VISUAL NARRATIVES

We'll be watching this DVD in class. Plan to blog about it here.
As you prepare to edit your final project, what aesthetic and technical choices do you plan to make to create a unified story? What is your plan for the use of pacing, shot types, cuts, continuity, and sound in your final edit? Use a specific example from The Cutting Edge of an editing choice you might try in your own project.

Please post to blog by Final Exam / Friday May 17:

Coming soon... Widely acclaimed band Low will perform live on Friday, April 12 as part of the 2013 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival...
http://www.mspfilmfest.org/

Panasonic Lumix GH3 user group on Vimeo
http://vimeo.com/groups/gh3users

In the Digital Arts program at UMD we have invested in the Panasonic Lumix GH2 camera as a good tool for artists who want to shoot both still and video at high quality. We will be getting some of the newer GH3 cameras too. Here are some links to photographer's discussing the mirrorless hybrid camera:

http://oliviatech.com/giulio-sciorio-professional-photographer-tells-us-how-he-uses-the-panasonic-gh3-used-for-photo-and-video-at-wppi-2013

Small Camera Big Picture is the resource for everything on mirrorless-hybrid photography and the modern photographer's lifestyle. Learn how big things come in small packages at SmallCameraBigPicture.com. Giulio also contributes to the hybrid photo, video and audio site DiscoverMirrorless.com.

http://mirrorlesscentral.com/dslr-vs-mirrorless-for-premium-video-which-one-is-better/

Here is a link to the Moviestorm blog, where they made the announcement yesterday:
http://moviestorm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/winner-of-moviestorm-bett-2013-future.html

So...Great News...We are going to be getting Moviestorm software for use by Art&Design students at UMD. We won educational licenses... that will be installed in the Digital Arts classroom, the Multimedia Hub, Montague Lab and VizLab.The Moviestorm software will
be good for students interested in 3d animation, digital storytelling, pre-visualization,
game design, filmmaking, and machinima.

What do people do with Moviestorm?

View Movies made with Moviestorm:
http://www.moviestorm.co.uk/community/

More info here:
http://www.moviestorm.co.uk/

Bordwell and Thompson's textbook, Film Art: An Introduction explores key concepts in cinema--mise-en-scène, lighting, cinematography, sound, and editing--through examples. Their examples are short and to the point, here is one showing elliptical editing in Agnes Varda's Vagabond ...

More about filmmaker Agnes Varda
http://www.criterion.com/explore/178-agnes-varda

http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2201-criterion-goes-to-film-school-finally

Bordwell's blog
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/
Bordwell's website
http://www.davidbordwell.net/

http://bcove.me/4mzp09b0
1922 Kodachrome Test Footage

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/02/08/early_color_film_from_1922_actresses_vamp_for_the_camera.html?fb_ref=sm_fb_plugin_activity

Moviestorm is a software application that lets anyone make 3d animated movies on their computer. Great News...We are going to be able to acquire this software for use in the Digital Arts area and the Multimedia Hub. The Moviestorm software will be a cool addition for students interested in interactive storytelling, game design, filmmaking, and machinima!

View Movies made with Moviestorm:
http://www.moviestorm.co.uk/community/

More info here:
http://www.moviestorm.co.uk/

Erik Loyer will be a visiting artist on UMD campus on TUESDAY...
His Lecture is OPEN to the PUBLIC Tuesday March 5th at 6pm in Montague Hall

Erik Loyer is a media artist and creative director working at the intersection of interactivity, story, music and animation. As a digital media artist he often works in collaboration on creative projects that use emerging media such as iPads and game systems for innovative digital narratives and interactive poetic works... like STRANGE RAIN:

His work has been exhibited online and internationally at venues including Artport at the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Digital Gallery at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Prix Ars Electronica; Transmediale; and IndieCade. Loyer's award-winning website The Lair of the Marrow Monkey was one of the first to be added to the permanent collection of a major art museum, and his serialized web narrative Chroma went on to win the Best Digital Creation award at the Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and New Media.
As Creative Director for the experimental digital humanities journal Vectors, Loyer has designed over a dozen interactive essays in collaboration with numerous scholars including the Webby-honored documentary Public Secrets, and his commercial portfolio includes Clio and One Show Gold Award-winning work for Vodafone, as well as projects for BMW, Sony, and NASA.
He is the founder of interactive design studio Song New Creative, and develops story-driven interactive entertainment under the Opertoon label, including most recently a critically-acclaimed iPhone application entitled Ruben & Lullaby. A recipient of a Rockefeller Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship, Loyer has a B.A. in Cinema/Television Production from the University of Southern California.

