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 languages are rated based on their

“compositionality”

Programming is communication 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

Basic visual composition (line, space, color, etc.) A little drawing A little photography

Audio 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

If you’re an artist, you probably have math anxiety If you’re a nerd, you probably have art anxiety

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 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!

How hard is it?

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

time

perc

eive

d di

ffic

ulty

Animate Arts

Oh right! This is the first course of a new

adjunct major called animate arts 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)

The curriculum: Core courses

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)

Senior project 2 quarters Group or individual Your choice of project

4 electives 2 can be double-counted with your

major

you are here

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

MetaA scheme-like programming language designed for multimedia applications (developed at Northwestern with extensive student involvement)

Windows-only; requires .NET and DirectX 9 Free

Audacity 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

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

We want to make it comfortable and fun for you to work in

Coffee maker Popcorn popper Working on:

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

SketchbookWe 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 10% 1-2 days 20% 2-4 days 30% 4-8 days 40%

Late art assignments that miss crits will also lower your crit grade

Cheating policy

See syllabus