FILM 116 Experimentation with Media
Fall 2007

RESEARCH GROUPS

The Research Groups have been designed to be immersive experiences in research and experimentation. The work you will do in these workshops will supplement your efforts at developing the content of your Trek 03 video. Research Groups will meet on November 12, 14, and 19.

You must pick one group to attend; attendance is mandatory. Sign-up sheets will be available in class on Monday, November 5, and afterwards will be posted on Glenn's office door, B-60. Choose your group by Wednesday, November 7, 3 PM.

Advanced Editing Techniques
In this workshop we will use Quicktime Pro to deconstruct and reconstruct a single frame of footage, recomposing this one shot over and over by examining and re-examining the frame for compositional details. This investigation will lead to a discussion of imposed constraints, abstraction and revelation.

Instructor: Steve Wetzel, B-68

Light Capturing Techniques
We often think of light as invisible beams that illuminate our world, but in this research group we will put that notion to the test. We will go out with our cameras and try to make visible, to highlight, that which we regularly take for granted.

Instructor: Scott Foley, B-65

Moving Image Meditations
In this workshop, we will consider the question of how experimental filmmakers have captured, rendered, depicted, represented, lingered over, and investigated a variety of objects and landscapes. We will explore the approaches available in composition, duration, sound, rhythm, pace, patterning, and texture by studying and discussing the work of artists including Bruce Conner, Bruce Baillie, Maya Deren, Betzy Bromberg, Rebecca Baron, James Benning, Abigail Child, Peggy Ahwesh and Stan Brakhage. How can we learn from their techniques to engage the viewer with shots and sounds by reinventing the original curiosities and experiences of our trek spaces?

Instructors: Julie Murray and Alex Torinus, B-91

Experimenting with Video Technology
A survey of critical and aesthetic issues of video as a unique medium. We will examine various production and distribution formats and how they can be manipulated to produce interesting effects. We will experiment with tools such as Flash, VideoScript (a simple video coding language), and JES Deinterlacer (for effects like extremely smooth slow-motion).

Instructor: David Witzling, B-18

Deeper Sound/Image Relationships
In this workshop, students will screen and discuss various films and videos as well as listen to a number of sound pieces. The sound/image lecture from the previous weeks will extend into this workshop, and expand to provide more examples of using the freeware in this course (Audacity, Avid Free DV and Quicktime Pro) to make concise edits, convey mood and exemplify specific details within particular sounds and images by utilizing the relationship between the two. Each student will post an assignment to a group blog. (Choices of topics will be given during the workshop.) The final workshop day will include an open critique and in-class work time to work on one's edits and blog posting assignment.

Instructor: Lilly Czarnecki, B-56

Mapping Milwaukee
An investigation into the world of open source culture and online collaboration, where we will use a group blog to document various place-based investigations and mapping projects. We will focus primarily on urban photography, sound "postcards," and found texts. All work presented on the blog will be published under a Creative Commons license. (The work that students do in this group may extend beyond the three days of workshop.) Readings will include Cresswell, Hiss, Lippard, and Spirn.

Instructor: Glenn Bach, MUS 180 (Mondays), B-75 (Wednesday)