD 304 folder and the particular assignment folder (see “How to Up Load Files” under the “Technical Instructions” on the main page here is the LINK. When uploading work it must be compressed and submitted as an H.264 QuickTime file format no other file format whatsoever will be acceptable (no Flash, AVI or others). You must keep a copy of the work on file as I will not keep them during the semester. You must also keep a copy as an archive for use in creating your DVD. This file should be in a  DV NTSC QuickTime file format. It is recommended that when you export a final project, from Final Cut Pro, After Effects, iMovie or whatever program you work in, as both formats (use the render Que. of a program to select both) DV NTSC (again for archiving) and H.264 (again for the purpose of uploading only).

Digital Document: You must document your process and keep all work done during the semester. This should include all online writings to every aspect of projects done. Additionally, you must document the process by which you conceive ideas and develop your work. All this “information” must be kept and maintained until the end of the semester at which time you are to compile it into a well designed DVD portfolio of your work. You will be using the DV NTSC files you saved to make this DVD (more on how to do this later for those of you who are unfamiliar with this process.

Extra Credit: Any work that you do above and beyond what is required will merit you extra credit and will help you to achieve an "A+".  Extra credit does not replace homework or missed classes.

Incomplete: A grade of incomplete may be granted to students who have suffered serious illness during the academic term, resulting in failure to complete all assignments by the end of the quarter. Proper documentation s required and must be attached to the petition for a grade of incomplete. A student who has missed over 25% of the quarter may not be eligible for an incomplete.

Attendance:  As this an online course you are only required to keep up with assignments as and deadlines as announced. It is your responsibility to check this website at least twice a week for new postings. Generally it will be best to check on Monday and Tuesday mornings.

Important: This syllabus is not a contractual obligation between the professor and the student. It is subject to coherent change at the discretion of the professor. Please keep this syllabus with you throughout the semester.

Academic Honesty:  Academic honesty is expected.  Plagiarism is unacceptable in this course and will result in a failing grade.  “Although a writer may use other persons’ words and thoughts, they must be acknowledged as such.” Joseph Gibaldi and Walter S. Achtert, MLA Handbook (Modern Language Association) 1977, p. 4.

Students With Disabilities: If you have a disability for which you may be requesting an accommodation, please contact either me or Ann Smith, Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities (Onward Building, 581- 2319), as early as possible in the term.

In Class Notes: Each class I will ask someone to take lecture notes and post them for the day. I encourage all students to take notes and post them to the proper FC folder as well.

LECTURE RESPONSE AND BLOGGING

Each week you are required to attend the class in person. You will meet the professor live in the class or online as the lesson requires. You will also be required to watch pod cast lectures posted at iTunesU. You are required to post a  “response” to the lecture by midnight the following night. Your posts should be made to:

http://nmd304.blogspot.com/

Format For Responses And Posts: You are responsible for full participation in the blogs as described above. Full participation translates as responding initially to the lecture by the prescribed time and at a minimum one follow-up response to someone else's post. I consider a response to be- well reasoned and with an informed, well supported opinion. Journalistic comments such as, “I agree with what Ellen says when she says …condition of the state of…," will not be considered as acceptable nor will such as, “I really like (or dislike) …” I am looking for considered responses. You must also read everyone else's posts then choose at least one to respond too, again a considered response (see above).

Instructions For Using The Blog:

1. Sign up for blogger (or if you have any gmail account, that will work)

2. Log-in and go to your blog NMD304:

http://nmd304.blogspot.com/

3. Each week I will post a new BLOG POST (i.e. "comment on this weeks lecture") and I want everyone to COMMENT on that specific thread (so at the end of the semester there is about 13 blogs with comments on each instead of 200 blog posts by students). This means you will not be able to AUTHOR posts, but rather comment on each specific lecture of the week. All you have to do is find the post then go to the bottom of it and find where it says X COMMENTS (images below, highlighted in pink) click it and you should come to a screen where it will say COMMENT HERE, then post your comment as prescribed above.

GRADING

45% Final

30% MIDTERM

25% PARTICIPATION

Based on in class attendance and discussion, your posting to the weekly "notes" FirstClass conference and your weekly posting to the class reflections blog.

READINGS:.

Required: There may be a carefully selected set of readings given to you throughout the semester. All readings are chosen to “fit” in with a particular project or topic of discussion. Whenever a reading is distributed (some online other Xeroxed) you are to read it and post a response within twenty-four hours to the appropriate FirstClass folder. Once all postings are up you are to read everyone else’s initial posting. Then you are to respond to either three (minimum) other postings or respond “in thread sequence” to a particular posting (again at least a minimum of three times). On a specified day, after the readings and postings we will hold a discussion of the readings and responses in class.

New Screen Media, By Martin Rieser / Andrea Zapp, ISBN: 0-85170-864-1

Installation Art In The New Millennium,  ISBN: 0-500-28451-2 (2006)

Time: Its Origin, Its Enigma, Its History, Alexander Waugh, Publisher: Carroll & Graf, ISBN-10: 0786708700 (I suggest buying it used from Amazon)

Additional assigned special readings will be sent as “.pdf” or you will be directed to specific websites.

ASSIGNMENTS: (Note: There are alternates to several assignments, I will change assignments form one semester to the next  or add new ones.  I list them all only for you to get an idea of what may be ahead during the semester)

Assignment 1: 3600 Image Stream Poem

REQUIREMENTS: PART ONE (DONE) Write your concrete poem it must be 3 to 7 lines. Keep it direct and avoid abstractions.

1. Use the individual lines of the poem as searches to get your images make sure you gather 3600 total.

2. Use only still images gathered by an online image search, don’t use any original material.

3. Use an image editing program (like PhotoShop) to get all images to the same ratio of 720 x 480 at 72 dpi.

4. Determine how you might want to arrange them in terms of creating any pattern you like (repetition on one or more).

REQUIREMENTS: PART TWO (DONE)

1. •Build your project using After Effects or a similar program. You can work in a range from 1 frame a second to 60 with a frame rate to 60 frames a second being the maximum (and you should try for this at times) so each image could be a 60th of a second.
   

2. •You can hold an image for more then a frame to create pause, impact or other ways of building the “narrative.” Do this by repeating the frame.
   

3. •When putting your images into a stream they must remain static, no panning, zooming or other such movement is allowed.
   

4. •You can only work with still images (although you may find some sequences that seem to animate themselves [called "animatics"])
   

5. •Try to develop a simple structure: build-up: climax or crescendo: finish. Think of this as an arch. Develop a rhythmic structure similar to the rhythm of a spoken poem with iambic pentameter; (From wikipedia: Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in poetry and drama. It describes a particular rhythm that the words establish in each line. That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups of syllables are called 'feet'. The word 'iambic' describes the type of foot that is used. The word 'pentameter' indicates that a line has five of these 'feet').
   

6. •Although you are using sound do not rely on it to set pace and structure we should "see the rhythm and pattern when even viewing the work silent. So how you build and pace is important.
   

7. •You are to use the 3600 but you may repeat "visual phrase sequences" to build structure.
   

AUDIO:You can use sound but you do not have to. It is recommended that you make the sound using ambient or found sound clips. If you choose to use music then use only instrumental no lyrics. Avoid making something that feels like a music video. Remember you cannot use commercial music, any audio you use must be ambient sounds, your own made or found sounds. These can be structured along with the visual components of the work and share in common aspects of the rhythm of the piece. Again no matter what you cannot use music nor must the sound end up seeming to musical (like a music video). All sound must be copyright free (I know the images may not be but...).

FORMAT:

1. The final work should be 3600 ranging images from 1 frame a second to 60 frames per second and no more then 5 minutes in length.

2. Save your work in two formats as DVNTSC (720 x 480) for archiving and H.264 (640 x 480) to upload to the iDisk proper folder for the assignment. remember to label your file properly.

3. Leave 3 seconds of black at the front and end of your work.

4. Include a title with your name, title- 3600 Image Stream and a date.

5. Include in your credits any sources you use for copyrighted material (although not for the images them selves in this particular work).

Assignment 2: Edit on 12 Frames

All visual art or design forms have a set of basic elements that are used in the creation of that form. For instance, in drawing you have such things as point, line, plane, texture, color and so forth. In a time-based medium you have several such elements as well. For the moment we will consider the following as key elements: frame-rate, montage and superimposition (there is also mise en scène which we will talk about later but it is mostly directly related to more traditional filmmaking). Of these frame-rate will be the first thing we work with in a project.

