ALTERNATIVE EXPERIMENTAL FILM, VIDEO ART, SOUND ART SYLLABUS
“Imagine an eye unrolled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by
compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which
must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perspective.”
- Stan Brakhage
“Cameras do not make films; filmmakers make films not by adding more equipment or
personnel but by using what you have to the fullest capacity. The most important
equipment is yourself, your mobile body, your imaginative mind and your freedom to use
both”
- Maya Deren
Course Description
This course exposes students to the practices of experimental motion picture and audio
art. Through the creation of experimental films and soundscapes students develop
complex aesthetic approaches and methodologies.
This is an advanced portfolio course, investigating the scope of symbolic and
improvisatory cinematic arts. Students will explore unconventional methods of motion
picture acquisition, manipulation, processing, editing and exhibition. Students will be
able to delve into media hybrids, and rather than established narrative forms,
underscoring metaphorical poetic styles that inform the structure of the work. Emphasis
is on the development of acute observational skills and innovative visualization
techniques and encourages divergent thinking and cognitive flexibility. This course is for
students who have a sustained interest in using video art, sound art, film and digital
cinema technologies as part of their art-making.
Building on prerequisite skills of screenwriting, cinematography, location audio
recording, editing, special effects and motion graphics, this course develops and hones
the filmmaking craft in creating motion media through all stages of production: from
concept and development, preproduction, production, postproduction to completion and
distribution. Each student conceives, develops, films and edits individual documentaries
gaining technical experience and fostering personal artistic growth.
Basic Skills Deepening an artistic practice of art knowledge, theories, skills,
craftsmanship and technologies, where ideas and concepts are communicated in
writing, speaking and art making.
Art Knowledge Strengthening knowledge of video art and film history and to develop
an understanding of cinema within the visual arts discipline and fine art contexts.
Critical Thinking Analyzing, interpreting, and questioning traditional methodologies and
pre-conceived notions of video art and filmmaking through the process of generating
and solving problems.
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Global Perspectives Elevating an appreciation and tolerance of diverse perspectives
dealing with art, culture and media.
Course Goals and Learning Objectives
Upon satisfactory completion of this course, the student will have performed the
following objectives:
A. Create experimental film video arts, sound art project with a coherent concept,
effective organization and development, appropriate method and sense of
audience, and successful use of artistic technique.
B. Practice and refine experimental and aesthetic approaches in the craft of
shooting, audio recording, editing and exhibition.
C. Hone the knowledge and skills of experimental film, cinematic devices and video
art.
D. Articulate their artistic process in a completed experimental film, video art or
sound art piece in the context of the experimentation in developing the concept
and the relationships between content and form.
E. Participate in a group critique by making productive critical commentary focused
the efficacy of peer artwork.
Upon satisfactory completion of this course, the student will have achieved the following
objectives:
A. Gain knowledge and skills through experimentations in the craft of shooting,
audio recording and editing.
B. Gain knowledge and skills through experimentations using digital cinema
equipment including DSLR cameras, digital cinema cameras, sound recorders,
microphones, lighting and grip equipment.
C. Gain knowledge and skills through experimentations in the craft of video editing
software for applications of nonlinear editing, multitrack editing, audio editing and
distribution.
D. Develop more complex individual aesthetic skill in using digital motion picture and
sound as expressive mediums.
E. Command of digital motion picture as a distinctly temporal based visual art form.
F. Critically analyze conceptual and aesthetic aspects of in-progress work to
completion.
Course Topics
This course seeks to deliver specific concepts and skills to students.
