DESMA 159B
Video and Animation
Capstone Senior Projects
MW 2:00-4:50pm PST
Broad Art Center 4220
Spring 2022
Syllabus
Course Description
Senior Projects provides a capstone experience for the major, culminating in a senior group exhibition in June. You will work closely with faculty to focus on a project defined by your individual skills and professional interests. Each project will develop from in-depth research, conceptual development, prototype development, refinement, and production. You will work closely with other students, engaging in the critical analysis and review of each other's works.
This course emphasizes the intersections between various video and animation practices, encouraging interdisciplinary research. You are free to explore any of the skills and interests developed during your time in DMA toward the creation of your final project. Work in all media will be considered. Video is a machine for thinking, moving freely across various modalities of research: sociological, semiotic, environmental, anthropological, technological, geopolitical.
At each stage of the process we will consider audience, accessibility, reception, and distribution of the work. We will consider the way each work interacts with other works in the context of a group show. We will consider a range of approaches for documentation of time-based work. Alongside each project, each artist will develop a plan for documenting and communicating their work after the piece is de-installed.
Learning Goals
- Develop theoretical and practical knowledge of video/animation, grounding production techniques in formal and conceptual practices
- Develop an original body of work / research
- Provide comprehensive examples of historical and contemporary video/animation practices
- Explore issues surrounding audience, viewership, accessibility, and distribution
- Establish lasting peer to peer support between artists
Class Structure
- INTENTION PRESENTATIONS in class to professor, TA, and classmates
- ONE-ON-ONE/PAIRED meetings with professor or TA/ work progress
- GROUP meetings (5-4 students per group) starting April 6th – discuss work with each other, find a moment in the week during class time to meet. After midterm presentations, groups might get switched based on topic.
- FULL CLASS meetings / for mid-term presentation
- FULL JOINT CLASSES with all 3 Senior Project Classes for presentations to all students
- 1 MIDTERM Presentation (project and research) for all professors + TAs
- SENIOR PROJECT presentations (realizations) exhibition walkthrough
Grading
- Attendance & Participation — 10%
- Weekly Meditations/Updates — 10%
- Project Proposal Draft — 5%
- Midterm Presentation — 5%
- Bio / Artist Statements — 5%
- Rough Cut — 10%
- Final Project — 50%
- Final Project Documentation — 5%
Outstanding or exceptional work will receive As, good work will receive Bs, sufficient work that does nothing more than meet requirements will receive Cs.
Your work will be assessed according to your overall enthusiasm: The amount of time, effort, and thought you contribute to the course; your willingness to explore, take risks, and expand into a new range of experiences; attention to quality of ideas and quality in execution of your ideas; critical thought; skills in craft according to assignment objectives; an understanding of materials presented in class and an ability to relate course materials to discussions, assignments, and your own art practice.
Attendance
Communication is key. If you are late or absent, please send an email notifying Issac (isaacruder@g.ucla.edu) and CC me (dalena@g.ucla.edu) immediately. Given the difficulty of navigating Covid-19 related circumstances, we can discuss and modify course expectations on a case by case basis. The most important thing is to communicate immediately if you encounter any difficulties so we can assist and keep you on track to completing your senior project.
Participation
Participation and risk-taking are essential parts of this course; come prepared, work hard, and share your work and ideas generously with your fellow students and faculty.
Students will be required to present their own work and to thoughtfully analyze, discuss, and critique the work of their classmates during lab sessions and full class meetings.
Participation includes:
- Weekly meetings with your instructor and TA
- Full class and join class meetings, discussions, and presentations
- Weekly solo writing meditation practice/updates
- Completion of senior project/committment to solo studio practice
Other Things to Consider
- See your Senior Project / graduation project as your first introduction to the professional world (DMA organized a Career Day with interviews during and at the Senior Show) - Your graduation project should build on what already is showing in your portfolio. Recognize your strengths, and use those skills rather then work in a medium that you have no experience in.
- Keep in mind that you can discuss your work with any professor you feel could help you out. Your Senior Project professors might ask you to seek advice or have a meeting with someone specific to discuss your project. Be pro-active and report to your professor if this was helpful.
