FILM 116 Experimentation with Media
Fall 2007

TREK 03

"Place-experience is not binary, a simple matter of knowing or not knowing;
knowledge arises from actions, and place-experiences thus present
innumerable shades of differentiation depending on what one is doing
in a place. Accordingly, [new terrain] can emerge when any way of interacting
with the world is changed, and, what is most important for our purposes here,
when paths are no longer traveled in the same way."

--Paul Adams

Trek 03 Overview

The final project for the class is to create an intelligent, engaging, and carefully edited sound video containing evidence of your planning and goals you defined for your project and for yourself. The video should generate patterns, rhythms, flow, and expectation, and should make a "statement" that reflects your voice as an artist. The video must be derived from the materials and experiences collected on a series of walks in the same trek area used on Trek 01 and Trek 02, and involve a concerted synthesis of image and sound. No longer than 2 minutes in duration, the video will be posted on a new Trek 03 blog.

Concept development for your sound video begins with an assessment of your experiences and reactions to Treks 01 and 02. It continues with a detailed description of one of these experiences along with a list of ten questions, curiosities, or problems you will address in your final sound video. In an attempt to answer those questions, you will develop two strategies for capturing sound and two strategies for capturing video that will help you narrow your collection of new data, and you will formulate a well written proposal (hypothesis) for the specific content and issues you wish to address in your Trek 03 sound video.

Create your Trek 03 Blog

1. Create a new blog for Trek 03. Come up with an interesting title that best reflects the content of your Trek 03 activities. Remember that you can change (improve) the title later.

2. Use the following format for the URL (Check the Course Directory to verify your Trek 03 URL):

FirstLast0711603

3. Write a brief description of your blog.

4. Your blog shall contain the following posts:

1. Trek Assessment #1 (at the bottom of the page)
2. Trek Assessment #2
3. Trek Assessment #3
4. Trek Assessment #4
5. Ten Questions
6. Production Strategy
7. Rough Cut Sketch #1
8. Rough Cut Sketch #2
9. Rough Cut Sketch #3
10. Final Cut Sound Video (at the top of the page)

Trek Assessment

Copy and paste the following into a Word document. When you have finished answering the questions, copy/paste your answers into separate posts on your Trek 03 blog, one post per question. Make sure your answers exist as self-contained statements.

1. Describe two situations that aggravated, bothered, shocked or otherwise stressed you during Trek 01 or 02. (Please note that the situation CANNOT be technology-related.)

2. Describe, with details, two situations during Trek 01 and/or 02 in which you felt unusually peaceful, at ease, or contemplative.

3. Describe three surprises or unexpected situations you encountered on your Treks and in the days that followed. The surprise could stem from your expectations that conflicted with "on the ground" realities, cultural or social issues of which you were previously unaware, feelings and reactions that you did not expect to have, appearances and soundings of things you did not expect, good or bad outcomes of "on the spot" decisions you had to make, or the discovery of "deeper" realities in the materials you brought home. (Again, skip anything technology-related!)

4. Describe your favorite experience, situation, place, or recollection from either of your Treks. Be specific about what happened, how you felt, how you reacted, and why you think this particular experience affected you so much.

Ten Questions

A. After writing and reflecting upon your assessment answers, come up with ten questions that best address the aspects of your Trek area you are most interested in pursuing further in Trek 03.

B. These questions must be related directly to your experiences walking the specific landscapes of your Trek 01 and 02, and should be specifically worded enough to generate possible strategies and solutions for executing Trek 03.

C. Here are some examples:

1. Are there any back roads that lead to something interesting?
2. Is there a house that has a very unique and interesting architecture?
3. Are there any places where sound takes on a strange quality?
4. Where can I find the strangest sight within my trek area?
5. What differences are there on Lake Michigan between night and day?
6. Are there any places where one can make a complete 180 degree turn and only see nature?
7. Are there any buildings that will give me access to a high and panoramic view?
8. Is there some kind of elaborate garden in the area?
9. Are there any kind of monuments in the area?
10. Are there any bodies of water (other than Lake Michigan) in the area?

D. Publish to your blog in a single post.

Production Strategy for Trek 03

Post a Production Strategy addressing these three factors:

1. After reflecting on your experiences on Trek 01 and Trek 02, and after generating your Ten Questions, specify a promising place in your Trek area you plan to explore in more depth for Trek 03. Make sure the location is precisely identified, if not with a GoogleMaps link, then through a verbal description of what you are trying to find and where. Explain why this site seems promising.

2. Describe how you will limit your image capturing activities in order to generate enough quality material with which to work. You can use the same strategies you used for Trek 02, or pick new ones.

3. Describe how you will limit your sound capturing activities in order to generate enough quality material with which to work.

After you have made this post, go out on your Trek 03 walk and execute these strategies as soon as possible.

Trek 03 Deadlines

1. Choose your Research Group by Wednesday, November 7, 3 PM.

2. Rough cut sketches of Trek 03 sound video must be posted by your scheduled appointment time with your Lab instructor(s).

3. Trek 03 Screenings begin Monday, December 3, 3 PM. (Screenings will be chosen at random, so have your sound video as complete as possible.)

4. Final cut of Trek 03 sound video must be posted by Wednesday, December 12, 3 PM.

4. Check this list of Trek 03 Grading Criteria (PDF).