| VIS 140 - Digital Imaging...........................Online Resources | ||
ICAM 101 VIS 140 |
Open Lab Times: Tue: 'til 9:15, 11:30-3:45, 6 'til Wed: 'til noon, 2:30-4:30, 8:45 'til Thur: 'til 9:15, 11:30-3:45, 6 'til Fri: 24 hr. | |
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Final Projects Get grades and print-books during the scheduled Final Exam time: Print books will be kept through next quarter, so if you can't come on 3/19, e-mail me for an appointment to get it next quarter. |
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Technical and Design Troubleshooting for the Photo-Novela Yes, it's due next week! Keep in mind tha the lab will be packed with programming and multimedia students in the same situation as you, so... give yourself time to work, and be tolerant of others who are also stressed out. Design ideas for printed books, Details on: Tape or Sewn Binding, Concertina books, Materials other than paper and mat board, etc. There are infinite possiblities, and you can design your book to reflect your story. Web Sites Class accounts will close March 24, so if you want it to have a longer life I suggest you put it up on a free site. For a good list of providers go to The Free Webpage Provider Review. I will be putting links to your sites here, so they can be seen by others. Troubleshooting Try what you've got so far on someone else, get a second opinion, find out if it's comprehensibe to someone else. Get help for technical problems today. BACK UP YOUR WORK! What I want to see next week:
Be creative! You can have different sized images, different sized frames, different amounts of text. Use color creatively. Color can express emotions very well, use it! Once you've gotten the storyline requirements think creatively to go beyond the expected. Push your idea. Communicate. If you don't care about the story you'll sit back and do as little as possible. Pretend you care if you have to! This is an interesting assignment, and one that id designed to make you think creatively about how images communicate. Rather than wasting energy resenting having to do it, take it as an opportunity to show us what you can really do. If you are at all serious about working in the arts, hard work is what you have to do. And it's not about fancy Photoshop skills, it's about ideas and design. You can do elegant work in PS without knowing how to do super fancy stuff. Take pride in your work. I've been grading on a curve so far, taking some responsiblity for the level of work. However, I don't take responsiblity for procrastination, lack of effort, or lack of respect for the process of artmaking. This curve will be straightening out for this assignment (after all it's the end of the quarter , and you've had three weeks to work on it), so if your plan is to do just enough to get by, your grade will probably reflect that. This is your Final Project for the quarter, make it count. Make an appointment to see me this week if you have concerns. Extra Office Hours: From Lecture |
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Final - Photo-Novela (worth 30%) See handout for details. Storyboards I'll be talking to each of you about your plans for the assignment. I want to see some ideas, some sketches, some plans. I don't want to see meaningless conversations to pass the time until I come around, and you still don't have anything. If you haven't got a storyboard done yet work on it in section. Thinking up the story is one of the hardest parts. You need to start now to develop a good final project. The storyboard now will make the rest of the work go more smoothly, which you should be concerned about as the end of the quarter nears. You aren't required to stick to the story you tell me, I'm checking in with everyone to be sure that you understand the parameters clearly. Regarding Storylines. You can't proceed without a story, so don't procrastinate on this crucial first step! POV -or- Point of View, is the most important thing to be thinking about in terms of your story (this is the place where I was seeing the most potential problems). Point of view doesn't just refer to the physical view, but even more importantly refers to the intellectual and emotional point of view. You must be specific. A squirrel has a different world view than a dog, and they both have a different world view than both a human and a lawnmower. How the narrator or protagonist in your story interprets the action in the story will be specific to that worldview. A machine's world view is shaped by it's function and it's design. An animal's worldview is shaped by it's design, it's survival needs, and it's relationship to other animals or humans. (these are of course minimalist explanations of the concept of worldview). If doing a parable keep in mind that this means that the moral of the story, or the societal rule that is being upheld is particular to that species, and are most likely quite different than those that human culture promote. BE SPECIFIC! I can't emphasize that enough. Technical Considerations. This is not an illustrated story, text is an adjunct to the image. The image is where the main storytelling should take place. Use filters, effects, and color for a reason, to enhance or advance the story, or to project the emotional state of the character. Remember that the foreground or character image needs to be from a different source than the background image, and that every frame must have an image that you photographed yourself. Both foreground and background may be photographs (you do not need to have a drawing for instance). If your trying to make things look realistic, remember the importance of shadows. Also, you may need to make adjustments to your story to accommodate your Photoshop skills , don't be afraid to do that. It's dangerous to be so invested in your original idea that you're willing to hurt your work rather than adjust. |
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Critiques Assignment #3 Part 2 - New & Improved Agit-Prop Photomontage Same theme, new style. I want to see better prints and better designs. You've been thinking about these for a couple of weeks, now it's time to think harder. Still greyscale prints, no 3-D item required, take same position and express it differently. You can use a part of the first design, but I don't want to see the same thing with a tiny difference. Use the software, play with it. This is what it's like out there in the real world. Your grade will take into account both versions, but I'm really looking for improvement. |
