Blogging (20%)
I will provide blogging prompts and/or exercises to help you think critically and creatively about the themes each week. Blog posts should be approximately 250-500 words, demonstrate a solid understanding of the readings/screenings and the ongoing themes in the course, be crafted as mini-essays with proper grammar and spelling and include, if requested in the prompts, youtube/vimeo posts, relevant links, quotes and media inserts, etc. This is a chance to learn how to blog well. You are welcome to have your own writing style, but please demonstrate your understanding of the topic by referencing the movies, shorts and readings.
You will also be posting all video assignments and projects (embedded from your youtube or vimeo accounts) to your blog, along with a text introduction and proper metadata.
As upper-level university students at a Tier 1 research institution, your writing proficiency should reflect that status. We will discuss what makes good blog writing throughout the course.
A:
-posts are a proper and timely response to the week’s reading(s) and prompt
-posts are developed arguments with (if required) supporting evidence (quotes, embedded videos, images etc.)
-posts are around 250-500 words
B: significantly deficient in any one of the above areas
C: significantly deficient in any two of the above areas
D-F: significantly deficient in all 3 of the above areas
Framing (5%)
- Tell a “story” in at least 5 shots and between 20 and 30 seconds in duration.
- Use framing and camera position to narrate an event, story, incident or dramatic reveal.
- Use a monopod or tripod to hold each shot steady – no moving camera for this assignment.
- You may use natural sound and sound effects, but don’t add a music track or voice over.
How would you frame a sequence of shots showing a messy kitchen and then the guilty pet in the corner? How would you frame someone anxious about opening up a letter they just picked up at the mailbox?
This is an exercise in visual storytelling. Most popular movies begin with a sequence of shots: the setting/landscape followed by medium shots of the subjects and then close-ups to emphasize a detail like a face or object etc. Or a scene can begin with a close-up and slowly reveal the wider context. The point is to connect each shot spatially and much of this is controlled by frame to frame relationships. A wide shot of a person, followed by a close up their eyes will seem as a spatial whole. This is the basic grammar of visual storytelling, using the frame to define sets of relationships in space and time.
Continuity (5%)
Shoot and edit a short video (no more than 60 seconds ) that follows the principles of continuity to create the illusion of continuous space and time. You can even use principles of continuity to create an imaginary space. Try to vary the angles and distances of your shots: establishing shot, medium-shot, close-up, extreme-close-up. Sound may be an element here, but please do not include talking, music or verbal explanations. We are working on visual explanations, depicting continuity of action. Below are some ideas.
- Making or Doing Something:
Document someone making something or doing some focused activity. The process may take 3-30 minutes, but the final video should be no more than 60 seconds. Document a single continuous action (making art, playing sports, cooking a meal, walking a dog) and edit it into a sequence that is between 30-60 seconds. - Spatial Story
Narrate a fictional event using rules of spatial/temporal continuity: a chase, a search through a house, a commute, going for a walk
Post your Continuity Assignment with a Vimeo/Youtube embed (place the url on its own line).
Montage (5%):
As an element of film language, montage (the juxtaposition of discontinuous fragments) can be a powerful tool for storytelling: getting across ideas or emotions, summarizing events, conveying the cyclical or simultaneous, making poetic associations and creating rhythm and tension. Because juxtaposed images and sound act on our subconscious, montage is effective in propaganda and marketing as well as storytelling. In other words, be free to juxtapose images, sound and/or on-screen text for narrative/expressive effect, but be aware and sensitive to how those juxtapositions will be perceived.
In this assignment, pay attention to Eisenstein’s methods of montage: metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual. Try to create a rhythm in editing (based on sound or music) and use contrast in framing and color to push the effects of the cutting.
Option 1: Idea Montage (5%):
no more than 30 seconds
Express an idea, a feeling or an issue or any complex subject through the juxtaposition of images and sounds. You may use natural sound or keep it silent, but please no music tracks. I want you to find the rhythm and pacing of your edits in the narrative, not in external music. The video could be a dream-like association of images and sounds. Or images and sounds that collectively express an abstract idea or that have an emotional impact. Use contrast between shots to make the viewer work at understanding. Use similarities between shots to build connections.