The frame-rate of a visual time-based work accounts for duration and other temporal qualities. It can be sped up slow down set in forward or reverse motion. How you edit a work really determines the absolute structure of the work. You can edit in continuity and keep the narrative structure intact in a linear fashion. Or you can choose to disrupt that structure.

In this assignment you are to make a linear narrative piece. The only restriction you will have is that no cut can be over 12 frames working at an overall frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps). It is important that your narrative be one that has action (active movement elements) as that is what best will show a 12 frame edit. In editing in 12 frame intervals no cut can be over 12 frames but you can have a cut that is any length under 12 frames (1 frame, 2 frames etc up to 12).

How you approach this problem is up to you. You can choose to think and shoot as if you are going to edit in 12 frames. My suggestion is to shoot and edit a three minute piece that has at least five scenes and a good variety of shots. Then edit this down at 12 frames per cut. This way you have an initial structure to work with and it will be easier to think through to the end.

In the film De Fem benspænd, (2003 “The Five Obstuctions”) by Jørgen Leth, filmmaker Jørgen challenges another filmmaker, Lars von Trier, to try remaking a film several times each time with a different set of obstructions one of which is to limit edits to 12 frames, read:

"The Five Obstructions", a 100 min. theatre documentary directed by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth. An investigative journey into the phenomenon of "documentary", based on manifestos written by each director. About a filmmaker not only revisiting, but also recreating (not in a conventional sense) one of his first films, The Perfect Human / Det perfekte menneske (1967), a document on life in Denmark, containing the familiar Leth idiosyncrasies  (from IMDB.com LINK).

I am posting an excerpt of this for your viewing at: LINK and a few examples from last semesters student projects

EXAMPLE 1 12 Frames Cuba from 5 Obstacles

EXAMPLE 2 Student example

REQUIREMENTS:

1. To limit edits in a time-base work to 12 frames only.

2. To create a final work that is 45 seconds to a minute and a half in length.

3. Establish a simple narrative  that has a basic story arch or a conceptual point to it. Make sure that your work contains action, movement is something that is dynamic visually.

4. Build your project using After Effects or a similar program.

5. You can use sound but you do not have to. It is recommended that you make the sound using ambient or found sound clips. If you choose to use music then use only instrumental no lyrics. Avoid making something that feels like a music video.

FORMAT:

1. The final work should be no less then one minute at 3600 images at 60 frames per second and no 2. more then 2 minutes and thirty seconds.

3. Save your work in two formats as DVNTSC (720 x 480) for archiving and H.264 (640 x 480) to upload to the iDisk proper folder for the assignment. remember to label your file properly.

4. Leave 3 seconds of black at the front and end of your work.

5. Include a title with your name, title- Edit on 12 Frames and a date.

6. Include i your credits any sources you use for copyrighted material.

Assignment 3: "There and Back Again": Duration and Non-Linear Sequence as principles of Temporality

BACKGROUND: In working in a time-based medium two important principles for expression and structure are duration and sequence (non-linear). They can be used independent of one another and are often separated in commercial filmmaking where the intent is to deliver a cohesive narrative. In combination, the artistic and expressive use of these allows the creator more flexibility in breaking open the narrative structure of a piece. This allows the artist to create deeper more mysterious and compelling works. Unlike fictional cinema, where it is important to deliver a story and the work has the time to do so (typically ninety minutes or more), a time-based artwork may only last seconds.

Further more, unless restrictions and formal presentations are set up in the traditional manner of a cinematic presentation (screen in front, rows of seats darkness etc...) the viewer is not required nor are they often even compelled to stay with a work for its entire duration. The time-based artist must therefore capture the viewer’s attention. It is best to transform the viewer from a passive role of simply "watching," to on of participating on a cognitive level. One direct what to accomplish this is to create works that embody sufficient amounts of mystery so that the viewer "participates or interacts" with the work through pondering the meaning and or completing the narratives based on their frame of reference.

The computers power imparts a temporal malleability to the time-based art form that allows for the exploration of time through its direct and visceral expansion, contraction and even to bring it to a complete stop. Apart from the mere analysis of motion, that slow-motion and its opposite reveals, variability in frame-rate is a highly expressive tool. The temporal qualities of a digital time-based visual artwork, the adjustments and shifts in time that can be created in a sequence, have strong similarities to the temporal shifts in music and even to the rhythm and pacing of the recited poetic verse.

Sequence (non-linear) is a very difficult device to employ in a traditional narrative film as it can easily distract and confuse the viewer. It is typically used to go from present to past and future and back again to establish complex relations and differing parts of the narrative structure. Or it can be utilized to obscure the overall structure and force the viewer to become a participant and work to unravel or decipher the meaning of the narrative structure of the film or time-based artwork. The classic films, “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”, used non-linear sequencing to break the temporality of the narrative and make the overall structure more complex. In more recent films, such as, Quentin Tarantino’s, “Pulp Fiction” and Christopher Nolan’s, “Memento”, non-linear structuring was used to either obscure the overall narrative or develop a deep sense of mystery.

Duration is independent of frame-rate as it is the amount of time for which something is shown or continues not necessarily the speed of the thing shown. The first use of the “freeze-frame” is a perfect example of duration as it was quite radical when first used and has now become almost a standard visual device. Duration is highly important in a time-based art form as it can be used to create great rhythmic structures. In one sense it provides a kind of musical structuring. You can use duration to create visual beat even matching the tempo of a musical score.

You can achieve counterpoint through the frequency and contrasting amounts of duration in a work. Unlike superimposition that relies on the computers power, duration was achievable in an analog form but the computer allows for it to be pushed beyond what could be physically achieved by hand. Although much simpler in concept then montage, and the other time-based principles, it is singularly effective in creating dynamic visual structure.

REQUIREMENTS: Create a linear narrative concept that deals with the theme of memory (developed, maintained, lost or any combination of these). Then devise a conceptual idea of how to break apart that narrative or “un-structure” it by using non-linear sequence and variability in duration.

Create a comprehensive shot list for your project (do not worry about shooting in order or sequence as it is best that you do not).

Work through the conceptual expression and development of the project in post-production. Let the editing become the real process of discovery for the creation of the finished work.

Think of visual expression through time and how you sequence.

Use all that you have learned in A1 3600 Image Stream and A2 Life In Twelve Frames, apply any aspect of what you learned or discovered in these prior projects to this new work (image sequence, frame-rate).

Think musicality, in that your work without audio should have a rhythm and pattern that implies “sound” almost allowing the viewer/participant to “hear “it through seeing it.

Maintain a strong concept and theme (memory) while technically creating a very strong visual time-based work.

IMPORTANT:

In this work concept and process (technical finish) go hand in hand and are exceptionally important.

You may use any audio you like but be advised, THIS SHOULD IN NO WAY, FEEL, SEEM, APPEAR OR BE INTERPRETED AS A TYPE OF MUSIC VIDEO!

So truly avoid departing from the musicality of the visual image and DO NOT rely on actual music to structure, inform or help to express content in the final work.

FORMAT:

1.The final work should be no less then 45 seconds no more then three minutes.

2.Save your work in two formats as DVNTSC (720 x 480) for archiving and H.264 (640 x 480) to upload to the iDisk proper folder for the assignment. remember to label your file properly.

3.Leave 3 seconds of black at the front and end of your work

4.Include a title with your name, title- “A3 There and Back Again” and a date

5.Include in your credits any sources you use for copyrighted material (most likely audio).

Assignment 4: "Conversations With Yourself: Montage and Superimposition: Creating Realities and Un-Realities

REQUIREMENTS:Create a dialogic driven narrative that is a conversation with yourself (or selves as many as you like). The central theme of the conversation will be about memory. You must use the principle of superimposition to create multiple "selves" that appear together on the same screen and also appear to be together through camera angle and cutting back and forth between yourselves as they engage in a conversation. The central theme of the conversation as in all the projects will be about memory. You can interpret this in anyway you like. For instance, a discussion between different aspects of your psyche (or several of C. Jung's archetypes) about the memory of a past event.

Use any and all techniques of montage and superimposition to effectively create a compelling "self-conversation." Your project should include scenes of you talking with one or more aspect of yourself and cutaways to scenes not in the same time-frame of the conversation. These cutaways will be one level of montage but in them you should utilize the full potential of montage (other cuts ect...) to create powerful imagery and "visual-narratives." You should cut to and from the conversation. In so doing the conversation itself should be the main audible track that is hear over and throughout the entire work. Again, the dialogic narrative drives this work.

