COGN 21: Methods of Media Production

  Professor Brian Goldfarb, Communication Dept   Office hours Wednesday 10:30 - 12pm, MCC 205   Email bgoldfarb @ ucsd.edu   TAs 21: Michaela Walsh, A02, A05

Chuck Miller, A01, A06 Laurel Friedman, A03, A04 Dolissa Medina, A07, A08

  TAs 22: Aaron Gurlly, C00, E00 Andrew Whitworth-Smith, B00, D00

  All COGN 21 sections are fully enrolled. If students drop a section, wait-listers will be added automatically in the order they signed up. We are sincerely sorry that we can not expand the sections, however the course is offered twice a year (winter and spring).

  If you want to switch sections, you must find a willing classmate, then inform both TAs together.

  All COGN22 sections are full: if you are wait-listed you can go to the first meeting to see if a seat opens up.

  Books: available at Price Center Bookstore and on reserve in library

  Readings not in the books are on e-reserve or linked to website (log in: 21student pass: 21text)

  Readings and assignment due dates might change. Check the updated syllabus each week online: http://communication.ucsd.edu/goldfarb/cogn21w10

  Assignments, (Assignment handouts will be linked to course site)

 Exams and Grading

  DV CAM tapes are on order at UCSD bookstore tech supply section for COGN22 students. Should arrive by next week.

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Goals of the Course   Become a more ACTIVE & ENGAGED

viewer / listener   Develop fluency in the language of

(cinematic) media production   Gain basic skills in media production   Connect critical understanding of production

to other areas of the Communication major   Begin to translate theoretical ideas into

media projects (and vice versa)   Think more broadly about the scope and

possibility of media viewing and making

Announcements   Any problems finding or accessing reading

materials. Some are on ereserves. Some linked to syllabus and require password.

  Note a change to reading for next week listed on the online syllabus (pp17-132 of chapter 4, Bordwell & Thomson, Film Art)

Analysis of Audio-Visual Media

  Intention and Reception   Interpretation   Style, Form, Formal Systems   Genre   Political Economy - Institutional Analysis   Social Cultural Context of Production

what we don’t see that frames what we do see:

•  Aspects of viewing context (historical, regional, local, etc)

•  Discursive knowledge we bring to our interpretations (personal experience, beliefs, ideological frameworks, knowledge of other media examples, participation, etc)

Mediation takes various forms

Approaches to Looking, Listening, & Analysis 1. Who (what group) made this? when? why where?

2. What is the argument or message being presented by the maker(s)?

3. What is the visual design of this work ?

4. What is the sound design of the film/video/program?

5. What is the editing style?

6. How does this relate to other media examples or genres (styles/types)? (Intertexuality)

Media Clips for this Week   Mad Men cable series created by Matthew Weiner

for AMC, (US, 2007-8)   Trip to the Moon, George Méliès, France, (1902)   Living in Oblivion, Tom DiCillo (US, 1995)   Tony Oursler interview w/installation clips (US,1998)   CUBO Street Video Installation/Performance by 6

groups (São Paulo, 2005)   Pipilotti Rist's video installation (two overlapping

projections) Ever is All Over (Swiss Artist, NYC’s MOMA,1997).

  Safe, film by Todd Haynes, (USA, 1995)

Mise-en-Scene Putting into a scene: “the director’s control over what

appears in the film frame.” French term from theatre (Re-mediation, Jay Bolter & Richard Grusin)

Setting Lighting

Costume & Props Staging

Composition Color

Movement in Frame Camera Movement

Space Time

Trip to the Moon George Méliès, France, 1902

Trip to the Moon George Méliès, France, 1902

In what ways was it a precursor to Hollywood style production / narrative form? What did it lack? How has it been a model of other cinema forms?