- Prep for your one-on-one meetings with your professor. Show new findings and discuss conclusions and further sketches so they are informed about where you are at during the design process. Make a list of questions that you want to discuss. - At some point around week 5 you will have a meeting with your professor to discuss the project that will be in the Senior Show. This will be either your new project, or it will be a former project, with the discussion of what to improve, and how to show this project in the gallery.
Managing Media
Make a backup of all media. Render / Export well in advance of any deadline.
Consent
You must have the explicit consent of any person appearing within your work.
Commitment to Equity and Diversity
We understand the classroom as a space for practicing freedom; where one may challenge psychic, social, and cultural borders and create meaningful artistic expressions. To do so we must acknowledge and embrace the different identities and backgrounds we inhabit. A collaborative effort between the students and the teacher is needed for creating a supportive learning environment.
While everyone should feel free to experiment creatively and conceptually, if a class member points out that something you have said or shared with the group is offensive, avoid being defensive; instead approach the discussion as an opportunity for everyone to grow and learn from one another. All class members are encouraged to discuss such instances with the instructor so they can be addressed with greater care in the future.
Students with Special Needs
Students needing academic accommodations based on a disability should contact the Center for Accessible Education (CAE) at (310)825-1501 or in person at Murphy Hall A255. In order to ensure accommodations, students need to contact the CAE within the first two weeks of the term.
Schedule
Week 1
Mon 3/28
❃In Person Class❃
Syllabus
Discord Sign-up
Student Committee Formation
- Layout
- Graphic Design
- Name Tags
DUE: Class Survey
Week 2
Mon 4/4
❃In Person Class❃
Joint Class w/ 159 A / B / C
TA Presentations: On the Process
DUE: Writing Meditation 2
Wed 4/6
❃In Person Class❃
Joint Class w/ 159 A / B / C
Meet in EDA at 2pm
Equipment and Space Overview
Week 3
Mon 4/11
⨭Virtual⨮
Paired Meetings w/ Dalena
2:30-3:00 - Joie Cao & Katrina Sun
3:00-3:30- Michael Seh & Julie Kim
3:30-3:40 - Break
3:40-4:10 - Zona Liao & Arin Fazio
4:10-4:50 - Haley Penn & Jane Lee
5:15 - Jazzy Cheng
Studio Work Day
DUE: Writing Meditation 3
Wed 4/13
⨭Virtual⨮
Paired Meetings w/ Issac
2:00-2:35 - Joie Cao & Katrina Sun
2:35-3:10 - Michael Seh & Julie Kim
3:10-3:20 - Break
3:20-3:55 - Zona Liao & Arin Fazio
3:55-4:50 - Haley Penn, Jazzy Cheng & Jane Lee
Studio Work Day
Week 4
Mon 4/18
⨭Virtual⨮
Paired Meetings w/ Issac
2:00-2:35 - Joie Cao & Katrina Sun
2:35-3:10 - Michael Seh & Julie Kim
3:10-3:20 - Break
3:20-3:55 - Zona Liao & Arin Fazio
3:55-4:50 - Haley Penn & Jane Lee
5:00 - Jazzy Cheng
Studio Work Day
DUE: Writing Meditation 4
Wed 4/20
⨭Virtual⨮
Paired Meetings w/ Dalena
2:00-2:35 - Joie Cao & Katrina Sun
2:35-3:10 - Michael Seh & Julie Kim
3:10-3:20 - Break
3:20-3:55 - Zona Liao & Arin Fazio
3:55-4:50 - Haley Penn, Jazzy Cheng & Jane Lee
Studio Work Day
Week 5
Mon 4/25
❃In Person Class❃
DUE: Writing Meditation 5
DUE: Midterm Presentation
DUE: Project Proposals and Equipment requests due. Fill in the project proposals and equipment requests tab in the spreadsheet
Wed 4/27
❃In Person Class❃
Joint Class w/ 159 A / B / C
Midterm Presentation Walkthrough
Week 6
Mon 5/2
⨭Virtual⨮
Joint Class w/ 159 A / B / C
Alumni Presentation: Life After Graduation
DUE: Writing Meditation 6