Create a comprehensive shot list for your project (do not worry about shooting in order or sequence as it is best that you do not). Think about how you will use camera angles to shoot the conversation with yourself. How you might use a black, white, green or blue backdrop to superimpose your won image or how you might effectively use "multiple" exposure and masking in Aftereffects.

Plan, Plan, Plan and plan some more.

Again as in the last; project work through the conceptual development first then lest more expressive things aspects of the project occur in post-production. Let the editing become the real process of discovery for the creation of the finished work.

Think of visual expression through time and how you sequence.

Use all that you have learned in A1 3600 Image Stream and A2 Life In Twelve Frames, apply any aspect of what you learned or discovered in these prior projects to this new work (image sequence, frame-rate) and A3 "There and Back Again.

Maintain a strong concept (narrative driven by the "self-conversation") and theme (on memory) while technically creating a very strong visual time-based work.

Important: Like the last work in this work concept and process (technical finish) go hand in hand and are exceptionally important. So your finished work should look exceptional in all ways.

You may use any audio you like but be advised, THIS SHOULD IN NO WAY, FEEL, SEEM, APPEAR OR BE INTERPETED AS A TYPE OF MUSIC VIDEO!

So truly avoid departing from the musicality of the visual image and DO NOT rely on actual music to structure, inform or help to express content in the final work.

BACKGROUND(Except from my chapter for Handbook of Research on Computational Arts and Creative informatics IGI Global  publication).

PART II The Hand in Time: Cinematic Contributions and The Principles of a Time-Based Art Form: Over the last hundred years a cinematic “language” has been established that contains two important distinctions in how the cinematic narrative is constructed through, either through mise en scène or montage. In the former, the visual narrative is straightforward. One shoots and shows the narrative time in a scene, as it would be in life, with no cutting or editing away form the scene or a change in the angle of the camera, the point of view. The later, montage, allows for a more complex type of visual narrative to be established. One can shift the scenes point of view by cutting form one camera angle to another. Further, the scenes narrative structure can be altered by instances editing back and forth from present to past and or future; even cutting away to other scenes outside of the context of the primary one.

The cinematic concept of mise en scène is very specific to cinema as it deals traditionally with how a narrative is seen and shown in real time, as such I will not include it among the principles of time-based art. Montage, on the other hand is quite different. We will use part of the cinematic definition but extrapolate and add to it as well. Montage is one of the five major principles, along with superimposition, frame-rate, duration and non-linear sequences of the digital time-based art form. I make the distinction between the principles, mentioned immediately before, and the elements, frame, clip, sequence and time-form or time-composition, which I’ll address later. The distinction is made because the principles address larger themes. They can operate independently or in combination while the elements by necessity are interdependent. They exist in sum in any given digital time-based visual artwork.

The principles, montage, superimposition, frame-rate, duration and non-linear sequence are best understood as fundamental qualities that have numerous and wide application across the breadth of the medium. They operate both structurally and descriptively giving voice to narrative through expression, meaning and concept. Either of the five can be used individually as overarching independent structures of a work without loss or compromise. The combination of these increases the dynamic potential of the work. A time-based work can be formally centered round the single use of superimposition (or any one of the principles) to the exclusion of the others and still be a strong and vital representation of the time-based art form. The artist can also use the principles more expressively and interpretatively as they have a strong relation to semiotics and metaphor. While the elements, frame, clip, sequence and time-form are rudimentary and rely upon one another in forming the whole of a given time-based artwork’s overall formal structure.

Lets begin with montage. The Soviet concept of it shaped the way in which modern time-based works are conceived. Filmmakers such as Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov and Vsevolod Pudovkin developed the early theories on the montage effect. Sergei Eisenstein, who was among the Russian filmmaking pioneers, believed that the montage effect could convey powerful ideas and concepts. He proposed a more radical and powerful use of montage, unlike the straightforward French idea of montage as simply cutting clips or sequences together into linear scenes or sequences.

Eisenstein realized that when two individual shots or clips, each with a discrete meaning, collided (were cut together, i.e., montaged); from this collision of independent clips[1] a third meaning, separate from the two could be inferred. The idea is similar in concepts to semiotics and the formation of meaning in language[2] through the relationship of signs, symbols, icons and indexes.[3]

Montage, enables us to create complex levels of meaning and it also allows for time to be shown in a non-linear way, i.e., running back and forth, skipping from present to past and future. Early examples of flash back and forward were expertly explored in the classic films, “A Christmas Carol”[4] and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”[5]

Contemporary examples of the use of montage to create alternate narrative structures that utilize more complex shits in temporality are the movies “Pulp Fiction”[6] (in which Quentin Tarantino was perhaps one of the first filmmakers to really try to push the temporal shifts in a given work), “Run Lola Run,”[7] “Time Code,”[8] and “Memento.”[9] A creative use of montage can present the viewer with types of experiences that exist out of time and space, such as dream states, empowering the creator of the work with an incredible temporal and spatial malleability.

American filmmaker Maya Deren pushed the creative use of montage early on in her highly stylized and alternative form of cinematic storytelling. She used montage to juxtapose different narrative storylines and edit together dramatically different scenes to create extraordinary shifts in time, space and place. Her experiments with temporal shifts and spatial jumps influenced future styles in editing, adding to the time-based language that formed in the later part of last century. I would even venture that her films, which were far and away from the commercial or the conventional were very early manifestations of a time-based visual art form. This is especially true given that she often shot (or set up the shots) stared in and edited the works on her own, making them creative expressions of personal intention.

Superimposition is the ability to make a single composite image from two or more frames, clips or shots. In effect a composite image is a blending of two or more images, or better still, layers. The composite is made through any one of a number of means including; levels of transparency and opacity; chromakeying, using a blue, green or other solid colored screen to drop out part of the image and replace and it with something else and other layering as described in the proceeding paragraph. It is similar to collage in pictorial art, in that you are indeed layering the imagery. The difference is that it moves in time and each layer can also move with its own independent time. In a time-based media superimposition can also "bend" time, bringing past, present and future into the same frame. Much like montage, it too can present the viewer with types of experiences that exist out of time, such as dream states. It can also change spatial relations by bringing any number of images together in the same frame.

Superimposition can even be used in a manner similar to the glaze effects in oil painting. The digital tools used for working in this time-based form allow for an image to be broken down into layers. Each layer can have independent attributes from transparency to blending effects and more. Blending refers to the under-layer’s influence on the layer above it, quite the opposite from oil paint where the top layer is the greater influencer. As the digital image deals with luminous or emitted light versus reflective light in pigment (the pixel as opposed to pigment) you can determine what types of actions a blending mode, or layer, can have. This can range for the simplest affect as in the amount of transparency to more complex relations such as additive or subtractive levels of a colors influence.

[1] Eisenstein, S. (1969). Film Form: Essays in Film Theory.

[2] Ortny, A. (1993). Metaphor and Thought. Essay, Reddy Michael J.

[3] Minor, V. H. (1994). Art History’s History. Prentice Hall

[4] Dickens, C. (1910).Christmas Carol. Edison Manufacturing Company. USA.

[5] Capra, F. Director. (1947). It’s a Wonderful Life. Van Doren Stern, P. Goodrich, F. (writers). Liberty Films. USA.

[6] Quentin T. Director. (1994 ). Pulp Fiction. Tarantino, Q. Avary,R. A Band Apart.USA.

[7] Tykwer, T. Director. (1998). Lola Rennt. (Run Lola Run). Tykwer. T. (writer). X-Filme Creative Pool. Germany.

[8] Figgis , M. Director (2000). Timecode. Figgis, M. (writer). Red Mullet Productions. USA.

So truly avoid departing from the musicality of the visual image and DO NOT rely on actual music to structure, inform or help to express content in the final work

[9] Nolan, C. Director. (2000). Memento. Nolan, C. Nolan, J. (writers). Newmarket Capital Group. France.

FORMAT:

1.The final work should be no less then 45 seconds no more then three minutes.

2.Save your work in two formats as DVNTSC (720 x 480) for archiving and H.264 (640 x 480) to upload to the iDisk proper folder for the assignment. remember to label your file properly.

3.Leave 3 seconds of black at the front and end of your work

4.Include a title with your name, title- “A4 Conversations With Yourself” and a date

5.Include in your credits any sources you use for copyrighted material (most likely audio).

