Digital Media: Time Based

University of Massachusetts  Amherst  Department of Art, Architecture and Art History

Fall 2008  Art 375 Digital Media: Time Based


Instructors: Michael Coblyn and Rosanne Retz


Thong Vo, stills from The Rush, © 2007
Every good story is of course both a picture and an idea, Henry James
Class Meeting Times:

Digital Media: Time Based is a course that explores of the creative possibilities of digital video and sound. Students are presented with the basic skills and concepts used in experimental digital video production within the context of contemporary art practice.

The composition, capturing and editing of moving imagery will be considered from formal, technical, and conceptual vantage points. Basic research areas include: pre-production, color manipulation, compositing, time remapping, optical experiments, motion control and audio production. We will investigate the theme of time (duration, slowness, speed, rhythm) and sound in narrative linear formats and work with applications such as Final Cut Pro 6, Photoshop CS 3, QuickTime, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro 4. Professor Retz is a Apple Certified Pro in Final Cut Pro 6.
cert
Class time will involve a combination of technical presentations, discussions on pertinent issues within the context of the medium, screenings and discussions on contemporary video, work time for projects, and the screening of class projects.

There will be basic technical instruction in:
Capturing imagery and audio: via rack, camera and through appropriation of existing media.
Final Cut Pro 6 for digitizing, editing, rendering, and exporting.
Photoshop CS3 will be used to manipulate and layer images, and to incorporate still images into video projects.
Sound editing software, Soundtrack Pro, will also be available for students who wish to explore sound in more depth.
Preparing edited files for output: DVD Studio Pro 4 for DVD authoring of the completed projects.

Art 375 Digital Media: Time Based
Partial List of In-Class Screenings

Stan Vanderbeek, Visibles, 1959-1972

Craig Baldwin, Tribulation 99, 1991

Bill Morrison, Decasia, 2003

Kenneth Anger, Fireworks, 1947, Eaux D'Artifice, 1953, Puce Moment, Scorpio Rising, Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, 1954

Narrative Screenings from The Movement of Images: Art and Film, Centre Pompidou, Joseph Cornell, Richard Serra, Len Lye.

Eija Liisa Ahtila, Today, If 6 was 9, 1995, Underworld and Ground Control, Underworld and Ground Control, two episodes of five from Love is a Treasure, 35 mm, 55 min

Maya Deren, Meshes of the Afternoon, 1943-59, Ritual in Transfigured Time, 1945, Meditation on Violence, 1948

Jennifer Reeves, Chronic, 2003

Matt McCormick, From Tugboats to Polar Bears: The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal, 2001

Bruce Baillie, Castro Street, All My Life, 2001

William Kentridge, Automatic Writing, 2003

Bill Viola, The Passing, 1991, NTSC, sound, black and white
Collection: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (France)

Elisabeth Subrin, Shulie, 36:30min, b/w/c, 1997.

Shelly Silver, 37 Stories About Leaving Home, 52:00 min, 1996, Small Lies Big Truth, 18:48 min., 1999

Timo Palomaki, Pony, 2002

Frans Zwartjes, Visual Training, 1969

James Sibley Watson, Jr. and Melville Webber, The Fall of the House of Usher, 1929

Robert Florey, The Life and Death of 9413--A Hollywood Extra, 1928, reportedly filmed for $97.00

Kimi Takesue, Summer of the Serpent, 2004

Helen Levitt: In the Street with Janice Loeb and James Agee, 1948

Miguel Coyula, selections from Five Shorts / Latin America Video Archives, 2000

Ximena Cuevas, El mundo del silencio, El mundo del silencio [videorecording] = the silent world , 1999. 25 min., Turistas = Tourists (5 min., 2002) Estamos para servile = We’re here to serve you (3 min., 1999) Natural instincts (3 min., 1999) -- Hawaii (2 min., 1999)

Stan Brakhage, Selections from An Anthology:
Dog Star Man: Prelude (1961) 25 mins,

Dog Star Man: Part III (1964) 11 mins,
Dog Star Man: Part IV (1964) 5 mins
,
Mothlight (1963) 4 min 16mm
Eye Myth (1981) original 35mm version
Stellar (2:20) hand painted

Dziga Vertov. Man with a Movie Camera, 1929

Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep, 1977

Peter Greenaway, from The Early Films 1, H is for House and A Walk Through H.

Peter Fischli and David Weiss, The Way Things Go (Der Lauf der Dinge), 30 min. 1987, no dialogue.

Each class member will prepare their completed pieces for internet viewing on the student work page of the Departmental of Art Web Site.

 'To achieve understanding it is necessary not to see many things, but to look hard at what you do see.'
Giorgio Morandi
© 2009 This is the course web site for Art 297DD /Art 597LL Department of Art, Architecture and Art History, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Designed, produced and maintained by Rosanne Retz.