Video Project 2: Cinematography

Individually, or in pairs, shoot 1 minute to 3 minutes of tape demonstrating your facility with one or more
particular aspects of cinematography (camera movement or lighting), mis-en-scene (production design,
color, costume) or sound. For example you may choose to demonstrate the difference between the
moving camera POV shot and a static or locked-down more omniscient/objective point of view. Like the
first assignment, this will not require editing and is to be shot in-camera.

Video Project 1: In-Camera Self-Portrait

Guidelines:
• Pre-plan a tape that can be shot in sequence without editing.
• Maximum running time of 5 minutes.
• No pre-recorded sound (i.e. you cannot use the latest Franz Ferdinand CD)
• No dialogue, storytelling or monologue narration. The absence of words/text etc. does not rule out sound in general or other creative solutions to creating your piece.

Imagine that your audience is an audience without a shared visual history. And that everything you present is new information, as if you had to explain your origins visually to a child from another planet without a common "shared history" of images. Pay attention to ambient sound, and how sound conveys
meaning without narrative/text/language.

Remember that this need not include you as the "subject" -- but could include the objects, settings, and ambiance that surrounds you. You can find many ways to represent yourself besides using yourself as an object. You can be represented by objects, a stand-in, a room, a series of sounds, a series of images that take the place of your image -- any set of representations that collectively builds up a portrait of yourself. But neither should you limit yourself to merely shooting your room and photographs of friends and family.
This has little meaning to an audience with no prior knowledge of you in that context.

Pre-planning means pre-visualizing how each sequence may look, and planning the route that you and the camera will have to take in order to execute the shot. This should not limit you to a single shot nor should it deter you from one. Once committed to tape you cannot go back into the body of the video and
"fix" it. This structure may become part of the subject matter of the tape. No outside editing may be used so the entire tape must be shot in sequence. Nothing may be added later, neither picture nor sound.

Final Cut: Basic output workflow

Export to digital movie file

1. In menu, save project

2. In timeline, set in point (I) and out point (O)

3. In menu, File > Export > Quicktime Movie

Export to tape

1. In menu, save project

2. In timeline, set in point (I) and out point (O)

3. In menu, "Print to Video" or from keyboard: Control+M

Final Cut: Basic capture workflow

1. Check camera setup. Camera is powered, has tape, is connected to FCP workstation via FireWire

2. Check FCP setup. Set scratch disks. Ensure easy setup and audio/video settings correspond with the camera and media being used in capture session.

3. FCP: Initiate capture (From Menu: File > Log and Capture; or from Keyboard: Apple+8)

4. Play the tape from either camera or FCP device control

5. FCP: Start capture with "Now" button

6. FCP: Stop capture with "Escape" key

Final Cut: Key interface components

1. Menu

2. Tool palette

3. Browser

4. Viewer

5. Timeline

6. Canvas

Video Art: Introduction

"We live in a time when ideas -- and not specific media -- are central to artists. To suggest that video 'proclaimed' this shift is to express, boldly, its importance to contemporary art."

Michael Rush, in the Introduction