Art 309- Video Visual Art
Tu/Th 2-4:45pm Art and Design Center 401
Instructor: Jessica S. Azizi
Fall Semester 2014
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 12:30-1:00pm @ SG 224
Email: jessica.azizi@csun.edu
Course Description
Upper Division Standing. Explores the relationship between visual art and video/moving images.
Students create short video explorations to study the camera, movement, composition, color, and
editing. 6 hours lab.
Art program goals addressed in this course
The art department program goals are described below. The portions applicable to this course are
underlined.
1. Acquire a basic knowledge, theories, and concepts about art; develop a foundation of art skills
and a high level of craft (video); communicate ideas and concepts through writing, speaking and
art making; acquire a competency with the tools and technologies associated with the visual arts
(camera and editing software).
2. Broaden knowledge of ancient through contemporary art; develop an understanding of the
theoretical, cultural, and historical contexts of art (specifically, modern representing).
3. Apply processes of generating and solving problems in art; analyze, interpret and question
traditional methodologies and preconceived notions of art and art making.
4. Explore and engage in interdisciplinary forms of art making (understanding the relationship
of visual art to video).
5. Develop an appreciation and tolerance of diverse perspectives dealing with art, culture,
teaching and learning.
6. Become involved in both individual (projects) and collaborative (critiques) art experiences with
other students, faculty, and community.
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Course Student Learning Outcomes
1. Demonstrate basic principles of videography including contrast, lenses, lighting, camera angles,
editing.
2. Demonstrate proficiency in use of the camera and editing software.
3. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of simple, non sync-sound production pipelines for use in
art projects
4. Describe the relationship of video to fundamental concepts in art including objectivity,
interpretation, abstraction and gesture.
5. Exhibit an understanding of the way their own interests and abilities in visual art are expressed
within time-based media.
Professional Attitude and Practice
Student Code of Conduct: http://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/standards_student_conduct.pdf
Avoiding Plagiarism: http://library.csun.edu/guides/researchstrategies/avoidingplagiarism
Support Services for Students
I urge you to notify me beforehand or at the start of the semester if you believe you have a
disability that may warrant accommodations in this class.
The following are Csun links that provide information on extra help that is available to you.
Center on Disabilities: http://www.csun.edu/cod/
Library: http://library.csun.edu/
Counseling: http://www.csun.edu/counseling
Career Center: http://www.csun.edu/career
Grading
Projects 75%
Participation/citizenship/exercises 25%
Late work and Make-up work will be accepted for partial credit.
Attendance
If a student is absent on the first two class meetings, they will lose the right to remain enrolled
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and must withdraw or be given a WU (Unauthorized Withdraw), which is equivalent to a failing
grade.
Attendance policy: http://www.csun.edu/a%26r/soc/enrollrequirements.html
In this class, a total of 3 absences will result in a failing grade. Three tardy arrivals are equivalent
to one absence. Please bring a signed letter to my attention if you have reason to miss class.
Refer to the above link on missed classes policy.
Required text/supplies
Purchasing a text is not necessary for this course. The texts and exercise files for this class will be
available on moodle.csun.edu.
Flash Drive or external drive, the bigger the better. A 32GB flash drive should be OK. However,
note that a portable USB 2.0 500 GB+ drive is a good investment since you can get one for about
$50 and you’ll be able to store a lot more on it.
Topics & Activities
BASIC VIDEOGRAPHY
Pre-production, production, and post-production techniques will be explored through in-class
group exercises and individual assignments.
1. Storyboarding, scouting locations, casting
2. Understanding exposure: contrast, histograms, noise
3. Lenses: short and long and their effects
4. Lighting
Hard vs. soft
Defining volume
Finding, augmenting, creating
Lighting color
Lighting for motion vs. stills; justifying light, zones
5. Camera angles
Wide, full, med, CU, XCU
High, eye-level, low
6. Capturing and editing events
What is an event?
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Continuous events
Static/tight/loose edits
Dynamic/smooth edits
Splitting events
Creating events
Transitions
VIDEO & VISUAL ARTS REPRESENTATION
Understanding the lens-based medium in the context of contemporary art history and practice,
through discussion and exercise.
Objectivity
In early experiments in motion photography by Edison and others, the camera was placed
unmoving at a distance from the subject. Today, this kind of camerawork is still seen
in surveillance camera footage and satellite photography and conveys to us a sense of objectivity
and detachment.
Consider: video that conveys distance and objectivity.
The elements
The elements and atmospheric effects have fascinated artists because of their complex, ephemeral
nature. In video, these effects can take three forms: they can constitute the subject of a shot, they
can provide background for a shot implying space and transforming meaning, and they can
imitate the sheen and atmosphere of patina effects.
Consider: video of the elements following one of the three definitions of an elemental effect.
Interpretation
Cubism was a kind of proto-cinema in which reality was fragmented around the subjective eye of
the artist. In video, this fragmentation is found in shots in which emotional and thematic
continuity is more important than consistent world depiction. The camera is used to show us what
is important and to convey relationship and emotion.
Consider: following a list of shots, document a subject moving in place
Altered realities
As early as 1929 (Un Chien Andalou), the camera was used to explore the altered realities of
surrealism. Dutch angles, slow motion, and the manipulation of time and gravity became part of a
visual iconography depicting a move away from the world of physics and toward the
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subconscious mind.
Consider: create and document a tableau that depicts an altered reality.
