UCSC/FILM + DIGITAL MEDIA DEPARTMENT
FILM 20P INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCTION TECHNIQUE
WINTER 2011

Tuesday + Thursday/ 2:00-3:45pm/ Communications 150, Studio C
..Sections:
01A........ Friday 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM Comm 117
01B........ Friday 10:45 AM - 11:45 PM Comm 117
01C........ Friday 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Comm 117
01D........ Friday 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Comm 117

 
 

Professor: Irene Gustafson
[831] 459 1498 / Comm 125
click here to email
Office Hours: Thursday 1-2pm and by appointment

  

T.A.: Emily Martinez
click here to email
Office Hours: TBA

T.A.: Natalie McKeever
click here to email
Office Hours: TBA

 

 
         
 

[syllabus last updated: 20 February 2011]

      

“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].
  EQUIPMENT CHECKOUT AND RESOURCES
 

The equipment checkout facility is located in the Communications Building, Room 137


Check In: Monday/ Thursday 9:00am-12:00pm
Check Out: Tuesday/ Friday 12:30pm - 4:00pm
fdmcheckout@ucsc.edu 459-4062


The following equipment is available to you on first come first serve basis
Video/Still:
- Apple iSight Webcam (8)
- Canon PowerShot G2 Digital Still Camera (3)User Manual PDF

Audio:
- Olympus LS-10 Handheld Audio Recorder (3) User Manual PDF
- Sony PCM-D50 Handheld Audio Recorder (10) User Manual PDF
- Zoom H2 Handheld Audio Recorder (2) User Manual PDF

 

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

 

1GB of server space is allocated to every 20P student:

Login: “CruzID”
Password: “CruzID + Last 4 digits of your UCSC Student ID #”

Below are 2 PDF files with instructions on how to upload data to the file/web server.
If you have any questions, or need additional assistance, please let me know.

connecting via Mac (pdf file)

connecting via a PC (pdf file)

 

 
 

 
  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 21st. In section]
  • Exercise 2: Still Images in Sequence/compositions 15% [due week 4/Jan 28th. In section]
  • Exercise 3: Study of a Space 5% [due week 5/Feb 4th. In section]
  • Exercise 4: Writing a scene 10% [due week 6/Feb 11th.In section]
  • Exercise 5: Performance 5% [due week 7/Feb 18th. In section]
  • Exercise 6: Portrait/Image and Text 15% [due week 8/Feb 25th. In section]
  • Exercise 7: iLife compilation project 25% [due March 10th. In lecture]
  •Final Exam 10% [due March 18th, 9am, Studio C]
   
  • 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:

• Available as downloadable PDF files from the course website

   
  SCHEDULE
    jump to week:
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1.

T January 4th
Introduction to the class, assignments, sections and expectations, Admissions


TH January 6th
Visualization Techniques: framing, aesthetics, and composition.
Photography, Exposure, Depth of Field
Reading Due:

James Monaco, “Technology: Image and Sound”


SECTION: No section this week

 
   
   

2.

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

Bruce Mamer “Creating the Shots”


TH January 13
How we “read” images/ “Learning to See”
Introduction to iLife
Reading Due:

John Berger “Ways of Seeing-- Chapter 1"
Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation”


SECTION: Photography/“production groups”

 
   
 

 

 

 

3.

T January 18
Alien Exercise
Photography & Images in sequences


Screening: La Jetee [France, Chris Marker, 1962, 29 min.] VT1288/ DVD81
Reading Due:

Scott McCloud, ”Understanding Comics --Ch. 1," and ”Understanding Comics --Ch. 3,"


TH January 20
Screening: Visions of Light [USA, Stuart Samuels, 1992, 92 min.] DVD3924

Reading Due:
John Berger, “Another Way of Telling” (2 parts)


SECTION: Exercise 1 DUE: Alien Anthropologist

 
   
   

4.

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

Kris Malkiewicz “Lighting”
Studs Terkel, “Brett Hauser” and “Jill Torrance”


TH January 27
Writing
Alphabet Exercise—still image
Reading Due:

A.M Homes, “Chunky in Heat”
David Foster Wallace, “Forever Overhead”


SECTION: Exercise 2 DUE: Still Images in a Sequence/compositions
Berger vs. Sontag

 
   
   

5.

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

Dancyger and Rush “Beyond the Rules,” “Dramatic Voice/Narrative Voice”


TH February 3
Constraints
20P assignment workflow: iphoto, garageband, imovie, idvd

watch 20P final projects from past years


SECTION: Exercise 3 DUE: Study of a Space
Communications Computer Lab

 
   
   

6.

T February 8
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:

Rabiger,”Directing the Actors”
Mike Leigh, “Directors on Actors and Acting,”

TH February 10

Working with ‘iLife’ to bring a project to completion

SECTION: Exercise 4 DUE: Writing the Scene
Communications Computer Lab

   
   

7.

T February 15
Genre and constraints
Screening: The Five Obstructions (Denmark, 2004, 90 min.) DVD3165
Reading Due: Dogme 95, “The Vow of Chastity”
Anthony Kaufman, “Breaking Von Trier: Jorgen Leth Survives ‘The Five Obstructions’” from http:www.indiewire.com


TH February 17

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

Interview with Errol Morris, “The Truth is Not Subjective”
Robert Coles, “The Tradition: Fact and Fiction”

SECTION: Exercise 5 DUE: Performance

 
   
   

8.

T February 22
Sound/ Listening Exercises
Reading Due:

Michel Chion, “Projections of Sound on Image” and “The Three Listening Modes”

Microphone pick-up patterns


TH February 24
Working with Audio/Garageband

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUUKJeP7jE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVp0X2BJYxw&feature=related


SECTION: Exercise 6 DUE: Portrait/ Image and Text
Communications Computer Lab

 
   
   

9.

T March 1
Sound + Image
Screening: Playtime [France, Jacques Tati, 1967, 108 min.] DVD3938


TH March 3
Editing--- continuity vs. disruptive
Reading Due:

Walter Murch, “Cut Out the Bad Bits”


SECTION: Communications Computer Lab


   
   

10.

T March 8
Review for Final Exam

TH March 10
EXERCISE 7 DUE: iLife compilation project. DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS
critiques

SECTION: NO SECTION THIS WEEK
   
   
FINAL EXAM Friday March 18th, 9am-11am