These Texts are online through library login at:

Focal Guide to Final Cut Pro 7

http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/science/book/9780240521817

Lighting for Digital Video and Television

http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/science/book/9780240812274

Single Camera Video Production

http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/science/book/9780240812649

January 10

WHAT DOES A CAMERA SEE?

Introductory discussion and early video sampler

From "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

Magician and surgeon compare to painter and cameraman. The painter maintains in his work a natural distance from reality, the cameraman penetrates deeply into its web. There is a tremendous difference between the pictures they obtain. That of the painter is a total one, that of the cameraman consists of multiple fragments which are assembled under a new law. Thus, for contemporary man the representation of reality by the film is incomparably more significant than that of the painter, since it offers, precisely because of the thoroughgoing permeation of reality with mechanical equipment, an aspect of reality which is free of all equipment. And that is what one is entitled to ask from a work of art.

The painting invites the spectator to contemplation; before it the spectator can abandon himself to his associations. Before the movie frame he cannot do so. No sooner has his eye grasped a scene than it is already changed. It cannot be arrested. Duhamel, who detests the film and knows nothing of its significance, though something of its structure, notes this circumstance as follows: “I can no longer think what I want to think. My thoughts have been replaced by moving images.” The spectator’s process of association in view of these images is indeed interrupted by their constant, sudden change. This constitutes the shock effect of the film, which, like all shocks, should be cushioned by heightened presence of mind. By means of its technical structure, the film has taken the physical shock effect out of the wrappers in which Dadaism had, as it were, kept it inside the moral shock effect.

-Walter Benjamin, 1936

-Viewing: Hans Richter Ghosts Before Breakfast, 1928

-Paul Virilio "War and Cinema" quotes

-Viewing:Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol clip from Outer and Inner Space, Valie Export, Dan Graham Body Press, Gary Hill,

-various new technologies from the recent CES consumer technology trade show including video glasses and the "scarlet" beyond HD cam

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/video/2011/jan/08/ces-2011-lady-gaga-polaroid

READ FOR NEXT CLASS:

1. Gilles Deleuze, p. 12-18, Ch. 2, from Cinema 1, The Movement-Image

2. Semiotics of Theatrical Performance Umberto Eco The Drama Review: TDR
Vol. 21, No. 1, Theatre and Social Action Issue (Mar., 1977), pp. 107-117
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1145112

Weds. Jan 12 FRAMING

Discuss: Deleuze and Eco readings, as above.

Bring any video camera you have, in a phone, or ipod, or whatever, if you don't have one that's ok too.

Monday January 17

-Discuss Student Purchase of Portable External Harddrive, a least 500 gigs,7200 RPM, with firewire (firewire 400, 800 or both, and USB if possible)

Storyboard Assingment: for a week Monday draw story boards for 3 to 10 minutes of a television show, film, music video or commercial. As discussed in class you can refer to the reserve readings from "Grammar of the Shot" from Chapter 1 and 5 note the type of shot (close up, medium shot etc.) and the camera movemen (hand held, dolly, pan, zoom, etc.)

Usually you draw one frame per shot. However the point is to get the visual plan of the video across, so if it is a long shot and the image changes a lot from start to finish, you might have to use several frames. The storyboard is usually done before the shooting, but in this case you are using it as a tool for analysis.

http://accad.osu.edu/womenandtech/Storyboard%20Resource/

Site below has several tutorials on animation storyboards, much of which would apply to what you are doing (except the extremely banal content, which I hope doesn't apply).

http://step2inspire.tv/news_cat/tutorials/page/2/

Watch videos selection from Venice Biennial 2001, 2005, the "Beyond Cinema" exhibition of 2006.

Mike Kelley, Aernout Mik,

Do "frame walk" with home made device. A link about lenses and depth compression below.

http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/technology/basics/19/03.htm

Extra Reference materail : a whole site about "art and cinematography" scroll down for essay on Dan Graham's "Cinema".

Anne Friedberg :Virilio’s Screen: The Work of Metaphor in the Age of Technological Convergence

Extra Reference Material: The Library has the collection Surveying the first Decade index: Watch Graham, Acconci, Jonas

Wed. January 19

-Discuss PROJECT proposals for first piece.

Your proposal should include

A short summary of about 30 words. A project description, sketches, production timeline, budget, equipment needs, anything that will help get your ideas across. The project is quite open, it can be sound, video or a combination. It must be practical in terms of the technical knowledge you have (and will be able to aquire in the timeframe) and the equipment we have and/or you can obtain. Collaborations are welcome. A collaborative proposal should outline how the work will be divided.

