THIS SYLLABUS HAS BEEN REVISED AS OF MARCH 28

VPA380e :Art and Digital Video for the Web
http://courses.csusm.edu/vpa380ekd/index.html
Instructor: Kristine Diekman
Wednesdays, ACD 211, 3-5:45 pm
Office: Craven 6132
Office Hours: Tuesday 4-5pm, or by appointment (ACD 211 or VPA Annex Lab)
Email: ocho@home.com


Course Description 
Designed for those interested in experimenting with video and other moving images on the Web
 within theoretical and practical contexts of artmaking. Covers basic desktop digital
video and audio applications, video streaming and basic web design.
Time permitting, explores simple programming applications used in building avatars and web 
spaces for play and discussion. Integrates reading and writing on various aspects of new media 
within the context of art and society, including game theory, gender and cyberspace, desktop theater, 
narrative,and interactivity. 
Recommended, but not required: MUSC 302,VSAR 302, VSAR 303, VSAR 304, VSAR 405.

Grading:
You grade is based on your total performance in the class, including participation, attendance, 
developing creative approaches to the medium, and completion of production and reading assignments.
There are three major video streaming assignments:
Assignment #1: 20%
Assignment #2: 20%
Assignment #3: 20%
All other assignments, including internet assignments, streaming audio assignment, etc. (see syllabus below): 20%
Attendance and participation: 20%

Attendance: Four missed classes constitute a failing grade (F). 
There is a sign up sheet for attendance. Please sign at the beginning of class. 
This will be my only record of your attendance.

Required Texts:
Dreamweaver 3 for Windows and MacIntosh, Visual Quickstart Guide, J. Tarin Towers; 
available at CSUSM bookstore or from other sources such as Amazon.com or Borders Books.
There is a Reader for the class which includes technical and theoretical information. 
This reader can be purchased at CopyServe, 754 S. Rancho Santa Fe Rd., San Marcos. 760-599-9923. 
CopyServe is on the corner of Rancho Santa Fe and San Marcos Blvd.
If you are travelling west on San Marcos Blvd. from CSUSM, it is on your right, just across Rancho Santa Fe 
near the NW corner. Turn right into the parking area, and then an immediate left. 
Purchase your reader immediately as, if they run out, it may take a day to have them make it up. 
They do not take phone orders. It is under the title and number of the course and instructor name. 
Other handouts may be given to supplement the course reader. 
Reading assignments are due on the day listed unless otherwise indicated. 

Recommended text: Digital Multimedia, Nigel Chapman and Jenny Chapman; this is an excellent book which has 
informational pertaining to all digital media including streaming media. Invaluable for those who want to work with digital media. Available at bookstore and other sources.

#1 February 7
Intro to the class
What is streaming video?
Examples of streaming video-different players and plugins
Considering the aesthetics of web video

Screening:
 Deren and Campion and full size examples of duration, narrativity, sound and synchronicity, composition, 
graphic forms

Reading assignment:
http://www.csusm.edu/streaming/ (look this site over)
Reader: "How the Web Works", from Designing for the Web
Reader: "Address or URLs, WhatÍs a Plug-in, Which file to download" from, The Non-Designers Web Book
Reader: Look at "Glossary", from Cleaner 5

Assignment:
Video as an attachment
In two weeks, individually or in groups, we will make a 1:00 minute movie which we will send 
to someone over the internet as an attachment. You can shoot outside of class during the two weeks or 
prepare to shoot in class. To prepare, think about whom you want to send it to, have his or her email address, 
what you want to express, and what kinds of props you will use (bring them in). 
Creative limitations: You can only shoot with the macro lens and edit in the camera! One minute or less.

#2 February 14
Streaming Audio live from CSUSM!
AIM (Art In Motion), an exhibition of digital and electronic art and performance, is hosting the live audio 
performance WorldMixLA out of the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The creator of that performance, 
Tony Allard, has invited to us participate in the performance by sending him live audio mixes from CSUSM.
On this day we will experiment with live audio streaming. Please bring a variety of sound making devices„
primarily radios, shortwave radios, and your voices. This day is a "rehearsal". 
Those of you who can make it to the real performance, it is on Saturday, February 17 at CSUSM from 7:00-7:30, 
with set up time at 6:00pm. Place TBA.


#3 February 21
Using iMovie and the internet
Digitizing using Firewire and iMovie
Compressing for the internet
File attachments/checking your email
I will need to know your login and soc for this day so that I can set permissions for you to interact with the site.

Assignment: Have your one minute movie complete for digitizing and sending as attachment.

Reading assignment: Chapter 10, "Video", from Digital Multimedia (in Reader, or in book)

Screening: "La Jette", Chris Marker. This film is comprised of still photos and a narration track. 
Using still frames is a good way to lower bandwidth while maintaining resolution.

#4 February 28
iMovie, editing and basic HTML
Progressive streaming
iMovie and sound
Basic HTML
Working with file server and http server
Using Fetch or FTP
Using the chooser 

In this class you will learn how to access the http server and the MacLab server. 
The http server is the where you will store your web pages. The MacLab server is the server 
where you will temporarily store video footage for editing on your desktop.
We will cover editing in iMovie, using titles, manipulating sound and effects. We will also cover very basic HTML. 
For this class have DV footage ready to "play" with in iMovie. We will also work with still frames as a way 
to create a "moving image".

