tdde151-Digital Video DesignSYLLABUSWinter 2019Prof. Victoria PetrovichGH104 office Tuesday 2-4:50 pm/4 unitsMeets in GH321 and GH18b Computer LabOffice Hours: Tues. 10-12, and by appointmentcell: 760-497-8241

•No unexcused absences-please contact me if you need to miss class and for any make-up assignments•If you have any special needs, please contact me so I can accommodate

Syllabus is subject to changeNotifications in email and website weekly pages-if you’re absent, it’s your responsibility to get the assignment to make up

An introductory studio course that examines the field of projection design for theater and dance performance.Students will study and produce original works based on the theoretical and aesthetic approaches of animation, film, performance, and installation art that influence contemporary projection design

This course will build cognitive and practical skills through a series of assignments based on theoretical reading to provide context to the practical process; group discussions: practical ideation strategies, motion sequence techniques: and critique-based class evaluation of the assignments. Each assignment builds upon the previous, aggregating into a final project. Completion of each assignment is required in order to pass the class. Late makeups must be approved by instructor. (see written performance evaluations)

Out of 200 % possible:● 10 assignments 10% ea.=100% ● Quizzes 2 @ 5% each=10%● Final project finished projection design (compiling/editing together the individual

assignments)=40%● Class participation 25%● Attendance 25%

To make up one missing assignment OR one unexcused absence:● 1 written performance evaluation TBD must be approved by instructor

● 3 unexcused absences will drop the grade by one whole letter-please contact the instructor (A>A->B+ for example). In order to get an A you must complete all assignments, pass the quizs, have perfect attendance, be a full-fledged participant in class discussions/activities, and produce a viable and excellent final projection design+all required paperwork.

Class participation is essential in order to establish a foundation of collaboration in the classroom and in the team production process. It is also necessary in order to discuss and fully understand the reading related to the assignments. Note that each assignment builds on the previous towards a finished digital video project design.

Learning outcomes:● Explore the role, responsibilities, and practice/s of the digital media designer for live performance● Cultivate best practices in collaboration and constructive critique ● Unpack+demystify the technology and process of projection design● Experience the creative process through content creation methodologies, design+visual literacy

exercises, + ● Apply theoretical ideas, critical thinking + problem solving: the why of integrating projection

design into the world of the text● Activate dramaturgical skills via script analysis, research, + organizational strategies● Recognize+apply cultural context through multiple visual storytelling structures and content● Experience+extend basic compositing|Non-Linear Editing skills ● Create+assemble animation+video techniques for storytelling in live performance: stop motion|

animatics|motion graphics|video compilations|interactivity● Comprehend+integrate system design, surfaces, inventory into the larger design concept● Instill ethical standards as Artist Citizens: respect copyright and intellectual property standards

● 2 Multiple choice quizzes on the reading assignments will be given approximately Wk. 5 and Wk. 10

• The final project is a finished 5 minute max. projection design/compilation for a text-based performance in lieu of a written exam. (40%)Final videos compilation includes:

1. 1.Intro>Sc. 1, including Title of project 2. +3 more moments of projection based on your Emotional Intensity Graph 3. Incorporated Mediated Character4. Optional but not required---Sound + music are encouraged

• Additional assigned elements leading towards the final project: (10% ea. catagory)1. Historical moving image device (team phenakistoscope or zoetropes, in class project) 2. Camera Obscura (individual)3. Stop motion intro4. Light and shadow project5. Visual Research boards as visual metaphor (still image + video)6. Emotional intensity graph/s7. Senses+technical list/s8. Storyboard/s9. Animatic10. Mediated Character research board

Place in your folder in the G-drive folder. Presentations during final class in Wk. 11

Course Websitehttp://digitalvideodesign.weebly.com/PW given in class• Assignments given in class and details also available on course website pages

Please contact professor if you have any questions.