Ideas: a montage of a rain, mobile phone addiction, a student experience at WSU, fear or anxiety, peace or calm, dream
OR
Option 2: Spatial Montage (5%):
no more than 30 seconds
Create a 30-60 second video that has at least two distinct video frames simultaneously on the screen. Think about the relationships between each frame’s content (for continuity or montage effects), the relationship between each frame’s editing rhythm, the combinations of their sound tracks and the similarities or differences in the proportions and positioning of the frames themselves.
Ideas: portrait of a place, coverage of an event from multiple points of view, simultaneous views of two or more people or characters, subjective thoughts, dream
OR
Option #3: Temporal Montage
Use montage (discontinuous editing) as well as continuity editing to summarize an event or series of events in compressed time. In a 30 second video, you are to convey event(s) that take place for a duration greater than the screen time; greater by either minutes, hours or years. The subject must be about the passage of time. Use natural sound, but please no music tracks for now. I want you to find the rhythm and pacing of your edits in the narrative, not in external music.
Ideas: your morning routine or a commute, boredom while waiting for something, the short summary of a trip.
Compositing, Effects and/or AI (5%):
Create a 30-second sequence that uses at least three Premiere effects or use AI tools (green screen, image generation). Apply these effects to video either for story or for abstract experimentation. The point of this assignment is to play and see if certain effects can be used to generate ideas for a final project.
Profile Interview (20%)
no more than 2 minutes
In this assignment, you will do a 1-2 minute profile of a person at their job or doing their hobby, like gardening or painting. What does this person do at their job or hobby? What is the activity? How often do they do it? What experience are they getting? What experience did they need before getting the job or starting on the hobby? If the person works at home, how do they manage home life and their work? How might you tie the job or hobby to larger questions about work or creative activity?
The two areas of focus in this assignment are 1) moving with the camera and 2) conducting an interview, but you should of course pay attention to continuity and framing. So choose a subject that does not spend the day sitting in front of a computer, even though most jobs do include some of this.
- First, have a pre-interview discussion with your subject. Find out some things about them and their job.
- Prepare a story outline, interview questions and a shot list for visual evidence.
- Then set up a time/place with your subject and conduct a sit-down interview at a good location for lighting and sound recording.
- After the interview, get the visual evidence you need by following the person at work or, even better, as they work on a particular project. Continue to ask questions while following the subject with the camera. You may find that the answers are more interesting than in the sit-down interview.
One-Minute Short (20%):
This project will involve small groups that collectively write, storyboard, shoot and edit a short fictional video. You can decide as a group how you each contribute, but everyone must contribute. Keep dialogue to a minimum. Storyboard and plan the shots for continuity and or montage effects.
week 1: Discuss ideas for a short. Discuss resources of props and locations that may help with ideas. Decide on one idea. Each student in the group then writes a short 1-2 page script based on this one idea. The group then reads each script from the group and collectively come up with one synthesized script.
week 2 : Groups share scripts with the class for critique. Translate the script into a storyboard. Find locations, props and performers. Find a visual storytelling style for the short. Set a time and shoot what you need.
week 3 : Each student edits video and sound for their own version of the story. Add music and credits. Show your one-minute film to the class.
Final Project (20%)
With consideration of the assignments, readings , screenings and class discussions, create a final video project (1-3 minutes) that explores at least one feature of “digital cinema” we have discussed: continuity, montage, visual evidence (documentary), visual storytelling. You may create a fictional, non-fictional or abstract project. However, the project must be made of video (moving digital images originally captured by you as video), incorporate cinema language (thoughtful lighting, framing, continuity editing and/or montage and sound design) and you must engage with the class ideas in the conception of your project. Your grade we will be based on the quality and effort of your creative work as well as its conceptual foundation.
Some suggested ideas:
- an ai generated video or mix of live action and ai video (ai/effects)
- a mini documentary (visual evidence)
- a profile of a person, company, product or institution (visual evidence)
- a fictional short video, another one-minute short?
- a mock documentary
- an experimental video with composting, spatial montage and/or other effects
Group projects are possible. Talk to me.