View his work here:
http://erikloyer.com/index.php/projects/

http://erikloyer.com/index.php/projects/detail/upgrade_soul/

Please set up your own vimeo account (free) to share your short digital video project.
Please post a link to your VIMEO site to the comments here.

More info here:
Sign-up
http://vimeo.com/sign_up
Basics
http://vimeo.com/help/basics
Vimeo Help Center / Frequently Asked Questions
http://vimeo.com/help/faq
Vimeo Video School
http://vimeo.com/videoschool
HD Channel
http://vimeo.com/channels/hd

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Beasts of the Southern Wild

http://www.zeitgeistarts.com/category/zinema-2/zin-now-playing

Anyone interested in cinematography and video editing should see this film from director Benh Zeitlin. It took home the Grand Jury Prize and Best Cinematography award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Expected to win some oscars next.

Exercise 2: Capturing the Light
Using only natural light to illuminate your subject, create a simple narrative using a variety of visual strategies to capture and exploit the available light.

Use this second exercise to expand on what you learned in exercise one. This time push yourself to make the most of natural lighting opportunities. Look for windows, doorways and other ways that light may stream in from the outside. If you need to, experiment with ways to bounce the natural light with reflectors or light materials. You may choose to shoot outside if weather permits. Do not risk damage to cameras in snow or extreme cold. Another option is to explore the use of candlelight or fire light. (Always protect camera from flame or smoke).

Continue to use a variety of shot types and angles. Build a mood using your subject and your setting deliberately. Make every shot count.

Edit to 20-30 seconds / optional simple sound. 10%

Please view at least 5 Short Films over the next few weeks and take notes using the format below. I highly recommend viewing the Oscar Nominated Shorts that are showing at Zinema. Or you may use the DVDs of short film collections (like Wholphin, Shorts!, ResFest) that are now on reserve for you at the library front desk. Or view others you find on the web (be selective, avoid youtube). If possible, find works that relate somehow to your own creative work, as inspiration for a technique or look you hope to achieve. Try to use films that are longer than one minute and shorter than 15 minutes (though the definition of a short film may vary).

Take notes while you view, type your reflection and post to the blog once you have viewed 5 shorts. Your blog must note all of this info for each film:

Title:
Year:
Director:
Run time:
Link to the film : (URL of website, dvd, tv or movie theatre)
Story Synopsis:
Location:
Characters:
Visual strengths:
Use of Light / Color:
Digital techniques:
Use of Sound / Music:

See links to Short films.
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/jrock2/viznar/2009/02/short_films_links.html#more

Tom Jones / Artist Lecture 6pm
February 5, 2013
http://tomjoneshochunk.com/
Tom Jones is an Assistant Professor of Photography at UW-Madison. He received his MFA in Photography and a MA in Museum Studies from Columbia College in Chicago, IL. Jones' photographs examine identity and geographic place with an emphasis on the experience of American Indian communities. He is interested in the way that American Indian material culture is represented through popular commodity culture, e.g. architecture, advertising, and self-representation. He continues to work on an ongoing photographic essay on the contemporary life of his tribe, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin. He is critically assessing the romanticized representation of Native peoples in photography through the reexamination of historic pictures taken by white photographers. This reassessment questions the assumptions about identity within the American Indian culture by non-natives and Natives alike. Jones is a co-author on the book "People of the Big Voice, Photographs of Ho-Chunk Families by Charles Van Schaick, 1879-1943." Jones' work is in the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian, Polaroid Corporation, Sprint Corporation, The Chazen Museum of Art, The Nerman Museum, and Microsoft.

http://www.aphotostudent.com/movies-about-photography/

This is a good list!

