Aims of Visiting Artist’s Studio: Working with Found Materials

The guiding question of this course is seemingly simple yet thought provoking: What kinds of expression opportunities repurposing and remixing found materials, specifically images (still images or moving images) provide? We will think and practice together on the following questions:

• Which images we wish to re-think, re-interpret, re-mix to create opportunities of critical thinking?
• What the provenience of these images tell us? What function the original creator, author, owner, mediator wanted to fulfill with these images? Do they still fulfill their original function?
• Do we want to learn from the images? Do we want to dig deeper in the story behind the images? Do we want the images be a witness? Do we want to reclaim and mash the images?
• What could we find if we scratch the surface and rearrange the images to see not only what they reveal but also what they hide?

Structure

• Theoretical: The studio will include face to face lectures and discussions, online gatherings, online guest lectures and individual working sessions.
• Practice: The studio will include individual productions and individual and group exercises.

The studio will mostly focus on moving image yet participants who’s main materials are not film could also attend. There will be common feedback possibility for those who do not work with moving images.

Schedule

Week 1 / Introduction (16th of February)

• Discussion about the general aims and the structure of the course as well as detailed run down of the exercises and project development.
• Each student will briefly talk about themselves, their practice, their recent research interests, the materials they prefer to work with and their technical abilities.
• This introduction will allow the instructor to assess the constellation of students to do necessary arrangements and modifications in the course content.

Week 2 (23rd of February)

• Discussing the roots of found footage film and video practices. What kinds of expression opportunities repurposing and remixing images provides?
• Discussing different genres of found footage production through required films: Compilation, appropriation, collage
• Discussing different methods of editing of found footage through films through required films: Repeating, looping, scratching, painting over, shot-to-shot narrative, voice-over

Week 3 / Archives and Social Movements (2nd of March, guest lecturer)

• TBA

Week 4 / Working on first draft of project proposals (9th of March)

• The participants of the studio will work on the first drafts of their project proposals. The proposals should be send to zeynopekunlu@gmail.com by 11th of March. Proposal might be a written description or a small sketch using any physical or digital material accompanied by written description.

Week 5 / Collective Check-in on projects (16th of March)

• The participants of the studio will make a brief presentation of their first drafts of individual projects. We will collectively discuss the projects. Further references about the projects will be send by the instructor via email.

Week 6 (23rd of March)

• Basics of getting prepared for editing: inventory of the sources, setting up the timeline, treating different source materials, working with variety of aspect ratios, conversions
• How to connect different source videos visually and conceptually?
• Modifying images: Framing and adjusting, mirroring, masking, speed-duration, effects
• Practicing with clips: Participants will be provided with clip extracts and will work on a short video individually (online and offline, this exercise will start on the face to face gathering and continue individually after the upcoming weeks.)

Week 7 / Working with Found Materials (30th of March, guest lecturer)

• TBA

Week 8 / Working on individual projects (6th of April)

• The participants of the studio will expected to develop their individual projects considering the collective and individual feed backs. The second drafts should be send to zeynopekunlu@gmail.com by 8th of April. Project development could be sketches using any physical or digital material accompanied by written description specifically explaining the developments in the project.

Week 9 / Collective Check-in on projects (13th of April)

• The participants of the studio will make a brief presentation of their second drafts of individual projects. We will collectively discuss the projects. Further references about the projects will be send by the instructor via email.

Week 10 (20th of April)

• How to finalize a found footage movie?
• Adjusting Black and White levels and Color: Waveform, Proc Amp, Levels, Gamma, Chroma
• Adjusting Audio Levels: Peak Ranges and balance
• Adding Text: Titles and Credits
• Collective viewing of results of the editing exercise and common evaluation of the edited clips
• Discussion on copyright, copyleft, creative commons licenses and ethics of appropriation.
• Practicing with clips: The participants will continue with the editing exercise of the week 6 (online and offline, this exercise will start on the face to face gathering and continue individually after the upcoming weeks.)

Week 11 / Working on individual projects (27th of April)

• The participants of the studio will expected to develop their individual projects considering the collective and individual feed backs. The third drafts should be send to zeynopekunlu@gmail.com by 29th of April. Project development could be sketches using any physical or digital material accompanied by written description specifically explaining the developments in the project.

Week 12 / Collective Check-in on projects (4th of May)

• The participants of the studio will make a brief presentation of their third drafts of individual projects. We will collectively discuss the projects. Further references about the projects will be send by the instructor via email.

Week 13 / Field Trip (11th of May)

Week 14–15 / Working on individual projects (18th of May – 25th of May)

• The participants of the studio will expected to develop their individual projects considering the collective and individual feed backs. The final drafts before the evaluation should be send to zeynopekunlu@gmail.com by 20th of May. Project development could be sketches using any physical or digital material accompanied by written description specifically explaining the developments in the project.

Week 16 / Evaluation