Final Help Session for Drift 2

Hello, all.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, April 15) is the final Help Session/open lab for
Drift 2. Take advantage of this valuable class time to come in for
feedback or assistance.

Next week we begin Individual Crits, and then after that are the Final
Screenings. Only 3 1/2 weeks remain in the semester, so be smart about
your time. Remember to sign up for your Individual Crit on the signup
sheet posted on my office door, MIT B60.

Drift 2 In-Progress Crit

Hello, all.

We meet tomorrow, Monday, April 13, in the Lab rooms for the Drift 2
In-Progress Crits. Please have something ready to show and talk about.

Wednesday the 15 will be our final Drift 2 Help Session in B18.

Sign up for your individual, one-on-one appointment with your Lab
Instructor. The sign-up sheets for each Lab section are now posted on my
office door, B-60. Pick your slot by Monday, April 20, 12 noon.

Your rough cuts must be posted by the time you are ready to meet with
your Lab instructor, and you should have strong ideas about where your
final-cut sound video is headed.

See everyone tomorrow.

Reading Response #2

Hello, all.

I hope you are progressing well on your Drift 2 walks, and that you've
gathered a lot of great material. We didn't see many of you at the last
two help sessions, and I hope this is because you were all out walking.

This Sunday at 5 PM is the deadline for the second Reading Response.
Pick one of these articles (Cuper, Daniel, Hansen, Hill, Lippard,
Lopate, Peterson, Pinkowish, Self, This American Life) and write your
response as a comment to this post on the Course Blog:
http://film-116.blogspot.com/2009/04/reading-response-2.html

We hope to see many, many more of you on Monday, April 6, in B18 for the
third help session.

Drift 2 Help Session

Hello, all.

We meet tomorrow (Wednesday, April 1) in B18 for the second Help Session
for Drift 2.

One quick tip for adjusting the size of the thumbnail images in your
blog posts: if you click once on the thumbnail, the image will be
surrounded by a line with small boxes in the corners. Click on the
lower box in the right corner and drag the box upward, shrinking the
thumbnail to whatever size you wish.

See you tomorrow.

Drift 2 posting; Help Session

Hello, all.

Today at 5PM is the deadline for you to have your initial Drift 2 blog
created and posted, along with your Production Strategy and Drift 2
Starting Point.

We meet tomorrow in B18 for the first round of Help Sessions for Drift 2.

Final Drift 1 Help Session

Hello, all.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, March 11) we meet for the last Drift 1 Help Session
in B18. From what I heard, only a few of you had much posted on your
Drift 1 blogs for yesterday's In-Progress Crit, which tells us that you
are still editing your sounds. At least, we hope you are in the editing
stage and not the walking stage!

Tomorrow will be the last opportunity you will have to get access to the
PC desktops in B18 for SonicStage transfers. It will also be the last
time all FILM 116 instructors will be available for one-on-one help for
Drift 1.

Drift 1 is due Monday, March 23rd.

Hopefully we will see many of you tomorrow.

Drift 1 Help Session/Open Lab continued

Hello, all.

We meet again tomorrow (Wednesday, March 4) for another open lab/help
session for Drift 1. Attendance has been sparse for the past two
sessions, and so I hope that you are all enjoying a trouble-free Drift 1
editing experience (rather than waiting to go on your walk).

All instructors will be there tomorrow, so please take advantage of our
time and let us help you troubleshoot technical issues or give you
feedback on your recordings or blog structure.

Drift 1 Help Session

Hello,

I hope you all are making good progress on Drift 1. We will meet again
Monday (March 2) in B18 for another round of Open Lab/Help Session.
Bring your laptop and work in class, get your recordings transferred on
SonicStage, scan your maps, or get help on any aspect of the Drift 1
process.

Drift 1 Help Session

Hello.

We meet tomorrow in B18 for the first of a series of Open Lab Help
Sessions for Drift 1. If you have ANY questions or technical issues, or
need assistance in scanning or using SonicStage, please drop in and we
will be glad to help out. You are also welcome to bring your laptop and
work during class, or use one of the computers in B18. Or you can work
from home.

If you have yet to go out on your Drift 1 walk, you can use class time
tomorrow to get out and explore your Drift 1 area.

In any case, please use your time wisely.

