tdde 151-Digital Video Design
This is a HYBRID course
SYLLABUS• *subject to change
check for updates in Weekly Lesson Plans
Fall 2021
Prof. Victoria Petrovich
4 units
GH104 (Theater & Dance Dept.)/or by Zoom
Office Hours: Wed. 3-4pm, and by appointment
cell: 760-497-8241
[email protected]
Thursdays 2-4:50 pm
In-person meetings: GH321 and sometimes GH 18b (Computer Lab)
Zoom meeting:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/93655802204
Meeting ID: 936 5580 2204
Course Website: www.digitalvideodesign.weebly.com
PW: given in class
(pr0jecti0n)
An introductory studio course that examines the field of projection design for theater and dance performance.
This course will build knowledge and skills in a series of conceptual, ,experiential, and technical assignments based on theoretical reading/discussion, practical ideation strategies, motion sequence techniques, and peer critiques of the assignments.
*Attendance and participation 20%
This course is built as synchronous, but all recordings can be accessed via Canvas:
• No unexcused absences-please contact me if you need to miss class, and for any make-up assignments
*Please contact the professor regarding the need to take the course asynchronously. This attendance requirement will be adapted for the entire class if anyone must take the course asynchronously. Written descriptions of process in lieu of live participation, and all assignments are due at the same time for everyone. Share any questions/comments in the live lesson plans and/or via email.
See additional campus resources and policies attached to the syllabus on Canvas
>. Contact me directly with any special needs.
*Assignments-10 weekly assignments (10% each=100%) that build to a final project (+ **supplemental paperwork); 2 Quizzes worth 15% ea. + *Attendance/participation @ 20%=150 total
1a. Color=emotional intensity scale slide presentation
1b. based on one of the 5 poems by Maya Angelou, create a digital collage (slideshow or pdf) using images that relate to the lines of the poem. DUE WK. 2
2. Stop Motion
3. TImelapse
4. Storyboard/s
5. Mediated character/simulation research board
6. Animatic (rough cut)
7. Title graphics
8. Interactivity proposal
9. Sound and music edits
10. Final video render
- 1 final project in lieu of a final exam:
*Assignments may be adapted to support student learning-adaptations noted in Lesson Plans
**Supplemental Paperwork: Action breakdown, Emotional Intensity Graph (with sublime statement), cuesheet (if we can access QLab on CloudLab) TBD
- 2 multiple choice quizzes on the reading assignments will be given approx. wks. 6/9 TBD 15% each
- Weekly Lesson Plans shared via g-doc. These live documents will have more details and any updates to the assignments
- 1 page written performance critique will be assigned that must be turned in by Week 11
- A second written performance critique can be used to make up an absence.
Course requirements
- No previous video/animation experience required
- Basic knowledge of computer OS (either Mac or PC)
- In-Person /Hybrid
- GH public computer lab will have multiple editing software available such as Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro; other UCSD labs may also have Final Cut Pro and Motion
- If working on your own computer, you will need to install the non-linear video editor of your choice if you don’t have one installed or through your OS
- Remote and In-person Options-note that the Adobe Creative Suite is NOT available on the UC Cloud Labs, only for individual student monthly rental - see options below
Some options other than the industry standards - Adobe Creative Suite (After Effects, Premier), or Apple’s Final Cut Pro, Motion - include:
- DaVinci Resolve (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/whatsnew)
- Shot Cut (https://shotcut.org/)
- iMovie (comes bundled with the MAC OS)
- Powerpoint and Keynote - slide presentation programs bundled with Windows and Mac OS. These have animation capabilities which allow you to animate stills and integrate motion graphics and moving film files-NOT the best choice, but an option
- Projection display software (Isadora and QLab Viceo) can be accessed for free online, but you can’t save your work-good for tests.