Jan 31: Occupy Duluth presents American Autumn - FREE

A year after the birth of the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City, writer, director and producer Dennis Trainor, Jr. has made a full-length feature documentary capturing the fervor and passion that spread through the nation in fall 2011, fueled a street revolution and introduced the concept of "the 99%" to define the corporate greed that has crippled the U.S.

American Autumn lets the protestors and organizers tell in their own words why they joined the protests and what they hoped to accomplish. FREE SCREENING on Jan 31 at Zinema in Duluth.

http://www.zeitgeistarts.com/zinema-2/zin-now-playing/jan-31-occupy-duluth-presents-american-autumn-free

Screen the documentary Visions of Light (1992).

Short Blog Reflection on Visions of Light
In your blog reflection, note the art of cinematography and the role of the "DP" (the director of photography) in crafting a film. Note three films (title of film, director, director of photography) from three different eras in cinema history. What are some of the distinct visual qualities of lighting and camerawork in these films? Note a specific lighting technique or aesthetic choice you would like to try in your own video work.

POST TO BLOG by THURSDAY FEB 7. (~ 150 words)

Siskel & Ebert review of Visions of Light documentary about the art of cinematography

Opening Feb 1: 2013 Oscar Nominated Shorts

Zinema 2 / Zeitgeist Building
222 E. Superior Street Duluth, MN
Check for Showtimes:
http://www.zeitgeistarts.com/zinema-2

see trailers: http://theoscarshorts.shorts.tv/thefilms.php

Animated Shorts:
Adam and Dog by Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole by PES
Head over Heels by Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" by David Silverman
Paperman by John Kahrs

Live Action Shorts:
Asad by Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys by Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Curfew by Shawn Christensen
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) by Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry by Yan England

Zeitgeist Arts validates 3 hours of parking at the Medical Arts ramp, located on First Street and 3rd Ave E (Behind the Sheraton hotel) in Downtown Duluth. Bring your ticket with you! If you arrive at the ramp after 5PM, your parking is FREE.

Go to this screening for extra credit!

7pm TUES Jan 29: Andrew Bird Fever Year
one night only? The Explorers Club.

Filmed during culminating months of the acclaimed singer-songwriter's most rigorous year of touring, Andrew Bird crosses the December finish line in his hometown of Chicago - feverish and on crutches from an onstage injury. Is he suffering hazards from chasing the ghost of inspiration? Or merely transforming into a different kind of animal "perfectly adapted to the music hall?" FEVER YEAR is the first to capture Bird's precarious multi-instrumental looping technique and features live performances at Milwaukee's Pabst Theater with collaborators Martin Dosh, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Michael Lewis and Annie Clark of St. Vincent.

http://www.zeitgeistarts.com/zinema-2/zin-coming-soon/explorers-club-jan-29-andrew-bird-fever-year

Minneapolis Television Network seeks film submissions for upcoming series. Regular deadline April 30th.

MTN is currently accepting submissions for the Thirteen Ways of Looking at Minneapolis
documentary series and contest. All submissions that are deemed suitable will appear on Comcast Cable Channel 17 during a regular series times slot during the calendar year of 2013 and streamed on MTN's new online-only station. Additionally, every Thirteen Ways video/film shown on Channel 17 will be entered in a contest to win one of six categories of award: Best Access Producer Documentary; Best Youth Documentary; Best Independent Artist Documentary; Best Depiction of a Minneapolis Ward; Most Visionary and Unique Documentary; and Best Short (5-minute or less) View of Minneapolis. One film will also be named a Viewer Favorite.

http://mtn.org/Video/community/images/13WaysGuidelines.pdf

If this was a story about my life, it would be a ___________________ (genre / style), created by _________________________________ (artist/ director).
The story about my life would be ____________________ ________________________________________ (describe visual qualities and emotional tone). It would be set in _______________ (era) in ___________________ (location). The pace of the story would be _________________, the camera work would be ______________________.
It would be the story of _______________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________
(short synopsis). In the project, my ________________ (family member) would be played by _____________________ (actor) and __________________ (actor) would play the love interest.
In the climax of the story, _________________________ would happen. This scene would feel very ______________(emotion) and be visually _________________ (look). The audience would be most surprised by the ending, when I _________________________________________________________.