  Inspired by novels by Jules Verne and H G Wells   Used cinema technology in new ways to extend theatrical staging and magic shows (Re-mediation)   Early narrative construction   Series of single shot scenes

Living in Oblivion Written and Directed by Tom DiCillo, US, 1995

Living in Oblivion Phases, Roles, and Organization of Production

Pre-production | Production | Post-production | Distribution

Director • Executive Producer • Producer • Managing Producer • Scriptwriter • Art Director • Casting Director • Storyboard Artist • Director of Production / Set designer • Costume Designer • Make-up Artist • Clapper • Composer • Sound Designer • Cinematographer / DOP • Director of Audiography • Location Manager • Gaffer • Grip • Best Boy • Editor • Special Effects/Graphics • etc …

http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Filming-production-roles

Independent / Indie • Low Budget film

Standardization of Production System / Division of Labor

Hollywood/Industry vs. Independent • Low Budget(?) • Studio System • Motion Picture Patents Company or "Edison Trust” (established in 1908) • Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (1941) • The Film-Makers' Cooperative (1962)• Anthology Film Archives (1970) • Sundance Institute (1981) • etc

Variety in approaches to film making can relate to: •  Scale of production (and budget) •  Directorial style: tighter planning vs more improvisation and experimentation

Constructing Images

Framing and the frame (terms for description, analysis and

conscious production)

• Why have different types of shots? • Maintain interest • Provide different information: different shot communicate differently • A film language? • What is the relationship between shot variety and realism?

Elements of a “Good” Shot   Thought provoking   Efficient: Using design and focus to

support the meaning or message   Cues   Eye Trace (Activating the movement of

the viewers’ eyes)   Creating dynamic or engaging

relationships among elements   There are no rules that can’t be broken!

Photography Framing Arrangement of elements: X, Y and Z axes Shot distance: Medium, Wide, Close Up,

Extreme Close up Depth of Field Camera Angle Lighting Color

Framing   Observing and controlling the boundary and

contents of your image.

  Positioning and adjusting the size/distance of key elements in relation to the overall space.

  Controlling depth.

  Removing unnecessary, confusing or competing elements.

The Rule of Thirds

  Divide the frame into 9 equal areas   Avoid placing object in red area   Horizon lines at top and bottom thirds   Place objects at points 1, 2, 3, or 4

Framing: The Rule of Thirds

Things to look out for or avoid   Avoiding clutter   Maintain separation of subjects and background (through lighting, color/contrast, focus, etc)   Tangential objects that might appear connect to

subject   Avoid cropping limbs subjects at joints   Avoid too much headroom (above a subject).

Framing: shot distance and size of subject in the frame

•  Medium shot •  Eye-level •  ¾ view •  Centered

  Medium close-up   Frontal view   Shallow depth of field

  Close-up  ¾ View

Extreme close-up

Too little headroom

Nose or Lead Room

Close-up Offset

Close-up Offset: Wider Aspect Ratio

X-axis ====

Y-axis

•

• •

Z Axis (into distance)- Blocking

Z Axis - Vectors

Depth of Field

  Shallow Depth of Field   Eye-line vectors

Ways to decrease depth of field:

Camera Angle

Bird’s Eye View

Camera Angle

Low Angle

Camera Angle

Low Angle

High Angle

  Dutch Angle, Canted Angle Shot, Dutch Tilt: A shot composed with the horizon not parallel with the bottom of the frame.

Lighting

Terms we use:   High key   Low key   Soft light   Hard light

  Contrast   Fill   Flat   Direct   Indirect

High Key Lighting   Softens features; Low contrast

Low Key Lighting

(High contrast)

Color: Saturated

Color: Muted

Color Temperature Color Temperature-- the spectrum of light illuminating a

scene (not the color of objects in the scene)

  Exterior light - 5400K Blue   Mid day sun exterior - Bright Blue   Sunset exterior - blue/orange   Interior (tungsten set lights) - 3200 K Orange   Fluorescent - Green

White Balance is the video camera adjustment to compensate for color temperature.

Shifts in Color Temperature can be used to set mood or

provide connotations Clips from Traffic (Steven Soderbergh, 2001)

  Scenes in San Diego - white balanced normal   Scenes in Tijuana - color balanced orange   Scenes with Drug Tsar and family - color

balanced blue

Still Image Checklist

  Framing: Centered, use of rule of 3’rds   Tripod height: High, medium or low angle   Wide, medium, close up shot   Hard or soft lighting   Focus and Depth of Field   Direct or indirect lighting   Colors in the frame