The machine aesthetic
In the early twentieth century, the machine played a central role in the work of artists like
Moholy-Nagy and Oskar Schlemmer. This sensibility is still an important part of our contemporary
visual vocabulary. The machine enables precise, repeated control of an event even as the idea of
mechanism withdraws from our consciousness.
Consider: find and develop approaches to create a video mediated by machine technology.
Gestural approaches
In Jackson Pollock's large-scale canvases, painting was transformed into the documentation of
dance-like gesture. In this section we explore approaches to video in which the performance of
the camera operator becomes foregrounded. Here, the camera is not choreographed, but aims to
capture the sensation of life-coming-into-being.
Consider: experiment with ways in which the improvisational presence of the artist affects the
placement and movement of the camera
Suggested texts
Block, Bruce. The Visual Story. Focal Press, 2007.
Spiegel, Ed. Innocence of the Eye. Silman-James Press, 2001.
Selected bibliography
Block, Bruce. The Visual Story. Focal Press, 2007.
Brougher, Kelly. Visual Music, Thames and Hudson, 2005.
Fabe, Marilyn. Closely Watched Narratives, University of California Press, 2004.
Geuens, Jean-Pierre. Film Production Theory, SUNY Press, 2007.
Goldberg, RoseLee. Performance: Live Art 1909 to Present, Harry Abrams, 1979.
Hall and Fifer. Illuminating Video: Essential Guide to Video Art
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Hamlyn, Nicky. Film Art Phenomena, British Film Institute, 2008.
Moholy-Nagy, Lazlo. Vision in Motion. Paul Theobald and Company, 1961.
Manovich, Lev. Language of New Media. The MIT Press, 2002.
Rees, A.L. A History of Experimental Film and Video. British Film Institute, 2008.
Rush, Michael. Video Art
Russett, Robert. Experimental Animation, De Capo Press, 1988.
Schlemmer, Oskar. Theater of the Bauhaus, Wesleyan University Press, 1961.
Spiegel, Ed. Innocence of the Eye. Silman-James Press, 2001.
Weintraub, Linda. In The Making: Creative Options for Contemporary Art
Wells, Paul. Understanding Animation, Routledge, 2011.
Whitney, John. Digital Harmony. McGraw-Hill, 1980.
Young, Paul. Art Cinema, Taschen, 2009.
Tu 8/26
Introductions
Review syllabus and all upcoming exercises and assignments
Introduction to video medium historical context and trajectory
Begin Lexicon + Assign Makeshift Archive
Screenings + discussion
Th 8/28
Makeshift Archive footage due
Discussion on lens-based medium, still and moving image
Become acquainted with cameras and lenses
In-class exercise on types of shots and camera movements
Tu 9/2
Demonstration on color correction *Lab time: use footage from Makeshift Archive
Assign Color, individual projects
Screenings + discussion
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Demonstration on sound editing *Lab time: use footage/sound files from Makeshift
Th 9/4
Archive
Discussion on voice-over and montage
Assign 30 Seconds, individual projects
Color projects due: critique
Tu 9/9
Discussion and demonstration on basic editing
Screenings + discussion
Th 9/11
30 Seconds projects due: critique
Discussion on surrealism, subjectivity and objectivity, machine and gestural
Assign Haiku/Stillness, individual projects
Tu 9/16
In-class exercise on motion in editing *Lab time: use footage/sound files from
Makeshift Archive
Present same day and critique
Th 9/18
Haiku/Stillness projects due: critique
Screenings + discussion
Tu 9/23
Discussion on linear narratives/storytelling/artistic intention
Introduction to storyboarding
Assign Linear Narrative, individual projects
Th 9/25
Discussion on lighting
In-class exercise on utilizing natural light
In-class exercise on emphasizing the subject
Tu 9/30
Storyboards for Linear Narrative projects due: view all
Screenings + discussion
Th 10/2
Demonstration on Stop-motion: divide into groups for Stop-motion project
Discussion on aesthetics
Screenings + discussion
Tu 10/7 Stop-motion group project: storyboard in class *Lab time for Linear Narrative project
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Th 10/9
Stop-motion group project continued: edit in class *Lab time for Linear Narrative
project
Tu 10/14
Stop-motion group project due: critique
Screenings + discussion
Th 10/16
Linear Narrative projects due: critique
Assign Mapping, individual projects (Midterm)
Assign reading for Tuesday
Tu 10/21
Discussion on video as mirror
Share mapping results
Screenings + discuss reading
Assign reading for Thursday
Th 10/23
Storyboards for Mapping projects due: view all
Discussion on Non-linear narrative and time-based structure
Screenings + Discuss reading
Tu 10/28
Discussion and demonstration on sound design
Th 10/30
Discussion on film essay
Tu 11/4
Screenings + discussion
*Lab time: use Makeshift Archive
*Lab time for Mapping project
*Lab time for Mapping project
Th 11/6 Rough cut for Mapping projects due: critique
Tu 11/11 Veteran’s Day, no class
Th 11/13
Mapping, Midterm due: critique
Assign Extract, individual projects (Final)
Tu 11/18 Individual meetings
Th 11/20
Storyboards for Extract due: view all
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Tu 11/25 Screenings + discussion
Th 11/27 Thanksgiving Break, no class
Tu 12/2
Rough cut for Extract project due: critique
Th 12/4
*Lab time for Extract project
Tu 12/9
Last day of instruction
Bring in any make-up work and a clip of any kind of video interest
Th 12/11 Extract, Final due, class will be held from 3:00-5:00pm
*This syllabus is subject to change.
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