REVISED
PROJECT 1: Experiments with frame and
form
THEMES:
Time traveling or Inhabiting
Create a 2-3 minute experimental portrait
or story.
Think of all constructions from video as a kind of time traveling. At a minimum, by recording, one is saving something that happened in one time and watching it in another.
The goal of Project 1 is to complete a
short film that allows latitude in its telling about another time while offering a refresher in
editing and maybe shooting.
You can tell an ordinary story or do something non-linear and experimental.
Do think about meaning, but remember that meaning is made in the mind of the observer- as an artist, think about how the colors, shapes and forms create associations and meanings.
Your project can use appropriated
(found) footage and/or newly shot footage from any device including your
iphone.
For this piece, I want you to really
think about how each frame – or shot - relates to the overall progression of your montage. In other words, how does the composition of
the frame change throughout the piece. This can be experimental. It does not
need to be an ordinary story with character and plot.
Try to use as many close-ups as
possible to make the video exciting and telegraphic.
Choose one of the following meditations
on personhood, time and place:
A Story from the Future. This can be imagined as a letter from the future or a
portrait of yourself as a real or fictional character in the future. Some
questions to start with: How do the events of today, such as politics, industry
and family impact or look like in a future, real or imaginary? How do films of
the past/today portray the future?
Remembering or re-editing the Past. This can take the approach of a memoir in which you recall
or tell a story from the past- from your life or longer ago. Or you can re-edit
the past, changing the course of the present. Or insert yourself into the past.
Self in Place. For this option, you can make a self-portrait of yourself and a place or
places you inhabit- as a real or fictitious character (unreliable narrator).
The place can be real or imaginary/surreal. You can imagine “yourself” as you
really are or as a fiction/animal/inanimate object.
For all projects
• Try to experiment with how the story is told, thinking about the form within your images as much as possible.
•
You may use effects such as changing duration or layering footage.
• Use
cross cutting between perspectives (first, second person, omniscient viewer,
seeing what protagonist sees, observing protagonist). Use these changes of
perspective to create a dialogue
between different kinds of footage (new footage versus appropriated footage).
Your video should employ the
fundamental “cast” of visual components: SPACE, LINE, SHAPE are most important
here. TONE, COLOR and MOVEMENT can also
be used.
Rhythm and repetition: You can repeat shots.
Think about how the speed of your montage might change and vary, and what that
means.
Affinity and Contrast: Contrast can come
from intensity in line, shape, color, tone and space. Affinity means
similarity- it expresses the opposite of intensity in a frame- it can be seen
in reduced tone, harmonious colors,
FOOTAGE can come from movies, advertising or television as well as you archival
sources that offer a look into the past such as ARCHIVE.ORG: https://archive.org/. Use Youtube, Vimeo and any other places
where footage is archived on the internet. You can also crack and use
DVDS. Get the highest resolution footage you
can.
To down load and CONVERT; DIRPY.COM is effective online.
For Firefox browsers, Video
downloadhelper can be downloaded and used.
Pay attention to copyright
restrictions that constrain your use
- in terms of duration-
- in terms
of meaning and results
OTHER GUIDELINES
• Do not use one source of
sound or musical performance through the whole film unless it is your own
musical performance or you have permission to use it.
• EFFECTS: Be judicious in use of
effects, using them if they contribute to the meaning. You should be prepared
to defend your use of them; ask what they bring to the piece.
• Concentrate on closeups. Use WS
or MWS for establishing scenes,
ideas, settings or a crucial part of the story.
• Convey emotion. It can change over
the time of the film. You do not need to show people to convey an emotion. Use
color, shape, expression and speed to convey emotion.
• Pay attention especially to how you fill the frame and use empty
and filled spaces.
Record keeping: WRITE DOWN where you
got your footage as you go forward.
Cite:
film name, producer/director (if available), year, if available, website name,
eg About Bananas. Castle Films, 1935.
Archive.org
Credit these
sources in the credits of your film.
DUE DATES FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT
Jan
26: 2-3 sentence description of project and rough storyboard.
You should have started acquiring footage.
Feb 2: Rough cut for sharing in class
Feb : 9 Final project