A) Concepts
1. The history and theory of experimental films and video art
2. Critiquing Experimental Film, Video Art and Sound Art
3. Time-based Art Distribution & Exhibition
4. Cinematic experiments in motion picture
5. Filmmaking process and craft
6. Auteur voice, vision and self-expression
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7. Collective voice, vision and self-expression
B) Skills
1. Conceive, develop and execute digital cinema and sound artwork
2. Articulate themes, premise, perspectives and explorations of the digital cinema
and sound mediums
3. Proficiency in experimental shooting techniques and strategies
4. Proficiency in experimental editing techniques and strategies
Required Books and Supplies
• Experimental Filmmaking: Break the Machine by Kathryn Ramey
•
Ex-Cinema: From a Theory of Experimental Film and Video by Akira Lippit
•
A History of Video Art: The Development of Form and Function by Chris MeighAndrews.
•
Video Art by Martin, Dr. Sylvia.
•
Journal/sketchbook for ideation and documenting projects
•
Professional Headphones: closed back, frequency range 10-20 kHz, impedance
of 63 ohms, 1/4” jack
•
Recommended brands are: Sony MDR 7506 and Senal SMH-1000
•
A 500 GB, (7200 RPMs or a solid state) external portable drive Mac-formatted
(OS Extended Journaled), hard drive to reduce the risk of damage and loss of
data. Your instructor can help you prepare the drive by formatting it for the Mac.
Avoid Fat32 formatted drives.
If you must format your drive for both Mac and Windows use the exFat format.
Recommended brands are GTech, SeaGate, and SanDisk.
Recommended Websites
Short of the Week features short films, fictional and documentary of a variety of formats
from live-action to animation. Short of the Week also accepts submissions from
filmmakers. http://www.shortoftheweek.com/
Films Short features fictional and documentary short films with a wide international short
collection and short films of cinema past. http://www.filmsshort.com/
Vdrome is an online cinema that offers regular, high quality screenings of films and
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videos directed by visual artists and filmmakers whose production lies in-between
contemporary art and cinema. http://www.vdrome.org/
e-flux was started by artists in 1999. Online, e-flux.com spans numerous strains of
critical discourse in art, architecture, film, and theory, and connects many of the most
significant art institutions with audiences around the world. https://www.e-flux.com/
Tutorials, videos, and interviews covering all aspects of production, including
screenwriting, distribution, and funding sources. Includes a forum and links.
http://filmmakeriq.com/
A pluralist, pro bono, and purely positive web-archive of examples of, links to, and
comment on, online, Open Access, film and moving image studies resources of note.
http://filmstudiesforfree.blogspot.com/
ARTtube is a collective video channel for art and design by museums in the Netherlands
and Belgium. The website contains unique interviews with leading artists and designers.
Other videos offer a peek behind the scenes during the installation of exhibitions and
restoration of artworks. Curators share favourite works from their museumʼs collection.
And there is also fiction and experimentation, for example in the series Boijmans TV and
in several animations and remix videos. http://www.arttube.nl
Course Resources
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Course Assignments & Projects
• In Class Exercises apply experimental strategies to the development of a work of
digital art (e.g. image recycling, stochastic invention, calculated omissions, remediation and cross-purposing technologies, random generation, illogical
juxtaposition and reversal).
• Five completed experimental film and video art projects.
• Multiple in-class technical exercises and mini projects.
• Completion of reading and written assignments.
• Artistic presentation and discussion of work
• Participation in class discussions, critiques and video productions.
ASSIGNMENT #1: FILM DESTORY – THE COLLAGE FILM
For this project, start by acquiring 'found' video footage through a variety of appropriated
sources (archive.org, youtube.com, ripped DVDʼs, digitized VHS, cassettes, etc.). Once
footage is acquired, and digitized, it will then be altered, destroyed, disrupted,
reconstituted and edited into a 'new' content.
Work with moving image as an material (scratched, dye, bleach the celluloid; static,
jittery, color bleeding, vertical or horizontal video bands; glitch, data mosh, dropped
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frame of digital moving image).
Demonstrate basic editing techniques: transitions (cuts, dissolves, wipes, fades, etc.),
montage (curated selection of images to express a succinct concept) and pacing (timing
the length of shot duration to effectuate mood and tone).