6. See the beginning of this letter for your your DVD should be made.

Assignment 5 FINAL: "Room to Room in a Memory Palace"

Pictorial space, framal reference and composing image-driven narratives for time-based work.

DUE: Low-Rez Version December in my public iDisk folder. High-Rez Version and all work done (A1-5) in class complied on a inkjet (or laser) printable DVD with a nicely designed label including the following:

YOUR NAME

NMD 304 Fall 2008

Contact Information (Address, Phone, Email and website [if you have one]).

All work must be on the DVD and the DVD must be in a thin jewel case.

You must design an excellent jewel case insert cover for your disc (inkjet or laser jet printed preferred no ugly marker stuff).

REQUIREMENTS:There are two themes that you must work with in this final piece, time and memory. Create an "image-driven" narrative dealing with your interpretation of the concept of memory based on the initial research and notes from the beginning of the course. Consider "time" as a thematic element of this work. Use it along with memory to create the visual narrative that will drive the work.

This final work must be serious in its overall expression (avoid humor or absurdity; dark humor or dark satire is acceptable). Your goal is to make a work that is thought provoking, compelling to watch and evokes reflection. The work must compel to viewer to deeply consider its meaning and engage them in a state of cognitive interaction.

This project is to have no spoken or written words nor symbols used to advance the narrative. You can and should employ a sound track that  uses ambient sound along with a subtle musical score to enhance the thematic and emotional impact of the narrative. Do not make anything that resembles a music video in any way whatsoever. All music and sounds should be original or copyright free.

As in all works for this class build upon everything you have done so far to create this final work. In doing this do not use the principles just to include them but use them to advance the narrative or to express meaning and content.

The entire work is to be in black and white only (with a full range of grays in between no high  contrast). You can shoot in color but you must de-saturate it in the end. Because of this think about the native colors of the clothes people  are wearing, objects, furniture and so forth. You might experiment and see how certain colors appear darker when desaturated. For example red goes quite dark when desaturated. Once you have a master edit (the final cut of the work) desaturate it and work with enhancing and balancing the values (brightness and darkness) to achieve an overall cohesive look. Remember, you are in control, the camera and software is not, you can see what does not look right and re-shoot or adjust it in post-production.

Your final work should ideally not exceed three minutes nor be under one minute in length. This work must have the highest standard of production value. All lighting, sound, camera work and editing must be of the best quality.

BACKGROUND: (In class we discussed pictorial space and framal reference and went on to discuss the space which the camera sees and captures.) The image that the "cinematic eye" (video camera) "sees" (reproduces) shares the same qualities of composition as other images created through fixed means such as drawing, graphic design or photography. In the shifting and moving imagery that the cinematic eye sees attention to composition and control of the pictorial space are still essential in the creation of compelling work. Pictorial design (not graphic) means being aware of every single aspect of the image that the camera sees. From the features of your actors down to textures on fabric. All things must be considered and chosen for meaning and expression of content. The idea of "attention to detail" (not leaving anything to chance) is crucial in creating a truly successful work.

Before the introduction of color filmmakers paid special attention to the pictorial composition of the work. The works of Ingmar Bergman are excellent examples of composing in a time-based medium. Many of his works demonstrate his masterful sense of cinematic composition. "Wild Strawberries" and "The Seventh Seal" are two that are worth viewing to see how he composes for a moving image in black and white.

PROJECT DETAILS: You are to create a narrative that centers around a theme of time and memory and use at least two distinct spaces as metaphors for time clauses (verb tenses); of which the three major ones are past, present and or future. These spaces are to be quite distinct from one another and you are to cut back and forth from one to another to create your narrative. You need only work with two time clauses but but may work with as many as you like.

You may not realize it but there are actually 12 different (subtle though they are) time clauses or verb tenses in the English language: Simple Present / Present Continuous / Simple Past / Past Continuous / Present Perfect / Present Perfect Continuous / Past Perfect / Past Perfect Continuous / Simple Future / Future Continuous / Future Perfect / Future Perfect Continuous

(a great website to really explore these is http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepresent.html )

Again remember this project has four key things to it:

1. Thematically centered on time and memory.

2. The image (as well as action) driving the narrative.

3. Space (a very defined place that the action or scene occurs in) is used as a metaphor to express a time clause or time frame.

4. Cinematic composition is essential to create visually compelling works that express content, psychology and emotion.

The work does not have to be linear (sequential) nor does it have to concrete (literal). It may be very non-linear and abstract. But no matter what it must be compelling to watch and not so abstract that we are unable to interpret it and and enter into a cognitive interaction with it.

FORMAT:

1. The final work should be no less then one minute and ideally no more then three minutes in length.

2. Save your work in two formats as DVNTSC (720 x 480) for archiving and H.264 (640 x 480) to upload to the iDisk proper folder for the assignment. remember to label your file properly.

3. Leave 3 seconds of black at the front and end of your work

4. Include a title with your name, title- “A5 Room to Room in a Memory Palace” and a date

5. Include in your credits any sources you use for copyrighted material (most likely audio).

6. See the beginning of this letter for your DVD should be made.

ALTERNATE ASSIGNMENT LIST:

Assignment: How do we understand time?

Objectives:  Please write in 150 to 250 words what you think time is in terms of experience and how you think it can be used in art or design as an expressive or communicative form. This is to be all original thought no research or paraphrasing of anyone else’s ideas. You are to do this in a word document.

Assignment: Image-Poem / Visual Thought

Objective:To create a poem that is expressed solely through image not word images rather than words. Unlike the prior assignment this time you will “write” the poem. A poem in this instance being defined as a complete self-contained set of images in “time-based-verse” that is set in “lines” of a particular length and uses, rhythm, metaphor, imagery and perhaps “visual-rhyme” to achieve its expressive effect. The idea in this assignment is to avoid thinking in “words” or of image as word, but to try to see an image as a pure moment in thought or perception. Moreover, it would be better to endeavor to focus on the synthesis or newly formed merged-idea that comes from multiple image combinations.

Challenge:

1. •You are limited to using still images only, preferably these images are original and uniquely created by you. Try to avoid culling all your images from the net. Also try to leave images relatively unaltered (I would urge only cropping and adjusting color or contrast at most).
   

2. •Be as creative and expressive as you can.
   

3. •Use temporal presence, repetition, pattern sequence etc.
   

4. •You can have sound with this but it must be subtle and not musical only acting to enhance not define.
   

5. •The “poem” you create must be 5 “stanzas” with 3 “lines” per stanza (image number per line is up to you). How you interpret and achieve this is up to you. You must create the effect of the “line break” and the refrain between stanzas. Your final Image poem should be exactly 1 minute and 20 seconds long.
   

endeavor to focus on the synthesis or newly formed merged-idea that comes from multiple image

Consider:

• Remember the kinds of poetic structure discussed be clear in your own intention of form in what you are making.

• Focus on the relation between images rather than on the implied or interpretative qualities of a single image.

• Think of the effects of the following: time or duration, speed of change, repetition, pause (empty blank screen).

Assignment: Sequence and Vision • Frame • Clip • Sequence

OBJECTIVE: To re-express the poem, The Green Fuse (see end for poem and watch posted lecture) using the principles and elements of a time-based medium. You are to artistically and creatively use all the time-based principles; montage, superimposition, frame rate and duration; in creating your final work. It is to be done through a series of sequences of edited clips wherein no edited clip can exceed 12 frames and no sequence can be less then two clips or more then five. The overall clips used must be at least 70% original material and the rest may be of "found" clips from other sources (internet, movies etc). You are to think of the sequences that you create as being self-contained sets in a “time-based-verse” that are set in “lines” of a particular length and use the time-based elements of clip, frame and sequence to visually establish rhythm (through the editing), metaphor through the contrast of edited image to image, symbol and index through choice of image as metaphor and montage or superimpositions. The idea in this assignment is to avoid being literal and thinking in “words” or of image as word, but to try to see an image as a pure moment in thought or perception. Moreover, it would be better to endeavor to focus on the synthesis or newly formed merged-idea that comes from multiple image combinations.

TASK, CHALLENGE & GOALS:

• You use the poem The Green Fuse

• Create a voice over of reading of the of poem, this will direct the length and overall audio but you can use ambient sounds to set mood feeling and so forth.

• Use at least 70% original clips or all your own and some still images uniquely captured by you to interpret the poem.

• When putting your images into “poetic verse” have try to mimic the feeling of word, line stanza and refrain think timing and duration.

