EXPANDED CINEMA & SOUND-IMAGE COLLAB
PSAM 5550 B Faculty: Ed KELLER Joe Saavedra Leif Percifield
Time & location: Monday, 3:50 pm – 6:30 pm 6 East 16th Street 1208
[ ] COLLAB : EXPANDED CINEMA and SOUND-IMAGE Taught by Ed Keller [Parsons SDS], with Joe Saavedra and Leif Percifield [MFADT], and the participation of Mannes faculty and students TBD. Open to graduate students in Parsons and across The New School. Of interest to transdisciplinary design, design technology, media studies, music. This course will be project focused with concert / performance deadlines scheduled for November [main performance in Miami] and December [TBD, performance @ NYC/Mannes/Parsons].
Keywords: future of cinema, cinema and gesture, Son/Image, live music, performance, expanded cinema, physical computing, string quartet, new music, contemporary classical music, sensor networks, processing, MaxMSP, Kinect
Collab details: Parsons has the opportunity to work with the Miami New World Symphony and Mannes School of Music to explore the future of HD digital imagery and software driven sound/image interfaces in a live performance context, at the Miami New World Symphony, culminating in a performance in November in Miami in the new, cutting edge Frank Gehry designed concert hall, which is equipped with 12 HD projectors and a 4K projector. Biometrics and sensors on the musicians and their instruments will inflect realtime camera feeds also mounted on/around the performers, developing a series of ‘interactive/expanded cinema’ pieces. We will work in partnership with Mannes School of Music. A second performance in NYC, possibly at the new University Center building, will take place in December or January.
The Center for Transformative Media will be running ‘Future of Guitar & Instrument Design’ workshops across the year, and a spring 2014 conference on the ‘Present and Future of Sound’, which will connect to this collaboration.
[ ] PROCESS Biometrics & cameras mounted on the musicians/instruments, with code in between the camera feed and projector to slow down/speed up, possibly use Kinect as well to modulate images. Generative visual components and possibly audio as well. Live performance. Violin, flute, percussion, clarinet, bass.
Teams of students, with people in project focusing on
• code to modulate image
• building custom parts/gear/harnesses/wiring/sensors
• film/sound ‘theory’ & ‘direction’ component
COURSE STRUCTURE: EXPANDED CINEMA & SOUND-IMAGE
will operate as a seminar for the first 2-3 weeks of the semester: films and readings will be assigned; in class we will run a series of discussions and lectures. During the main part of the semester, leading up to the performance on November 10 in Miami, students will team up to produce prototypes and final technology/software for use by musicians in live performance. The course will run as a mini studio with faculty meeting with students/teams to work on prototypes, critique the work, and offer
WORKSHOPS, SPECIAL GUESTS: Additional lectures and events will take place outside of class time. Invited guests and collaborators with expertise in fields around sound/image, musical instrument technology and design, coding. Students will join at least one guitar oriented workshop [ Sept. 30th with Ola Strandberg, who is visiting Parsons as part of the ‘Future of Guitar’ lecture series], and Joe Saavedra, Leif Percifield, and other CTM fellows will offer workshops TBD throughout the semester.
COLLABORATION: EXPANDED CINEMA & SOUND-IMAGE
Operates in collaboration with The Miami New World Symphony and Mannes School of Music.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Students and faculty will retain rights to all software/hardware/concepts developed during the course. Parsons is discussing [With Miami NWS] ways to incentivize the collaboration, such as using a Creative Commons licensing for software, hardware, and concepts, so that a ‘platform’ can be created going forward which will be available to other users online, worldwide.
GRADING:
Class Participation: 10%
Musical interface proposal: 10%
Musical interface final project: 80%
Note: An optional final paper summarizing research can be
submitted along with the final project: 15%
SCREENINGS AND READINGS:
FILM: Nostalgia for the Light Step Across the Border Touch the Sound
Sympathy for the Devil Lessons of Darkness Catch-22 Street of Crocodiles Copy Shop Vertigo Melancholia In the Mood for Love Playtime Irma Vep Mirror London
Once Upon a Time in the West Once Upon a Time in America Enter the Void Dead Man
SOUND and PERFORMANCE: Perry Hall Fred Frith Colin Stetson Adrian Belew Hans Reichl Romitelli NIN John Gerrard
TEXTS: Deleuze Cinema 1/2 DJ Spooky Greil Marcus Lipstick Traces Patrick Keiller
Gene Youngblood Expanded Cinema Shaw & Weibel Future Cinema Toop Ocean of Sound
Shaviro Post Cinematic Affect Vertov Kino-Eye Virilio Vision Machine
Music Program for Nov 10 performance:
Moser: Spielmusik Clarinet, Bassoon, Bass
Wilder: Flute and Bongos No. 1
Wieniawski: Selections from Etudes-Caprices Violin duet
[possibly] Ives: Largo for Violin, Clarinet and Piano
SCHEDULE:
EXPANDED CINEMA & SOUND_IMAGE will run as a collab throughout the semester. Students are expected to attend all classes and university policy will govern acceptable number of absences.
Readings and film screenings will be assigned outside of class time. Additionally a range of additional course events will take place during the semester as part of our collaboration with Miami NWS and Mannes. This material will include scheduled lectures [in NYC] and workshops. Effort will be made to ensure that most or all of the additional material can be viewed online through our web platform.
WEEK 1: AUG 26th INTRODUCTION
WEEK 2: Sept 2 Holiday
WEEK 3: Sept 9th In class EK lecture, class discussion, general discussion of scope of project
Assignment for week 4: Pick one film clip and begin a close analysis of the camera moves and/or sound in that clip. Set up a blog/site for your own personal research. In a few weeks groups will do the same, but you’ll keep your individual page going throughout. Begin to generate ideas for the prototype musical interface concept, and reach out to other students to explore team formation. A proposal for this will be due [300-500 words, one page] on your blog page by Sept 16.
WEEK 4: Sept 16th In class EK lecture, class discussion, general discussion of scope of project
Your individual blog/tumblr must be set up this week. Your interface design concepts should be in progress. Groups must be formed by Sept 23 class.
Sept 19: extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 5: Sept 23rd In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups
Group blogs must be set up.
Sept 26: extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 6: Sept 30th In class workshop with visiting lecturer Ola Strandberg
Test of prototypes if possible!!!
Oct 3- extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 7: Oct. 7th In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups
Oct 10 extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 8: Oct 14th In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups
Oct 17 extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 9: Oct 21st In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups, NWS skype rehearsal
Oct 24 extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 10: Oct 28th In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups, NWS skype rehearsal
Oct 31 extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 11: Nov 4th In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups, NWS skype rehearsal
Nov 7 extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
Nov 8 travel to MIAMI
Nov 10 FINAL PERFORMANCE IN MIAMI
Final phase of semester leading to December or January performance in NYC with Mannes
WEEK 12: Nov 11th In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups
Nov 14th extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 13: Nov 18th In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups
Nov 21 extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 14: Nov 25th In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups
WEEK 15: Dec 2nd In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups ; Mannes rehearsal TBC
Dec 5 extra sessions with EK, JS, LP- to be scheduled
WEEK 16: Dec 9th In class EK, JS, LP meet with groups ; Mannes performance this week TBC
Parsons + New World Symphony 