Requirements

• Basic knowledge of computer OS (either Mac or PC)• Upload assignments into your folder on the G-drive (instructions given in class)• Equipment or software: personal laptop, smartphone, or iPad/digital tablet (or...GH public computer lab will have multiple editing software available)Or a 30 day free trial for related Adobe products (only for last 3-4 weeks of class) or other optional open source software can be utilized for assignments• Digital camera: cellphones, or iPads, or Point & Shoot cameras, or DSLRs (whatever is available to students); Other necessary equipment can be available for use//check-out in T&D Media Lab and/or UCSD Media Lab

• NO text required–Reading,viewing, bibliography, and supplemental material will be available on course website• Recommended Texts: (NOTE: all required reading will be provided on course website and/or linked to syllabus)

● Entangled-Technology and the Transformation of Performance–Chris Salter● Live Movies-A Field Guide to New Media–K.Malone and G.Scott

http://www.uni.edu/fabos/seminar/readings/Live_Movies_Full_Book.pdf● Understanding Comics-The Invisible Art–Scott McCloud (pdf available on course website)● Picture This How Pictures Work–Molly Bang● Digital Media, Projection Design & Technology for the Theatre–A. Oliszewski, Daniel Fine, Daniel

Roth

Meet in GH321 Collaborative Media Lab unless otherwise noted (some classes will meet in the computer lab GH18b)

Assignments:1. History: persistence of vision old technology devices2. Light & Shadow Portraits3. Stop-motion animation4. Dramaturgical process: Senses list|Scene+Action breakdowns|Emotional Intensity graphs|Shot

List|Storyboards|Cue List, etc.5. Animatics+video integration: storyboards+moving video+motion graphics6. Projection as Mediated Character 7. Final video compilations (includes all paperwork, research boards, and video files)

Week 1 Course Overview+introductions-Projection Design is concerned with the creation and integration of film, motion graphics and video technology utilizing cameras, projectors, LED walls, + monitors into the fields of theatre, opera, dance, fashion shows, concerts and other live performance events.

● Introductions: questionnaire● What is Projection/Video Design? What is the role of the digital media designer?● 3 types of light: Reflection•Refraction•Projection, identification of the various applications used in

projection design examples

View:● Examples of the various applications of video design for live performance; identify the sources in

examples● Examples of early technology and the persistence of vision concept● The Gap, Ira Glass: https://vimeo.com/85040589

Class activity:In teams, create prototypes of the phenakistoscope, the zoetrope, and camera obscura

Reading:

• A Short History of the Shadow-An Interview with Victor I. Stoichita (on wk. 1 webpage)

• *Cabinet–Darkness Visible (http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/24/Warner.php)• E.F.’s Visit to a Small Planet

● *Alternate reading: Phantasmagoria: How ´Ettiene-Gaspard Robert terrified Paris for science

Assignment:● If not completed, finish team projects: old technology devices: Zoetrope, Phenakistoscope● Each student will choose+create their own Camera Obscura, bring to class Wk. 2

Watch: The Camera Obscura :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9ObaPEVS68

How to make, choose one: (can be from another source)Creating effective camera obscuras: http://www.pinholephotography.org/camera%20obscurer.htm

Week 2 Demystification-Light&Shadow● Share Wk. 1 assignments: camera obscura projects

VIew:

Shadow, light + silhouette used in video projection

(Art Spiegelman and Pilobolus) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRj1H4hrBds

Balinese Wayang

● Featured Contemporary Artists: Lotte Reiniger; Kara Walker, William Kentridge, Christian Boltanski, Takashi’s Seasons,*Manual Cinema, Shadow Art from objects

*NOTE: Manual Cinema will be performing @ Mandeville (ArtPower), UCSD, Feb. 22, 2019 (https://vimeo.com/254740822)http://artpower.ucsd.edu/event/manual-cinema-no-blue-memories-life-gwendolyn-brooks/Class activity:

Teams explore the various methods for shadow+light projection: overhead projector, light table, digital projectors, lo-tech light sources, Indonesian shadow puppetry

Reading:

● How to critique a work of art: Critical Response Processes–Liz Lerman● One Hundred years of Stage Lighting–Aronson● Eadweard Muybridge● By wk 4 read+choose: A Wrinkle in Time, The Mountaintop, and The Tempest theatrical texts

(provided on website). Choose one to explore.