• Avoid using images too literally to express direct meaning, i.e., an image of a “dog” to communicate the idea of a “dog”. Concentrate on “image to image” relations to create meaning. Strive to use image as metaphor. Work with concrete vs. abstract. Use visual metaphor.

• Don't go crazy with effects do the most with montage and editing. For the most part effects should be limited to color balance and trying to get the overall work to be cohesive.

• Your finished project should have three seconds of black at the beginning and end (you can determine where and how you want title credits).

•Your final project must have demonstrate ac lear visual intention throughout work. It should be well produced with good pictorial composition, lighting effects color etc.

CONSIDER:

• Take into account the form or structure of what you are making. Try to conceptualize it or “see” in a designed way.

• Focus on the relation between two or more sequences rather than on the implied or interpretative qualities of a single sequence in other words the ideas of montage from Sergi Eisenstein's theories.

• Think of the effects of the following: time or duration, speed of change, repetition, pause (empty blank screen).

PROCESS:

1 Record audio and listen over and over again

2. 2.Write down what you see as images
   

3. 3.For any direct or literal imagery think of how to show it as visual metaphor or abstraction
   

4. 4.shoot a 10-1 ratio so you have more then you need
   

5. 5.Edit it down use repetition, freeze frame all the tricks you can to make a coherent piece that again has a visual intention.
   

FORMAT:.

1. •Save your work in two formats as DVNTSC (720 x 480) for archiving and H.264 (640 x 480) to upload to the iDisk proper folder for the assignment. remember to label your file properly.
   

2. •Leave 3 seconds of black at the front and end of your work
   

3. •Include a title with your name, title- A6 Clip Frame Sequence Poetry and a date
   

4. •Include i your credits any sources you use for copyrighted material (although not for the images them selves in this particular work.
   

The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower

Dylan Thomas

(http://www.dylanthomas.com/)

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower

Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees

Is my destroyer.

And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose

My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.

The force that drives the water through the rocks

Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams

Turns mine to wax.

And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins

How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

The hand that whirls the water in the pool

Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind

Hauls my shroud sail.

And I am dumb to tell the hanging man

How of my clay is made the hangman's lime.

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;

Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood

Shall calm her sores.

And I am dumb to tell a weather's wind

How time has tricked a heaven round the stars.

And I am dumb to tell the lover's tomb

How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.

Assignment: The Poetics of Time

Time, and how we perceive it is one of the most crucial aspects of the kinds of work we are investigating in this class. It is important that we practice working directly with time in order to understand it, not simply as an effect to use without consideration, but as a wholly expressive element to communicate content and concept. The advancement of the digital tool for creating time-based imagery as opposed film allows the creative individual a more immediate means of working and greater range of possibilities. There are many types of fluctuations in time that are available for use these include; forward and reverse, fast and slow frame rate, time-lapse, freeze frame and stutter step.

The reason this particular project is titled “the poetics of time,” is that you are going to co-opt aspects of poetic structure that can be used in creating the visual arrangement for this next project. This is a new project never assigned before therefore there are no examples to look at. This means you will have to use your imagination and rely upon what you gathered front he lecture and even perhaps from spending some time reading poetry to get the sense of timing in poetic verse.

Please consider the ideas raised in the lecture about as to the relation between the structural language of poetry and the visual one of time-based work,

REQUIREMENTS:

1. •Determine a theme for you project:
   

2. •This can be based around  the basic concepts of “burial” and “discovery.” Use these terms as departure points try to be metaphoric in relation to them rather then literal, but do use them as a starting point for developing the conceptual and narrative aspects of the piece.
   

3. •Create list of what scenes and or visual elements you think would best visually show your concept (tell the “story,” although I am feign to use the word story as I don’t want you to end up with a traditional narrative).
   

4. •Develop a shot list that is extensive and will allow you to get more then you might actually need.
   

5. •Make sure that you are thinking/planning if shooting things that have a good deal of movement.
   

6. •Shoot at about 3 or 5 to 1 ratio, meaning that shoot x amount more time then you need (a five minute piece would therefore require about 15-25 minutes of footage that you can edit the piece out of).
   

OR

1. •Decide on a series of at least 21 shots at least 30-45 seconds each that have action and that you determine have a poetic relation
   

2. •You should think of shooting sequences like birds flying; dog running; river flowing, a man shovels snow--and so forth
   

3. •In this instance the narrative can be quite open in form
   

4. •the proceed as you were asked above
   

5. •Create list of what scenes and or visual elements you think would best visually show your concept (tell the “story,” although I am feign to use the word story as I don’t want you to end up with a traditional narrative).
   

6. •Develop a shot list that is extensive and will allow you to get more then you might actually need.
   

7. •Make sure that you are thinking/planning if shooting things that have a good deal of movement.
   

8. •Shoot at about 3 or 5 to 1 ratio, meaning that shoot x amount more time then you need (a five minute piece would therefore require about 15-25 minutes of footage that you can edit the piece out of)
   

Once you have basically shot a relatively linear work then you must edit it down to about 45 to 60 seconds again as a relatively linear work.

Now the real process begins as you must analyze what you have shot and determine how you can break it up into pieces that can still visually deliver the concept and the narrative yet do so through a rhythmic patterning of  the elements of time;

forward and reverse, fast and slow frame rate, time-lapse, freeze frame and stutter step and so forth.

1. •Restructure the work to have a poetic phrasing: word, line and stanza
   

2. •Try to set the work up so visually it feels like we are seeing groupings of poetic lines that have a rhyming pattern set into stanzas
   

3. •Use the elements of time to create your rhythms
   

4. •You must explore at least 3 of the five mentioned above
   

STRUCTURE: The overall structure of either of the above should be an attempt to see your video as being composed of 3 or more “stanzas” that each contain four lines that rhyme in couplets as in the example of the poem by Robert Frost below:

A Winter Eden

A winter garden in an alder swamp,

Where conies now come out to sun and romp,

As near a paradise as it can be

And not melt snow or start a dormant tree.

It lifts existence on a plane of snow

One level higher than the earth below,

One level nearer heaven overhead,

And last year's berries shining scarlet red.

It lifts a gaunt luxuriating beast

Where he can stretch and hold his highest feat

On some wild apple tree's young tender bark,

What well may prove the year's high girdle mark.

So near to paradise all pairing ends:

Here loveless birds now flock as winter friends,

Content with bud-inspecting. They presume

To say which buds are leaf and which are bloom.

A feather-hammer gives a double knock.

This Eden day is done at two o'clock.

An hour of winter day might seem too short

To make it worth life's while to wake and sport.

So, you are to metaphorically relate the visual structure of video to the verbal structure of poetry. Do not do literal relations such as shooting images that rhyme like a bat, a hat and a cat. Instead make the relational metaphor happen through rhythmic sets of timing of shots composed in the individual “lines” then between between two “lines” as in:

LINE ONE: Forward fast, forward fast, 5 frames slow, forward fast, forward fast, 5 frames slow, freeze frame (made for a series of shots or one shot )

LINE Two: stutter step, slow motion, slow motion stutter step, reverse, reverse, forward, freeze frame (made for a series of shots or one shot )

In the above description both lines end on a freeze frame which is the “rhyme” the lines word structure is how you divide up and distinguish time (forward, reverse, fast slow stutter etc.) these can be rhythmic but do not need to be they can also be made from several clips or from one.

AUDIO: In this work you can use audio, but you cannot use music, any audio you use must be ambient sounds or found sounds they can be structured along with the visual components of the work and share in common aspects of the rhythm of the piece. Again no matter what you cannot use music nor must the sound end up seeming to musical.

FORMAT

• Your final work can be no longer then 2 minutes

1. •Save your work in two formats as DVNTSC (720 x 480) for archiving and H.264 (640 x 480) to upload to the iDisk proper folder for the assignment. remember to label your file properly.
   

2. •Leave 3 seconds of black at the front and end of your work
   

3. •Include a title with your name, title- The Poetics of Time and a date
   

4. •Include i your credits any sources you use for copyrighted material (although not for the images them selves in this particular work
   

5. •USE ONLY ORIGINAL FOOTAGE
   

Assignment: Sound Poem / Vox Humana the Wordless Voice

Sound is perhaps one of the oldest forms of time-based media there is. Ancient cultures used the word spoken, recited (poetic verse) and sung to teach, entertain and transfer essential of the aspects of their cultures. The spoken word accompanied by music is among the most powerful forms of creativity expression there is.  Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo carried on a debate about the hierarchy of the arts, as to which was more supreme painting or sculpture. Although they never resolved the debate they both agreed music was the highest form as it was pure, being least influenced by association through the intellect. In its most abstract form, sound, without reference to image or the narrative of a story can evoke meaning and profound emotion.