Cinematic Exploration: Selection of specific images to create commentary on the
images, their cultural inception, effect on the audience and societal implications. Create
a new and unique work from pre-existing material.
Soundscape Exploration: You must incorporate an audio sequence (20 seconds
minimum) at some point in which sounds contradict or oppose the visuals creating a
dissonance.
Parameters: Use only pre-exiting, found, sourced or archival footage. No re-shooting of
material – work with the results of the experiment.
Runtime: 2 minutes minimum; 3 minutes maximum.
Skills Exercised:
Proper use of nonlinear editing software, media ingestion, continuity editing, proficient
audio editing and correct file export.
ASSIGNMENT #2: PINHOLE DIGITIAL CAMERA
Students shoot, edit and screen a complete experimental short film. Effectuate
sensation of the space (emotional and tactile impression and experience of the space)
through the experimentation of lens selection, camera placement and juxtaposition
editing.
Complete the experimental arch with initiation, escalation and catharsis. Convey
metaphorical figures with clear association and assertion.
Experiment: By drilling a hole in a body cap for your DSLR camera, then covering the
hole on the body cap with painted black foil punctured with a sowing needle, you can
turn any DSLR into a pinhole camera.
Cinematic Exploration: Selection of subject and location to capture intriguing,
enchanting, engaging or challenging and provoking images.
Soundscape Exploration: You must incorporate an audio sequence (10 seconds
minimum) composed of specifically isolated sounds and a sequence (10 seconds
minimum) composed of specifically overlapping sounds that punctuate the visuals and
fall in direct sync with the dramatic drive of the sequence.
Runtime: 2 minutes minimum; 3 minutes maximum.
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Parameters: Use only footage acquired with the pinhole attachment for the DSLR.
Skills Exercised:
• Experimentation of the DSLR camera cinema mode, shutter-speed and ISO to
collect a variety of images.
• Proper use of nonlinear editing software, media ingestion, continuity editing,
proficient audio editing and correct file export.
ASSIGNMENT #3 GLITCH ART – AESTHETICS OF RUPTURE
Students shoot, edit and screen a complete experimental short film. Effectuate both a
pure glitch and a forced glitch with the footage and edit.
Complete the experimental arch with initiation, escalation and catharsis. Convey
metaphorical figures with clear association and assertion.
Experiment: Deconstruct motion images by either a patterned or random manipulation
of the digital file. Imported the new pure glitched media and the original media into
Premier Pro. Deconstruct motion images by applying a forced glitch at specific moments
of the original media.
Cinematic Exploration: Edit the material incorporating the pure glitch and the forced glitch
in a single work.
Soundscape Exploration: Use glitched audio. You must incorporate silence
(accumulative of 30 seconds) and in one sequence or intercut through the film.
Consider how the absences of sounds and music shape that form the soundscape and
tell the story or convey the experience of the film.
Runtime: 3 minutes minimum; 5 minutes maximum.
Parameters: 70% of final work must before the glitched footage. Identify the emergent
visual and aural experience. Articulate a specific expression or commentary.
Skills Exercised:
• Experimentation of location sound recording, microphone placement and setting
audio levels.
• Experimentation of the DSLR camera cinema mode, correct color timing of images,
strong composition and framing to convey narrative elements and lens selection for
optimal shot selection.
• Proper use of nonlinear editing software, media ingestion, continuity editing,
proficient audio editing and correct file export.
ASSIGNMENT #4 VIDEO ART OR SOUND ART INSTALLATION
Students shoot and edit an installation video artwork. Select whether to create a single
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channel video art piece or multi-channel video artwork. Select and fashion the screening
medium for the video channel(s). Select the viewing apparatus.
Consider the spatial progression throughout the installation and the experimental arch
with initiation, escalation and catharsis with metaphorical figures with clear association
and assertion.
Submit installation layout.
Parameters: Digital cinema work cannot screen in a theatrical setting.
