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Texts:
This course will allow students to work on self-defined, personal imaging projects while exploring related computer tools and software at more advanced levels. Students will be expected to develop new forms of output and context for their traditional photographic images. The course will explore dynamic, responsive, and automated forms for the organization and presentation of digital artwork. Emphasis will be on the application of personal computer imagery within various options for multimedia publishing including image databases, cd-rom, multimedia presentations, WWW sites, and interactive programming.
Each student will be expected to develop:
An important early segment of the course will focus on the development and effective preparation of media `assets' (images, sound, video, text, graphics) for various forms of multimedia publishing. We will explore advanced Photoshop techniques for collaging, color correction, palette adjustment, compression, layering, resolution and format adjustment, as well as Director movie construction, Lingo scripting, sound recording and editing, WWW site construction with `streamed' media, computer projection, and Photo CD archiving. Students must have completed basic art and computer course prerequisites, and have a working knowledge of Photoshop, scanning, digitizing, printing, etc. Students should be able to supply digital storage cartridges, CD-ROMs, and possible processing for Photo CD, etc.
Multimedia will be considered as an evolutionary development stemming from narrative oral and gestural traditions, particularly those of `non-writing' cultures such as the Native Americans. The core of the course will be the development of a personal sensibility for the aesthetics of multimedia, and the design of interactivity that services content. We will explore setting up simple and complex interfaces, automated events, random sequencing, etc. Students will be asked to produce `pre-computer' scripts and storyboards for their concepts. Various examples will be presented and discussed. Also discussed will be career options and strategies for multimedia artists.
Computer work, particularly for multimedia, is very labor intensive and time consumptive. This course will demand a strong commitment to much work done outside of the class time, as well as participation and attention within class presentations. Learning digital technology uses your short-term memory; what you learn in class needs to be practiced soon outside of classtime in order to be embedded into your long-term memory. Don't wait until you have forgotten how to do something. I probably will not have time to teach it to you twice, and there will definitely not be time to teach each student each technical increment on an individual basis. Because of this, you should be prepared to focus and learn as much as possible within the group situation.It is also a very good idea to keep an ongoing notebook for your ideas and technical information, which will provide you with reference and reinforcement.
Although you will not be expected in one semester to `master' all of this information and software, your level of proficiency (and your credit) will be directly related not only to your active class participation, but to work done beyond classtime and to frequent reference to the required text and manuals. Active class participation means being present, prepared, and alert to learning new information and asking questions. Missing material and demonstrations presented in class will be difficult or impossible to make up, so attendance is essential to doing well. Specific presentations of technical material will be scheduled according to my assessment of class progress and needs
Rather than using vast quantities of paper and copy costs and time, much of the information outside of the recommended texts, as well as demonstrations, examples, and scripts, will be available online through my web site at:
http://www.artic.edu/~fendsley
It will be the student's responsibility to read, research, and print out this information as necessary. Other information, software, electronic manuals, etc. will be made available on CD-ROM.
This is a serious and difficult college-level computer course intended for committed students. Credit will be based upon timely completion and quality of work as evidence of learning the course materials. Excessive lateness, inattentiveness, or lack of participation will erode the "grade". Three unexcused absences can result in failure. I will meet briefly with each student at a mid-course point to establish a progress evaluation, and to discuss potential problems. Other individual meetings can be arranged by appointment at the student's initiative.
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