Subject to change!

I wish I could compose music; I wish I could play music. But I think I get as close as possible with the editing of a film. Martin Scorcese

Sounds possess a special expressivity: perhaps they are not able to replace music in general, but they can superbly replace illustrative music, "film music" to be precise.  Tarkovsky

One should listen... Paintings can be listened to. They are made to be seen, but even more so, to be listened to. Philippe Sollers

Visual Music

Fall 06	L53-315 Pier Marton
Eads 008A	Office Hours
Wednesdays 4 pm-7 p.m.	In Mallinckrodt 305: Wed. 2:45-3:45 p.m. & Thurs. 3-4 p.m. (Appt. Pref.)
http://get.to/pier	935-4055/marton@artsci.wustl.edu

All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music. Walter Pater   True philosophers are always poets and vice-versa.. Tarkovsky After its invention, it took the cinema more than 30 years to experience fully synchronized sounds. Since then, sound and picture have continued to be more and more integrated and interdependent. Current music video artists like Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham constitute only one expression of that desire to merge image and sound. Earlier, many explorers such as Oskar Fischinger, Peter Kubelka and Norman McLaren conceived films where images and sounds surprise the viewer. In the process of producing similarly challenging 4-5 minute video pieces, we will examine how synaesthesia in the arts has functioned to energize the two media. A variety of software will be explored in that context. Recommended: Visual Music: Synaesthesia in Art and Music Since 1900 by Kerry Brougher, Jeremy Strick, Ari Wiseman, and Judith Zilczer & Notes on Cinematography by Robert Bresson. Prerequisite: Moving Images and Sound, L53-230 (or some other basic production course).

Related Links Wed. 8/30 - Introduction to Course, Goals. For Next Week Keeping the same color, change the shade (by adding black) to energize a thirty second animation. Wed. 9/6 - Contrasts/Tensions/Surprises Building Structures. The Electromagnetic Spectrum: Waves, Frequencies, Energy Bits of Color Theory: - FNW Add a color that clashes. Figure out how to introduce it, have it evolve, and resolve the conflict. Wed. 9/13 - Anechoic Chamber Visit. Silence. Abstraction as Bird's Eye View. FNW Replace some of your visual track's color elements with abstract camera-based visuals.. Wed. 9/20 - Sound Waves, Cymatics, FCP Audio Control. FNW Record and create a textured audio sequence made out of sound effects and line them up on your FCP timeline with appropriate cross-fades (no visuals for the next three weeks). Wed. 9/27 - Musique Concrète, Dissonances and the Rest, from Schoenberg/Berg/Webern to John Cage. Introduction to Soundtrack Pro.FNW Layer your previous soundtrack by spicing up your timeline with a contrasting audio rhythms or frequencies. Wed. 10/4 Soundtrack Pro Essentials- FNW Create a new soundtrack by starting with a sound effect you feel excited about and transform it as Lucier recommends it in his book Chambers. Wed. 10/11 - Microphone Types, VU Meters. FCP Markers. Soundtrack/Image FNW Merge your visuals to you audio tracks. See where merging is in your interest, see where it is not. Find the small treasures in the sound/picture relationship that can be explored further and explore them. At one point, the picture might lead you, at other times it could be the soundtrack. Wed. 10/18 - Early VideoArt, Nam June Paik and others. VJing. Welcoming Analogue and Other Accidents. Intro to Motion2, AfterEffects, Commotion and StudioArtist. FNW Find ways to bring some erratic elements into your timeline, both on the video and the audio level. Wed. 10/25 - Structures in Sound and Landscape (Frozen Architecture). Gagaku. P'ansori. Soundscapes. The Trembling of the Quay Brothers. Motion2 Replicators/Generators, Intro to AfterEffects. FNW As you allow us to see clearly the structure of your future piece - a piece of a hologram reveals the whole - find ways to transform a particular visual sequence in ways that do not leave tracks (where you cannot figure out the tools used). Always try to remain grounded (remember why the kite flies). Wed. 11/1 - Contrasts. Bresson, Tarkovsky, Kieslowski, Eisler. The Non-Symbolic Visual/Soundtrack: Representation as Non- Communication. Image transformations: Post-production tools.Equalizing, Filters. FNW First Draft of Final Project. Keep in track the overall structure keeping a particular unity, yet evolving. Wed. 11/8 - In-Class Work Session FNW Concentrate on the details for your "climax" scene and spruce up beginning and final sections. Wed. 11/15 - In-Class Work Session Going to Tape. For Week Afer Thanksgiving Fine-tune sync elements (it should feel like audio/video "clockwork"). Put some final titles, credits on your piece. Wed. 11/22 - THANKSGIVING Wed. 11/29 - Final Class Presentations with DV Tape. Going to DVD. Wed. 12/06 - Review. Sunday December 10 - Public screening! In terms of grading, sustained efforts and thorough participation will guarantee a passing grade. Beyond that, if your piece is well-done, you will get a B. If it is nearing excellence by being original, well-designed (visually and as a concept) you will receive an A. I recommend you ask me throughout the semester for such feedback, if you are concerned about your final grade.

Every film is like going into a new world, going into the unknown. But you should be not afraid of using your intuition, and feel and think your way through, David Lynch