Web Production / Audio Engineering
Project 4: Experimental I


Essential Question:What is art? How do I use unconventional forms to express myself?


Objective: To develop abstract thinking and communication skills. To use unconventional forms to express ideas.


What To Do: Begin with a concept. Your work must start with a concept that’s derived from a theme you have explored in a previous project this year. We will start with a broader theme, such as the “I am interested in the passage of time,” and from that theme tease out a more specific topic for your piece such as, “I will visually capture the feeling of anxiety that the quickness of time passing creates for me.” Choose a medium. The medium that you choose must be integrated with your topic, meaning that you must be able to explain why that particular medium is useful or important in exploring your topic. Your creation of the piece must push the boundaries of the medium in a way that takes it beyond what we have done so far this year.

 

Produce: For WebAudio, create a 1 page website that showcases your Experimental Project work in English, Design and this class.

 

Requirements: for WebAudio Students

  • Experimental I Poetry in English
  • Experimental I Self-Proposed Art in Design
  • Experimental I Webpage (1 single page)
  • Experimental I Animated Poetry
  • Experimental I Original MIDI Composition in Reason or Live Recorded Music with Pro Tools (or both Reason and Pro Tools)

 

The applications you will use for this project, at the minimum, include Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, Pro Tools and Reason.

 

Deadline (unless different deadline given below) for a complete and working version of your Experimental Project posted on the webserver by the Exhibition day in May.

 

Pre-production work includes: In-class practice with studio recording techniques, Pro Tools Tutorials and Reason Tutorials.

 

A complete Experimental I Project needs to include the following on ONE webpage:

 

  1. Activate your Project 4 button in Sites/index.html to link to Sites/project4/pages/index.html and create a new image for the disjoint image, if any, that describes briefly describes the unit.

  2. Experimental I Unit SINGLE WebPage Layout requirements
    1. Create a new SINGLE webpage Sites/project4/pages/index.html along with a new style sheet Sites/project4/pages/project4style.css
    2. Include proper copyright notice
    3. Include proper page title for the top of the page and browser
    4. A button linked to your Project Listings page Sites/index.html
    5. Use CSS at least and if needed, use javascripts such as Spry Tabs, Spry Collapsible Panels, FancyBox, etc.
    6. Use of web design concepts - Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity and Usability (you choose your navigation system for all the content below)

  3. Experimental I Unit Content must include
    1. Brief introduction to English Experimental Project work with Poetry - Describe the English Experimental Poetry assignment(s). Include a short reflection about what you learned artistically about writing poems. Experiment with showcasing ALL your original poetry work - all 125+ lines of poems including at least ONE Special Feature of your Animated Poetry Production (see below for more details). Optional - include voice recordings of you performing ALL of your poems because it's important to hear each poem author perform his/her own words.
    2. For your ONE Animated Poetry production (you can choose to create more than one if you wish), choose one of your shorter poems and using Flash, create a 720x480 pixel production that has your recorded voice performing your poetry, animated photos/visuals, animated typography and original music you create in Reason - see more details below. Experiment with showcasing your Animated Poetry on your website. Perhaps use FancyBox to display and html file with the animated poetry .swf embedded in the html file.
    3. Brief introduction to Design Experimental Self-Proposed Project work - Describe the Design Experimental assignment(s). Describe your Self-Proposed Experimental Project. Why did you choose to do this project? Include a short reflection about what you learned artistically and technically with this Experimental I Unit in your Design class. Showcase your original Design work (probably a .jpg) along with your reflective Artist Statement. Perhaps use FancyBox.
    4. Brief introduction to WebAudio Experimental Web Production work - Describe the WebAudio Experimental Web Production assignment(s). Include a short reflection about your one page web design.
    5. Brief introduction to WebAudio Experimental Audio Engineering work - Describe the WebAudio Experimental Audio Engineering assignments about using Reason and Pro Tools together for BOTH your Music Production (and Animated Poetry Production) as described below. Include a short reflection about your Audio Engineering work. Experiment with showcasing your Music Production on your website. Perhaps insert into your html webpage the .mp3 audio as a Media>Plugin just like your Unit 1 credo (with dimensions of height=16px and width=any size of your choice) - do you remember the 4 parameters you should configure for the .mp3?

  4. Music Production - Create either one of the following (or both if you wish)
  • An original Reason experimental music composition. Export the final mix as a .aif and convert it to .mp3 in iTunes. On your website, showcase your original composition recording .mp3 and include some text about the song and your process of composing it. Additionally - use Grab to take a screen shot of your Reason composition and include it in your website along with a caption (use FancyBox perhaps). When done, submit the final .mp3 with a filename like this MiaF.mp3 into the appropriate drop box.
  • Using Pro Tools, record live performers and create a final audio mix. Bounce out a .wav file and convert it to .mp3 in iTunes. On your website, showcase your recording .mp3 and include some text about the performers, the song and your audio engineering involvment with the song. Additionally - use Grab to take a screen shot of your Pro Tools mix and include it in your website along with a caption (use FancyBox perhaps). When done, submit the final .mp3 with a filename like this MiaF.mp3 into the appropriate drop box.

 

  1. Animated Poetry Production
  • Create at least one production. You can choose to make more if your wish.
  • Choose one of your shorter poems for this production.
  • Record yourself performing your poem(s) in Pro Tools. Edit and add effects (reverb, SFXs, etc.) if you wish.
  • To make your poem more visual, take photos relevant to your poem (resize to no larger than 800x600 px). Or create original art in Photoshop or Illustrator.
  • In Reason, create a musical accompaniment appropriate for your short poem(s). Or with Pro Tools, record a live performance of music appropriate for your short poem(s). Or you can combine Reason compositions with live Pro Tools recordings.
  • In Pro Tools, create a session to edit all audio with a VoiceOver track, SFX track, music tracks, Reason insert on an Aux track and a final mix track - as demonstrated in tutorials or in class.
  • Use Flash to produce this 720 x 480 px stage size animation with a single scene and at the minimum, these layers
    • Audio layer - imported audio to library and streamed on this layer
    • 2 Text layers - used to animate text
    • 2 Visual layers - used to animate photos and/or art
    • Be sure to include a title
    • Be sure to include end credits
  • When complete, save your file, close the file and switch to the student account to make a .mov of your animation. While logged in as student, copy your Flash file to student>Documents and open it from there. Change the Publish Settings to high quality images and high quality audio and then export as a Quicktime Movie as shown below. Submit the final movie with a filename like this MiaF.mov into the appropriate drop box.

 

In Flash, File > Export > Export Movie

Check that the Format is Quicktime, the filename is your name
and you know where you are saving the file - probably best in Student > Documents

QT1

 

Check that you have the same settings below. Then click on Quicktime Settings.

QT2

 

Use these settings for your Quicktime Movie.

QT3

 

 

Additional assessments for this project will include

  1. Completion of content requirements listed above for each page
  2. Use of the web design concept: Contrast
  3. Use of the web design concept: Repetition
  4. Use of the web design concept: Alignment
  5. Use of the web design concept: Proximity
  6. Use of the web design concept: Usability including links from every page to every other page and a button back to your Project Listing root homepage (Sites/index.html)

 

Deadline (unless different deadline given below) for a complete and working version of your Experimental I Project posted on the webserver by the Exhibition Date.