The Evergreen State College  •  Olympia, WA  
 

  M E D I A W O R K S w i n t e r 2 0 0 6

  :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Faculty> Sally Cloninger

Com 305      

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  :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Faculty> Julia Zay

Sem 2  D2108  

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WE ARE USUALLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION::::PLEASE CHECK BACK OFTEN AS WE ADD MORE INFORMATION

                     
 

WORKSHOP DOWNLOADS

> Digital Video Syllabus: wks 1- 4 > 16mm Filmmaking Syllabus: wks 1- 4 SPRING PROJECT DOCS > Project Proposal and Research Presentation Guidelines > Sample Treatment
    > Digital Video Syllabus: wks 5 - 8 > 16mm Filmmaking Syllabus: wks 5 - 8   > Proposal Prepration Timeline

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Sample Budget 1

Sample Budget 2

    > Self-Portrait/Screen Test Assignment       > Proposal Cover Page >  
              > Spring Schedule [Draft] >  
    > Portrait Assignment              
                     
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In winter we will examine the theme of “Autobiography and Other Excavations” in the lecture/screening series. Four-week intensive workshop sequences will focus on an introduction to 16mm filmmaking and more advanced work in digital video. We are adding a seminar and also will be requiring weekly essays (“Notes for a Film”).

Weekly Schedule:
Tuesdays 10:00-12:00 Lecture/Screening Series Sem 2 C1105
1:30-4:00 Seminar and other delights S-Com. 308; J-Sem 2 D3109


Wednesdays 10:00-12:00 Workshop Series: 16mm Filmmaking and Digital Video


Thursdays 10:00-12:00 Workshop Series: 16mm Filmmaking and Digital Video
1:30-4:00 Workshop Series: 16mm Filmmaking and Digital Video


In weeks 9, 10 and 11 we will adopt a slightly different schedule to accommodate some extra workshops in proposal development, to allow everyone time to prepare spring quarter production proposals and to hear from all of us about our spring quarter plans. “Production-readiness” conferences will occur in Week 10. During evaluation week we will meet on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for presentations. Spring quarter will begin with all of us “on location” or in production. The first formal class in spring quarter will be on Tuesday, April 18 (Week 3).

Requirements for Full Credit
1. Full participation in all class activities (this means no absences unless documented by a written excuse from a doctor).
2. Timely attendance at program events (this means no lateness will be tolerated in this program; credit will be reduced if a student is habitually late).
3. The timely execution of assigned audio-visual design problems.
4. The timely completion of a series of written assignments, including response essays and regular maintenance of the film journal.
5. “Production-readiness” conference and written self evaluation.
Students who do not receive full credit in Mediaworks for winter quarter will not be invited to continue the program during spring.

Books & Materials
16mm Film Fee: $150 plus DV tape stock and other materials
We will continue to work with Practices of Looking and The Filmmaker’s Handbook in winter.
In addition there will be weekly readings in the .pdf format posted here.

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schedule:::AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND OTHER EXCAVATIONS •••• Tues. 10-12 IN SEM 2 C1105

•Week 1 Jan. 10: Investigating the Self: The Films of Su Friedrich sc
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FILMS: Gently Down the Stream (1981, 13 min.)
The Ties That Bind (1984, 55 min.) Sink or Swim (1990, 48 min.) Afternoon screening

>READING:
1. “Su Friedrich: The Ties That Bind” by Scott MacDonald (reprint)

2. Peter Thompson, “Self-Portrayal” (reprint)

>FURTHER VIEWING: http://www.sufriedrich.com

 

••Week 2 Jan. 17: Hybrid Families: The Videos of Richard Fung jz
>FILMS: Sea in the Blood (Canada, 2000, 26 min.);
Islands (Canada, 2002, 9 min.)
My Mother’s Place (Canada, 1990, 50 min.) Afternoon Screening

>READING: <Dossier on the work of Richard Fung>
1. “History, Memory, and the Politics of Programming: The Video Work of Richard Fung” by Keith Beattie

2. ”Agency, Affect, and Activism in the Lifework of Richard Fung” by Monika Kin Gagnon
3. “Dirty Dozen: Playing 12 Questions with Richard Fung” by Helen Lee
[2.] and [3.] from Like Mangoes in July: The Work of Richard Fung, ed. Helen Lee and Kerri Sakamoto, 2002.
4. Practices of Looking, pp. 58-71

 

•••Week 3 Jan. 24: Confessional Theory: The Video Essays of Vanalyne Green jz
>VIDEOS: A Spy in the House that Ruth Built (1989, 30 min.); Saddle Sores: A Blue Western (1998, 20 min.)
The Love Tapes (Wendy Clarke, 1978-94, 58 min.) Afternoon screening

>READING:
1. Interview with Vanalyne Green in Women of Vision: Histories of Feminist Film and Video, ed. Alexandra Juhasz, 2001.
2. ”Video Confessions” by Michael Renov from Resolutions: Contemporary Video Practices, 1996.

 

••••Week 4 Jan. 31 Interrogating, Race, Family and Identity: The Films of Ngozi Onwurah sc
>FILMS: Coffee Coloured Children (UK, 1988, 15 min.); The Body Beautiful (UK, 1990, 22 min.)