Wed 5/4
⨭Virtual⨮
Paired Meetings w/ Dalena
2:00-2:45 - Kat, Zona, Michael
3:00-3:45 - Arin, Joie, Haley
4:00-4:45 - Jazzy, Jane, Julie
Fri 5/6
Sound Workshop @ Game Lab Broad 3252
Week 7
Mon 5/9
Individual Meetings w/ Dalena
❃In Person Class❃ OR ⨭Virtual⨮
2:00-2:30 - Katrina Sung
2:30-3:00 - Joie Cao
3:00-3:15 - Break
3:15-3:45- Michael Seh
3:45-4:15 - Zona Liao
4:15-4:45 - Haley Penn
Studio Work Day
Week 8
Mon 5/16
Individual Meetings w/ Issac
❃In Person Class❃ OR ⨭Virtual⨮
2:00-2:30 - Katrina Sung
2:30-3:00 - Joie Cao
3:00-3:15 - Break
3:15-3:45- Michael Seh
3:45-4:15 - Zona Liao
4:15-4:45 - Haley Penn
Studio Work Day
Wed 5/18
Individual Meetings w/ Issac
❃In Person Class❃ OR ⨭Virtual⨮
2:00-2:30 - Jeongyun Lee
2:30-3:00 - Julie Kim
3:00-3:15 - Break
3:15-3:45 - Arin Fazio
3:45-4:15 - Jazzy Cheng
Studio Work Day
Week 9
Mon 5/23
❃In Person Class❃
Studio Work Day
Tue 5/24
❃In Person Class❃
Installation Begins
Studio Work Day
Week 10
Mon 5/30
Memorial Day - No Class
Wed 6/1
Installation complete
Thur 6/2
Senior Exhibition
6pm EDA
Week 11
Mon 6/6
❃In Person Class❃
Final Class Day
Group Critique
2-5pm EDA
Saturday 6/11
🥳Graduation🥳
EDA De-install Begins 6pm
Friday 6/10
De-install
Week 12
Mon 6/13
De-install Complete
Assignments
Intention Presentation (Due 3/30)
Create a 5-10 minute slideshow presentation using Google Slides. This presentation is an introduction of your work, projects, research, and interests. Give some thought to what direction your senior project might take. Consider where you are in your work by including past and current work and what you want to focus on this term. Imagine 2 possible projects, and do research into prior work and artists related to your ideas. Include visual material. Take the time to organize your thoughts.
**Make sure your Google Slide presentation link sharing option is set to public
Share the link to your presentation on our Discord server ASSIGNMENTS ⇒ #intention-presentation
Project Proposal Draft (Due 4/11)
Project proposal draft (PDF) due including description, production timeline, and equipment needs:
Page 1: Project Description. Describe your project in as much detail as possible (1-3 paragraphs). Attempt to describe the project in as simple and direct language as possible. Avoid jargon. Some questions to consider: What are your main questions/influences? What ideas ground your research? What form does the project take? Why is the work urgent, necessary, relevant today? Who is the ideal audience / what community is the project most accountable to?
Page 2: Production Timeline. Key dates when specific phases of the project will be completed
Page 3: Resources/Materials. List all Resources/Materials needed to complete your project
Page 4: Visual Mock-up of Final Project. This can be hand-drawn sketches, 3d model, collage, whatever medium/form best communicates your project formally/conceptually.
Page 5: Concept Diagram. Place the main theme/keyword of your project at the center. Visually arrange other themes/keywords in relation to the central one.
Page 6: Bibliography. Who wrote about the various concepts and questions at work in your project? What are the different points of view you're considering?Gather as much research material related to your topic as possible. List your sources.
Page 7+ PROCESS. (2-5 pages) sketches, photographs of process, prototypes
Page X+ Visual Research Archive. (1-5 pages) How have other 'visual artists' approached the formal strategies or ideas at work in your final project ? What form do you want the project to take? Collect images of works, environments, user interactions, whatever supporting material spurs your creativity.