Final Drift 2 Help Session

Hello, all.

We meet tomorrow (Monday, November 10) in B18 for the last remaining
Help Session for Drift 2. We hope to see you there to talk about any
technical, logistical, or aesthetic issues you may be having with Drift 2.

Wednesday, November 12, is the first round of required Individual Crits
with your Lab Instructor. The sign-up sheets are posted on my office
door, B60.

Today at 5 PM is the deadline for posting your Reading Response #2 to
your Research Blog. Choose one of the following readings: Cage,
Delehanty, Hill, Hiss, Lopate, Peterson, Self, Spirn, Wrights & Sites, Ximm.

Visiting Artist Aaron Ximm will be appearing in our class on Wednesday,
November 19, as a guest performer with the Milwaukee Phonographers
Union, who will perform a live, improvised soundscape comprised entirely
from unprocessed field recordings. We will have an informal Q&A
following the concert, so, even if you choose not to write your Response
on the Ximm article, please read it so that all of us will be ready to
engage in a good discussion.

See you tomorrow.

Drift 2 Help Session

Hello, all.

We meet tomorrow (Monday, October 27) in B18 for the first Help Session
for Drift 2. Bring what you have on your laptop or drive so that we can
help you troubleshoot whatever technical issues you may be having.

See you tomorrow.

Final Drift 1 Help Session, Ximm is coming

Hello, all.

We meet tomorrow (Monday, October 13) in B18 for the final help session
for Drift 1. Take advantage of this session, since it will be the last
opportunity to get one-on-one time with us (other than office hours)
before the Drift 1 Final Crits on Wednesday, October 15. At those crits
we expect complete Blogs, with Drift Map, Drift Strategy, and five field
recordings posted and working properly.

Check the Drift 1 Grading Criteria to make sure you're on the right path:

http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/drift_1_criteria.pdf

I've sent an e-mail to UITS requesting that your PantherFile allotments
be increased to 2 GB. In the meantime, if you're running out of space,
remember to empty the trash in your PantherFile to free up extra room.

We'll see you tomorrow.

P.S. Sound artist Aaron Ximm will be visiting our class in November, so
let's get a head start by reading his article:

http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/ximm_soundartmusic.pdf

Here is his website, for further perusal:

http://www.quietamerican.org

Drift 1 deadline change, Help Session #2

Hello, all.

After reviewing all of the Drift 1 Blogs yesterday, I calculated that
2/3 of the class had not created a Drift 1 Blog (47 of you), or had
initiated a Drift 1 Blog with no posts. This tells me (loud and clear)
that most of you are not far enough along on your Drift 1 projects, for
whatever reasons.

Therefore, I am pushing back the Drift 1 Final Crit until Wednesday,
October 15. Monday, October 13 will be dedicated to an additional Help
Session in B18.

As you realized during the Crits on Monday, it is hard to get a good
dialogue going about your work if there is no work to discuss. The
Crits are designed to give you twenty sympathetic viewers who will be
looking and listening to your work with a fresh perspective (which is
critical after you've been cooped up in your studio for so long, bonding
closely with your Drift 1 Blog and recordings).

So, make sure that your Drift 1 Blog is finalized, complete, perfect,
shiny, and brilliant by 3 PM on the 15th so that your Lab Instructor and
classmates will be able to properly experience your work and give you
feedback.

We meet tomorrow for another Help Session in B18. We can look at your
work from your Drift 1 Blog (or PantherFile), or you can bring your
materials on a CD-R or external drive. All of us will be there to help
you with scanning, SonicStage, Audacity, Blogger, PantherFile, and
GoogleMaps. We are also available to listen to your field recordings
and help you make smart editing decisions.

[Note that I did not mention microphone issues. That's because we
expect you to have already completed your Drift walk and captured plenty
of raw recordings by now. If that isn't the case, you are way behind,
and you will need to scare up some serious hustle to get up to speed.]

See you tomorrow.

Drift 1 Help Session

Hello, all.

Tomorrow, October 1, is dedicated to an open Help Session for any and
all technical, procedural, and aesthetic issues arising from your Drift
1 experiences. We will be available in B18 to help you troubleshoot
SonicStage, Audacity, PantherFile, Blogger, and map scanning. We can
also review your materials and give you feedback on how to make the best
decisions in editing your work.