And Still I Rise (UK, 1993, 30 min.) Afternoon screening

>READING:

1. Ch. 3 in Practices of Looking
2. “Ngozi Onwurah: A different concept and agenda” in Women Filmmakers of the African and Asian Diaspora by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, 1997.

 

•••••Week 5 Feb. 7 "Found" Stories: Recombinant Masculinity: The Films of Jay Rosenblatt jz
>FILMS: The Smell of Burning Ants (1994, 21 min.); Phantom Limb (2005, 28 min.)

>READING:
1. "The 10-Minute Masterpiece" Mark Athitakis SF Weekly Dec 12, 2000.

2. Ch. 6 in Practices of Looking

>FURTHER VIEWING: http://www.jayrosenblattfilms.com

 

••••••Week 6 Feb. 14 The Camera-Pen: Video Diaries of Sadie Benning jz
>VIDEOS: Me and Rubyfruit (1990, 6 min.) Jollies (1990, 11 min.) It Wasn't Love (1992, 20 min.) A Place Called Lovely (1991, 14 min.)

>READING:
1. “When Autobiography Meets Ethnography and Girl Meets Girl: The 'Dyke Docs' of Sadie Benning and Su Friedrich” by Chris Holmlund, in Chris Holmlund and Cynthia Fuchs (eds), Between the Sheets, In the Streets, 1994.
2. “Autoethnography: Journeys of the Self” Experimental Ethnography, Catherine Russell 1999. {FILE IS LARGE}

>FURTHER VIEWING: Pixelvision Website: http://jm3.net/pxl/

 

•••••••Week 7 Feb. 21 Journeys: History and Autobiography: The Videos of Soon-Mi Yoo sc
>VIDEOS: Faith (1999, 12 min); Ssitkim: Talking to the Dead (2004, 34 min); Isahn (2003, 17 min)

>READING:
1. “History and/as Autobiography: The Essayistic in Film and Video” Michael Renov, Frame/Work 2:3 (1989) pp. 6-13.
2. "Theses on the Philosophy of History" (1940) Walter Benjamin. Illuminations, Harry Zohn, trans. New York: Schocken, 1968.

• Another translation (2005) of Benjamin's essay can be found here: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/benjamin/1940/history.htm

 

••••••••Week 8 Feb. 28 The Films of Tony Buba ••TONY BUBA VISIT••
>READING:
1. Jim Lane, “Autobiographical Portraiture: Family and Self” in The Autobiographical Documentary in America. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002, pp. 134-144.
• Also download these ENDNOTES

 

•••••••••Week 9 March 7 Recombinant Ethnography and Magic: The Films of Chick Strand sc
>FILMS: Cosas de Mi Vida (1976, 25 min.); Elasticity (1976, 16 min.)

>READING:
1. “Notes on Ethnographic Film by a Film Artist” Chick Strand. Wide Angle Vol 2, No 2 (1978) pp. 45-51.
2. "An Interview with Chick Strand" Kate Haug. Wide Angle Vol 20, No 1 (January 1998) pp. 106-137

>FURTHER VIEWING: Loose Ends (1979, 25 min.) TESC VHS

 

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Weekly Writing Assignment: “Notes for a Film”
Each Tuesday a short piece of writing is due to your seminar leader. Titled, “Notes for a Film” these essays are in a sense response papers to the films and assigned reading of the previous week with one different twist. Because Mediaworks is about applying theory to practice (i.e., praxis), we ask you to reflect on each week’s material and document at least one idea or image or concept from it that you would like to apply to your own film work. You will need to describe the concepts from the texts that inspire you, summarizing the ideas fully and referencing the author or originator of the concept(s). Your writing might be directly related to a design problem you are working on or may indeed involve some speculation about future work (during or even after Mediaworks). Nonetheless, your short essay should contain specific reference to the written and visual texts we are working with that week (if you quote from the source, please use proper citations). Essays should be typed, 1-2 pages in length. This quarter we will be instituting a Production Blog for the entire program so by the end of the quarter you will be publishing these “Notes for a Film” on your blog. During Weeks 1-7 you will be sharing these notes with your faculty and your peer group only.

Peer Groups
You will be involved with a small group of peers from your seminar during this quarter. You may
collaborate with members of this group on your design problems but that is not required. Instead,
you will be using this group to help you develop your spring quarter proposal and for additional
discussion of program themes and materials. We also recommend that you arrange for some extra
screenings of the additional and suggested film texts with your group. You will be affiliating with this
peer group by the beginning of Week 2. At this time you will need to agree on a 1 hour weekly meeting time outside of class that you all can make. At minimum you will be sharing your weekly writing assignments with your peer group. Later in the quarter you will add proposal development and research to your weekly meetings.

Spring Quarter Proposal
During winter quarter you will be researching and designing a project in non-fiction media that you
will complete in spring. We will introduce you to some additional pre-production elements during the
quarter. During Weeks 9 and 10 you will be finalizing your proposal and preparing an oral
presentation that you will share with the entire program during Week 11 (AKA “Evaluation Week”).
We will be conducting “Production-readiness” conferences with you during Week 10.