Working with Cameras in Class:

-Exposure Control Basics
-intro to 1 chip video cameras (started last class)

-importing into Final Cut Pro (FCP) and Final Cutl file organization. Introduction to FCP workspace.

Camera Specs and Description

Manual for Canon Vixia HG21

-how to use the automatic exposure setting to manually set the exposure/
Shooting Assignment General Instructions: adjust exposure (46, 47), shutter(46, 47), white balance (50, 51), focus (49,50), and "manual exposure" through the toggle switch (p. 48), adjust audio levels. Try shooting in 24 p, 30p, and 60i modes. Use a piece of paper to record the point of the exercise with/in the clip image. Keep notes.

Explore what the image looks like if you leave the exposure on "P" which is the Programmed Auto Exposure Mode. You'll see that if you shift from a bright o a dark subject the camera compensates. Watch what happens if you are shooting out the window and a human subject comes into frame and stands still, the camera will open up the aperture to expose for the face, this can be quite a unappealing effect.

Check out "Aperture Priority Mode" (p 47 of manual). Use existing light, both indoor and outdoor. Find a "high contrast" scene in which there is significant range of light, from bright (such as sunlight) to dark (such as dark shadows). Find a "low contrast" scene, such as an overcast day, or evenly lit space. Control your exposure manually and in both situations expose for a bright area or object, a middle tone area or object, and a dark area or object. Watch your footage back on a TV monitor.

Use this method, to set your exposure for a specific part of the image. In P mode (Func/Programed AE) Zoom in on the subject, then toggle to the Av mode(Aperture Priority AE), when you first choose that mode the camera will display a recomended F Stop. You can then use that as your Aperture setting in the AV mode. You must zoom in to the subject to prevent the auto function under or over compensating for the surrounding light levels. Remember there will be times when the subject will be correct but the background is too bright or too dark. That's the nature of video ie poor contrast ratios (about 50:1)."a (See page 74-85 of Grammar of the Shot)

Explore different shutter settings in the Tv or Shutter Priority mode.

Work with selective focus by first opening your aperture as wide as it will go (F2) in Aperture Priority mode. Then set up a scene, set zoom, and follow instructions in manual p. 49 about choosing a focus, try focusing on something close to the camera and see if you can get the background to be in soft focus, and then visa versa focus on something farther away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0n4pyhx7Dk An instructional video about depth of field and the relationship of chip size, to lens choice, to depth of field.

Go into cine mode, and into the menu (p. 47 explains) and try shooting at the 24 fps rate.

Learn about the playback (38), select, delete and organization functions (p. 41) and move ino playlists (58) (when playing back, to get to be able to use the function menus of search on date, delete, divide etc, you must first press stop on the LCD buttons, then toggle to the hard drive icon, make sure it goes orange/slected, and then toggle into the clips, one will have an orange selection highlight around it, then press FUNC on the buttons below LCD, now you will be able to toggle through and choose the function icons such as scene search, delete, choose, etc. I found this a little confusing, will demonstrae in class)

Discuss: Dan Graham, "Television, Video, Architecture and Video in Relation to Architecture read excerpts in class

Dan Graham References:Dan Graham Pavillion "New Design for Showing Videos" Time Delay Room Steve Reich:Pendulum Music , listen to Drumming Part One

Dan Graham, on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl4QBpR9vfI&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZaD9CHZecE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLNfUB7JtA4

Douglas Gordon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9qkGXRsT7s&feature=related

Monday January 24

CAMERA MOVEMENT

Storyboard Assingment Due

-Continue in class work with cameras focus on CAMERA MOVEMENT, to this end, improvise a short scene, think of a location, 2 characters, and an action. The story board out the shots you would use to show this, and then go ahead and shoot that.

-Shooting assignment Part 2 : set up a shot (with a tripod) and try these camera movements: pan, tilt, small zoom, large zoom, tracking or dolly with rolling chair, hand held. Try in-camera edit of: eyeline match and shot reverse shot. Turn off auto exposure, and see if you can correctly expose a backlit image, and see if you can make any effects by purposely over exposing an image. Turn off "auto focus" and try being selective about what is in focus in your frame (see p. 172, 173 of Grammar of the Shot)

-a good site that has clips and discusses camera motion/editingfrom Yale: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/

Camera Angles and Techniques (I know its cheezy but you may find something informative in this series)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jURepXxuiGE&feature=related

Weds, January 26

Continue In Class shooting of "scenes" as worked out last class.

Final Cut Pro cont, review log and transfer, basic windows, editing tools,(This is covered in p. 77-126 of your text) if you are already comfortable with this then: explore motion effects (143-93)

Monday January 31

Hand in: project proposals for first piece

Hand in proposal for first (optionally also the second and for 369, third) area of “further investigation.” This proposal should outline what you are investigating, what you want to learn and the steps you plan to take along the way, and how you will present the results.