- Matrix for production alternative software created by ITS:
- Digital camera (mobile devices such as smartphones/iPads, etc. are all OK, but video editing on a smartphone is not recommended)
• No required textbooks (all required reading will be provided on course website and/or linked to syllabus and lesson plans)
Recommended Texts:
- Entangled-Technology and the Transformation of Performance–Chris Salter
- Live Movies-A Field Guide to New Media–Malone and Scott
- Understanding Comics-The Invisible Art–Scott McCloud
- Visual Methodologies: https://www.miguelangelmartinez.net/IMG/pdf/2001_Rose_Visual_Methodologies_book.pdf
- https://digitalvideodesign.weebly.com/bibliography.html
Course structure:
* Syllabus is updated with more detail as g-doc Lesson Plans for each class session
- Check-in, announcements, reading assignment discussion; 15 min. Break
- Student progress critique; view artists working in projection/video design/week’s topic (students are encouraged to share their own inspirations)
- Class activity or “Lab” work- either in teams or individually; demos and questions answered; next assignment introduced
Assignment due for this Thursday Week 0/Class 1
- Please read How to critique a work of art: Critical Response Processes–Liz Lehrman- we’ll discuss the 4 core steps of constructive response to an artist and their work of art in preparation for our future conversations about one another’s projects in this course
- Please view Wendall Harrington’s’ USITT Keynote address on empathy: (21:19)Wendall Harrington - USITT 2018 Keynote Speaker
- Bring your reasons for taking the course and your expectations; also share your college, major, and any of your latest passions (regardless of its connection to this course).
Part 1 Demystification
Week 0 - What is Projection Design? Historical overview on Zoom
System design
Collaborate with lighting
Content creation:
Animation
Stills
sound/midi
Copyright
- Introductions/course housekeeping (syllabus overview, expectations, questions, etc.)
- Discussion on Critical Response and Wendall Harrington’s Keynote address on Empathy
- time-based media: Refers to art that is dependent on technology and has a durational dimension
- Visual dramaturgy: Cultural context and Iconography discussion
Discussion: Early technology in performance: view Film Before Film • Historical devices:
- Asian magic mirrors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2SlMPmTgGY
- Pepper’s Ghost
- Camera Obscura
- Shadow play
- Magic Lantern
- Projection in performance: The Phantasmagoria
- What are the responsibilities of the projection designer? These will be on a quiz
- Projection design in contemporary performance: (these will be updated on each Lesson Plan)
59 Productions • Jeanette Yew • Lucy Mackinnon
- View The Magic Flute and Sunday in the Park with George
- Class Activity (IF in-person only): camera obscura room (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvWX6-0_VHU)
Wk. 1 Assignment:
Reading:
- Cabinet–Darkness Visible (The Phantasmagoria) https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/24/warner.php
Optional: listen to podcast with Wendall Harrington
- https://lighttalk.libsyn.com/light-talk-episode-217-the-spirituality-of-projection-interview-with-wendall-harrington
- 1a.Color as emotional response-an exercise in how to use color to express emotional intensity
- Create a slideshow using a color of your choice represented by images. Start at the pale end and gradually add images with more of color intensity as you get to the end of your slideshow. 20 slides. Make these play so we don’t have to click through them
- Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. It defines a color in terms of how close it is to white or black. The lighter the color, the closer it is to white. The darker the color, the closer it is to black. For example, navy blue emits less light and has a lower value than sky blue.
- https://www.sensationalcolor.com/hue-value-chroma/
1a. Choose a poem from the Maya Angelou 3 poem collection-more instructions will be sent out this coming Thursday
- Collect images that relate to the lines and intentions of the poem you choose. Try not to be illustrative, but more metaphorical
- Create a digital collage for the poem from these images
- Think about how the lines make you feel rather than showing the action that is described.
- See instructions on Canvas for creating Mood Boards
Great free resource for images: Unsplash
Week 1 (Sept. 30) NO CLASS, see homework from Wk. 0 above-we will make this class up in Finals Week 11
- I am available via email for any questions
Week 2 Demystification-the science behind the illusion-in-person
Shadowgraphy•Ombromanie•Ombres Chinoises•Cinema in Silhouette
- Light + Shadow -projection as a light source
- If in-person: teams will create a short shadow play presentation- we will work on in-class and as part of your homework assignment for the following week
- Anthony McCall https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mccall-line-describing-a-cone-t12031
- Line Describing a Cone is made from a beam of white light emitted from a film projector positioned at one end of a darkened room. Passing through the projector is an animated film of a thin, arcing line that, frame by frame, gradually joins up to become a complete circle. Over the course of thirty minutes this line of light traces the circumference of the circle as a projection on the far wall while the beam takes the form of a three-dimensional hollow cone. Mist from smoke machines gives the beam of light a greater density, making it appear almost tangible.
- Tim Noble and Sue Webster
- Kumi Yamashita
- Fabrizio Cornelli
- Larry Kagan
- Shegeo Fukuda
- Vincent Bal (shadowology)
- Bohyun Yoon-Unity installation
- Guy Sherwin (light+time)
- https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/unity-and-other-installations-by-bohyun-yoon/
- And Here We Are - a shadow puppetry opera, Matthew Welch
- https://vimeo.com/282333018
- In-person: assigned teams create 3-5 min. shadow performance using the 3 overhead projectors; work in class
- Remote: Create a 3 minute light/shadow performance using your available lighting/lanterns/candles, etc.
