NMED 3850
Experimental Film Production
NMED 3850
Today’s Class…
Experimental Film Canon
Possibilities of Experimental
Video
Composition #1
NMED 3850
• When asked how he would be remembered in 100
years Norman McLaren replied:
• “Well, if it’s the history of cinema – that’s a huge field.
The big part of it is the feature film, then documentary
films, and then you come down to the smaller films,
maybe the animated films. I might be classed as an
animated filmmaker or maybe there is a little
subclass called the experimental filmmaker, in which
I would prefer to be classed and would like to see
myself.”
NMED 3850
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Norman McLaren :
Neighbours
Blinkety Blank
Pas de deux
NMED 3850
• Historical Canon of Experimental Film
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Dziga Vertov
Maya Deren
Stan Brakage
Norman McLaren
These artists were filmmakers
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They worked exclusively with the tactility and
malleability of the film stock
– Digital artists do not have access to the physical
images they create
NMED 3850
• Producing Experimental Video
– There are many types of experimental moving
image composition
– Some experimental composition is formally
experimental others are technically experimental
– Your challenge in this class is to ask what can you
as an artist do to:
1. Take advantage of the uniqueness of working in video
2. Up end the defaults of video production and storytelling
to experiment with the audio and video possibilities
NMED 3850
• Current Possibilities of Experimental
Video
– Digital artists do not have access to the physical
images they create BUT
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We have an arsenal of media at our disposal how can
we revision their applications to generate original
compositions with artistic merit?
NMED 3850
• Current Possibilities of Experimental
Video
– Blue screen is for more than just the weather…
• Access to W426
NMED 3850
• Current Possibilities
of Experimental Video
– Blue screen is for more
than just the weather…
•
I was contracted to do
a PSA for a human
rights campaign for a
jumbotron screen at
Yonge & Dundas
NMED 3850
NMED 3850
• Experimental Video Production
– Is the nexus of New Media curriculum. This is a course in
which all the technical skills you have developed can me
implemented into one medium.
NMED 3850
• Experimental Video Production
– Revisit skills developed in:
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Digital media and performance
Interactive animation
2-D design
Web design
Motion-capture technology
Film and video production
Technology and communication
3-D compositing and special effects
Narrative
– Experiment with how those skills can be applied and used to
create moving image compositions
NMED 3850
• Glossary of Terms
– Single-channel: The term "single-channel" refers to video or
media work that involves a single information source (such
as a DVD), a single playback device (such as a DVD player),
and a single display mode (such as a flat-screen monitor).
To cite a familiar example, when you play a DVD and view it
on your television at home, you're showing a single-channel
work.
– Surreal: characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous
juxtapositions; dreamlike: resembling a dream. Works of
Salvador Dali
– Real-time: images that can be animated on screen at the
same speed as the real-world object.
NMED 3850
• Composition #1
– Creative intent: Create a single channel experimental
composition based on a surreal memory or experience in
your life.
• I.e: A dream; love at first sight; déjà vu
– Technical intent: The technical imperative must be motivated
by the question “What if I…”.
• I.e. What if I applied theatrical make-up all over my head to use my
face as a bluescreen to represent thoughts that swirl through my mind
about an issue?
– Each video must use 3-5 minutes of original real-time video
shot by you.
• Due September 24th