final project timetable

Your final project is due May 3rd. This project is weighted more in terms of your grade; produce accordingly - the size and presentation of your images should be appropriate to your project. This is the time to spend a bit more on printing/production. You will be graded on your commitment to the project as shown through:

1. quality of the production (color-correction, lighting, print, presentation, craft etc.)

2. experimentation as shown through quantity of test shots and overall interest/innovation

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Due Next Week (19th): Images+

Project options:

1. stop-motion: 15 second rough draft, bring intended audio but not need to be sequenced yet

2. book: all images in sequence (can view on screen but must include printed thumbnails in sequence)

3. installation: all images with model

4. half of your images printed

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Due 26th): Rough Final

Project options:

1. stop-motion: 30 second rough draft with audio

2. book: full rough draft of book with all content

3. installation: installation executed - bring images, work on documentation in class

4. BW: all images printed

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Due May 3rd: Final

Project options:

1. stop-motion: final due

2. book: final due

3. installation: documentation due

4. BW: all images printed and bound/cased

+ CD of all work

Final Project: Proposal due April 13th

(must be presented on 3 spray-mounted and trimmed 11x17 horizontal boards, in color, laid out using grid, workhorse fonts )

Content

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board 1

PURPOSE: What are you trying to do? Who has done similar work besides your artist? Do examples exist outside of the art world? (5 examples of specific projects) What is the subject matter and why is that interesting?

board 2

LOOK & FEEL: Visual style of project (color, grid, font choices, paper if applicable), must include 3-5 images that will be used in your project

board 3

Your PLAN for the structure of your project: how many pages, front matter, back matter, how is it set up, intended destination, ie. gallery or commercial, is there sound, how big is it, and so on depending on chosen project. You must include a mock-up, model, diagram or storyboards according to your format

Project options

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1. stop-motion: 1-3 minutes in length (boards must include storyboard), story must be based on an existing text or script

2. book: 30 page minimum (you may include text, imagery must be original) text and image relationship shown in boards, include mock-up of book structure - how does the content determine the form?

3. installation with documentation: must consider interaction with piece, describe desired interaction in boards. Does it involve audio, projection, objects, light. Boards must show plan and measurements for how it will fit in space, mount on wall, etc., and also include model. Documentation must be in printed form and bound

4. B&W series printed in darkroom: must be bound or contained in some way, must operate as a sequence

Brock's Tract

germ free adolescence

Coffee Tract

Final Project Part 1: RESEARCH

ARTIST STATEMENT

1. Write 3 sentences describing your weaknesses as an imagemaker (only one sentence about technical difficulties).

2. Write 3 sentences describing your strengths (only one sentence about technical strengths).

3. Use your answers to the following questions to write a statement on consistencies in your work.

A. Conceptual style and content
Are you interested in certain subjects? Do you use irony or humor in your images?
Do you use mood - are there moods that you repeatedly display?

B. What type of images do you like to create?

C. What visual approaches do you consistently employ? Which do you not employ?
Compositional, color, tone, scale, texture, etc.

Your statement is due in one hour. It must be in paragraph form, not just in Q & A format. Please think about your work as a whole, not just in this class.

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ARTIST PRESENTATION

Using what you wrote in your statement, find 3 artists whose process you admire and who share some of your interests. It is probably best not to choose a photographer. You could choose a musician or writer, they do not have to be a visual artist. But they do need to have written substantially about their process and craft. Bring your 3 choices back to class with whatever books you found - please discuss these 3 with me so we can choose one that will work for the assignment.
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Go back to the library and see what is available on the artist you chose. You can also use the internet to get an idea of what is out there. This time, widen your search - exhibition catalogs can be a great resource for writing on your artist. You can choose someone who others have written extensively on, who do not necessarily write themselves. However, it will be easier for you if they have authored essays/artist statements on their own work.

HOMEWORK DUE next week:
presentation
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Present the work of your artist and their ideas to the class (5-7 minutes). You must include the answers to the following questions:
1. Who were they inspired by? Who were their contemporaries?
2. What were they fighting against?
3. Why did they choose to make work?
4. What is their work about?
a. their point of view >> artist statements, interviews, essays
b. critics point of view >> art reviews, essays introducing exhibitions, collections of writings
c. Discuss what you have in common with this artist in terms of your own imagemaking process.
NOTE: do not want to hear story of their life, only their ideas >> you MUST have images/sound/text to support your representation of their ideas. You must have at least 10 examples in your presentation.