Sound and vision the combination of image with musical forms is highly seductive and compelling. Unfortunately, we have overloaded our senses with sound from music videos to its overuse in conjunction with cinema as an all to obvious indicator of how we should feel at a given moment. We end up filtering out many sounds missing the subtleties that exist around us. In our daily lives we are bombarded with a plethora of sounds from the natural forms in nature like wind, bird song and rustling leaves to all the noises from the devices we create. When making time-based pieces the first inclination is to add sound as if the empty audio space, “around the image,” is something that needs to be filled.

The goal in this project is to see if an array of seemingly unintentional, unrelated sounds can be organized using the poetic structure that we have been employing, to evoke or convey meaning. For this project you are to “write” a poem with sound. Working only with ambient or “found” sound you will assemble the sound clips into a meaningful poetic structure. The final objective is to evoke image and to express an idea built conceptually from these ambient sounds alone.

NOTE: There are three examples at iTunesU under NMD 304

TASK, CHALLENGE & GOALS:

• Use ambient, no spoken-word, sound clips to create a poetic structure and impart meaning.

• Develop an initial intention or idea that you want to work towards and convey.

• First gather, harvest, collect a good deal of sounds clips or bites these should all be ambient or found. No music clips or musical instruments, etc.

• Be inventive and creative in finding your sounds.

• Make every attempt to leave the sound clips as unaltered in terms of effects as possible. Try limiting yourself to only playing with clip speed, direction and length and small amounts of things like echo or filtering.

• Listen to your sounds, over and over until you find that sound which is the “kernel” which seems to be the starting point from which you can build your poetic structure.

• Concentrate on “sound to sound” relations to create meaning, strive towards a metaphoric way of conveying meaning. Avoid being too literal.

• Try to be pure in thought do not think of words but really try to understand how sounds can “fit” together to create a designed structure.

• Avoid over intellectualizing this process striving to be intuitive and feel the meaning more then rationalize it.

• The final length of the finished piece should no more then a minute and a half.

CONSIDER:

• Take into account the form or structure of what you are making. Try to conceptualize it or “see” in terms of poetic structure more then a musical one.

• Focus on the relation between your sounds.

• Think of the effects of the following: time or duration, speed of change, repetition, pause (silence)

• Remember the simple overruling principle of design, “contrast is everything.”

FORMAT: Please save you sound files must be either AAC or MP3 with appropriate file extensions of “.m4a” or “.mp3”. uploaded into the A4 folder in my public iDisk.

Assignment: Sound and Vision

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this assignment is straightforward.  Using the sound poem that you created in “A4 Sound Poem” you are to “time-form” composition” for it based on the discussions and work we have done in class so far. In particular I want you to focus on the principles and elements of a time based media (refer to lecture, post below and email) in creating the final time-form work. You must decide which one or combination of the principles of a time-based art form you want to use to structure your work. You are to use any or all of the principles as the conceptual framework of the piece. This is important as you are not to build a traditional narrative in the sense of Aristotle's poetics, having a identifiable story arch from beginning to middle to end, but to build the narrative based on image to image and image to sound.

TASK, CHALLENGE & GOALS:

• First take time to brain storm and write down what you think you were conceptually intending in your sound piece and which one or combination of time-based principles would best provide a narrative structure  or the frame-work for the piece.

• Think of the “frame” as discussed as the single smallest division in the work then clip, then sequence and start to imagine and plot out how you will compose the visual component of the time-form using the elements. You can work with still (freeze frame i.e., multiple same frames to create a “still” image).

• Create, gather, harvest, collect frames, clips and build sequences Be as creative as possible iI would rather all work be original by a 70/30 relation is OK (70% being original).

• Assemble images and/or clips into a structure that is neither dependent nor wholly independent from your sound but shares a symbiotic relationship. In other words do not simply syncopate the image to the sound. Think point and counterpoint as discussed in the lecture relative to music as in this description taken form Wikipedia:

“In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm, and interdependent in harmony. It has most commonly been identified in Western music, developing strongly in the Renaissance, and also dominant in much of the common practice period, especially in Baroque music.”

• Avoid clichés or too instances of images that are literal or concrete representations of the sound, strive towards metaphor thinking not in iconic relationships but more in symbolic or indexical.

• Avoid over intellectualizing this process and endeavor to be more intuitive then rational.

• You may repeat your sound poem up to three times, with a different image set in each “refrain”, as long as the overall piece does not exceed 5 minutes.

• You may not change any aspect o f the original sound poem except to speed up or slow down the entire original score (you can do one “phrase or verse” with is faster then slower then faster).

• Include an opening credit “Title, By J. Doe NMD 304 Sound and Vision” with a one second pause before you begin (this does not count in overall time).

• Make sure you consider how you begin and end the work.

CONSIDER:

• Think of how you can bring the viewer into the work, don’t just “pop” begin from black.

• Imagine if the images were there without sound if they would still convey the meaning of the work.

• Really push yourself to do your absolute best work.

• Save your work in two formats as DVNTSC (720 x 480) for archiving and H.264 (640 x 480) to upload to the iDisk proper folder for the assignment. remember to label your file properly.

• Leave 3 seconds of black at the front and end of your work.

• Include a title with your name, title- Sound and Vi\sion and a date.

• Include your credits any sources you use for copyrighted material (although not for the images them selves in this particular work.

The Principles of a Time-Based Art Form:

Over the last hundred years a cinematic “language” has been established that contains two important distinctions in how a cinematic visual narrative is constructed through mise en scène or montage. In the former, the visual narrative is straightforward. One shoots and shows the narrative time in a scene, as it would be in life, with no cutting or editing away form the scene or a change in the angle of the camera, the point of view. The later allows for a more complex type of visual narrative to be constructed. One can shift the scenes point of view by cutting form one camera angle to another. Or the scenes narrative structure can be visually altered by instances editing back and forth or cutting away to other scenes outside of the contest of the primary one.

The cinematic concept of mise en scène is very specific to cinema as it deals more traditionally with how a narrative is seen and shown, as such I will not include it among the principles of time-based art. Montage, on the other hand is quite different. We will use part of the cinematic definition but extrapolate and add to it as well. Montage is one of the four major principles, along with superimposition, frame-rate and duration, of the digital time-based art form. I make the distinction between the principles, mentioned immediately before, and the elements, frame, clip, sequence and time-form or composition, which I’ll address later. The distinction is made because the principles address larger themes. They can operate independently or in combination while the elements by necessity are interdependent. They exist in sum in any given digital time-based visual artwork.

The principles, montage, superimposition, frame-rate and duration are best seen as fundamental qualities that have numerous and wide application across the breadth of the medium. They operate both structurally and descriptively giving voice to narrative through expression, meaning and concept. Either of the four can be used solely as overarching independent structures of a work without loss or compromise. The combination of these increases the dynamic potential of the work. A time-based work can be formally centered round the single use of superimposition (or any one of the principles) to the exclusion of the other three and still be a strong and vital representation of the form. The artist can also use the principles more expressively and interpretatively as they have a strong relation to semiotics and metaphor. While the elements, frame, clip, and sequence are rudimentary and rely upon one another in forming the whole of a given time-based artwork’s formal structure.

Lets begin with montage. The Soviet concept of it shaped the way in which modern time-based works are conceived. Filmmakers such as Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov and Vsevolod Pudovkin developed early theories on the montage effect. Among the Russian filmmaking pioneers was Sergei Eisenstein, who believed that montage could convey powerful ideas and concepts; unlike the French idea of montage as simply cutting clips or sequences together into a scene, he proposed a more powerful effect from a unique use of montage

Eisenstein saw that when two individual shots or clips, each with a discrete meaning, collided (were cut together, i.e., montage), from this collision of independent a third meaning, separate from the two can be inferred. The idea is similar to concepts in semiotics and the formation of meaning in language through the relationship of signs, symbols, icons and indexes.

Montage, enables us to create complex levels of meaning and it also allows for time to be shown in a non-linear way, i.e., running back and forth, skipping from present to past and future. Early examples of flash back and forward were expertly explored in the classic films, “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” among others.