Assignment:

• Light & Shadow team portraits, continue work from class activity

View:

● team Light & Shadow projects

Week 3 Visual Metaphor & PhenomenologyWhen you engage the medium at such a fundamental level–the single frame–you truly understand that all filmmaking is an illusion, a manipulation of time, space, and shape. Animation is the most honest cinematography. ~Bryan Papciak

A visual metaphor is the representation of a person, place, thing, or idea by means of a visual image that suggests a particular association or point of similarity. It's also known as pictorial metaphor and analogical juxtaposition. A visual metaphor creates resonance by pointing to layers of meaning beneath the surface of a story.Showing NOT telling!

● Synergy between emotion, image, motion● proto-cinematic techniques: the single frame● Discuss reading, initiate simplified Critical Response process● Featured Artists: PES, Rob Carter, William Kentridge, Wes Anderson, Ian Wallace|animation

styles (2D/3D: hand drawn,sand, paper, clay,mechanical, etc.)● Animation styles for storytelling-how to determine which is best for the storytelling

Class Activity

Stop motion (also known as stop action) is an animation technique to make any object you choose appear to move on its own. The object is moved or manipulated slightly in small increments and captured in individually photographed frames. This creates the illusion of movement when a series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.

Teams: 3 STORMS Stop-motion activity; discuss the differences between the 3 texts’ storms+develop.

https://digitalvideodesign.weebly.com/3-storms.html

Begin in class in teams: generate a senses list and a technical list together. Based on these team lists, each student will create a stop-motion test as homework. Next week these will be reviewed and a plan of integration will be established for next steps.

Reading:

● Understanding Comics–S. McCloud Ch. 1-3

http://mm12.johncaserta.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Understanding%20Comics%20(The%20Invisible%20Art)%20By%20Scott%20McCloud.pdf

● Metaphors We Live By–Lakoff & Johnson

http://pages.vassar.edu/theories-of-the-novel/files/2013/04/Metaphors-We-Live-By.pdf

View:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0edKgL9EgM

Reference:

http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/

http://blog.ed.ted.com/2016/07/13/animation-basics-101/

Assignment: choose one to explore as your video projection design

A WRINKLE IN TIME (theatrical text), THE MOUNTAINTOP, or THE TEMPEST

● Directions for assignment given in class: create the appropriate storm for assigned text as a Stop-motion opening

● For homework, develop your own stop motion storm test based on your group’s lists; ● choose which play to develop solo● Dramaturgical process: Gather research imagery for world of chosen play● Create a Senses list+technical based on your reading of chosen text, ● Begin to gather research images that reflect the senses list

Week 4 The SublimeReview for Quiz #1

● Evoking the sublime: momentous experiences ● proto-cinematic techniques: stills into motion|video● Share table top collage/s of research imagery for chosen Text● Crit stop-motion development● Compositing research imagery-discussion about research methodologies● Review upcoming quiz material

View:

● Featured artists: Bill Viola, Olafur Eliasson, TeamLab, Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman, TeamLab, Jennifer Steinkamp

Class Activity

● Continue with team Stop motion storms;

Reading:

● A Short History of the Sublime–Morley● Video Black-The Mortality of the Image–Bill Viola

http://www.onierafilms.com/readings/videoblack.pdf

Assignment:

● Compile images and screen capture images from the video sources for the Prologue Storm scene of chosen text, integrate with stop motion

● Create an Emotional Intensity graph to identify critical moments for projection integration● Make a list or spreadsheet of the various locations and events in the story-use this list to gather

image research for each location or section ● film your own and/or collect video sources/assets (links)

Week 5 Elements of Cinema: montage theory, cinematographic principle & the ideogram;Storyboards & Transitions