+ images
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include in your presentation 3 photographs in which you employ the process and ideas of your artist. These images should not look like their work, but should reflect their philosophy on making. Be prepared to explain your visual choices.

Chris' Tract Distribution

colors! patterns!

as you liked Things Organized Neatly you may enjoy:

colors!

patterns!

also - an interesting take on the wunderkammer - wunderboxes!

Assignment 3: TRACT

Use a narrative to persuade others to a stated
point of view. Your visual narrative should be
based in fact, but can contain fictional
elements, and can even consist of mostly
fictional images. As in parafiction, the images
should attempt to be interpreted as real rather
than immediately being perceived as false (you
may use humor to persuade but the project
should not be a joke). You should actually try to
persuade people to agree with the point of view
in your tract, no matter how outlandish. On the
most basic level, the tract should cause them
to question the validity of your idea in a serious
way. You may also use a more subtle approach
akin to magical realism, in which you bring our
attention to the uncanny in everyday life.

Due next week (16th)
20 images that act as a persuasive narrative of
your idea. Storyboard of image sequence -
printed color thumbnails.
Bring your files for us to project in class

Due the 30th
your tract: color cover, black and white inside.
need to print and give out 20, should be pocket
sized booklets, minimum 12 pages. May use no
more than 30 words of text. Either left for
someone to find or handed out: must provide
photo documentation

D A D

my video

Wunderkammer Part 3

1. Collect 10 examples of visual references for the presentation of your collection (you may already have some of these). You can do this today in class.

These could be japanese advertising, still lifes, fashion magazine spreads, car part catalogues, a scientific laboratory, a rube goldberg machine, etc. The only requirement is that they represent an understood way of presenting objects or related collection of parts (objects, places, people). It can sometimes be interesting to use a seemingly unrelated system to present your collection - ie. displaying a collection of toiletries as you would medical equipment. Of course you might want to have an idea of what you are trying to convey by creating that kind of tension.

Use your references to refine/recontextualize the presentation of your images in your 'cabinet'. This is an opportunity to have fun with the details - maybe you add numbering or other graphic elements to allude to your references. Bring the digital file of your refinements - this should be the final version of the collection side of your 'cabinet'.

2. Now you must consider the other side. Today we will have a lasercutter demo and next week a screenprinting demo. Bring in a life size print of the reverse of your 'cabinet' - can be BW and tiled (better not to tile tho). This can take whatever form you wish (pattern, image, title), but it should reveal something more about your collection rather than just acting as a frame for what is already there. Consider whether this reverse side will be viewed first or last.

more interesting collections...

google street view, edited

Kim Jong-Il looking at things

Vivian Maier negatives discovered

things organized neatly

Christopher Lee

Vegetarian lifestyle

sound_all_around

oh hi, here's my video:

Wunderkammer

PART TWO: Building Your Cabinet

By the end of class today:

Use your images to create the first draft of your cabinet. Your cabinet should unfold to have sides that are at least 18 inches, but the dimensions other than that are up to you - ie. it may be square or rectangular.

1. Create a sketch of your plan for your cabinet. Will it be symmetrical? How will the collections be arranged: side by side, intermixed, by shape, size, color, meaning? Will you have one or two large images and many small ones, or images of equal size with some objects cut out with the pen tool? Will objects overlap? Is one collection subordinate to the other? Will there be a unified background? What exists in the space between objects? Is this collection contemporary or nostalgic? Will you borrow from the language of other collections you've seen - ie. fashion, automotive, gallery, etc.? How does your arrangement reflect the meaning and purpose of your collections?

2. Use a grid as a starting point. Arrange your images according to your sketch. Hang by 10:15. Can be tiled. Indicate areas where you need to reshoot your images, or where you have decided to add new content

NOTE: Formulate your ideal audience. This should consist of 3-5 people whose opinion you value and trust, whose taste you admire, whom you seek to interest and impress. Check in with yourself now and then to evaluate whether your cabinet would interest this select audience of few.

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HW

due next week:

1. Reshoot as necessary. I expect you to reshoot some of your images as you formulate your cabinet. If you do not reshoot that indicates that your project is not evolving. Consider the suggestions we made in class

2. Rearrange and revise your cabinet. Consider the folds - how will the cabinet unfold - what is the progression? This should be a similar thought process as in ordering your slideshow. Is there a moment of revelation?