Please note that this is a Help Session dedicated to troubleshooting,
and we are happy to help in whatever ways we can, but we ask that you
come prepared: we will assume that you've already attempted to transfer
your recordings via SonicStage, completed some editing in Audacity, and
had some experience with PantherFile and Blogger after posting your
Research Blogs.

We hope to see you tomorrow.

Final Drift 3 Help Session

Hello, all.

Tomorrow is the final Open Lab Help Session for Drift 3. Here is the schedule:

B-18, Steve, Lilly, and David
B-56, Seth, Julie, Alex, Glenn

We will be available to help you troubleshoot technical issues or to give you feedback on your work in progress.

Individual Critiques begin on Wednesday, April 16, and the sign-up sheets are on my office door, B60. Sign up by 3 PM on the 16th (first-come, first-served).

Best of luck with your editing, and we'll see you tomorrow.

Open Lab Help Sessions, Wednesday, April 9

Hello, all.

The Reflective Responses are trickling in, and I hope to see more come through tomorrow before 3 PM.
http://tinyurl.com/3oomz5

Tomorrow is the first of two open lab help sessions for Drift 3, so we'd love to see you all there for help with troubleshooting or to get some feedback on your work in progress. Here is the schedule:

B-18: Steve, Lilly, and David
B-56: Seth, Julie, and Alex
B-65: Glenn

See you tomorrow.

Help Session Wednesday, March 12

Hello, all.

We will have another open lab help session tomorrow, Wednesday, March 12. Here is the schedule:

B-18: Steve, Lilly, and David
B-56: Seth, Julie, and Alex
B-65: Glenn (bring your laptops, or we will look at your work online)

Also, tomorrow afternoon at 3 is the deadline to post your third Reflective Response (image).

Hopefully we'll see you tomorrow.

Open Lab Help Sessions, Monday, March 10

Hello, all.

Monday, March 10, is dedicated to open lab Help Sessions, and all of the instructors will be available to help troubleshoot your video issues. We will also be glad to look at your clips (or raw footage) and give you feedback on what you have so far. Bring your laptop or have your work backed up on CD-R or an external drive. If you are looking for feedback, it would help if your rough clips are posted on your blog.

Here is the schedule:

B18: Steve, Lilly, and David
B56: Seth, Julie, and Alex
B65: Glenn (bring your laptops, or we will look at your work online)

Please note that the deadline for the third Reflective Response (image) is this Wednesday, March 12, at 3 PM. Make sure to keep up with your readings: Bachman, GreenCine, MacDonald, Miller, Sontag, Trachtenberg. (Please note that the article, "What is Alternative Cinema," does not count as a possibility for this Reflective Response.)
http://film-116.blogspot.com/2008/03/reflective-response-3-image.html
http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/08116_research.html

Also note that I have changed my office hours to MW 1-2 PM.

We'll see you tomorrow.

Final Drift 1 Help Session Wednesday, February 20

Hello all,

A reminder that we will be having another Help Session tomorrow, Wednesday, February 20. Here is the schedule:

* SonicStage: Steve, MIT B-18
* Scanning Maps: David, B-18
* Audacity: Seth, Julie, Alex, B-56
* Blogger, PantherFile, GoogleMaps: Glenn, B-65
* Drawing Maps: Lilly, B-68

We didn't have a huge turnout on Monday, so I'm hoping that we'll see more of you tomorrow.

For those using SonicStage at home, either on a laptop or PC: we urge you, in the STRONGEST POSSIBLE TERMS, to come in tomorrow and talk to Steve in B-18 about how to set up your SonicStage preferences. SonicStage doesn't default to WAV format in some cases, and apparently doesn't support the WAV format at all in Vista.

It's critical that you get this right . . . the recordings have to be in WAV format for you to import them into Audacity.

Remember that you are completing two types of maps in this class. The first is the Drift Map, which is the GoogleMap you will be using throughout the semester to document all of the soundmarks and landmarks for all three of your Drifts. This map is in process, and won't be complete until you have gone out and executed your Drift 3 in April.

The second is the series of hand-drawn maps specific to Drift 1, five maps corresponding to the location where you found and recorded each of your five sounds you will be posting on your Drift 1 Blog. These five hand-drawn maps will be scanned, uploaded to PantherFile, and posted on your blog as the visual element for your five posts about your five sounds.