Share the PDF on our Discord server ASSIGNMENTS ⇒ #proposal-draft
Proposal Peer Feedback (Due 4/18)
Read all the draft project proposals from each of your classmates posted in the class Discord server under #Project-Proposal-Draft. Please spend time considering each work and collect thoughts/suggestions for your peers. You will be assigned one student to write to with constructive feedback (please make suggestions of artists to look at, book and articles to read, helpful tools, resources).
Share your notes and comments on 5+ of your classmate's proposals on our Discord server ASSIGNMENTS ⇒ #proposal-feedback
Midterm Presentation (Due 4/25)
Midterm presentation (landscape PDF/Google Slides) due. Taking feedback into consideration, include description, production timeline, list of resources, visual mock-up, thematic diagram, bibliography, process, visual research archive.and equipment needs:
Page 1: Project Description. Describe your project in as much detail as possible (1-3 paragraphs). Attempt to describe the project in as simple and direct language as possible. Avoid jargon. Some questions to consider: What are your main questions/influences? What ideas ground your research? What form does the project take? Why is the work urgent, necessary, relevant today? Who is the ideal audience / what community is the project most accountable to?
Page 2: Production Timeline. Key dates when specific phases of the project will be completed
Page 3: Resources/Materials. List all Resources/Materials needed to complete your project
Page 4: Visual Mock-up of Final Project. This can be hand-drawn sketches, 3d model, collage, whatever medium/form best communicates your project formally/conceptually.
Page 5: Concept Diagram. Place the main theme/keyword of your project at the center. Visually arrange other themes/keywords in relation to the central one.
Page 6: Bibliography. Who wrote about the various concepts and questions at work in your project? What are the different points of view you're considering?Gather as much research material related to your topic as possible. List your sources.
Page 7+ PROCESS. (2-5 pages) sketches, photographs of process, prototypes
Page X+ Visual Research Archive. (1-5 pages) How have other 'visual artists' approached the formal strategies or ideas at work in your final project ? What form do you want the project to take? Collect images of works, environments, user interactions, whatever supporting material spurs your creativity.
Share the PDF on our Discord server ASSIGNMENTS ⇒ #final-proposal
Bio / Artist Statement Draft (Due 5/4)
Bio / artist statement draft due format to be discussed in class
Share your bio/statement on our Discord server ASSIGNMENTS ⇒ #artist-statement
Rough Cut (Due 5/9)
Approaching picture lock w/ rough sound. Rendered in the same file format as the final project. A test file as close to the final work as possible. Standard specs for video and animation include H.264 codec, 1920x1080, 24fps
Due midnight 24:00 PST. Upload your video file to Vimeo/Youtube and share your video link on our Discord server ASSIGNMENTS ⇒ #rough-cut
Final Edit (Due 5/25)
Final edit due, ready for install. Due midnight 24:00 PST.
Name your file as "LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_TITLE_OF_PROJECT.mp4" and upload your video file to our class server's drop directory ⇒ classes/Spring22/159B/drop/final-edit AND Vimeo/Youtube and share your video link on our Discord server ASSIGNMENTS ⇒ #final-edit
Final Documentation (Due 6/8)
Final documentation should be 2+ images and/or video clips documenting your project install. Bio / Artist statement should be at least 4-5 sentences.
Image and video files should be named "Title_1.png...", "Title_2.png", "Title_1.mp4" and so on, inside of a folder named "LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_TITLE_OF_PROJECT"
Upload the folder to our class server's drop directory ⇒ classes/Spring22/159B/drop/final-doc AND share your images/videos on our Discord server ASSIGNMENTS ⇒ #final-documentation
Final Bio / Artist Statement (Due 6/8)
Bio / Artist statement should be at least 4-5 sentences and should be a refined and/or extended version of your initial draft.
