Installation and Multimedia is a studio production course that introduces students to contemporary multimedia installation through both the study of the cutting-edge practitioners within the field and through the production of related projects. Modes of production covered include digital video projection, audio installation, mixed, virtual and augmented reality, and hybrid combinations of the above. Laboratory fee required.
Process and Strategy
The class will study the following distinct areas:
• Non-linear and fragmented narration
• Video mapping using MadMapper and other available tools, pre-composing videos in Premiere/After Effects
• Combination of live and virtual performance and actors
• Small Scale Projection
• Architectural Scale / Room Size Projection
The class will be a permanent experimental workshop geared towards the production of three main projects and a final installation ( that can incorporate a performance art component, and can be site specific )
Readings / assignments / requirements
Create your site or your own blog for the class using blogger.com. In these blogs you will be posting records, pictures and comments of your projects. Your blogs will be the equivalent of your journal for the class. They will need to be updated before the following class and they will be graded.
If you are referencing an artist in your research, POST a direct reference to their work in your projects, as well as any bibliographic/video links you consider necessary to avoid being accused of plagiarism.
You can post anything you want on yoursites/ blogs, be aware that these sites/blogs will be public and accessible to everyone in the class and the world.
Make sure you check and empty your ut web-mail account regularly. We will use Blackboard permanently to post the grades, assignments and to communicate with the entire class.
Short readings will be distributed throughout the semester. Most of the information will be provided by the professor or will be found freely online. Critiques will frequently be initiated from various topics covered in the readings. In order to participate effectively you will need to have read the required texts and be able to articulate your responses to them within the context of class discussion and critique. We will watch PLENTY of excerpts from movies and documentaries during and outside class that will also be considered as part of the material for the course.
You will be required to rent Madmapper for at least 3 months: make sure you calculate correctly the weeks so you have no problems wiht the final project development and presentation. After the class is finished, you can remove Madmapper from your laptops.
You will be provided with Video Projectors that are delicate in nature: handle them with care, protect them from rain and dust, and turn them off regularly to allow the heat to dissipate. You must return the projectors at the end of the semester in perfect condition. Some of these projectors are available for check out at The Cage: you must register on SISO in order to check production equipment.
Grading
There will be several projects throughout the course, including papers, assignments, take home exams, and others. Each one of them will be a part of the final 60% of the grade in equal weights. The final project will count towards the remaining 40% of your final grade. If necessary I will do some pop quizzes, depending on the students’ participation and motivation, and depending on how certain sessions work, I might add an extra work not listed in the syllabus.
The grades posted on Blackboard may not reflect the final grade on SpartanWeb.
Final Exam Schedule
FALL
http://www.ut.edu/schedule/fallfinalexam/
SPRING
http://www.ut.edu/schedule/springfinalexam/
EMBEDDING MP4 VIDEOS
You will be provided with shared storage folder in DropBox: here you will upload the high resolution MP4 videos to be embedded in your portfolios in the following manner: you’ll need to create a share link to the video, then modify the link by changing the dl=0 at the end to raw=1. That results in a direct link to the file which you can use to embed it on most sites. REFERENCE
YOU MUST convert all your videos from MOV to MP4 first. Switching extensions is a very risky trick (you may end up with an mp4 whose video codec is prores 422 – which is not universal!)
Use MIRO VIDEO CONVERTER to convert all MOVs to MP4, or you can export them directly from Adobe Media Encoder as h.264/AAC or h.264/MP3 high or medium bitrate. There is no need for 4K videos, 1080P is more than enough. OPTIMIZE before sharing!
Once you have all processed MP4 videos ready to go, upload them to your FMX463 DropBox folder (not your own individual folders outside the class, use the shared folder that is created for this class)
Select each one of them and make sure that they are shareable: you must turn on the share property and create a link where anyone can view the video with it.
Copy that link to the clipboard.
Go to the actual page where you will embed the video, and select the video block.
Do not use the upload button, use INSERT FROM URL
Paste the link in the box
at the end of the link replace manually “dl=0” to “raw=1“
Apply the changes.
The video should be embedded, make sure you select the poster image.
Possible last-minute changes
Although unlikely, it is possible that last-minute changes might be made to the dates for all assignments or class meetings, excepting only the final exam. In this unlikely event, I’ll make all possible efforts to inform students with sufficient lead-time.
I reserve the right to modify this syllabus for any reason at any time.