-individual short meetings re: project proposals and further investigation proposals.

-Intro 3 point lighting for video, reserve readings: Chapter 6 and 7 Basic Lighting Techniques from Lighting for Digital Video and Televison, John Jackman.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/science/book/9780240812274

-for your workbooks: by now you should understanding where FCP stores your files, the viewer, canvas, timeline, browser windows, explore basic editing, exploring motion effects and video filters, bringing in still images, importing and (in near future) exporting audio in Final Cut Pro. You won't necessarily have to hand these projects in but I will walk around and make sure that you have got a handle o these basics.

Weds. February 2

-individual short meetings re: project proposals and further investigation proposals.

Intro 3 point lighting for video, please read and bring the handout which is in the "Prof Copy" reserve readings: Chapter 6 and 7 Basic Lighting Techniques from Lighting for Digital Video and Televison, John Jackman.

Getting a good exposure, discuss exposure.

http://www.izzyvideo.com/members-only/getting-a-good-exposure-with-an-18-gray-card/

Depth of Field and Depth of Focus

http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp012.htm

Monday February 7: VIDEO as DATA and OUTPUTTING for DVD, .mov, youtube

Chapter 7 in your text "The Focal Easy Guide..." handles outputting. Read that first.

-understanding Data Rates

Understanding Video Resolution/Size http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/480i

http://www.larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_video_data_rates.html

OUTPUTTING

1) Export as Quicktime, Quicktime conversion, or through Compressor

2)Author to DVD (or blu ray) using Toast or IDVD (or skip step two if you are playing back the quicktime from a computer)

Because our cameras record digially in the AVCHD format some of the information in the textbook about "print to tape" etc, or shooting HDV is not applicable. However this info will be very useful for other common HD cam corders.

HD or HighDefinition video really comprises a whole number of standards. The pixel size is 1920 x 1080i (or 720p). We have used Pro Res 422 compression to edit with but this is an editing codec and not a playback codec so the files must be exported to some form of playback. Either a hi res .mov in H.264 or a standard definition .mov (for toast or idvd) or a .m2v file (for toast or DVD studio Pro).

Outputing your video to play as a .mov file :

in its "native" codec:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProRes_422

or for Vimeo or Youtube in H.264 (recommended but takes a long time to render)

http://vimeo.com/help/compression

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC

http://www.vcodex.com/h264overview.html

Outputing your video to play on a DVD player:

DVD is no a HD format. DVD's use video in an MPEG-2 format. If you want to "down res" your HD timeline to make a MPEG-2 for DVD you can use Quicktime Conversion (choose DV

You can read abou MPEG-2 here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-2.

Or you can use the SD settings in Compressor. You will get a .m2v file (the movie) and a .ac3 file (the audio). You can burn these to DVD in Toast. You just have to drag in the .m2v file in the DVD window in toast and as long as it has the same name (different extension of course) toast will find it and combine the two.

If you drop a SD quicktime into toast, it has audio and video together and Toast does the converstion to a .m2v (DVD) file.

Outputting through Quicktime

Final Cut/File/Export/Quicktime (choose DV NSC 48 khz from the drop down menu) (If you have shot at 24 frame rate then choose DV NSC 48-24). Make sure to choose "Make Movie Self Contained" and unclick "hide extension"

or for more control

Final Cut/File/Export/Quicktime Conversion/Options/Settings (this is described in your text book) Compression Type/DV/DVCPRO-NTSC

Then use TOAST to burn your file to DVD

Outputing your video to maintain HD and play as a quickime on a computer:

Same as above but choose H.264 compression

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/h264/

-Intro to iDVD.

Here is the Ken Stone article which is quite comprehensive about authoring DVD's in IDVD. http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/idvd_5_stone.html

Weds. February 9:

-Introduction to projection (and or visit to Audain Gallery)

MONDAY FEB 14 and WEDS FEB 16 READING WEEK NO CLASSES

Monday February 21:

Project Presentations/Crits Students 1-7

Weds. February 23

Project Presentations/Crits Students 8-13

Monday February 28

Workbooks due (you will hand them in again at end of semeser)/ 1st further investigation due

-Intro to sound/acoustics read in class and discuss a selection from Michel Chion, Audio Vision: Sound on Screen

Chapter 4, The Audiovisual Scene

-watch sound related scenes from, The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola, 1974, Persona, Ingmar Bergman, 1966, Pierrot le fou, Jean Luc Godard, 1965, listened to audio from Nouvelle Vague,1990, Jean Luc Godard.