Upload a PDF file to our class server's drop directory ⇒ classes/Spring22/159B/drop/final-statement AND share it on our Discord server ASSIGNMENTS ⇒ #artist-statement
Weekly Writing Meditations
Find a place (and a way) to write without interruption once a week.
Set a timer. Actively write for 30 min each session unless otherwise noted in the prompt.
Pause at 30 min and assess the writing.
Continue if the writing feels generative, keep going, get all the loose thoughts down.
Due in class on Mondays (with the exception of Meditation 1)
We will discuss the results of the meditations in our weekly meeting
Meditation 1 (Due 3/30)
Inquiry
List as many questions as you can about the project you are attempting. Do not compose answers at the moment, simply list the questions that emerge Abstract or Concrete, large or small, write down all questions that arise.
What materials can I use?
What will be the overall look and feel?
What are my 'points of view' toward the subject matter?
Who has dealt with this problem before?
Share to our Discord server Meditation ⇒ #meditation-1
Meditation 2 (Due 4/4)
Tactics
Write a list of tactics, a personal guide to the strategies that help you do your work. These can be as simple as “rules” as in: 'try shifting scale' or 'walk until an idea forms'...
It can be a list of verbs— what are the actions that help you begin, or help you in moments of uncertainty? It can be a short manifesto of personal poetics or statement about the ethical considerations about your own work. Any length and format.
Share to our Discord server Meditation ⇒ #meditation-2
Meditation 3 (Due 4/11)
Concept Diagram
Part One
Diagram. Place main theme of your project at the centre. Visually arrange other keywords/themes around the central one. Don't hold back, include any idea, theme, question that factors into your project, place ones you're unsure of at the margins.
Part Two
Now analyze : are there differences between your project in progress and your idealized concept diagram? What are these differences? Analyze why might these differences be present (are there certain subjects you are shying away from or are more difficult to articulate-- if so why)?
Are there elements of the concept diagram that have yet to be emphasized in the final project? Make a list.
How can you better emphasize these core ideas? Make a list.
How can you make sure to preserve some of the smaller / more nuanced nodes of the diagram? Make a list.
What are some specific changes you might introduce in order to emphasis these ideas within your final project-- strategies to heighten, underscore, bring attention to the ideas at play (ie. repetition, scale, duration, color etc.) Make a list.
Share to our Discord server Meditation ⇒ #meditation-3
Meditation 4 (Due 4/18)
Analysis
Take the questions generated in INQUIRY and answer all of them If the answer is indeterminate or unknown, describe the conditions of this indeterminacy
Share to our Discord server Meditation ⇒ #meditation-4
Meditation 5 (Due 4/25)
Color
Select one dominant color that relates to your project / your research.
Write down a memory, a strong personal association with this color.
Re-name the color. Generate a name that has not been used for it before.
What tactics, strategies can you use to heighten a viewer's experience of this color in your project? How can you give it prominence?
Share to our Discord server Meditation ⇒ #meditation-5
Meditation 6 (Due 5/2)
Sound & Voice
(select one SOUND / VOICE)
if your project includes sound-- complete SOUND meditation
if your project is silent / no sound-- complete VOICE meditation
or complete both for extra credit
SOUND
Is there a dominant sound to this project?
Write down a strong memory, associations with this sound / soundscape
List the qualities of this sound / soundscape. Challenge yourself to list as many as many qualities of the sound as possible. A long list (timbre, grain, distortion, pitch, human, non-human, near, distant, feeling, affect, movement, speed, dynamics, direction…)
How does this sound exist in time? Fast / slow? Dynamic? Constant / periodic / random?
How will you heighten this sound, give it prominence?
Make a list of kinds of touch involved in this project.
Make a list of all the textures, surfaces of this project.
How can you heighten the sensation of touch within this project (consider how can sound and touch overlap)?
VOICE
List a few moments in your life when you used a very loud voice.
List a few times when you spoke in a voice that was not your own.
List a few times when you whispered, spoke inaudibly, or weren't heard.
Take a look at what you've generated so far and choose the one memory that seems hot; write a paragraph recalling the moment.
Share to our Discord server Meditation ⇒ #meditation-6