Course Description

Course organiser for 2011
Martin Parker (MP)

FOR THE MOST UP TO DATE VERSION OF THIS INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT

Digital Media Studio Project – Course Description – ARCH11006

Note that this information may not be entirely up to date until Semester 2, especially information about projects, supervisors and the class schedule, including any invited speakers.

Synopsis

Students work as a group on a collaborative, extended project that brings together their various design skills in the context of a selection of exploratory project briefs. The course will be conducted as a studio with iterative development, group discussion, design development, presentations, criticism, and feedback. Tuition will be provided in the use of computer tools and devices where applicable.

Aims

The digital media studio project presents students with a challenge not encountered on the course so far. As is the case with commercial and creative projects, project briefs are deliberately open ended, non-specific and as a result, the project may seem to start from a state of chaos. This creates a need to impose order, organisation and imagination, which we expect to emerge from the student body rather than staff. Students will form groups that will work to address each brief as an individual project. Each group faces the challenge of finding a way of working together, perhaps following the model of a theatre company with roles and responsibilities assigned to each member of the group, and decided by the group as a whole; production manager, director, producer, actor, technical manager etc. The main aims of the project are to provide opportunities to prepare experimental work for public exhibition/display and for the cohort to find practical, creative solutions to problems imposed by real limitations of technology, time and personnel, meanwhile exploring a wealth of new technology and its application to digital design.

Learning Outcomes

• Consolidation of the use of digital design tools and techniques in the context of a design project.
• Appreciation of the collaborative and integrative nature of design projects that involve digital media, and further development of appropriate group working skills.
• An awareness of and some capability in working with digital media beyond the constraints of the desktop, particularly through software and hardware that supports digital installations.
• Consideration of modes of presentation appropriate to external and large-scale presentation formats.
• Skills in responding to and progressing a theoretical position about some aspect of the project context.
• Managing a small budget

Practical Outputs

The design of a multimedia interactive or other artefact using digital sound media. Further contribution to a portfolio of work showing the student’s capability with sound and digital design media and familiarity with the issues of presentation in various media formats. Awareness of the methods and constraints of working towards a public exhibition or showcase of digital design/sound work. An interactive exhibition/installation, documentary, research project or other collaboration as defined by the project brief.

Project Supervisors

[NB: These are 2009 supervisors and projects; details for 2010 will not be the same.]
Vangelis Lympouridis (VL) Hardware hacking, soldering, speckled computing
David Murray-Rust (DMR) Interactive table project
Sean Williams (SW) Botanic Gardens Documentary
Henrik Ekeus (HE) Headphone Mini-Theatre, Branded Faces
Lin Zhang (LZ) Supercollider and sound synthesis
Mike Greer (MG) Blender project, Make net.art
Owen Green (OG) Emergent Sonorities
Parag Mital (PM) The IntelliFace

Note on the role of the project supervisor.

The project supervisor is there to help you develop your project and provide some overall guidance from an independent perspective. Project supervisors have expertise in the areas you are investigating and in many cases, this area may be central to their own research or current projects. However, their time is limited and you should take care not to use up credits with the supervisor on small tasks that you can solve independently with a little more thought. We suggest arranging meetings with the supervisor when you have a specific thing you want to show to get a second opinion on, or when your group can not make a decision on the next best step. It is good to make arrangements to meet the supervisor well in advance so the group has a deadline to work towards. Time is easily squandered on the DMSP and your group will need to foster a sense of motivation, drive and focus. While the supervisor can help you with this, it is not their responsibility to lead the group, this should come from within.

Guest Speakers

Russell McEwan – Film maker, editor and final cut pro
Chris Hand – interface hacking and sensor workshop
Heike Sperling and Marcus Schmickler – Designer and Computer-based performance duo.

Schedule for whole class (subject to slight change as semester goes on)

Location: Alison House Atrium (also subject to change, please check emails about this)
Time and Date: Thursday mornings 11:10 –13:00 First hour is lecture based and is followed by more talking, or group meeting or other related activity

Week 1 : Digital Media Studio Project welcome pack (MG+JL plus Project supervisors)
Week 2 : Digital Video Editing, introduction to Final Cut Pro and using DV cameras (Russel McEwan)
Week 3 : Hacking Hardware, breaking and making (Vangelis Lympouridis and Chris Hand)
PLUS Friday 30th Jan, 1pm until late, Hardware Hacking workshop with Chris Hand
Sign up for 15-20 people for this workshop
Week 4 : Exhibition Reports given by DMSP class
Week 5 : Installation Art Overview or Guest Instalaltion Artist
Week 6 : DMSP – Special Software, Jitter _01
Week 7 : Video Editing and Final Cut Pro; Russell McEwan TBC
Week 8 : Heike Sperling and Marcus Schmickler presentation
Week 9 : DMSP – Special Software, Jitter_02
Week 10 : Preview morning
Week 11 : Demonstration week

You will get into the habit of a weekly production meeting. A production meeting is usually chaired by the producer or project manager and is the meeting where all participants discuss issues relating to the project.

Submissions:

1. Beta project presentation 40%  — presentation week and documentation collection
2. Project write-up and documentation 60%

Documentation is prepared by the group
(i.e. Group designed documentation of the project and project itself and critical reflections by individual writers, 750 words maximum). The submission will be marked with 60% of the marks going on group work (quality of documentation) and 40% on the individual writing.

Criteria for Assessment

Marks will be awarded on the basis of demonstrated:
• ability in assimilating a broad knowledge of new technologies (that have unrealised potential) in a design context
• quality of design in terms of innovative use of the technology, taking account of usability, and presentation
• professionalism of submissions, presentations, contribution to the acquisition and sharing of knowledge and manner of dealing with the uncertain aspects of the project brief
• ability to respond creatively to client needs and feedback
• level of participation in the project.

Please note that assessment will take account of tradeoffs between the above criteria, particularly taking account of the diverse backgrounds of students in the class. You are encouraged to seek feedback during the development of your work, but please note that adhering to feedback does not guarantee a high assessment of the completed work. Note also that the assessment of the work is not necessarily commensurate with the amount of time spent on the project work.

Project Briefs

A range of project briefs are available. Those taking this course form small groups ranging in size from 2 to 5 people. Projects range from creating a documentary, performing real-time Foley editing to designing an interactive installation. A member of staff will supervise each project with groups benefiting from further input by visiting lecturers and other external experts.

NOTE: You are asked to choose your top three projects and to have made a decision about this by the end of the day on Tuesday 20th January. You need to elect for your top three choices by putting 1 (top), 2 or 3 in the table on the door of the atrium.

There will be a three-stage output evaluated on design and presentation quality and demonstrated skills in using digital media technology. Work will be assessed as a group and as individual submissions.