film 20P W07

UCSC/FILM + DIGITAL MEDIA DEPARTMENT
FILM 20P INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCTION TECHNIQUE
WINTER 2007
Tuesday + Thursday/ 12:00-1:45pm/ Soc Sci 2 room 71 ..Sections: 01A........ Friday 11:30AM-12:30PM Comm 121 ...Luke 01B........ Friday 12:45PM-01:45PM Comm 121 ...Luke 01C........ Friday 02:00PM-03:00PM Comm 117...Lindsey 01D........ Friday 03:15PM-04:15PM Comm 117...Lindsey

Professor: Irene Gustafson
[831] 459 1498 / Comm 125
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Office Hours: Wed 3-5pm and by appointment

T.A.: Luke Bullock
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Office Hours: Monday 11AM-1PM
Porter D-124

T.A.: Lindsey Bonk
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Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-3:30PM
Porter D-124

[syllabus last updated: 15 February 2007]

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people to see without a camera”
-Dorothea Lange

“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations”
-Orson Welles

“Cameras do not make films; filmmakers make films not by adding more equipment or personnel but by using what you have to the fullest capacity. The most important equipment is yourself, your mobile body, your imaginative mind and your freedom to use both”
- Maya Daren

This class is designed to introduce students to the production processes of visual/aural, time-based, creative work. Students will work on numerous creative projects: performed, written, photographed and created digitally. With an emphasis on low-budget, independent film and video making, we will study all aspects of production from idea generation, conceptualization and scripting through post-production. Assignments, both written and creative, will emphasize creativity, visualization, research and production organization. Presentation of ideas in both the written word and visual media are integral to the production of creative media and form the basis of the assignments for this class.

Course Objectives:
•To demystify the creative process so that you can develop your own and/or become more aware of your own creative processes
• To develop creative adeptness at translating ideas into well designed and competently executed visual works.
• To develop a more sophisticated level of media literacy in creating and seeing,i.e., learning how to constructively critique.
• To foster the collaborative sense necessary for the production of film, video, and digital media.
•To develop an understanding and appreciation of production aesthetics, techniques, and technologies.

• Please be aware that there is a course materials fee of $15.00 plus $1.00 administrative fee to cover film rentals and other course materials.
• You are responsible for providing your own 35mm camera (disposable or other), photo processing for two rolls of film, and digital media storage [CD, etc].

SOFTSERVE: GO> CONNECT TO SERVER>fdmsoftserve.ucsc.edu

SLUG FILM: http://slugfilm.ucsc.edu/

REQUIREMENTS FOR RECEIVING CREDIT

• Attendance and participation at both lecture and section is mandatory. Sections will allow students to explore the concepts presented in class through assignments and discussion on a more individualized basis.
• Three missed sections will constitute a NO PASS in the course, and active participation will count favorably in determining evaluations.
• Reading assignments should be completed BEFORE class.
• Careful and conscientious treatment of equipment and facilities.

Your final evaluation and/or grade in the class will be based on the following:

• Attendance and Participation

10%

• Exercise 1: Alien Anthropologist/Show & Tell

10% [due week 3]

• Exercise 2: Still Images in Sequence/compositions

15% [due week 4 ]

• Exercise 3: Setting the scene

5% [due week 5]

• Exercise 4: Writing a scene

15% [due week 7]

• Exercise 5: Performance

5% [due week 8]

• Exercise 6: Still Images in Sequence/narratives/SHOT LIST

5% [due week 9]

• Exercise 7: iLife compilation project

25% [due March 13 ]

•Final Exam

10% [due March 21, 9am]

• Students must complete each of the assignments in order to pass the class.
• Late assignments will not be accepted; missed exams will not be rescheduled, so please plan your time and commitments carefully. Any emergency situation or special condition should be discussed with the Instructor, not only with your TA.
• Incompletes for the course are NOT routinely given. Please assess your time commitments early in the term. An Incomplete will make you ineligible to proceed into another FILM production class until the "I" has been cleared the following Quarter.
• Lectures will be organized around the topics and the films as listed. Films can be reviewed and studied further at the Film & Music Center at McHenry Library.