• Mid-term quiz● Elements of cinema● Stills into motion● Kuleshov Effect-https://prezi.com/mitfjodtxcda/film-studies-montage-effect/● Montage Theory: Eisenstein//contemporary examples● Storyboard assignment-how visual research transforms into design● Featured Artists: Wooster Group, Ivo van Hove, Romeo Castellucci, Robert Lepage/Ex Machina-

we’ll look at these artists wk. 6● The Evolution of Visual Effects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

time_continue=172&v=0BYovvLhy7A● Green Screen FX: ● https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=sJQvyY0kDfI

Class Activity:

Group discussions of research images, lists, and samples>transforming research into storyboards

Reading:

● Cinematic Syntax– http://accad.osu.edu/~pgarrett/730/readings/● Montage theory–http://elementsofcinema.com/editing/montage.html● Understanding Comics-Ch. 4 Time Frames● Review the articles on Camera Shots & Camera Angles to give you ideas how to maximize an

image by cutting, cropping, scaling up or down, splitting into sections, panning or tilting an image to get a vaster view. (as per our discussion in class)

Assignment: transitions, stills into moving montage

Create a rough storyboard that shows how you imagine the first transition:● WiT: stormy night prologue>to Megs’ House>to the transformation of Meg’s House into the

Haunted house● The Mountaintop: stormy night transition from the exterior world to the interior world● The Tempest: from storm at sea to arrival on island

>Add text descriptions below storyboard images; overlay video screenshots if possible.(see example)

>Create an emotional intensity graph (drawn by hand is OK) to find the key moments in the first scene that follows the storm prologue. Peaks in this graph will inform you as to where you could underscore or amplify with video. These will then become the sections to storyboard for video that you will add to your storm prologue.

Keep in mind that distilling images into fewer more succinct iconography usually has the most effective storytelling power over too many images to show the same idea

● Don’t forget you can utilize shadow & silhouette for some of your video storytelling:Manual Cinema:https://vimeo.com/254740822

Week 6 Aura & MediationVIew+Reading Discussion:Aura+ the OriginalStudent storyboards

Effective uses of video using the Emotional Intensity graphA peak at Title Graphicshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IoVLB1shwI

Class Activity:● Scenography● Animatics● Surfaces (move to Wk 10)

Reading:● Excerpts from Benjamin's Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Assignment: (you will work on 5 more moments and/or transitions into new locations/scenes based on emotional intensity graphs)

Choose 2 (5 will be the total) more critical moments of the text-for example: Sc. 1 and transition into Sc. 2. Create an emotional intensity graph to determine those scenes with the biggest emotional shifts; gather imagery (sound is also an option)

● Read: the 3 articles below-bring any questions to class next week for discussion● look back at the definition of SCENOGRAPHY and begin to gather information/ideas/images

about the space this performance could take place in/at-keep these in a digital or hard copy folder

● for next week make an ANIMATIC with your imagery: ● 1. begin a "rough cut" assembly of your storyboard imagery for the opening prologue storm

transition-keep these as individual pages rather than the typical storyboard template● Look at the ANIMATICS page under WEEK 6 for a description and tutorial for making an

ANIMATIC-this is what you will begin working on and bring your project-in-process to class next week, we can work in class.

● Organizing assets: separate folder for project, inside separate sub-folders for stills, video, rendered video+stop motion, sound files. Do not move these out of the their folders or any editing programs won’t know where to find them since they only “reference” these files.

Week 7 Simulation & the Uncanny Valley

VIew+Reading Discussion:● Group discussions of transition storyboards and animatics● Featured artists: Hatsune Miku, Richard ??, Andy Serkis Tempest, Tony Oursler

Class Activity:Visuall Storytelling exercise

View:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/how-andy-serkis-is-bringing-holographic-magic-to-shakespeare/

Reading: see graph and examples on webpageInto the Uncanny Valley-Joe ClokWhy is this Man Smiling? Lawrence Weschler|Wired

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/10/research_supports_the_uncanny_valley_theory_of_human_robot_interaction.html

http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/uncanny_valley/

Assignment:Research images and create a visual collection of your proposal for a “mediated character” based on a character description from the text. Choose one from your text: one from A Wrinkle In Time (multiple options+ the Tesseract), the transformation of the Angel/Camae (The Mountaintop), or Arial, Propero or Caliban (The Tempest) -determine their characteristics and how they integrate into the story through your research and sketches.

