B&W Digital - The New New Wave

You can find your blog post assignment on Ben's Blog here.

Blog post due Tues, May 6th.

You call it Mumblegore, I call it Mumblehore

Please check out Dyana's Blog for your blog post assignment - due Tuesday, April 29th.

Mumblecore Furnished for You

What are your thoughts on the Mumblecore genre and our two example films,  The Puffy Chair and Tiny Furniture, within that proposed genre. Reflect specifically on content and aesthetic, and you can also bring in anything you learn regarding the filmmakers and audience (be sure to cite and include sources if you use them). You could write about each film separately, or consider them together (compare/contrast). Might be interesting to note that The Puffy Chair was a seminal film that helped to coin the phrase "Mumblecore" while Tiny Furniture was made several years later (and so then was associated with the genre by critics). I'm looking for an ample posting here with some specific points and backed up examples for those points.

Review of The Puffy Chair

Interview with Mark Duplass about the movie

Review of Tiny Furniture

More on Lena Dunham

and this...

WIRED TV Reading

After reading the two chapters shared with you from this book please post up some of your thoughts. No formal question for you to address, but please make sure that you thoroughly write about aspects that you found interesting from BOTH chapters. Bonus points for any other examples that you find that fit into the same ideas the two chapters are writing about.

This is due by Thursday, March 6th.

Film Genres - Copyright Criminals

In your reflection on the film we screened please address at least two of the questions below. You can also add any additional thoughts you want to share.

1) Considering the four factors of Fair Use, do you think any of the artists/works that were presented in the film should have cause for claiming Fair Use? Please explain.

2) In the current remix culture, when anyone can create something using digital technology, how is authorship being redefined? Is the composer who writes an original piece of music any more of an author than the person who takes that original composition and combines it with other pieces of music to create a new composition? Consider the ideas of the "instrument" (piano vs turntable or computer, paintbrush vs camera) as well as the "process"- both of which were talked about from different perspectives in the documentary.

3) In your estimation, what type of copyright/permissions arrangement would be fair to both owners of copyright and creators of derivative works? What changes are needed in our copyright laws to accommodate recent changes in technology and current popular music and video culture?

Blog post is due Monday, Feb 3.

Film Aesthetics - The Conversation - Extra Credit Blog Post

Take one of the questions below and answer it in relation to The Conversation, but be sure to add how that element is FUNCTIONING in the film - what is it's purpose and what effects are achieved by the sonic manipulation?

 What sounds are present - music, dialogue, noise? How are loudness, pitch, and timbre used? Is the mixture sparse or dense? Modulated or abruptly changing?

 Is the sound related rhythmically to the image? If so, how?

 Is the sound faithful or unfaithful to its perceived source?

Where is the sound coming from? In the story’s space or outside it? Onscreen or offscreen? If offscreen, how is it shaping your response to what you’re seeing?

When is the sound occurring? Simultaneous with the story action? Before? After?

 How are the various sounds organized across a sequence or entire film? What patterns are formed, and how do they reinforce aspects of the film’s overall form? Sound motifs?

Extra Credit will be awarded if you turn this blog post in by 5pm on Friday, December 20th. 

Film Aesthetics - Space Assignment

SPACE ASSIGNMENT:  Create a blog post that would engage a reader to demonstrate their understanding of the four types of space, surface divisions, and the concepts of closed and open space. Think of it as an assignment or test posted up as a blog post – how fancy you want to get is up to you.  Include aspects such as the cues that help create or identify types of space, the ways in which surface divisions can be created, and an exploration of how and why a filmmaker would use a chosen space and create divisions. The assignment/test must have a written component, but it does not have to be all written (it could include specific activities, demonstrations, etc). BLOG MUST BE POSTED BY DEC 2nd!

Make sure you include the time allotted for the test or assignment and how you as the teacher would grade or evaluate their understanding/performance.  We will be voting on the “best” assignment.  Michael and Andy as well as the two students who took the class last year will also put in their votes.  There will be prizes!

Voting criteria is not the hardest or most creative – it is the assignment that would best demonstrate a student’s understanding of the material!

You can find my "Aspects of Cinematography" Prezi HERE

Depth Cues:

Perspective/Longitudinal Planes
Size Difference
Object Movement (especially towards and away)
Camera Movement – dolly, track, boom
Textural Diffusion (creating differences)
Aerial Diffusion (only effective when there are some objects unaffected by diffusion)
Shape Change – with or without movement
Tonal Separation
Color Separation
Up/Down Position
Overlap
Focus - deep

Flat Cues:

Frontal Planes (no perspective)
Size Consistency
Object Movement – parallel to the picture plane only!
Camera Movement – pan, tilt, zoom
Textural Diffusion (creating affinity)
Aerial Diffusion (diffusion overwhelms all depth cues)
No Shape Change
Tonal Separation – tonal range confined to only one third of gray scale, affinity
Color Separation – affinity over contrast
Up/Down Position eliminated
No Overlap
Focus - shallow

Limited Cues:

Same as Depth cues EXCEPT:
Longitudinal Planes – Frontal Planes instead
Movement toward or away from the camera – objects move parallel only

Ambiguous Space Created by:

Lack of Movement
Objects of Unknown Size or Shape
Tonal and Textural Patterns (that create confusion)
Mirrors and Reflections
Disorienting Camera Angles

Surface Divisions

Halves

Thirds

Grids

Square on Rectangle

Golden

Closed and Open Space
Space on a screen within a frame is inherently CLOSED. The way to create open space is:

Project on a larger screenCreate Strong Visual Movement on screen
        random, multidirectional movement does the best
Camera movement can also create open space - but the more multidirectional it is the more open the     
        space will be (think of rotating the axis of the lens)
Eliminate Stationary Lines