Contemporary examples of the use of montage to create alternate narrative structures that utilize more complex shits in temporality are the movies “Pulp Fiction” (Quentin Tarantino was perhaps one of the first to really try to push the temporal shifts in a given work), “Run Lola Run,” “Time Code,” and “Memento.” A creative use of montage can present the viewer with types of experiences that exist out of time and space, such as dream states, empowering the creator of the work with an incredible temporal and spatial malleability.

American filmmaker Maya Deren pushed the creative use of montage further in her highly stylized and alternative form of cinematic storytelling. She used montage to juxtapose different narrative storylines and edit together dramatically different scenes to create extraordinary shifts in time and place. Her experiments with temporal shifts and spatial jumps influenced future styles in editing, adding to the time-based language that formed in the later part of last century. I would even venture that her films, which were far and away from the commercial or the conventional were very early manifestations of the time-based visual art form. This is especially true given that she often shot (or set up the shots) stared in and edited the works on her own, making them creative expressions of personal intention.

Superimposition is the ability to make a single composite image from two or more frames, clips or shots. In effect a composite image is a blending of two or more images, or better still, layers. The composite is made through any one of a number of means including; levels of transparency and opacity; chromakeying, using a blue, green or other solid colored screen to drop out part of the image and replace and it with something else and other layering as described in the proceeding paragraph. It is similar to collage in pictorial art, in that you are indeed layering the imagery. The difference is that it moves in time and each layer can also move with its own independent time. In a time-based media superimposition can also "bend" time, bringing past and future into the same frame as the present. Much like montage, it too can present the viewer with types of experiences that exist out of time, such as dream states. It can also change spatial relations as you can bring any number of things together in the same frame.

Superimposition can even be used in a manner similar to the glaze effects in oil painting. The digital tools used for working in this time-based form allow for an image to be broken down into layers. Each layer can have independent attributes from transparency to blending effects. Blending refers to the under-layer’s influence on the layer above it, quite the opposite from oil paint where the top layer is the greater influencer. As the digital image deals with luminous or emitted light versus reflective (the pixel as opposed to pigment) you can determine what types of actions a blending mode, or layer, can have. This can range for the simplest affect as in the amount of transparency to more complex relations such as additive or subtractive levels of a colors influence.

Frame rate refers to the ability to vary the speed of the film in adjusting the rate of the moving frame by showing more or less frames per second. The minimum amount of frames needed for relatively smooth motion is, arguably, twelve frames. This is minimum is referred to as persistence of vision. In the early years of analog filmmaking one had to hand crank the camera in order to advance the film. By varying the speed at which one cranked the camera a cinematographer could achieve slow motion; over cranking, greater frames per second or fast motion; under-cranking, less frames per second.

Using the digital tool this can now be done either wile shooting or in postproduction. When done in shooting it requires an expensive professional camera (like the Panasonic Vari-Frame) that allow you to shoot in an adjustable frame rate. By increasing the frames per second you can create slow-motion and the opposite effect, time-lapse, or fast-motion results from decreasing the number of frames per second just like the older method of hand-cranking. In postproduction you can use the computer to easily speed up or slow down an image. It must be pointed out that when using a computer to slow down an image digitally at a certain point it becomes a bit “choppy,” This is due to the fact that you are not really adding “true” frames with new pictorial information. The computer is creating extra frames and blends of frames based on mathematical algorithms that interpret and generate an inter-frame based on the visual information between two individual frames. To further slow down the image digitally requires even more inter-frames to be created that, again, causes the motion to be much less smooth. This effect is sometimes desirable.

The computers power imparts a temporal malleability to this art form that allows for the exploration of time through its direct and visceral expansion, contraction and even to bring it to a complete stop. Apart from the mere analysis of motion, that slow motion and its opposite reveals, variability in frame rate is a highly expressive tool. The temporal qualities of a digital time-based visual artwork, the adjustments and shifts in time that can be created in a sequence, have strong similarities to the temporal shifts in music and even to the rhythm and pacing of the recited poetic verse.

Duration is independent of frame-rate as it is the amount of time for which something is shown or continues not the speed of the thing shown. Duration is highly important in a time-based art form as it can be used to create great rhythmic structures. In one sense it provides a kind of musical structuring. You can use duration to create visual beat even matching the tempo of a musical score.

You can achieve counterpoint through the frequency and contrasting amounts of duration in a work. Unlike superimposition that relies on the computers power, duration was achievable in an analog form but the computer allows for it to be pushed beyond what could be physically achieved by hand. Although much simpler in concept t then montage and the other principles it is singularly effective in creating dynamic visual structure.

A young filmmaker Jørgen Leth in the film De Fem benspænd, (The Five Obstructions), challenges elder filmmaker, Lars von Trier, to remake his film, The Perfect Human, five times, each one with a different set of obstructions. One of these is to limit edits to no more then twelve frames. The resulting work is perhaps one of the more excellent examples of duration, as well as the elements, used in a time-based art form. I refer to the piece as an artwork as Trier’s original work The Perfect Human, and De Fem benspænd are not created in traditional cinematic context. Like the work of Maya Deren they are experimental and artistic works that are highly divergent from mainstream commercial filmmaking.

Elements of a Time-Based Art:

In every art there is finite set of elements that are the basic building blocks of the particular art form and as such are unique in every individual art. In painting it is the point, line, plane, plane and shape (as well as tint, shade and color but for our purposes will not include these). In a time-based art form it is the frame, clip, sequence and scene. How the artists understands and uses the formal elements in the creation of a time-based medium are important to define and consider.

But first lets examine point, line plane and shape in terms of geometric theory. The Greek mathematician Euclid (c. 300 BC), in his Elements of Geometry describes the postulates the following:

A point is that which has no part.

A line is breathless length.

The extremities of a line are points.

A plane is breathless length and width.

The extremities of a plane are lines.

A Form is breathless length, width and depth.

The extremities of a form are planes.

A comparison can be made with the elements of a time-based art form. In so doing it will help the artist working in this form to more deeply see the individual parts relation to the whole and understand in the end the Euclidean notion the whole is greater then the sum of its parts. The comparison I ma referring to is as follows:

A frame is that which has no part.

A clip is breathless length.

The extremities of a clip are frames.

A sequence is breathless length and duration.

The extremities of a sequence are clips.

A time-form is breathless length, duration and time.

The extremities of a time-form are sequences.

If we accept the assertion that the basic element of a time-based work is the frame then it becomes readily apparent how the formal structure for an entire work can be built around this tiniest of elements. The digital tool allows for us to easily separate out this basic element and for the artist to work individually and facilely with it.  By understanding that the frame is, in essence, a manifestation of the very original fixed-image that historically preceded time-based work the artist can understand several things. These include, how to visually compose the pictorial aspects of the composition and how to begin and end a work. It is also important for the time-based artist to take care that the individual frame is considered, full of intention and charged with the same creative integrity that is in the entire work.

The clip in a time-based work is simply any number of frames beyond one. It is a very unique concept quite unlike the cinematic idea of a shot where mise en scène is the goal. In a time-based work the clip does not have to contain an entirety of action, purpose, or narrative. The clip is a brief independent visual “mark” that moves in time. It is very much akin to the mark in drawing or the individual word in a poem; a singular aspect that in itself does not describe nor complete the work. Alone by itself it may, in a very general sense, refer to something but it has no extended meaning or narrative. It can show action event, but unlike the cinematic shot he clip only begins to act as a part of the language of the medium, it is not language itself and must be seen as mute to a degree unable to communicate anything beyond the most minimal.

The sequence is where the language of this medium begins to reveal itself. A sequence contains a series of clips; the relation from one clip to one another is what begins to generate meaning. In principle it is related to the concept of semiotics as the individual clips can act as a kind of sign and signifier. In a sequence the contrast of the clips is what leads to expression in line with the thinking of Sergei Eisenstein. It is from the continued succession of collisions of different clips in a sequence that meaning is generated. In understanding this the time-based artist has a very powerful tool for expressing content, developing thematic ideas and working towards creating narrative structures.

