SYLLABUS SPRING 2021
ARCH 5424: DIRECT CINEMA MEDIA FABRICS *

DRAFT 1.0

INSTRUCTORS:
Earl Mark ejmark@virginia.edu
Ammon Shepherd aes9h@virginia.edu

TEACHING ASSISTANT:
Leah Krissin, lck2q@virginia.edu

* Direct Cinema is a genre of unscrpted documentary filmmaking with highly mobile camera equipment. Media Fabrics was the title of a graduate section of the MIT Media Lab under Professor Glorianna Davenport.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Direct Cinema Media Fabrics is an interdisciplinary workshop and seminar. The cinema has expanded to encompass a greater range of media and methods, transcending architecture, sculpture, theater, animation, scientific discovery and environmental art. We explore methods of capturing moving images, sound and potentially other sensory input through video, computervision and microcontroller sensors. We explore ways to discern key patterns and shapes through coding computer graphics procedures. We then speculatively and creatively transform the input into 2D or 3D virtual or physical forms. A significant part of the class will be devoted to learning to Java programs though the processing graphics platform that was initially developed by two alumni of the MIT Media lab (see processing.org). The software runs natively on both the Apple and Windows operating systems. The final project may be in the form of video movie, computer animation or a physical interactive medium using an Arduino format micro-conroller.

Architecture students may count the class as a Visualization Elective. The class has counted as an Integrative Elective in Computer Science. It also satisfies the Approved Practice of Media approved course list in Media Studies.

A curated exhibition of work created with Processing at http://processing.org/exhibition demonstrates methods of filtering captured data, video and images, facitating  its analysis and interpretation, and creatively harnessing it to produce motion pictures and other media fabrications. For example, a video recording, sound recording or a motion sensor may be used to collect initial data. The data is processed to discern patterns, forms or movements. In turn, the movements and other observations are creatively translated into some other media such as a 3D virtual model or animation, a movie, a video installation, or a moving fabric wall. 

The Processing programming platform has two distinct implementations1) an an environment for interactive computer graphics, and 2) as the widely established IDE (intregrated development environment) for working with Arduino microcontollers). Both implementations are availble at no cost as will be described in class and can be used in tandem with each other..

With the multiple media avaible to Processing, we will integrate three overlapping phases of a data collection to creative process. The phases are 1. Direct Cinema, 2. Computervision and Sensing, and 3. Media as Fabric. Some of the specific methods used in each phase are:

Phase 1: Direct Cinema: Workshops explore a documentary moviemaking style conducive to spontaneous discovery and observation. Subjects may include people and their environments, phenomenal studies of light, air, and water changing over time, or other elements of story and place.

Phase 2: Processing & Computervision: Tools are used to accentuate, abstract, analyze and expand upon the captured data and to set the stage for creative interpretation. This phase will be developed hand-in-hand with learning to program in Processing.

Phase 3: Media Fabrics: The processed input data is creatively translated into either physical or virtual media. This may include a movie, an alternative virtual form (e.g., a choreographed animated human figure), of some other type of virtual or physical element that moves (e.g., a building skin).

The three phases are incorporated into a series of five exercises that explores technology towards a final cumulative project. The final project and type outcome is to be developed on an individual basis. It is anticipated that theinterdisciplinary group of students in the class, such as from design, studio art, media studies, digital music, and computer science, will work towards final projects that will vary in objectives and methods. Periodic discussions of how students complete each exercise will contribute to a greater awareness of the media we explore and is intended to help cross-fertilize ideas pursued in the class.

REQUIREMENTS

Five exercises for the term conclude in a final project. The first four exercises count for roughly 60% of the grade, the final project (exercise 5) counts for 30% of the grade. Class participation through attendance in workshops count towards 10% of the grade. Full attendance is expected, apart from normally excusable absences.

CLASS PARTICIPATION

NOTE: The class will be in-person in spring 2022. This syllabus was developed for 2021. A new draft for 2022 is forthcoming, but will follow a similar outline.