- Sun/moon
- Candle
- Flashlight
- Utility light
- Desk lamp
Ambient light
Part 2 Visual Methodologies
Week 3 Frame by frame; Visual Metaphor-in-person
The process by which we transform the meaning of one thing into something different is an essential part of human intelligence. Without symbols, and the ability to understand them, there would be no writing, no numbers, no drama, no art. Everything you create is a representation of something else; in this sense, everything you create is enriched by metaphor. ~Twyla Tharp
http://visualmetaphor.com/
- Synergy between emotion, image, motion/proto-cinematic techniques
- http://greatwomenanimators.com/category/stop-motion-animation
- The Brothers Quay
- PES
- Terry Gilliam
- Rumiko Takahashi
- Tim Burton
- Noriko Okaku
- Lotte Reiniger
- Pattagraph
- William Kentridge
- Mercedes Gaspar
- Jan Švenkmajer
- Wes Anderson
- https://vimeo.com/138790270
- https://futureofstorytelling.org/video/glen-keane-step-into-the-page
- Copyright - discussion regarding the professional world requirements. Visit free sites and archives for stills and videos listed in the Course Resources folder and on the website. Use your own resources to create content whenever possible.
- https://www.linaviktor.com/constellations-i/
- https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/38983/1/artist-says-her-work-was-copied-for-kendrick-lamars-all-the-stars-video
- https://thehundreds.com/blogs/content/kendrick-lamar-alright-travis-jensen
- https://www.instagram.com/travisjensen/
Assignment:
Reading:
- Metaphors We Live By–Lakoff & Johnson
- Understanding Comics–S. McCloud ch. 1-3;
- See Document on how to create Mood Boards-on canvas
- Stop Motion studio - free app for mobile devices or computer (Adv. is $5 comes with filters and a few extra options
- Remember to keep the camera STILL and the lighting CONSISTENT (unless you purposely want to use light to make a transition or create a particular mood)
- You may want to create more still frames than you made in the first pass, or swap in/out new ones in your editing/refinement process
- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stop+motion+animation+tutorial
Week 4 The Sublime on ZOOM
- Share Stop Motion projects
- Evoking the sublime: momentous experiences
- Last Stop-evoking a place of wonder: https://vimeo.com/2215778
- Forced Entertainment (tabletop Shakespeare)
- https://www.forcedentertainment.com/projects/complete-works-table-top-shakespeare-at-home/ (1:15)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf4EipblJBc
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNOoKSHM6g8
- Forced Entertainment (tabletop Shakespeare)
- Research imagery (a google doc collection of images)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvWX6-0_VHU
- Compositing research imagery-discussion on methodologies
Assignment:
- Reading:
- TEXT assigned -
- Action: Timelapse assignment given in class
- indentify moments in the text that suggest the possibility of evoking the sublime
- Write a paragraph discussing how you would evoke sublimity using audio/video elements; share a sublime experience with the class
- Based on your critical analysis of the relationship of this moment to the sublime, how would you recreate or interpret that feeling for the audience? How might you incorporate and transform that feeling into visual/aural metaphor in your design?
Week 5: Elements of Cinema: Montage Theory/Cinematographic Principle & the Ideogram/
- Review quiz material for Wks. 1-5
- Cinematic syntax
- Montage is a film editing technique in which a series of short shots are sequenced to condense space, time, and information.
- Kuleshov Effect-https://prezi.com/mitfjodtxcda/film-studies-montage-effect/
- Montage Theory: Eisenstein//contemporary examples
- Storyboard assignment-how visual research transforms into design
- Collage film - Frank Film by Frank and Caroline Mouris
- https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x700s6
- This animated short features two soundtracks - in one, Frank narrates an autobiography, in the other, he reads off a list of words beginning with the letter "f." Tying the two soundtracks together and influencing their subject matter is the animated collage of photos collected from magazines - all arranged by theme and each theme merging into the next. 1974 Academy Award for Animated Short Film
- Title Graphics and Trailers - selections from Art of the Title, Motionographer
- Student recommendations:....
