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Today Administrivia What this course is about How you’ll be graded Overview of theories of meaning Art intro Teaching staff Instructors Ian Horswill (EECS) Marlena Novak (Art) Jay Alan Yim (Music) TAs Phil Williams (RTVF) Kenn Kumfp (Music) Studio staff Ying-Zhu Chin (CS) Vani Oza (CS) Archana Sriram (Cognitive Science) overview What is this course about? It’s about communication Visual, auditory, textual Between humans, between machines, between human and machine It’s about composition Of sound Of imagery Of computer programs Com/position Composition means “placing things together” You’re given a set of elements Your job is to learn to put them together to achieve a desired effect So you need to understand The elements What their effects are How they can be put together to have a specific desired effect Building your eyes, ears, and mind When composing, it’s easy to get caught up in what you want to say/show/do … and lose track of what your composition really does We want you to learn to see, hear, and communicate more precisely And to develop a more conscious awareness of how you respond What do you see? What do you see? Critique skills “What do you see” isn’t a question about what’s in the image It’s a question about what effects the image has on you Overt and subliminal Positive and negative Intended and unintended One of the main places we’re learn to be aware of this process is in critique Looking at/listening to people’s work Watching ourselves look at it Listening to other people look at it What does any of this have to do with programming? Programming is composition Programming is communication Programming languages are rated based on their “compositionality” Between you and the computer Between you and a coworker who needs to modify your code Programming is learning to look beyond what you want the program to do To what it really says What does any of this have to do with programming? Oh, yea; and computer-based art is way cool Installation art Electronic music Video games Hollywood SFX … That’s great, but what is this course about, really? Oh, well: Visual art Audio Basic visual composition (line, space, color, etc.) A little drawing A little photography Basic acoustic theory Dimensions of sound Continuity and contrast Programming Functional programming 2D graphics Looping, recursion, and lists This is very experimental To our knowledge, no one has ever tried to teach a class like this We’re making it up as we go along, folks We’re going to screw up Please let us know when we do If something doesn’t make sense If it’s too much work … We reserve the right to disagree, but we need your feedback and involvement Fear This class has both art and programming There’s something in this class to make everyone feel insecure But that means no one should feel like they’re “behind” the rest of the class (or like they can coast) For what it’s worth, we’re insecure too If you’re an artist, you probably have math anxiety If you’re a nerd, you probably have art anxiety I’ll be learning to draw alongside the rest of you Marlena, and Jay are learning to program Oh yea, and we promised the administration we’d develop this whole new outrageously ambitious curriculum… We can all feel stupid together! It’s not unusually hard It is a significant time investment, though Skill development takes time Weekly assignments Sometimes two When you first start programming, you may feel very stupid Don’t worry, it will pass perceived difficulty How hard is it? time Animate Arts Oh right! This is the first course of a new adjunct major called animate arts you are here The curriculum: Core courses Interactive art and entertainment Programming, art, sound, theory Tight integration of teaching This is the first course of the curriculum No, you don’t have to do the major to take the course(s) Senior project Animate Arts 1 Animate Arts 2 (brings in film and narrative) Animate Arts 3 (brings in animation, 3D and simulation) Animate Arts 3 (brings in sociality & culture) 2 quarters Group or individual Your choice of project 4 electives 2 can be double-counted with your major administrivia Textbooks Introduction to Design, Alan Pipes Visual Culture, Nicholas Mirzoef Materials you should bring ~8”x12” sketchbook 2B and 4B graphite pencils Medium-point black pen Media for file storage (e.g. CD, DVD, or keychain drive) Equipment you’ll need to use Macintosh computer Window-XP/200 based computer Digital Camera Headphones Computers and phones available in the studio Software Meta A scheme-like programming language designed for multimedia applications (developed at Northwestern with extensive student involvement) Audacity Windows-only; requires .NET and DirectX 9 Free All operating systems Free Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator Not free Available in studio Or you can substitute GIMP and Sodipodi, which are free The studio This room is available for your use 24 hours a day $50 deposit for a Marlock key If you already have a key, we can program it We want to make it comfortable and fun for you to work in Coffee maker Popcorn popper Working on: It will be staffed some evenings and weekends We want the space to belong to the animate arts students Involve you in hardware/software purchases Let you run the place as you see fit Cozy furniture Lava lamps Game systems and dance pads Crowe Café (open 24hrs, but only serves until 5pm) Move nights Yes, we’ll have chairs soon We want animate arts to be a community Grading Assignments 60% Art, music, programming, all of the above Quizzes 15% 2 in-class 1-hours quizzes Final project 10% Critique and class participation 15% Read the material before class and come to class prepared with discussion questions Sketchbook We will collect your sketchbooks periodically for review Attendance Attendance is required Repeated unexcused absences, tardiness, or leaving early may lower your grade by a full letter grade. This is a studio art course in addition to a programming course Active apprenticeship Not all lecture materials will be available outside class Late assignments Extensions are available for programming assignments Ask 24 hours in advance and no questions will be asked After 24 hours, you have to have a really good excuse Art and music assignments will be critiqued in class, so can’t give extensions Penalties for late assignments <1 day 1-2 days 2-4 days 4-8 days Late art assignments that miss crits will also lower your crit grade 10% 20% 30% 40% Cheating policy See syllabus