Cinematic Exploration: You must devise digital motion picture in which the content and
display apparatus are co-dependent and intrinsic to complete the expression and
understanding of the digital cinema piece.
Soundscape Exploration: You must incorporate repetition of sounds (at least two
specific sounds must repeat for an accumulative of 30 seconds either in one sequence
or intercut throughout the film).
Use the same sound three times: at first occurrence Chinon’s reduced listening is the
only discernable quality, in a following occurrence Chinon’s semantic listening must be
discerned and in the last occurrence Chinon’s casual listening mode is clear.
Consider how the repeated sounds create a rhythm, pacing or anticipation that form the
soundscape and tell the story or convey the experience of the film.
Film examples: TV Buddha (1974) by Nam June Paik comprises a statue of Buddha
placed in front of a television monitor with a closed-circuit video camera directed from
the top of the monitor onto Buddha; Buddha silently observes himself on the screen in
an infinite temporal loop. In TV Garden (1974), plants of varying sizes grow out of and
amid monitors playing Paik's videotape Global Groove (1973). Video Fish (1975)
presents a row of twenty monitors each with a fish tank placed in front of them, playing
footage ranging from flying planes and fish to Merce Cunningham dancing.
Nantes Triptych (1992) Short Film/Video Art by: Bill Viola - Three panels each display a
different videos: one video plays back with the birth of childbirth (on the left), an aged
woman lies in a hospital bed as each breath grows more labored (on the right) and a
metaphorical journey between the two represented by a body floating in water (in the
centre).
Skills Exercised:
• Editing techniques for on-screen time continuity and expression.
• Experimentation of location sound recording, microphone placement and setting
audio levels.
• Experimentation of the DSLR camera cinema mode, correct color timing of images,
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•
strong composition and framing to convey narrative elements and lens selection for
optimal shot selection.
Proper use of nonlinear editing software, continuity editing, proficient audio editing
and correct file export.
ASSIGNMENT #5 FINAL EXPERIMENTAL FILM, VIDEO ART OR SOUND ART
PROJECT
For this project, draw on all that has been presented throughout the semester for
inspiration. Keep in mind the various modes of presentation available to you (projection,
monitor, web, TV, etc.).
The outcome may take on any genre of video making that was touched on in class. This
includes, but not limited to (performative, narrative, animation, experimental, music
video, video painting, etc.).
Reshooting is allowed to recreate experiment results from previous work in class to
master a desired affect.
Skills Exercised:
• Editing techniques for on-screen time continuity and expression.
• Experimentation of location sound recording, microphone placement and setting
audio levels.
• Experimentation of the DSLR camera cinema mode, correct color timing of images,
strong composition and framing to convey narrative elements and lens selection for
optimal shot selection.
• Proper use of nonlinear editing software, continuity editing, proficient audio editing
and correct file export.
Critiques & Grading
In keeping with the “oral tradition” of studio arts practice, verbal and written critique will
be emphasized in this course. Traditional letter grades, including plus/minus, will be
assigned at the end of the semester based on a holistic evaluation of the quality of each
student's work and degree of technical, formal, and conceptual growth demonstrated
over the term. Individual assignments will be due for required in-class critiques but will
not be graded at that time.
Do not, however, bring “work in progress” to a project critique; the work must be finished
to a high level so that meaningful discussion is possible. Work that is not sufficiently
finished will not be critiqued. Based on feedback received during critique, students may
continue revising all projects until finals week, when a portfolio with a minimum of three
of the five assigned projects, plus the self-directed final project, must be submitted for
evaluation.
Students are also expected to write a self-evaluation of their work over the semester
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and submit it with the portfolio. The portfolio will then be archived by the Intermedia
program and may be used for demonstration and promotional purposes.
Attendance Policy
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Grading Scale
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Student Conduct
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Statement of Inclusive Learning Environment
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Student Reporting Policy
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