- Reading:
- Cinematic Syntax– http://accad.osu.edu/~pgarrett/730/readings/;
- Understanding Comics-Ch. 4 Time Frames
- Action:
- Assemble assets - “how to” methods of organization for effective workflow
- Keep all your assets organized in one project folder and subfolders - do NOT move!!! Use an external HD to store as video files are pretty hefty (5 min.=1 gigabyte)
- Begin rough storyboards using research imagery, sketches, and notes-these will be used for your animatic
- Consider using montage to build energy and tension
Week 6 Aura & Mediation in-person
Mid-term quiz
Virtuality and Materiality
- Discussion: Excerpts from Benjamin's Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
- Space: constructing the world/environment of the play//scenography
- Breaking the Frame
Assignment:
- Reading:
- http://www.wired.com/2013/10/is-this-the-opera-of-the-future/
- Understanding Comics-Ch. 5-9 (see website for reading materials: https://digitalvideodesign.weebly.com/bibliography.html)
- Action:
- Animatic 1 assignment//adding motion to stills from storyboards
Week 7 Simulation and the Uncanny Valley-on ZOOM
- Transcendence, projection and the uncanny
View:
- R.U.R (exerpts)
- Death and the Powers/MIT Opera of the Future Group
https://www.media.mit.edu/groups/opera-of-the-future/overview/
- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
George Coates • Hatsune Miku • Billie Holiday • Tupac Shakur • The HoloCinema: ILMX Studio
Taylor Mac • GSRT • Tony Oursler • The Wooster Group
Assignment:
- Reading: Bauhaus Theater of Human Dolls-Koss
- http://la.remap.ucla.edu/puppetarch/images/4/42/Koss_Bauhaus_Theatre_Human_Dolls.pdf
- Bauhaus Theater-Oskar Schlemmer’s Design-in-Motion Concept
- Action:
- research boards for a mediated character from the assigned text
- emotional intensity graph exercise-how does this align with your previous assessment of the sublime moments? Use these to keyframe your video moments
- the omnipotence and vulnerability of the virtually present
- the metaphysics of telematic space
- the private and the public
https://www.pbs.org/video/immersive-theater-qy9hup/
Punchdrunk • Dream Think Speak • Forkbeard Fantasy • Richard Maxwell • Wilson’s Video Portraits • Station House Opera •
Assignment:
- Reading:
- Speech Introducing Freud-R.Wilson
- Immersive Art-Have Audiences Earned Their Place in the Show?
- Interactivity and Immersion in a Media-based Performance–Bouko
- Action:
- Assemble video assets, add screenshots to animatic
Week 9 Public Space and Video Graffiti NO CLASS-HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Assignment follows for Wk. 10
- Compositing in 2.5 space, Editing to Sound/music (After Effects intro)
- Mapping video and Volumetric filmmaking
- (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFqpogR-ki8)
- Current Virtual theater
- Reading:
- Framing the Fragments–K. Malone;
- file:///Users/victoriapetrovich/Downloads/KirbyMalone_LiveMovies_essay.pdf
- Ch. 5 Technology as Performance/Scenography
- Framing the Fragments–K. Malone;
>Schedule Individual tutorial meetings with instructor
• Assemble sound assets (see website for free sources) if you want to add more than what the score provides
>Use pre-loaded fonts or add to your inventory - See free, open source fonts on website resource page. Choose selectively- some fonts can mess with your operating system. Velvetyne Type Foundry - https://velvetyne.fr/ has some unusual open-source fonts.
- Text animators and Scale
Week 10: Live Cinema and Interactivity in-person• Quiz on reading from wk. 5-10
Performance delivery systems: Isadora/QLab intro
- Live action with film/interactivity
- Laser art
Live Cinema: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSj7cnwY-sg&ab_channel=BarbicanCentre (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOPPucQgfPQ)
Assignment:
Reading:
http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/dim-future-for-interactive-film
http://www.indiewire.com/2014/01/are-interactive-films-transforming-modern-storytelling-sundances-new-frontier-has-the-answer-30702/
- Ch. 8-Movement
- Time Has No Concept-R. Wilson
- Final edits; render process tutorial
- Integrate titles and sound; rendering output/see instructions
Week 11: Final Presentations in-person
- Present/perform final projects; upload to your folder on G-drive: final rendered project (compressed MP4). Also include all action breakdowns, storyboards, animatic clips, research boards, sound clips, emotional intensity graphs for final grade
- all other assignments including any make-up assignments, and written media-based performance critiques are due by this date unless otherwise arranged with professor-hard copy or electronic copies accepted