The hand-drawn maps are a requirement for Drift 1, but are optional for Drifts 2 and 3.

Here are examples of Blogs from last semester:
http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/07116_directory.html

Remember the Tutorials page:
http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/08116_tutorials.html

Please note that tomorrow is really the best time to get help on your Drift materials. Don't wait until Sunday night or Monday morning to figure things out. If you e-mail us Sunday night or Monday morning, we may not be able to get back to you in time for the mandatory Drift 1 Critique sessions on Monday.

Good luck, and we hope to see you tomorrow.

Best,

Glenn

P.S. If you are planning to attend the map drawing workshop, please bring the following materials:

* Any and all notes and sketches pertaining to your Drift (if you feel like some vital info might be missing--street names, major building names etc., you can look this info up online to piece together what you do have.)

* Paper (regular 8 1/2 by 11 paper is great)

* Pencils and erasers

* Coloring tools: markers, crayons, colored pencils, paints, ink, etc.; whatever you like. (PRISMACOLOR dual-tip design markers work really well and do not bleed. These are available at the UWM bookstore and sold individually.)

* Black fine-tip marker or pen

Prep for Help Sessions on Monday, February 18

Hello, all.

I hope you had a productive weekend, and that your Drift 1 walks resulted in a lot of great sounds and maps.

On Monday, February 18, we will have open Help Sessions focusing on specific areas of Drift 1. Here is the schedule:

* SonicStage: Steve Wetzel, MIT B-18
* Scanning Maps: David Witzling, B-18
* Audacity: Seth Warren-Crow, Julie Murray, Alex Torinus, B-56
* Blogger, PantherFile, GoogleMaps: Glenn Bach, B-65
* Drawing Maps: Lilly Czarnecki, B-68

Please note that these Help Sessions are not restricted to specific lab sections, and that you may attend any session or sessions you wish. Bring your work on your laptop or CD-R, or have it posted on your Blog or PantherFile for us to access.

I have updated the tutorials for PantherFile and Blogger. They are available here:
http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/116_pantherfile.html
http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/116_blogger.html

If we do not see you on Monday, it will be for one of two reasons:

1) Your Drift 1 walk was extremely fertile, your recordings were crisp and clean, you were able to transfer and edit your recordings with no difficulty, you were able to upload your MP3s and maps to PantherFile, and your Blog is solid and seamless.

or . . .

2) You weren't able to go out on your Drift walk yet (!) and you have no material with which to work.

If the reason is #1, then we will expect a fantastic Blog with engaging sounds and maps. If the reason is #2, then you are really behind and it will take an extremely concerted effort on your part to meet the first Drift 1 deadline a week from tomorrow.

Remember that the deadline for Reflective Response #2 (Sound) is due tomorrow at 3 PM. The readings from which you can choose are Delahanty, Ferrington, Hill, Peterson, Russolo, Toop, and Westerkamp. Remember that you are supposed to read ALL of the readings, and then pick one to write about. Don't just write about the first article you read, or simply pick one at random. Post your response as a comment to this post on the Course Blog:
http://film-116.blogspot.com/2008/01/reflective-response-2-sound.html

Finally, tomorrow is also the deadline to drop this class without a "W" appearing on your record. If this class is ending up on the bottom of your list of priorities, then it may be a good idea to drop, since things will not be getting any easier as we get into video editing in Drifts 2 and 3.

We hope to see many of you tomorrow.

Best,

Glenn

P.S. Remember to visit the Course Directory to make sure you have the correct URL for your Drift 1 Blog:
http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/08116_directory.html

P.P.S. If you are planning to attend the map drawing workshop, please bring the following materials:

* Any and all notes and sketches pertaining to your Drift (if you feel like some vital info might be missing--street names, major building names etc., you can look this info up online to piece together what you do have.)

* Paper (regular 8 1/2 by 11 paper is great)

* Pencils and erasers

* Coloring tools: markers, crayons, colored pencils, paints, ink, etc.; whatever you like. (PRISMACOLOR dual-tip design markers work really well and do not bleed. These are available at the UWM bookstore and sold individually.)

* Black fine-tip marker or pen