BIG NOUN- OBSERVATION, RESEARCH, ANALYSIS (Individual)

Choose a public place that you think would be a good visual subject or has potential for a 'film'. It can be a location that you know, visit often, or one to which you have access (e.g., SAC, Athletic Practice, a place where you work or socialize), one that is unfamiliar to you, or any place about which you are curious that you want to explore more deeply.

Plan on spending at least 1-2 hours in that location or plan to make a minimimum of 3 half-hour visits. Take index cards with you to record: recordable sights, sounds, details of the locale, behaviors, repeated events, characters, dialogue (all of these notes can be expanded or added to later). Is there anyone on your list of characters you observed that you would want to interview ?

Close your eyes and listen for a few moments to observe the sounds in that sonic environment. If you have a partner with you, blindfold yourself and listen. While you are blindfolded, verbally tell your partner what you are hearing and have them take written notes.

Analyze and sort your observation notes by category. Type this categorized list for submission. Also, write a prose summary of your observation and point out significant or particularly telling elements that you discovered. Compare what you would have expected before your observation with what you actually found. Are there any 'stories' or 'characters' that describe and define this place? Discuss what themes you find emerging.

Write a TREATMENT(prose discussion) or proposal for the film you might want to make about this location. DUE: (See course schedule or discuss with section instructors)

Record the following: 3 sounds which give you pleasure, 3 sounds which irritate you, your voice in a room with hard walls and floors, your voice in a carpeted room, 3 sound effects. Record each sound for a minimum of 15 seconds. Slate (label) each task verbally at the head (beginning) of each sound. For example, after you start to roll tape but before you start to record the sound, say: "Task number four, voice, interior, bathroom." Slate each task at the tail (end) of each sound: "End task four." You can also add any verbal notes such as a description or comments on problems you had.

After completing all tasks, play them back, and, as you listen, write down your reactions and evaluations. Turn these notes in with your tape when they are scheduled for playback in class. DUE: See Course Schedule.

DUE: (discuss with section instructors)

STEP #1-Script a 3 minute monologue/voice-over on 'HOW I SEE THE WORLD.' (Consider the VO examples played and discussed such as Scott Simon's National Public Radio documentary on capital punishment and TRAINSPOTTING in terms of how they used images and personal point-of-view (POV) in their writing. STEP #2-Record your script. STEP #3- mix your VO track with music (non-lyrical only) and sound effects. DUE: MIX on VHS or audio cassette, Typed Multi-Track Mix Cue Sheet.

Using your BIG NOUN observation notes as a starting point, use voice, music (non-lyrical only), and sound effects to take us as listeners to a place we have never been. Your approach can be documentary, narrative, or experimental. Maximum Length: 5 minutes.

DUE: MIX on VHS or audio cassette, Typed Multi-Track Mix Cue Sheet.

Section Instructors will screen two film edit exercises in class (Exercise #1- A MAN & A WOMAN, Exercise #2-THE PHOTOGRAPHER. ) Students will time and 'log' (compile descriptive notes on each shot) for both exercises in class. Based upon your shot log, each partnership will prepare an edit plan for either of the film edit exercises you receive. After your section instructors show you how to use the film edit bench setups, each partnership should complete a rough cut of the exercise based on their edit plan. This rough cut should be viewed at the bench and discussed with the section instructor before completing a 'fine cut'.

DUE: (discuss with section instructors)

Video copies of the two film edit exercise will be available in Post-Production on a JAZ disc. Students who need orientation to video editing should integrate both storylines (#1- A MAN & WOMAN and #2 THE PHOTOGRAPHER) for a practice exercise. DUE: (discuss with section instructors)

This exercise uses sounds recorded to accompany the MAN & WOMAN, and THE PHOTOGRAPHER film edit exercise. After section instructors preview the audio material to be edited and review how the mix studios operate, each student will receive a log/transcript of the audio edit exercise cassette material. Each partnership should prepare an edit plan for how they want to edit and mix the material. Each partnership will be responsible for digitizing the edit exercise material , executng their edit/mix plan, and transfering the final version to audio cassette or VHS.

DUE: (discuss with section instructors)

This is an ongoing assignment from Week #1 of the semester. You should use it as an opportunity to: shoot regularly, develop greater technical control, explore and reflect upon your environment (home, family, siginificant others, school, neighborhood, the city and suburbs). You can use your BIG NOUN notes for an initial shot list of sights and sounds to record. Lecture and Zettl should give you an agenda for exploring creative variables [e.g.- lighting, color, motion, angles, framing/composition] and experimenting with HOW you record these sights and sounds. Your Audio-VO assignment can be used as a start for incorporating your POV on the material you record. Rushes will be screened weekly.

DUE: Week #9 (after SPRING BREAK).

In selecting and designing your project, keep in mind that it ideally should serve as a vehicle for exploring your concerns, interests and creativity and aspects of the the communication process raised by this course. Some of the most successful projects done in past semesters have been focused in concept and limited in scope. Part of your challenge is to reconcile your ambitousness with time constraints and limited resources. Plan to screen your rushes before the final version is screened.

REQUIREMENTS:

Project Proposal (2-4 pages). (must be approved before project is begun) should include the following information: type of project/production option, description, purpose and objectives, specified target audience and characteristics, creative strategies. ALL PROPOSALS MUST BE TYPED.

Storyboard/Script or Shooting Plan/Shot List

Production Schedule/Time Estimate

Final Project

Written Self-Critique (and Re-design if appropriate)

*Minimum Length: three minutes. ( Soundtrack required.)

*Soundtrack should involve both editing and mixing.

*Project should be your own work. (Use of any pre-recorded material should be discussed with your intructor.)

Grading will focus on the concept underlying your project, execution (use of camera, editing skill, use of resources) and your self-critique.

Your self-critique and participation during the critique sessions is important because the productions are not ends in themselves. What is of greater concern is the evidence of your understanding of how the production process affects communication.

The Re-Design will not be required for all students. If you perceive limitations in your finished work and discover strategies that would significantly improve your project, it will be to your credit to include this information in your critique and to share these reflections with the class. DUE: (discuss with section instructors)

Think of this assignment as equal to a written final examination. You are to compile an annotated list of terms that you encounter during the course of our class discussion or your reading related to aesthetics, criticism, and media production .

Your notations for each term should include a functional definition synthesized from usages supplied in lecture, your own reading or other research sources. This should suggest to you that you will need to go beyond a simple dictionary definition for a term- although that is a good beginning. What you include, in addition, should indicate your own reflection on each term in relation to its usage in a media context. THIS ASSIGNMENT SHOULD SUMMARIZE YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS WITH EXAMPLES FOR ILLUSTRATION. These are your notes for the future.

You may also wish to include persons or figures within your glossary whom you think are significant aesthetically (e.g. Plato, Aristotle, Andre Bazin, Maya Deren). Your glossary should be alphabetized. You may use a single-spaced typing format.

SAMPLE ENTRY: Montage- French term for editing. Formal notions about montage were developed by pioneer Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein in his films (e.g. POTEMKIN) and in his critical writings. He distinguished 5 types: metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal, and intellectual montage [ZETTL 302]. EXAMPLES OF THIS ASSIGNMENT ARE AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO REVIEW IN MY OFFICE DURING MY OFFICE HOURS.

WARNING: Group research should be listed on title page. Cite sources for Quotations or Paraphrases as in the example above. Using someoneÕs work without acknowledging it is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of cheating , and a serious academic offense.

DUE: (to be announced) Submit BOTH FMA 100 and 101 versions of this assignment.

DUE: (same time as each assignment & final project)