Bulletin Description

This course introduces you to the fundamentals of ordering information using non-linear, interactive timelines.

You will create, acquire, manipulate, animate, choreograph and distribute digital and analog content using various techniques, finally performed using the VDMX platform and other related tools.

You will learn the basic and fundamental principles of editing, animation and motion design, and interactivity.

You will have a basic proficiency in the tools needed to create time-based work and will understand ideas of order and interaction. In a world where everything is moving and interactive, these skills and concepts are essential for all artists and designers.

Organization

This course will be organized around introducing students to a wide range of methods in constructing screen and projection based media. A class will typically commence with an introduction and discussion of a concept and its related applications followed by a group exercise in learning a new technology, tool, or methodology.

Weekly assignments will be given. They will typically relate to a worksop and will usually extend into longer projects. Critiques will take place at the end of every project, and students’ active engagement forum discussion will play a vital role in establishing an atmosphere of collaboration and shared learning.

Course Goals

• Students will understand the perceptual and technical underpinnings of the moving image and be able to author work with vector, pixel and frame animation in response to sound compositions.

• Students will apply their understanding of resolution and compression to work with source material effectively and to create work across a variety of platforms.

• Students will learn to create dynamic motion design, which enables understanding and implementation of the x y z axis and t (time) as it applies and augments fundamental art and design practices and techniques.

• Students will conceptualize and create choreographed relationships between multi-layered sound and image using a range of sources. They will develop timing and spacing skills, extending their understanding of visual design in relationship to dynamic form.

• Students will appreciate the different aesthetic attributes of procedural and generative animation, as well as interactive applications.

Finally, students will be able to apply any or all of these learned practices to an independent project, proving conceptual and technical prowess moving forward in live performance design.

Learning Outcomes

• Compose time-based projects through the capturing, creating, ordering and editing, and distribution of digital material.

• Students will demonstrate a working knowledge of basic still and dynamic design concepts, imaging methodologies, and fundamental principles of time-based media.

• Students will demonstrate proficiency in the basic creation and manipulation of bitmap and vector imaging and work with multiple layers, masks, and transparencies to compose still and moving images.

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the literal and abstract relationships between sound and image.

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of cultural and historical context of time based work in art and design.

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of input and output integration, as well as their aesthetic influence.

• Students will demonstrate ability to create “reactive” visuals to sound using a variety of controls.

Course Calendar/Schedule

This week-to-week schedule is an approximation of the order in which key content of the VDMX Time + Motion course will be presented. This weekly schedule is intended to give a sense of the sequence and range of the presentation of concepts, and is unlikely to be the precise trajectory of any given section. It is important to keep in mind when reviewing this syllabus that this method of presenting the curriculum cannot illuminate the depth of the discussion of theory and variety of practice that accompanies the introduction of the conceptual material. It is up to each professor’s discretion as to how to best ensure that the course outcomes are achieved. Individual faculty design their sequences and projects. Additionally the week-to-week schedule may be modified during the semester to accommodate the learning needs of the class.

Homework is assigned each week to be completed by the next class. Homework will demonstrate understanding of and expand upon the concepts and processes covered in class. In many cases, homework will not be a single discrete assignment but will consist of one or more stages of an extended design process. Each professor designs the specific parameters of the assignment and their place in the curriculum. Expected outcomes and assessment criteria are clearly stated in each class for each assignment by the professor. The department does not specify assignments but requires that all outcomes for the course are demonstrated by students upon completion of the course.

Visit the Course Schedule page for the listing of classes for this session.

Course Requirements

Visit the Course Requirements page for a list of equipment, software and other resources that are needed to complete this course.