I used the term “time-form” to refer to the overall structure of the completed work. I chose specifically not to refer to it as a movie or a video as the time-based work does not (and in my opinion should not) have that convention and contextualization applied to it. The time-form has a structure that is open not closed. It is a structure that contains a “new push-pull between static/fixed and motion/moving. It is important to recognize this is not a simple relation of opposites though, for it only fully functions when they happen simultaneously, or are both present and absent, so one is never left with just one of the dualities, but is held in tension between them.” This holding of the tensions is what allows this form to become dynamic and break the conventions of other forms which have time-based qualities narrative forms and open the narrative. As I stated earlier, narratives written, spoken or performed are forms of time-based media and have similar qualities, such as the compression or expansion of time and the ability to shift between temporal states from present to past or future. What they cannot do is duplicate superimposition or approach the effects of montage. Further they lack the ability to allow duration to create rhythmic contrasts. Again, unlike the cinematic as this medium is not site or presentation specific there is no predetermination on the part of the viewer as to how they should accept or interpret the work.

Assignment: Sound Beat / Vox Humana the Wordless Voice

Objective: Can an array of seemingly unintentional, unrelated sounds be organized using the “poetic” structure that we have been employing, to convey meaning? You are to “write” a poem with sound. Workings only with ambient or “found” sound assemble your sound clips into a meaningful poetic structure.

To express through ambient sound an idea built conceptually through sound only. We link meaning to the assemblage of uttered sounds that we emit each day. We have spent thousand of years refining and organizing these sounds into patterns and “phrase” to create an intelligible system of communicating thought in all its manifestations from the literal to the abstract. But we still find meaning in wordless sounds from the deeply felt emotions and stirrings of music to the garbled sounds that we utter in anger or our own laughter.

Task, Challenge & Goals:

• To use ambient (non-spoken-word) sound clips to create a poetic structure and impart meaning

• Develop an initial intention or idea that you want to work towards and convey•

• First gather, harvest, collect a good deal of sounds clips or bites these should all be ambient or found. No music clips or musical instruments, etc. Be creative in finding sounds.

• Make every attempt to leave the sound clips as unaltered in terms of effects as possible. Try limiting yourself to only playing with clip speed, direction and length and small amounts of things like echo or filtering.

• Listen to your sounds, over and over until you find that sound which is the “kernel” which seems to be the starting point from which you can build your poetic structure.

• Concentrate on “sound to sound” relations to create meaning, strive towards a metaphoric way of conveying meaning. Avoid being too literal.

• Try to be pure in thought do not think of words but really try to understand how sounds can “fit” together to create a designed structure.

• Avoid over intellectualizing this process learn to be intuitive and feel more then be rational.

• The actual length of the finished piece should be the exact same time that your image poem was but, there is to be no relation between the two beyond the duration.

• The “poem” you create must be 5 “stanzas” with 3 “lines” per stanza (image number per line is up to you). How you interpret and achieve this is up to you. You must create the effect of the “line break” and the refrain between stanzas. Your final Image poem should be exactly 1 minute and 20 seconds long.

Consider:

• Take into account the form or structure of what you are making. Try to conceptualize it or “see” in terms of poetic or musical structure.

• Focus on the relation between your sounds.

• Think of the effects of the following: time or duration, speed of change, repetition, pause (silence).

• Remember my simple overruling principle of design, “contrast is everything”.

Assignment : SOUND & VISION/Sequence & Repetition in Poetic Structure

Objective: Using a limited set of images, both still and time-based create and expressive poetic structure that conveys an idea or concept through a repetition pattern structure. Include a “soundtrack” that enhances and interacts with the image system that you create. You are also to explore how sound combines with and both alters and is altered by image. In doing this you must also work towards a specific expressive goal. Unlike past explorations this one should be driven by an a priori concept, emotion, statement or idea that you wish to express.

Challenge: You have been working at trying to convey meaning without words through experimentation with image strings and semiotic combinations. For the most part many of you have been using some sort of repetition patterning. In this particular exploration you are to focus on building a strong repetition pattern structures or set of alternating or sequenced structures.

• Cull through still images and time-based clips that you have harvested and or collect additional ones.

• Choose a limited set of each (still and motion) to work with, focusing on the relation of image to image through rhythmic structure or pattern repetition structure.

• You may find it good to set a number limit prior to beginning such as using an odd even relation, for instance working with 18 (even) and 21 (odd) time-based clips.

• Really, intently focus on a pattern and rhythm that you can build and "build upon", more in any other assignment so far think of poetic verse that uses rhyme and repeating schemes along with musical structure such as beat, pace and time relationships.

• You can use ambient noise (any "found" noise) and also “create and add it in sequence to help reinforce the conceptual intent and rhythmic structure you are creating.

• Use no direct sampling of music, and no notes from a instrument (real or virtual).

• This particular poem must be broken into "clearly" perceivable "lines" and stanzas limit is 3-5 lines per stanza and no more than 3-7 stanzas.

• The final poem must be expressed digitally in a MAC compatible format. Please bring in only a Quicktime file no Windows media player or Flash files will be accepted.

• Please have a recognizable “beginning" title and your name

Consider:

• Take into account the form or structure of what you are making. Try to conceptualize it or “see” it a designed system.

• Pay attention to pattern and "sequence" repetition

Assignment: Time-Based Painting / ritual, devotion and sacrifice

rit  u al n

1. an established and prescribed pattern of observance, for example, in a religion

2. the performance of actions or procedures in a set, ordered, and ceremonial way (often used before a noun)

3. a formalized pattern of actions or words followed regularly and precisely (informal)

4. a set sequence of actions that an animal uses to communicate information or to reinforce social cohesion

5. an inflexible, stylized, and often repetitive sequence of actions, for example, repeated hand-washing, that may indicate an obsession

6. a book containing rites or ceremonial procedures, especially religious rites

adj

concerned with or practicing a rite

de•vo•tion n

1. deep love and commitment

2. great dedication and loyalty.

3. strong enthusiasm and admiration for somebody or something

4. fervent religious or spiritual feeling (formal)

5. the act of devoting something or being devoted to a particular purpose

sac ri fice n

1. a giving up of something valuable or important for somebody or something else considered to be of more value or importance

2. something valuable or important given up as a sacrifice

3. an offering to honor or appease a god, especially of a ritually slaughtered animal or person

4. something or somebody offered to honor or appease a god

5. a symbolic offering made to a god

6. a loss incurred by giving away or selling something below its value

7. in chess, an act or instance of allowing or forcing an opponent to take one of your pieces or pawns so that you can gain an advantage position

8. See sacrifice burnt

v

1. vt to give up somebody or something important or valued in exchange for somebody or something else that is considered more important or valuable

2. vt to allow somebody or something to be hurt, killed, or destroyed for your own advantage

3. vti to make an offering of a ritually slaughtered animal or person to a god

4. vt in chess, to allow or force one of your pieces or pawns to be taken by an opponent so that you can gain an advantage in position

5.  vi in baseball, to bunt the ball, expecting to be put out, in order to advance a base runne

Objective: This particular project introduces a word, as a central theme for you to “wrap” the concept of the project around. As you can see from the given definition of the word (see above) the idea most commonly relates to a religious interpretation, but in this project I want you to use the word only a point of departure not as a point of definition (although you can if you like). In other words work metaphorically not literally.

You are to make an individual time-based work. On the next two consecutive projects you will work with two words (sacrifice then devotion) in the end these individual works must be able to be “understood” together in context with one another. You must consider afore hand how they will work together in sequence as they will be a series or triptych of a sort. It is best to try to pre-conceptualize an idea that will be carried through all three projects (ritual sacrifice and devotion). You are to incorporate everything you have learned to date in class on these three assignments, poetic structure, phrasing, repetition, sequence, temporal difference and so forth.

Challenge & Considerations: How do you see ritual in the broadest context how do you engage in ritual? Consider these questions in a broad sense; seriously consider them beyond your own personal context. Can the any of these ideas or acts be considered, performed, undertaken without attachment to religious or spiritual consideration? These are only questions meant to help you begin to consider how to approach this project.

• This project is very “open” in terms of approach, in how you want to approach this it or how you make it (i.e., use of programs and effects and so forth) to how and what type of sound you include.

• Use of sound is acceptable, but avoid creation of anything that seems like a “music video”, i.e., music type sound synced up to image but consider that a devotional act can be similar to ritual and rituals often have some kind of “related musical, chanting element.”

• Experiment, experiment, experiment.

• Minimum length should be 1 minute. Maximum length is 3 minutes.

• Be prepared to explain, your work if questioned in the critique, know your intentions, reasons, purpose.

• Time, movement, lighting, sound, and the overall “design” of the work need to be thoughtfully considered and taken very seriously.

• The final format should be a Quick Time file. Size should be limited to “TV Safe” resolution NO SMALLER files.

• For each critique bring your work in QuickTime format.

Assignment 10: The “hero Cycle”: Final Project