Please note that references here to Zoom and virtual attendance will not be applicable to Spring 2022:
This is an online synchronous course. We meet for regular class sessions online via Zoom (Collab “Online Meetings”). Your presence and active participation is important to creating the most effective, step by step sequenced and coherent learning experience. You are not expected to be on Grounds for any assignments or meetings. Virtual attendance is required. Excusable absences are permitted under uva policies and should be communicated to the course instructors and SIA and also done in advance if possible.

In spring 2021 our personal and learning circumstances may be different than they were prior to the Covid-19 epidemic. While we face challenges as an education community, the goal is to continue to learn and grow while adjusting for unexpected events. The class is committed to maintaining a healthy and equitable environment for all of us by respecting and making room for differences in how we approach learning. The goal is to encourage exercise topics that give more license to students to be motivated by what interests them, their physical location, recourse access limitations,and from which everyone has a chance to see the work done and can learn together. 

Your health and well-being are also a priority. Please take the time to care for yourself. Monitor your health daily in the HOOS Health Check app. The university asks that if you are ill or expect that you have been exposed to COVID-19, please stay home, notify the primary course instructor, and contact the Student Health and Wellness Center (434-924-5362) so that you can receive appropriate care.

INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT

There are newly recognized challenges to educators to more completely respond to the diffent personal histories students bring to the classroom. We recognize that many complex factors such as  social identities, visible and invisible disabilities, family circumstances, physical location, mental health, and access to the internet may influence academic performance. To support your learning, you are invited to help the SIA and course instructor be more responsive to any unique situationsthat you may be experiencing. In a notable educational strategy named project zero, each person is taught in ways to that attend to their diverse areas of intellignce, different methods of learning, and disimilar types of motivation. The goal is to establish more individually focused tutorials and dialog where possible in the context of a class that has a common set of objectives. To help reach this goal your feedback is welcome with respect to what is being taught and how it is delivered. 

The university admits undocumented students, students from mixed-status families, and students with Temporary Protected Status. All UVA students, including students of varied immigration statuses, are welcomed in this class. If your personal situation is impacting your success in the course, please come see me to discuss things I can do to accommodate you.

TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT

If you need assistance using any of the tools for our class, the SIAs and I happy to work with you. You can also find resources for each below:

• its (technical support) for live classroom support.
• If you are not in an online class, contact the its help desk (chat, email, online). 
• zoom support
• collab student support
  

The technologies of 2D and 3D computer graphics animation, digital video production, motion capture and video processing, and computer graphics programming are the primary technologies used. Digital sound and recording systems will be introduced.  The degree to which each technology is to used will vary according to individual student interest and discretion. Past projects have included human character based visual narratives, explicit reconstructions of buildings and landscapes, or more abstract compositions exploring materiality, light, formal or spatial elements, sound, music or a responsive physical object.  

To gain a critical perspective, we will discuss feature and independent movies, animation, interactive projects and student work. There will be a few readings in film theory, design theory, and cognitive science. We will also discuss interactive physical installations, their history of use in relationship to film and their potential application to architecture and other fields.

TECHNOLOGY READINGS AND REQUIREMENTS

The only purchase requirement is an Arduino micro-controller and optional compononents for part 3 of the class a base cost $25 to $35. All other technology we will use is open source.

The text by Reas, Casey and Fry, Ben, Getting Started with Processing is required and also availble at no cost online (see bibliography below). It can be obtained in electronic book form through UVA's Library System, or for purchase via nook or iBook or paper. The primary software for the course, Processing, is available at no cost from https://processing.org/download/. We will use the free version of Processing developed for computer graphics applications and that can be downloaded at processing.org. We will also use a separate implementation of Processing for microcontrollers, also availbalbe at no cost from https://playground.arduino.cc/Interfacing/Processing/. These versions are both Windows and Apple OS compatible.

Some students may also elect to take advantage Maya which is free under under academic licensing from Autodesk. Details will be provided during the first week of class.

Finally, the course will introduce Arduino micro-processor hardware in conjunction with the Processing IDE (Integrated Development environment), Student tudents may elect to purchase their own Arduino board with elective components for approximately $25.00 or a complete starter pack includinng sensors and motors. Third party micro-processors conforming to the Arduino specification can be purchased at less expensively, with the caveat that the quality of these third party options should be carefully reviewed in consumer satisfaction ratings. Options will be discussed in classs.