Week 8 InteractivityMeet in Computer Lab GH18bhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2013/jan/17/interactive-theatre-rules-audience-perspectivehttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/interactive-theater_n_1643115.htmlhttps://contemporaryperformance.com/2017/12/09/immersive-theater/

Immersive theater provides sensual experiences with audiences encouraged not only to hear and see a production, but to touch, taste, and smell it as well. Scenic designs fully consume audience members with each aspect researched and specifically designed and enacted. Food and drink are often featured as a part of the experience and productions may contain opportunities to physically interact with scenic elements. Sound in immersive practice similarly focuses on grounding and tangibility, seeking to place an audience within the piece, to put them inside a new world. These elements are considered as thoroughly as the space of the performance and all are similarly dramaturgically supportive of the themes of the work.

VIew+Reading Discussion:http://aaron-sherwood.com/works.htmlhttp://camilleutterback.com/Forkbeard Fantasy

Mediated Character proposals-from those who didn’t complete the assignment

Class Activity:software introduction and lab session in Adobe After Effects or in current editing programs>https://blog.pond5.com/11099-13-creative-editing-techniques-every-video-editor-should-know/

Reading:Thinking of tomorrow's artists-What can we do with Interactivity?http://www.uniarts.fi/en/blogs/valosuunnittelun-blogi/thinking-tomorrows-artists-%E2%80%93-what-can-we-do-interactivity

Interactivity and Immersion in a Media-based Performance–Catherine Bourko (pdf)

Assignment:

Cast your mediated character and prepare photos or drawings to add into storyboard

1. Assemble your references for the Mediated Character you chose 2. create a visual manifestation of this character either in video and/or paper format3. Plan how this character will interact with other characters-consider scale, 2d/3d, color, quality

(abrupt? ethereal? etc.)4. Propose (with supporting visual details) the SPACE that this project will take place and plan how

the projections will be expressed in terms of the quality of the projections and required environment

Week 9 Public Space, Immersion, & Video GraffitiMeet in GH321 for Quiz, then we’ll move to GH18b • Quiz prep• Guest Artist: Nancy Chaoshow delivery+cue sheet• Course evaluations-allow 10-15 min. In class

View+Discussion:

● Interactivity- reading and student project updates● Political Space+ projection: public video art examples● Follow up with featured artists from Wk. 7/8

Class Activity:Editing in lab/intro to QLab/cue list/drafting/ fundamentals

Reading:https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-topic/public-arthttp://www.visual-arts-cork.com/public-art.htmAssignment:

● Continue work on final projects● Consider integrating video on architecture in your project-how does the video reflect the public

space and its architecture?● Sign up for a tutorial with instructor

Week 10 Live Cinema & TelematicsMeet in GH18b Computer Lab • Quiz from reading wks. 5-10 (any makeups for Quiz 1???)View+Discussion:

● The Builder’s Association, The Wooster Group, Station House Opera, Complicité● Masking+Architectural mapping● Introduction to Live Cinema+Telematic performance ● Title design:

○ Mythbusters Kinetic Type: https://vimeo.com/6873158○ Art of the title ○ Forget the film, watch the titles

Network|Staging Live Cinemahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1alosGYAZUFrancis Ford Coppola’s Live Cinema -UCLA TFThttps://vimeo.com/255831394New Possibilities: Cinema is Dead Long Live Cinemahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB8ZVVScSowHamlet-Wooster Grouphttps://vimeo.com/110411210

Reading:The Practice of Live Cinema–Mia MikelaA Renaissance for Live Cinema–Frederick Bernas, Vantage/Medium

Assignment:● Continue work on final project; propose a Live Cinema segment● Sign up for a tutorial with instructor

Week 11 Final PresentationsMeet in GH321

● Turn in all assignments and final video design-upload into your folder in course G-drive● Render|compress final video design as an mp4● Presentations● Interactive set-up with Isadora● Celebration