Use this story template to reveal something about who you are and what you love in cinema. Bring your story to class on Day 2.

Premiere Pro basic Tutorial - Import, Edit, Export from clay asbury on Vimeo.

There are some big differences between the CS5 and CS6 versions of Premiere.
Make sure you do tutorials that match with the version you are using.

Help with Adobe Premiere Pro
http://www.adobe.com/support/premiere/gettingstarted/

ADOBE TV
http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-premiere-pro-cs5/
Importing
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-premiere-pro-cs5/gs03-importing-files-into-adobe-premiere-pro/

Please set up your own vimeo account (free) to share your short digital video project.

More info here:
Sign-up
http://vimeo.com/sign_up
Basics
http://vimeo.com/help/basics
Vimeo Help Center / Frequently Asked Questions
http://vimeo.com/help/faq
Vimeo Video School
http://vimeo.com/videoschool
HD Channel
http://vimeo.com/channels/hd

Get behind the cameras of Sundance Institute's Directors Lab. Take an insider's tour of the place where filmmaking dreams come to light as the 2009 Directors Lab Fellows climb out of their writing caves and land on the mountain ready for "Action!"
View all of season 1:
http://www.youtube.com/show/sundanceinstitute?feature=context-season&s=1
Here is Lab 4: Visual Style
http://youtu.be/nhr40MXD_oE

Here's a famous match cut from Lawrence of Arabia
http://youtu.be/Ypul7nPcMII

and one from 2001: A Space Odyssey
http://youtu.be/iP4riIK0fa0

Cinematic Storytelling Sample

Book by David Parkinson

Blog by Maria Popova
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/18/100-ideas-that-changed-film/

Operating Manual / Download here:
http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMCGH2.PDF

Quick Menu tutorial
http://snapsort.com/video/MfrasymEQ4M/Panasonic-DMC-GH2-Quick-Menu

Links:

Examples of shots, angles and lighting:
http://www.d.umn.edu/~jrock2/shots.html

Beautiful Stills
http://filmgrab.wordpress.com/dops-a-z/

http://121clicks.com/articlesreviews/25-movies-every-photographer-cinematographer-must-watch

http://www.andsoitbeginsfilms.com/2012/05/my-11-favorite-cinematographers.html

Vocabulary Camera Angles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_angle

Not Quite Stills?
http://iwdrm.tumblr.com/

Josh Ritter - Love Is Making Its Way Back Home from Josh Ritter on Vimeo.

https://vimeo.com/awards/

Submissions to the 2012 Vimeo Festival + Awards are now open.

Celebrating the best in online video, the 2012 Vimeo Festival + Awards are jam-packed with new judges, new categories, and new monies -- $5,000 grants for category winners and one $25,000 grand prize.

The Living Room Candidate
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org
The Living Room Candidate contains more than 300 commercials, from every presidential election since 1952, when Madison Avenue advertising executive Rosser Reeves convinced Dwight Eisenhower that short ads played during such popular TV programs as I Love Lucy would reach more voters than any other form of advertising. This innovation had a permanent effect on the way presidential campaigns are run.

Film Studies for Free
http://filmstudiesforfree.blogspot.com/2011/12/fsffs-favourite-online-film-studies.html

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. Check out this blog by Catherine Grant

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Monarchy of Roses video using black and white animation

Depth of Field Explained (by snodart.com) from NT on Vimeo.

this video is reprint at snodart.com(http://snodart.com/tutorials.php)

http://minneapolisundergroundfilmfestival.com/

30x30 Trailer: M.U.F.F. from Tyler Jensen on Vimeo.

Looking for music for your video project? Try this:

http://vimeo.com/musicstore

http://vimeo.com/faq/music_store