Related Links:

-Christian Marclay: Shake Rattle Roll

-Christian Marclay Video on Youtube

-Marclay Video Quartet 2002 on Vimeo

Scroll down and look on the right for a sidebar of acoustic terms by French composer and soundtrack theorist Michel Chion.

Maryanne Amacher and "Aural Architecture"

Maryanne Amacher and Thurston Moore

Even more links:

Culture Theory and Critique, Issue 46 on "Noise" scroll down for article on Jean-Luc Godard and Sound:The noise of thoughts: The turbulent (sound-)worlds of Jean-Luc Godard

Quote from the above article by Douglas Morrey about Godard's "Nouvelle Vague" soundtrack

Links for further reference:

audio file formatsfree sound effects : http://www.grsites.com/sounds/Basic Audio FiltersFinal Cut 4: Audio Essentials

Scroll down on this article to find ino on converting MP3's into AIFF's to bring them into Final Cut Pro using Quick Time. Final Cut Pro 4 Audio Essentials - Optimizing Sound For Beginners - by Dan Brockett

Wednesday March 2

-Audio Walk

-Discuss: Jean Luc Nancy from "Listening"

-View/listen to works by Janet Cardiff and other artists using audio.

-External microphones: types of microphones, using an external mic with the video camera

-Do in class recording tests with different microphones, keep notes for your workbook

Workbook Assignment: Take out flash media recorders, record some audio and import it into a Final Cut Pro or Soundtrack Pro Project.

Monday March 7

2nd Project Proposal Due

In regard to the 2nd project proposal again the theme is quite open. You should take into consideration that in the 2nd half of the class we will be working more with video, but we will also be working with audio and talking about installation, the spatial presentation of video and audio. This proposal should, like the first, include a description of what you plan to do, a discussion of the ideas, concepts, formal issues you are working with, a timeline, the resources and budget needed, sketches,and anything else that will help you get your ideas across.

-Discuss workflow/timelines in audio/video projects ie: preproduction, production, post production

-Zoom recorder: http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4n/

-to download manual: http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/download/manual/english.php

-Do in class recording tests with different microphones, keep notes for your workbook

-Sound Editing in Final Cut

-if time: Intro to Soundtrack Pro

Wednesday March 9

Meet with Judy about Project 2

Continue in class sound work

Monday March 14

Meet with Judy about Project 2

Continue in class sound work

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/basic_audio_filter_tutoria.html

Wednesday March 16

Shoot to Edit, jump cuts and other formal/political considerations of shot to shot relations.

A Dialectic Approach to Film Form By Sergei Eisenstein ybchiou2007122712857_2.pdf

Jean Luc Godard clip from Breathless

Jean Luc Godard JLG JLG (viewed in class)

P.opular S.ky (section ish) Ryan Trecartin

http://vimeo.com/8719269http://vimeo.com/8719269

K-CorealINC.K (section a) Ryan Trecartin

http://vimeo.com/5841178

Work with Nikon D90s, SLR (single lens reflex) cameras that also shoot video

http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/d90/en/d-movie/

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-record-video-with-a-nikon-d90.html

http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/591/Nikons-D90-Through-the-Eyes-of-a-Video-Pro/

Monday March 21

2nd Further Investigation Due (if you are in 369)

Work with Nikon D90s, SLR (single lens reflex) cameras that also shoot video

The Projected Image in Contemporary Art

October. Spring 2003, No. 104: 71-96. (E Journal "October" magazine available through this link or library database JStor)

http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_cue.htmlhttp://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_cue.html

Discuss: LENSES

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm

REVIEW:

Go over handouts on: the 180 "rule" and spatial continuity, lenses and depth of field/background foreground compression

ReRead and come prepared to discuss any questions in regard to the technical PDF's "Basic Lighting", "Camera Buttons and Controls and Audio for Video" (one PDF), you can also download this PDF which explains some of the technical ways video works: www.filmclass.com/flm222/hwvdwrks.pdf

Wednesday, March 23

Audio Video Quiz preparation

Video Projection, Screen Materials

Monday, March 28

QUIZ

In class work day, come prepared. Toast/Compressor
Ken Stone on using Compressor

Ken Stone site for making a looping DVD with DVD Studio Pro (the instructions are for a quick time file, but it would be essentially the same if you use an .m2V (video) and .ac3 (audio) file you have generated through compressor and just drag them into the Studio Pro timeline and then follow the instructions.

Wednesday, March 30

IN CLASS WORK

Monday, April 4

Second projects due: Crit Presentations: students

Wednesday April 6

Second projects due: Crit Presentations: students

Monday April 11

LAST DAY OF CLASSES

independent study

-Workbooks due and 3rd further investigation due (if taking 369 rather than 269) Please include a self addressed and STAMPED envelope so I can return your projects