3. Black and white full-size printout hung at the beginning of class next week (bring all files to class)

PS YOU MUST POST YOUR SLIDESHOW TO THE BLOG BY FRIDAY

Wunderkammer

PART ONE: Visual Research
Before you begin shooting, write a sentence describing why you want to examine each collection, ie. what is interesting about it. You can shoot objects, people, artifacts of a significant event or place, etc.

FOR NEXT WEEK:

Shoot 2 "collections"
For each collection you must include:
10 images of entire collection
10 shots of individual 'objects'
10 detail shots of 'objects'
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= 30 images per collection

print out 30 images as thumbnails, 10 per 8.5 x 11 color print

print out 3 from each grouping per collection, at least 8 x 10, trimmed to edge (no borders)

Slideshow: technical hints

NOTE: Your slideshow should be modeled after the slideshows we viewed in class (although they do not need to be newsworthy - you may push the format as long as the sequence creates a narrative. Consider how you wish to affect the viewer - will you create an emotional arc?

Editing the Audio

You can edit your Audio using Garage Band or another audio-editing tool into a brief (40-second to 1-minute) narration track. Don't include music unless there was music playing as part of the natural sound backdrop. The audio file should be short enough so that your photos fit comfortably in the audio timeframe. Save your audio as an .mp3 file. Garageband allows you to choose Share/Export File to Mp3. However, if you have i-tunes you can also select your sound file (within i-tunes) and convert it right in there (choose Advanced/Convert Selection to MP3). Listen carefully to the audio in the slideshows (nytimes examples) to better understand levels and tapering.

A few bits of info to help you with your audio edit. Remember, Soundslides ONLY ACCEPTS MP3 FILES.

1. If you choose to edit within Garageband, some versions of Garageband allow you to Share/Export to Mp3. Some earlier versions won't have that option. SO what you need to do is choose Share/Send Song to i-Tunes, and then in i-Tunes, select the "song" and then choose Advanced/Convert Selection to Mp3.

2. Finally, if you're in Garage Band and you want to fade in or fade out your tracks (and you should), here is a video tutorial to show you how to click down the track that has the audio control points....

Building the Interactive Audio Slideshow

With your photographs and your completed .mp3 file, you're ready to build the slideshow. Using the 10 best images you have, build a slideshow narrative with audio. You can do this using a program you are comfortable with already, or use the flash-based SoundSlides software, which you can download onto your computer (demo version is just fine for this project--you don't have to buy the software, but you will need to have a Flash Reader on your computer).

Saving your Slideshow: Save your slideshow on a CD or USB and bring it to class next week, when we will view it in class. You need to save ALL the folders within your project on the CD/USB to make the slideshow work (not just the .swf file). When all those folders are in one place, you activate the slideshow by opening up either the index.html file or the .swf file

Project 1: Sequential Imagery

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audio slideshow

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resources: New York Times' One in 8 Million, long photographs, faaast, the crooked road, 17th grandstand, chucking out, sauta, David Lynch's Interview Project

Due next week Jan 26th:

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1. Read brief article: Frozen Fire

2. Interview an interesting person you know. Formulate your interview questions in advance. Sshare with us something that we might not have access to, ie. interviewing your friend from Otis might not be that interesting. Record the interview (recorders available in the downstairs video lab). You can also use your computer to record the audio via skype or another program. Record sound from the space the person inhabits, or audio that relates to the conversation you had. Keep a log of your recordings.

3. Present audio as sound excerpts (we will have a computer cart for your use). Describe your plan for your audio slideshow. The examples above are pretty newsy; your content can be more abstract or expressive. You can choose to illustrate the content of the interview, develop a photographic theme centering on one interesting comment, or create tension with the audio content through contrast. Show us 2 test images that represent your plan.

Due Feb 2nd:

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1. Read article: The Post Photographic Age

1. Shoot a series of images that follow the plan you presented to the class. Take 80 to 100 images (bring all to class on usb). You can also record HD video and present stills if you wish. Print the 20 best images 4-up on 8.5 x 11 paper.

2. Present a rough version of your slideshow with at least 10 images and 40-60 seconds of sound. Audio can also consist of diegetic sound (sound that occurred as image was being taken or from the environment), sound taken from other sources (online, etc). The images should be enhanced by the sound but not rely upon it.

NOTE: You can use Soundslides free demo, iMovie, Keynote, Flash, or whatever simple program you feel comfortable with that combines still images with audio. I will post more info on Soundslides as it is the standard.

Due Feb 9th:

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Final slideshow due for in-class screening!