Project 1: The Rashomon Exercise

1. Watch "Rashomon" 1950 dir. Akira Kurosawa


You can also watch it on youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XZCZHXmWbA part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR9ZhLka6cM part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISM9aY0sVHQ part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-pOnZSm1FE part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTi1AMRToTE part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFjyg-Jm7i4 part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjCpCjNzKv4 part 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qeJSebVqLQ part 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufGhibcr4G0 part 9

You can also check it out from the New School Fogelman Library or watch it at NYU's Bobst Library.

Read this analysis http://nobetty.net/4d/resources/readings/THEFILMIDEA_Rashomon.pdf.

2. With your teammates, create one scenario to be shot from three different POVs, inspired by the film. This is an exercise, keep it short and simple: each scene should be one minute or less, and consist of only one shot. You must all agree on the scenario, then each student is responsible for shooting and directing one scene, as well as supporting sketches and a written description for that scene. Think about framing/composition, camera angle and position. Once your sketches are finished, sign out a camera and shoot your scenes. Save the digital files to your hard drive.

3. Bring your digital files, sketches, and any other supporting materials to class next week.

How to reserve equipment from the AMT Equipment Resource Center

AMT Equipment Resource Center website with the hours of operation and rules:
http://amt.parsons.edu/programs/photography/photography-facilities/

They are working out the kinks in their online system, so for now go in person to the AMT Equipment Resource Center 2nd floor of 66 5th Ave. Please identify as AMT Fine Arts students taking Intro to 4D, and you can sign out a Canon Vixia HF M32 video camera for 24 hours. These equipment checkouts are for 24 hours ONLY and students who fail to return equipment on time are penalized with loss of privileges. Also note the AMT Equipment Resource Center does not have tripods or other accessories.

***You must have a valid New School ID to pick up, they will not give you anything without one. Make sure that you TEST EVERYTHING before you sign for it, otherwise you are liable -- and they will make you pay.

All AMT students have access to the equipment (including the new canon vixia cameras) linked here:
http://amt.parsons.edu/files/2011/08/2011-12-AMT-ERC-Catalog.pdf.

How to reserve equipment from the New School/AT Equipment Center

1. Start here with the New School tip sheet for signing out equipment http://www.newschool.edu/at/help/tipsheets/eqc/eqc_gettingstarted.pdf. Then go to http://www.newschool.edu/at/agreements/s_eqc_agreement.html. Please read all of the information on this page.

2. Read and agree to terms and conditions.

3. Reserve your equipment, start date must be 2 full days business days in advance. *There are a limited number of "in-house" cameras you can sign out, but reservations take priority.

4. Choose the Canon 7D Kit (digital SLR camera with video Canon EOS 7D).

5. Pick up your equipment from the Equipment Center between 9am and 7pm. There is also a $40 no show fee, for reserving equipment and not showing up on time to pick it up. Reserved equipment must be returned by 7pm. Late return fee = $20 per hour, $100 per day.

***You must have a valid New School ID to pick up, they will not give you anything without one. Make sure that you TEST EVERYTHING before you sign for it, otherwise you are liable -- and they will make you pay.

Equipment Center Location
55 West 13th St, Rm. 921

Equipment Center Contact
Tel: 212.229.5300 ext. 4556
Fax: 212.647.8202
Email: eqc@newschool.edu

Homework due 09.08.11

1. Watch: "Rashomon" 1950 Akira Kurosawa http://www.hulu.com/watch/215845/rashomon. Go to P.S.1 and see Ryan Trecartin "Any Ever" http://www.ps1.org/exhibitions/view/323. **Exhibition closes Saturday Sept. 3**

2. Shoot: With your team, shoot 3 "Rashomon"-inspired scenes from 3 different POV's (Project 1).

3. Read: “A History of Experimental Film and Video: Origins of the Post-War Avant-Garde” A.L. Rees http://nobetty.net/4d/resources/readings/ExperimentalFilm&Video.pdf and http://nobetty.net/4d/resources/readings/THEFILMIDEA_Rashomon.pdf.

Film & Video: Origins to the 1960's

Notes:

Video arrived in the mid 20th century and film was suddenly not the only means of creating moving images.

In 1965 Sony Corporation introduced the Portapak, a handheld video camera and portable video recorder — 1/2in. tape as opposed to 2in. tape used for broadcast TV — brought ease, mobility, and affordability to video production — by 1968 exhibitions of video art internationally.

Video is a new medium (only 55+ years as opposed to thousands of years of drawing, painting, sculpture) — Difficult to categorize since there are no official schools of video, like the Impressionists or the Abstract Expressionists, just themes.

Video is an 'Art of time' used to extend, repeat, fast forward, and slow down time — new way of telling a story, non-linear video loops.

Early video pioneers in the 60s and 70s used video as another material (like paint and canvas, or marble) to execute an idea — artists used whatever material they were interested in.

General Categories of Video Art:

-Recording "mixed media" performances

-Extension of the body

-Technological advances

-Interactivity

-Surveillance

-Critique of commercial television or film

-Time-based ("moving") painting or drawing


Origin of film/video
*Thomas Edison “Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, Jan. 7, 1894”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wnOpDWSbyw

1940's
*Maya Deren 1943 “Meshes of the Afternoon” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S03Aw5HULU

1950’s
*Hans Namuth and Paul Falkenburg, film, 1951 “Jackson Pollock” http://www.ubu.com/film/namuth_pollock.html

*John Cassavettes “Shadows”, film, 1959 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JMuLsGPp-k

Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie “Pull My Daisy” 1959
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8jz8fgN-QM part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqyNVi61cI8 part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b618uHPB1zA part 3

1960’s
Stan Brakhage “Dog Star Man”, film, 1963 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTGdGgQtZic&fmt=18 (prelude)
*1959 "Window Water Baby Moving" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-drSrvTtZ1k part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxE3rI-LWm4 part 2
*1963 "Mothlight" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jaezt80Sm1A

*Jack Smith “Flaming Creatures” 1963 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlIxr5_nyUg part 1

Shirley Clarke “The Cool World”, VCA 3729 1963 excerpt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwXz9oDt7Ew 1967

*Andy Warhol “WARHOL's CINEMA - A Mirror for the Sixties (1989)” http://www.ubu.com/film/warhol_cinema.html
“Outer and Inner Space” 1965 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9ck4fz7eBQ

*Michael Snow 1967 “Wavelength” http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3009876496807585942

The Black Panthers “What We Want” late 60’s/early 70’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mpFCtftF7c (Roz Payne and Newsreel)

Welcome to 4D

Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland, 1962), I'm Not The Girl Who Misses Much, 1986, Video (video still)

Welcome to Intro to 4D! We're looking forward to an exciting and productive semester.

To download the syllabus, click here.

To download the glossary terms, click here.

Lab and classroom hours are posted here: http://www.newschool.edu/at/thelabs/hours/index.html.

The best way to get in touch with me outside of class is email, leddyn [at] newschool [dot] edu, office hours are by appointment only. If you don’t hear from me within 24 hours, please resend it. I also have a mailbox in the Fine Arts office, 25 E. 13th St. 5th Floor. You can leave me a message by phone through the Fine Arts Department 212-229-8942.