film 20P W08

UCSC/FILM + DIGITAL MEDIA DEPARTMENT
FILM 20P INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCTION TECHNIQUE
WINTER 2008
Tuesday + Thursday/ 12:00-1:45pm/ Soc Sci 2 room 71 ..Sections: 01A........ Friday 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Comm 121 ...Nada 01B........ Friday 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM Comm 121 ...Nada 01C........ Friday 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Comm 117...Troy 01D........ Friday 12:45 PM - 01:45 PM Comm 117...Troy

Professor: Irene Gustafson
[831] 459 1498 / Comm 125
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Office Hours: TH 2:30pm-4:00pm and by appointment

T.A.: Troy Allman
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Office Hours: TBA
Porter D-

T.A.: Nada Miljkovic
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Office Hours: Thursday 9-10am
Porter D-232

[syllabus last updated: 28 February 2008]

“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/

FDM PRODUCTION WIKI--- http://128.114.20.49/fwiki/index.php/Main_Page

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

5% [due week 3/Jan 25th]

• Exercise 2: Still Images in Sequence/compositions

15% [due week 4/Feb1st ]

• Exercise 3: Setting the scene

10% [due week 5/Feb 8th]

• Exercise 4: Writing a scene

15% [due week 7/Feb 22nd]

• Exercise 5: Performance

5% [due week 8/Feb 29th]

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

5% [due week 9/March 7th ]

• Exercise 7: iLife compilation project

25% [due March 13th ]

•Final Exam

10% [due March 19th, 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

SCHEDULE

jump to week:

10,

T January 8
Introduction to the class, assignments, sections and expectations, Admissions

TH January 10
Visualization Techniques: framing, aesthetics, and composition.
Photography, Exposure, Depth of Field
Reading Due:

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

SECTION: No section this week

T January 15
Visualization Techniques: framing, aesthetics, and composition.
Photography, Exposure, Depth of Field
Reading Due:

[CR] Bruce Mamer “Creating the Shots”

TH January 17
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”

SECTION: Photography/“production groups”

T January 22
Screening: Visions of Light [USA, Stuart Samuels, 1992, 92 min.] DVD3924

TH January 24
Photography & Images in sequences
Screening: La Jetee [France, Chris Marker, 29 min.] VT1288/ DVD81
Form + Content
Reading Due:

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

SECTION: EXERCISE 1 DUE: “Alien Anthropologist”

T January 29
Mis-en-Scene/Things you include in the “scene”/Working with light and objects
Reading Due:

[CR] Kris Malkiewicz “Lighting”

TH January 31
Writing
Alphabet Exercise—still image
Reading Due:

[CR] short story by A.M Homes, “Chunky in Heat”

[CR] short story by Ray Bradbury, “Red Wind”

SECTION: EXERCISE 2 DUE: “Still Images in a Sequence/compositions”
Berger vs. Sontag

T February 5
Writing a scene
Pre-production/Treatments
Reading Due:

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

TH February 7
Acting, Casting, Directing + Drama, Stereotypes
Screening: Psycho [USA, Alfred Hitchcock,1960, 109 min] DVD34/
Psycho [USA, Gus Van Sant, 1999, 104 min.] DVD2383
Reading Due:

[CR] Rabiger,”Directing the Actors”

SECTION: Communications Computer Lab

SECTION: EXERCISE 3 DUE: “Setting the Scene”

T February 12
VISITING ARTIST: SUSANNA HELKE

TH February 14

The Documentary Performance
Screening: Mister Death (USA, Errol Morris, 2000, 92 min.) DVD1061
Reading Due:

[CR] “Interviews with Errol Morris”

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

SECTION: Communications Computer Lab

T February 19
Working with ilife

TH February 21

Sound/ Listening Exercises
Reading Due:

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

SECTION: Communications Computer Lab

EXERCISE 4 DUE: “Writing the Scene”

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

T February 26
Sound + Image
Screening: Playtime [France, Jacques Tati, 1967, 108 min.] DVD3938

TH February 28
TBA

SECTION: EXERCISE 5 DUE: “Performance”

T March 4
Editing--- continuity vs. disruptive

TH March 6

SECTION: Communications Computer Lab

EXERCISE 6 DUE: “Still Images in Sequence/narratives”

10.

T March 11
Review for Final Exam

TH March 13
critiques

EXERCISE 7 DUE: iLife compilation project

SECTION: NO SECTION THIS WEEK

FINAL EXAM Wednesday March 19th, 9am-11am