Course organiser

Martin Parker (MP)

The Digital Media Studio Project

Synopsis

Students work as a group on a collaborative, extended project that brings together their various design skills in the context of a selection of exploratory project briefs. The course will be conducted as a studio with iterative development, group discussion, design development, presentations, criticism, and feedback. Tuition will be provided in the use of computer tools and devices where applicable.

Select your project (link to come)

CIRCULEZ Y\’A RIEN A VOIR, Cecile Babiole

Move along now, there is nothing to see.

www.babiole.net/article-en.php3?id_article=9

Aims

The digital media studio project presents students with a challenge not encountered on the course so far. As is the case with commercial and creative projects, project briefs are deliberately open ended, non-specific and as a result, the project may seem to start from a state of chaos. This creates a need to impose order, organisation and imagination, which we expect to emerge from the student body rather than staff. Students will form groups that will work to address each brief as an individual project. Each group faces the challenge of finding a way of working together, perhaps following the model of a theatre company with roles and responsibilities assigned to each member of the group; production manager, director, producer, actor, technical manager etc. The main aims of the project are to provide opportunities to prepare experimental work for public exhibition/display and for the cohort to find practical, creative solutions to problems imposed by real limitations of technology, time and personnel, meanwhile exploring a wealth of new technology and its application to digital design, sound and performance.

Learning Outcomes

• Consolidation of the use of digital design tools and techniques in the context of a design project.
• Appreciation of the collaborative and integrative nature of design projects that involve digital media, and further development of appropriate group working skills.
• An awareness of and some capability in working with digital media beyond the constraints of the desktop, particularly through software and hardware that supports digital installations.
• Consideration of modes of presentation appropriate to external and large-scale presentation formats.
• Skills in responding to and progressing a theoretical position about some aspect of the project context.
• Managing a small budget

Practical Outputs

The design of a multimedia interactive or other artefact using digital sound media. Further contribution to a portfolio of work showing the student’s capability with sound and digital design media and familiarity with the issues of presentation in various media formats. Awareness of the methods and constraints of working towards a public exhibition or showcase of digital design/sound work. An interactive exhibition/installation, documentary, research project or other collaboration as defined by the project brief.

Project Supervisors

Sean Williams
Rocio Jungenfeld
Owen Green
Jules Rawlinson
Martin Parker
John Lee
Lauren Hayes
Michael Gallagher
Thaleia Deniozou
Mark Wright
Eleni Kontesidou

Note on the role of the project supervisor.

The project supervisor is there to help you develop your project and provide some overall guidance from an independent perspective. Project supervisors have expertise in the areas you are investigating and in many cases, this area may be central to their own research or current projects. However, their time is limited and you should take care not to use up credits with the supervisor on small tasks that you can solve independently with a little more thought. We suggest arranging meetings with the supervisor when you have a specific thing you want to show to get a second opinion on, or when your group can not make a decision on the next best step. It is good to make arrangements to meet the supervisor well in advance, so the group has a deadline to work towards. Time is easily squandered on the DMSP and your group will need to foster a sense of motivation, drive and focus. While the supervisor can help you with this, it is not their responsibility to lead the group, this should come from within.

Project Briefs

A range of project briefs are available. Those taking this course form small groups ranging in size from 2 to 5 people. Projects range from performing real-time Foley editing to designing an interactive installation. A member of the supervising teams will supervise each project with groups benefiting from further input by visiting lecturers and other external experts.

NOTE: You are asked to choose your top three projects and to have made a decision about this by the end of the day on Tuesday 18th January. You need to elect for your top three choices by putting 1 (top), 2 or 3 in the table on the door of the atrium.

There will be a three-stage output evaluated on design and presentation quality and demonstrated skills in using digital media technology. Work will be assessed as a group and as individual submissions.