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Critiques Assignment #3 - (Agit-Prop Photomontage)Have it ready to go when you arrive (no printing during class), with your name and any title on it. Critique will include basic requirements, print quality, design quality (cohesive, helps deliver message). Be prepared to give intelligent comments. As for the midterms... the most common problems: terrible writing (!), misuse of terms, over-generalized descriptions (usually in tandem with an emphasis on interpretation). Hannah Höch's piece was given short shrift. Overall, many of you left major elements of the design out of your descriptions, and many of you wrote very little, much less than is possible in ten minutes. |
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Work on Assignment #3. Printing Concerns! I will be talking to everyone individually about this assignment, the work so far, and any questions or concerns. I will also be checking off book possession so bring it. |
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Assignment #3 - (Agit-Prop Photomontage).(Worth 20%)Due in two weeks. Greyscale. At least three elements, all from different sources, one 3-D scanned element. This is a print assignment. Minimum print size is letter, it can be larger. You can print on any printer, the lasers in the lab are 600 dpi, I recommend the color laser. This means images from the internet will not be a good source because of their low resolution. Have files between 100 adn 300 ppi. Yes, I want to see a good looking print. Topics: Some kind of political or social commentary. No Lewinski! (too easy, tired). This could mean issues of racism, sexism, environmental concerns, AIDS, domestic violence, police violence... The list goes on. Again, I don't want demeaning imagery - that doesn't mean (of course) that you can't criticize - criticism will probably be the main component of most of your work. Demeaning = unintelligent. For instance, nudity is fine, but be prepared to answer questions if you use an image of a nude woman - sexism is so prevelant in our culture that you may not even notice that it's sexist, that in itself could be a topic. Using racist imagery to point at racism, for instance, would make sense. You certainly don't have to make something I agree with, I respect an intelligent argument. You can make strong statements without going to lowest-common-denominator thinking. I put a couple books on reserve for you to look at for ideas. Please make an appointment to see me or come to my office hours if you need to more technical help, or want to discuss your ideas for the assignment. |
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Critiques of Assignment #2 (Icon). Along with the guidelines below (week 2), grading on this assignment will be based on the guidelines covered in lecture on the definition of an icon, that it consist of primarily original design, and that it is original in concept. Remember, attendence and participation count, get your work on the server by the start of class time, and take part in the critique. Deadlines are a part of life. Your grade will go down substantially if it is late. |
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I want to give you time to work during section, after all that's why we went to the trouble of making a third section - so everyone could have a computer to work on. However, if people continue to leave early simply because they're not being held hostage by a demo, I'll have to start treating you like you're in junior high. Assignment #2 Icon- (worth 10%)Black and white only, no shades of grey or colors; no text; nothing demeaning; screen viewable size; 72 dpi is sufficient resolution, turn it in electronically by FTP, placing it in the directory (or folder) with your section number that is within the directory called "public" of our class directory ( for example va140w / public / sect02 ); to be on-time it must be in that folder at the beginning of week 3 section; the file name should contain your last name (or part) to help make it identifiable by me. The file for this assignment should fit on a floppy (keep in mind that Macs can read PC formatted floppies) If any of this is not clear to you e-mail me immediately. If you plan on continuing with Photoshop, make note of the things I mention that you should learn more about. Unfortunately I don't have enough to go into all the detail I'd like to during section (unless I never let you do any work) about things like calibration or gamma, or tools. I want to get everyone's skills up to what's needed for the assignments, but that doesn' t mean that there isn't much more to cover. Ask me about where to find out more about anything I mention in class. If you are having problems with FTP or log-on ( and I know some of you are) you need to see me right away or look at the help files online. You may be able to ask a fellow student for advice, but however you do it - get it cleared up right away. Week 2 Feature Site - one of the great signifiers |
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Assignment #1 - ASCII Art (worth 10%) an easy "A" just get it in on time. This is a sink-or-swim class. Part of that is the nature of Photoshop, part of it is how the classes are designed. With so many people and so little time you can't afford to be reticent or lazy about learning. If you don't know how to do something- ask someone. You're neighbor may be able to help you out of a jam quickly. Or try and look it up. Also, because of the number of people, I can't be as helpful to everyone as I'd like. If you have knowledge, share it. Whatever you do, if you're having a problem don't just sit there! If you've forgotten how to log on and do other basic computer stuff you need to get in as much as possible this week to re-familiarize yourself with things. You can get help files from the school's MicroSupport. Also, to print anything in the lab you'll need a laser account ($10.) Yes, I would've thought you'd get that included with your lab fee too. You'll need to save files either on a Zip, a floppy, or on the server. For next week: Read, try out things with Photoshop (even if you don't know anything at all), check out some of the links here about Photoshop. If you don't know how to scan (we'll do that next week) use an image off the web or from the PS sample files to play with. Week 1 Feature Site - ASCII-stylee in the realm of HTML |