Year 2013-2014
Embrace Emotions
Students will be randomly assigned an emotion, and will research that emotion. Using Dr. Ekman’s theory of facial expressions, students will analyze shifts and transformations in facial expressions through a series of self-portraits. Students will create a story around the series of self-portraits in order to define them in context, adding other images to support the story. Starting with a preliminary, written narrative, students will create a storyboard to visually resolve the story. Students will explore the effects of time distortion: rapid changes against slow motion, linearity versus non-linear experience, etc. to create a certain visceral response from an audience. Introduction to Charles Sanders Peirce’s theory of phenomenology, specifically concepts of firstness and secondness or, how we, as humans, subjectively understand the world through our senses, with a spark of exploration, through chance and randomness. How to represent “emotions provoked by context or situations versus the visceral feeling of emotions.”
Design an art photo-book that tells a story about Project 2: the “behind the scenes ” documentation, the “things I would have done differently”, the “challenges and frustrations”, the “many images that didn’t make it”, etc… This is a reflective piece where you need to express your own feelings about project 2, a narrative told through the layout/composition, materials chosen, image treatment/style, typography… This is a photo-book so your text can be minimal (titles, words, quotes, or sentences) or you could have extensive text as long as it is your own writing. The goal with this piece is to learn how we can go from digital (InDesign) create a design, to analog (transfer designs to unconventional materials) in order to get a handmade feel, and back to digital (InDesign) for a mass-produced piece. Here are some examples of interesting art books, also try to visit the Center for Book Arts for inspiration.
Deliverables: series of SELF-PORTRAITS
PART1: individual work
1. Final story represented in one frame (photography, montage, drawing, etc.). Use props, if needed.
2. Same story represented in a sequence of images, be it still photographs, drawings, projections, etc.
PART2: team work
1. Combine individual stories to create a new, conjoint, story, using a sequence of images.
PART3: individual work
1. Art Book
Assessable Tasks: Time distortion in multi-sensory perceptions presented in one frame against multiple frames; storyboarding, and writing multiple narratives.
References:
Emotions given at random:
Ekman’s universal basic emotions anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise.
Ekman’s universal expanded emotions Amusement, Contempt, Contentment, Embarrassment, Excitement, Guilt, Pride in achievement, Relief, Satisfaction, Sensory pleasure, Shame.
Books and Jackets
Creative Art Books
Year 2014-2015
Part 1-Individual
1. Create a new identity for yourself—a persona—that embodies the two emotions randomly assigned to you.Write a description of your persona to illustrate what is the character all about—what activities your persona engages in, personality traits, habits.Write a story that showcases the emotional states of your persona; create a self-portrait (one frame) and a sequence to illustrate your story.
2. When creating your self-portrait and sequence of (no less than 3 and no more than 7 frames) images that visually illustrate your description. Explore the effects of time distortion and rapid changes against slow motion by changing 2D formats, spatial relations, 3D planes, etc.; think of linearity versus non-linear experience, etc. to create a certain visceral response in the audience. Use facial expressions and body language, in combination with props, lighting, and composition, as needed. **Media is open: photography, drawing, painting, or any mix media is allowed.
**Introduction to Charles Sanders Peirce’s theory of phenomenology (Links to an external site.), specifically concepts of firstness, secondness, and thirdness—how we, as humans, subjectively understand the world through our senses, with a spark of exploration, by chance and randomness.
Deliverables:
1. ONE FRAME Self-portrait representing your “persona” (photography, montage, drawing, mix media, etc.) Use props, if needed.
2. SEQUENCE of images representing your “persona”, be it photographs, drawings, projections, mixed media, etc.
Part 2-Teams of 2
Combine the two stories around the “personas”. Create one SEQUENCE to represent the narrative.
Resources:
per·so·na
pərˈsōnə/
noun
1. the aspect of someone’s character that is presented to or perceived by others.
“her public persona”
Watch the film “Persona” by Ingman Bergman & “Secret Window” by David Koepp
Persona is considered one of the major works of the 20th century by essayists and critics such as Susan Sontag, who referred to it as Bergman’s masterpiece. Other critics have described it as “one of this century’s great works of art”.
Persona is difficult to characterize in simple terms, but it may be helpful to describe this complex film as being an exploration of identity that combines elements of drama, visual poetry, and modern psychology. The central story revolves around a young nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson (Links to an external site.) and her patient, a well-known actress named Elisabet Vogler (Liv Ullmann (Links to an external site.). Elisabet has stopped speaking, and the attending psychiatrist treats the actress by sending her to an isolated seaside cottage under Alma’s care. There the nurse, who must do all the talking for both women, becomes a little enamored of the actress. One evening Alma tells Elisabet about some exhilarating sexual experiences she once had and their unpleasant aftermath. Soon after sharing this confidence, the nurse reads a letter Elisabet has written and is shocked to learn that the actress thinks of her as an amusing study. The relationship between the women becomes tense, and they wound each other. Then Alma has a long dream in which her identity merges with that of Elisabet, but when the nurse awakes, both women have apparently come to at least temporary terms with their psychological problems. ~ Written by Rovi
Secret Window Synopsis
Mort Rainey, a successful author, is passing through a hard period in his life. After catching his wife sleeping with another man, they separate and he moves away from the city to somewhere in the country. One day a man appears at his door, presenting himself as John Shooter, and accuses Mort of copying a story from him. Although Mort believes things can be solved once he shows Shooter the original version, which had appeared two years before Shooter’s version, written in 1997, while Rainey’s was published in early 1995. He can’t seem to be able to get an original copy in the time limit set by Shooter. Strange things then start happening that prevent him from receiving the needed original, and Mort tries to find out who Shooter really is and if he is responsible for the things that have been happening. –Written by FcPoliFan
Assessable Tasks: Time distortion in multi-sensory perceptions presented in one frame against multiple frames; storyboarding, and writing multiple narratives. Learning Outcomes 1, 5, 7, 8, 9.