Note that we will follow a gradual step-by-step sequence of learning to program with Processing in parallel to working with other digital media. While students with prior experience will be givne the opportunity advance more quickly, the basic plan for the semester is to work at a relatively modest pace to ensure that there's ample opportunity to learn the techniques involved and that assumes no prior background.

Note that some of the outside works that we screen or review, as outlined below,  may change depending upon the direction of student work in the course.

SCHEDULE

Selected Bibliography (links underlined below are to UVA VIrgo Electronic Subscription or free resource on grounds or through VPN access from off grounds)

Graphics Programming:

Reas, Casey, and Fry, Ben, Getting Started with Processing, 2015, Media Maker Inc.Ø § (Java edition, just one user at a time)
Reas, Casey, and Fry, Ben, Getting Started with Processing, 2015, Media Maker Inc. Ø § (Java edition, greater concurrent access possible, setup UVA sponsored account with O'Reilly publisher)
Reas, Casey, Fry, Ben, and Parrish, Allison Getting Started with Processing, 2016, Media Maker Inc. Ø § (Python edition, shared licenses, limited number of copies statewide available at one time)
Reas, Casey and Fry, Ben, Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists, August 2007, MIT Press. ±
Reas, Casey, McWilliams, Chandler, and Barendse, Jeroen, Form+code in Design, Art and Architecture, August 2010, Princeton Architectural Press. §
Shiffman, Daniel, Learning Processing: A Beginner's Guide to Programming, Images, Animation and Interaction, 2008, Morgan Kaufman.§
Processing Software Download (Max OS and Windows Compatible)  processing.org. Ø

Microcontrollers:

Banzi, Massimo, Getting Started with Arduino, 2008, O'Reilly
Margolis, Michael, Arduino Cookbook, 2011, O'Reilly Media Inc. §
Sparkfun Inventors Guide, Creative Commons, San Francisco, CA (earlier version of tutorial available as PDF download)
Sparkfun Tutorial for Arduino 101, Sparkfun Web Site (we will be using this online tutorial rather than the olderPDF tutorial).Ø
Sparkfun Inventors Guide Companion Programs

Moviemaking:

Arnheim, Rudolf, Film as Art. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1957.*
Bazin, Andre, What is Cinema: Vol. I. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.
Bazin, Andre, What is Cinema: Vol. II. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1972.
Cocteau, Jean, Beauty and the Beast: Diary of a Film. New York: Dover Publications, 1972. **
Greene, Graham, The Third Man and The Fallen Idol, Penguin Books Ltd., 1977.
Murch, Walter, In the Blink of An Eye, A Perspective on Film Editing, Silman-James Press, 1995. **
Nichols, Bill, Movies and Methods. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1976.
Nizny, Vladimir, Lessons With Eisenstein. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1979. (trans. and ed. by Ivor Montagu and Jay Leyda)
Sarris, Andrew, The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929 - 1968. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.

Philosophy and Psychology of Perception:

Arnheim, Rudolf, Art and Visual Perception. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974.
Goodman, Nelson, Languages of Art. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company Inc., 1976.
Sacks, Oliver, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1987.
Langer, Susanne K., Philosophy in a New Key. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957.
Putnam, Hillary, Representation and Reality. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press, 1988.
Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sarte, Edited by Walter Kaufmann, The World Publishing Company, 1956 (Rainer Maria Rilke, "The Notes of Malte Laurids Brigge", 1910)

Sample Vendors for Microcontrollers, Instructables, Microcontroller Software, Sensors, Motors and Gears:

Arduino.cc - with or without purchase includes free Processing IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for Arduino platform Ø
Adafruit.com
Sparkfun.com
amazon.com -third party clones of arduino boards and other components (check reviewer comments carefully before purchasing)
Robotshop.com
scientificsonline.com
stevenshobby.com

Ø - Required (free resources, see Reas and Fry, Processing and Aduino IDE above)
§ - These texts are availble from UVA Virgo for on-line viewing. For a more complete listing of on-line materials see links.
± - Highly Recommended Tutorial/Textbook
°  - Recommended Tutorial/Textbook
*  - Highly Recommended Book
**  - Recommended Book