All assignments must be completed and turned in on time. In order to receive credit for the class

ASSIGNED READING

REQUIRED:

•Course Reader [CR] Available at the Bay Tree Bookstore and on 2-hour reserve at McHenry Library

SCHEDULE

jump to week:

10,

TH January 4

Introduction to the class, assignments, sections and expectations, Admissions

SECTION: No section this week

T January 9
Visualization Techniques: framing, aesthetics, and composition.
Photography, Exposure, Depth of Field
Reading Due:

[CR] James Monaco, “Technology: Image and Sound”

TH January 11
Visualization Techniques: framing, aesthetics, and composition.
Photography, Exposure, Depth of Field
Reading Due:

[CR] Bruce Mamer “Creating the Shots”

SECTION: Photography/“production groups”

T January 16
How we “read” images/ “Learning to See”
Introduction to iLife
Reading Due:

[CR] John Berger “Ways of Seeing” Chapter 1, 2, + 3
[CR] Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation”

TH January 18
VISITOR: Benjamin Morgan
Director, Quality of Life [USA, 2004] • Film plays at the Rio on Jan. 19th
http://www.qualityoflife-themovie.com
www.myspace.com/qualityoflife

SECTION: EXERCISE 1 DUE: “Alien Anthropologist”

T January 23
Photography & Images in sequences
Screening: La jetée [France, Chris Marker, 29 min.] VT1288/ DVD81
Form + Content
Reading Due:

[CR] Scott McCloud, ”Understanding Comics” Ch. 1, 3, + 4

TH January 25
Mis-en-Scene/Things you include in the “scene”/Working with light and objects
Reading Due:

[CR] Kris Malkiewicz “Lighting”

SECTION: Berger vs. Sontag

EXERCISE 2 DUE: “Still Images in a Sequence/compositions”

T January 30
Writing
Alphabet Exercise—still image
Reading Due:

[CR] short story by A.M Homes, “Chunky in Heat”
short story by Raymond Chandler, “Red Wind” [pdf file]

TH February 1
Writing a scene
Pre-production/Treatments
Reading Due:

[CR] Dancyger and Rush “Beyond the Rules,” “Dramatic Voice/Narrative Voice,” “Working with Genre”

SECTION: EXERCISE 3 DUE: “Setting the Scene”

T February 6
Screening: Visions of Light [USA, Stuart Samuels, 1992, 92 min.] VID 343

TH February 8
Acting, Casting, Directing + Drama, Stereotypes
Reading Due:

[CR] Rabiger,”Directing the Actors”

SECTION: group work for Performance exercise

T February 13
Working with ‘iLife’

TH February 15
Working with ‘iLife’

SECTION: Communications Computer Lab

EXERCISE 4 DUE: “Writing the Scene”

TREATMENT EXAMPLES [pdf files]:
no.1
no.2
no.3

T February 20
The Documentary Performance
Screening: Mister Death (USA, Errol Morris, 2000, 92)
Reading Due:

[CR] “Interviews with Errol Morris”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Interrotron_web_page.jpg

TH February 22
Sound/ Listening Exercises
Reading Due:

[CR] Michel Chion, “Projections of Sound on Image”

SECTION: EXERCISE 5 DUE: “Performance”

T February 27

GUEST: Michael Shaowanasi

TH March 1
Sound + Image
Screening: Playtime [France, Jacques Tati, 1967] 108 min.

SECTION: Communications Computer Lab

EXERCISE 6 DUE: Still image sequence--- creating ‘narratives’/SHOT LISTS

10.

T March 6
Editing--- continuity vs. disruptive

TH March 8
Review for Final Exam

SECTION: Communications Computer Lab

11.

T March 13
critiques

EXERCISE 7 DUE: iLife compilation project

TH March 15
critiques

SECTION: No section this week

FINAL EXAM Wednesday March 21 9am-11am