Reading assignment: 
Continue reading Chapter 10, "Video", from Digital Multimedia
Look over Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 from "Dreamweaver for Windows and Macs"  Quickstart guide

#5 March 7
Assignment #1 Morning Rituals
RealSystem Streaming
I have designed a simple website for this class for you to interact with. The following three assignments are d
esigned to stimulate ideas and content for your videos, cover simple HTML programming using the 
Dreamweaver application and experiment with different video compressions and format. 
The subject of the assignment is fairly simple„create a one minute video which explores "morning rituals". 
See website for details and the interface you will be using. 

In the next few classes we will cover:
More HTML:  Rollovers, Tables and Cells, Making Links
Streaming video from the RTSP server (Emmy)
RealPlayer movies
Intro to PhotoShop„making thumbnails
Media Cleaner Compression-The Wizard/Advanced Settings

Assigned reading:
Pg. 61, "Choosing and Previewing Encoding Parameters", Cleaner Manual
"Architecture and Formats:Real System" (pgs. 181-194), Cleaner Manual
Look over Chapters 4, 5, and pay close attention to Chapters 8 and 9, "Dreamweaver For Windows and Macs", Quickstart Guide

#6 March 14
Continue with assignment #1 Morning Rituals
Have footage ready to be digitized, if you havenÍt already done so. We will have time to do some editing in class. 
I will be continue to cover HTML, Dreamweaver, and concentrating more on compression settings and 
RTSP streaming.

Reading assignment: Continue reading from last weekÍs assignment.

#7 March 21
Assignment #1 Morning Rituals Complete
Please have your video completely edited (no more than one minute!) 
We will look at videos in class before we stream them. In this class we will experiment with different 
RealSystem compressions using Media Cleaner 5. You will also create rollovers and links with HTML and 
Dreamweaver in order to link from the class website to your video.
Media Cleaner 5
Fetch
PhotoShop Thumbnails
Dreamweaver rollovers and links

Reading assignment: Look over Chapters 10 and 11 in "Dreamweaver for Windows and Mac" Quickstart Guide

THIS SYLLABUS HAS BEEN REVISED FROM HERE ON
#8 March 28
Assignment #2 Secrets in the House
QuickTime Streaming
This second assignment also interacts with the class web page, Secrets in the House.  In the last assignment, you opened your movie in a 
separate window. In this assignment you will embed your video in your own page you will design to house or frame the video.
 The content of this assignment is somewhat more difficult. Based on several texts about the symbolic and 
psychological possibilities of the house (attics, basements, etc.) the interface poses certain prompts for 
you to work from Visit the class website interface for this assignment. Choose a text and claim it by replacing
 the house thumbnail with an image of your own. Make a work based on that text.

In this class I will cover how to work with QuickTime streaming.
Frames, tables and rollovers.
QuickTime Streaming
QuickTime Alternate Movies
Master Movies (Ref Movies)
Working between the http and RTSP servers
QuickTime Plugin Settings

Reading assignment:
Reader :"Architectures and Formats:Quicktime", pgs. 142 Ü 182, Media Cleaner 5 Manual

Research Assignment for next class (after spring break): Research the figure or symbol of The House. 
Find literature, poetry, artwork, architecture or other films and videos which use the house as a settle metaphor. 
Bring in your research for the next class. This research can be cross-cultural. It can be in the form of images, texts, music, literature, film, etc.

Reading Assignment in Reader: "New Media in Late 20th c Art" and "I Am the Bandwidth"

Spring Break: April 1-8

#9 April 11
QuickTime Streaming: continue with "Secrets in the House"; we may have time to work in this class.

Bring examples from your research to present to the class. The more images, ideas, figures, texts, etc. the better. Although each of you will be
making your own video based on a text from the website, we should consider the possibilities of making a collaborative work which we can
submit to many of the on-line festivals. When showing your example, explain how you think the house in question acts as a symbol or metaphor
for something in the work. Why does this particular house interest you?

Reading Assignment in Reader: "New Media in Late 20th c Art" and "I Am the Bandwidth"

 #10 April 18
Adobe AfterEffects
Adobe AfterEffects is a compositing and layering video software which can visually enhance your work 
when used carefully. It is a very deep program, with many ways to change the look of your work. 
In today's class, Chad Huggins will present his current work using AfterEffects. We will also look at the 
program interface and experiment.

Assignment: In ACD 211 are several AfterEffects classrooms in a book--a tutorial.
Please start to go through it in order to get a feel for the application. I recommend you 
work with a partner, and play with some footage which you are not invested in. (make mistakes, don't try to make that flying text you've been thinking of).

#11 April 25
AfterEffects Workshop
Using the footage from the current assignment, "Secrets in the House", we will work in class to day experimenting 
with AfterEffects and how it interfaces with iMovie, QuickTime Pro, and Cleaner 5. They use different video
compressions and formats, so part of your experimentation is how compressions effect your final streaming movie.


#12 May 2
Assignment #2 Secrets in the House due
Please have the "Secrets in the House" movie complete and on the webserver for presentation today. It would be best if you had the video
complete and on the website by April 29 or earlier so that you can participate in the on-line discussion.

Screening:TBA---A film about desire. Suggestions?

#13 May 9
Assignment #3 Desire
In the last three classes, you will take everything you have learned including shooting, editing, compressing, 
making an audio track, designing a web page, and streaming your media to create a one minute to three minute video on Desire. 
I will give you several texts and resources to help you develop your idea between the obvious cliches. 
Please visit the website to interact with the interface there. This website uses an image map as an interface. 
Link you own page or website (more than one page) from this interface.

Reading assignment: Look over Chapter 15 and 16 in "Dreamweaver for Windows and Macs", Quickstart Guide


#14 May16
Continue in Class working on Assignment #3 Desire

#15 May 23
Continue in Class working on Assignment #3 Desire
Have work finished by the last hour of class today so that we can screen it