Andy's MTD Notes

Andy's Syllabus

My version of the syllabus has slightly changed assignments and course schedule. Andy's Syllabus

Week 1 Resources

1. Go over Syllabus, introductions (1 hour)
2. Introduce Second Life (part 1), Middle East postal history exhibit on I Am Columbia sim, etc (30 min)
3. Assign: Project 1 (non-western alphabet), Read Chaps 1-3 Berger (15 min)
4. Field Trip: Center for Book and Paper Arts, Book and Paper Arts Triennial, Discuss artists' books as media, what is a book? (1 hour)

Week 2 Resources

1. Discuss Alphabet Assignment (students will present their findings on non-western alphabets)(45 min)
2. Discuss Berger Chaps 1-3 (30 min)
   1. Saussure: Semiology or Semiotics
      1. Write on screen "I went to a book sale and all I bought was a semicolon." Discuss what makes this funny? Illustrates: Saussure's assertion that language is a system of signs in which the meaning of a term is based on its relations to othr terms in the system. i.e. we would have expected to have purchased a book, not a small piece of punctuation (hey comedy is hard)
      2. signifier: sound object image
      3. signified: concept generated
      4. signs are identified in terms of oppositions, uniqueness
      5. The notion the linguistics might be useful in studying other cultural phenomena is based on two fundamental insights:
         1. first that social and cultural phenomena are mot simply material objects or events but objects and events with meaning, and hence signs;
         2. second that they do not have essences but are defined by a network of relations
   2. Barthes (Myth)
      1. semiology can be applied to history, culture;
      2. sees problems with normativity (mythmaking)
      3. cultural feedback loop: this is the way mass media works: if a "meme" gets picked up and widely distributed, it becomes the norm (Lots of parallels with Cool Hunting)
   3. Lakoff and Johnson (Metaphor and Metanymy)
      1. Semiology (semiotics) can have layers of meaning, impacting logic
      2. Love is war (metaphor works by similarity); Rolls Royce = wealth (metonymy works by association)
   4. James W. Carey
      1. Two Models of Communication
      2. See also James W Carey
3. Watch Edison's Miracle of Light. Videorecording (VHS). Elevator Pictures, Inc. for the American Experience. WGBH Boston. Matthew Collins, producer/writer. John Walter, director/writer. 1995. (1 hour)
4. Assign Project 2, McCloud 1-3 (15 min)

Week 3 Resources

1. Computer Fights Back
2. Chicago Postal History (15 min)
   1. Chicago 1851
   2. Chicago1854
   3. Chicago1855
   4. Chicago1856
   5. Chicago1858
   6. Chicago1859
3. Present assignment 2, signifier and signified (1 hour)
4. McCloud Chaps 1 - 3 (30 min)
   1. Setting the Record Straight
      1. Definition:Images in a deliberate chronological order
      2. Separating form and content in comics, we can deduce that
         1. comics are seen as non-serious art because of the association with superheroes, humor, etc.
         2. McCloud's argument is that comics are a powerful medium. When stripped to the bare essentials of form: words, images, narrative sequence. It is linked to all kinds of other artforms and the history of language itself.
   2. The Vocabulary of Comics
      1. "Visual Vocabulary" is a reference to language
      2. Why are we so involved?
      3. realistic - iconic ~ abstract (abstract is on top of the triangle)
      4. amplificaion through simplification
      5. logos Capitalism Logo
      6. icons are involving due to their simplicity
      7. "icons demand our participation to make them work"
   3. Blood in the Gutter
      1. Closure
      2. Visual iconography=vocabulary, Closure=grammar
      3. Gutter: spaces in between panels
      4. Types of transitions
         1. moment to moment
         2. action to action
         3. subject to subject
         4. scene to scene
         5. aspect to aspect
         6. non-sequitur
      5. comparison of international styles (contrasting Japanese)
      6. subtraction is as important as addition
      7. senses - comics are a visual medium only, but:
         1. all the senses can be engaged due to closure
         2. "work" may be required to reconstruct a scene, referring to kitchen scene
      8. the seen and the unseen (require the spaces in between)
5. Telegraph (see also Oleksiuk)
   1. OMD Telegraph (OMG!) (3 min)
   2. Get a Job (10 min)
   3. Telegraph (1 min)
   4. More on Telegraphy (20 min)
6. Assign Project 3, signifier and signified: expanded 2 page essay; assign Berger Chaps 4 - 8

Week 4 Resources

1. Hand in Project 2 signifier and signified expanded 2 page essay
2. Discuss Berger 4-8 (45 min)
   1. Aristotle
      1. Narrative, defined
      2. Political candidates - what is a life story? Talk about political Presidential and VP candidiates - what is their life story?
      3. narrative or memetic theory of art: narrative is an analog or metaphor for life
      4. Comedy & tragedy (poetry, theatre: media of his day)
         1. comedy: worse than real life
         2. tragedy: better than real life
   2. Todorov
   3. Propp
   4. Radway
   5. Murray
3. Assign reading, McCloud 4-6
4. Radio: Out of Thin Air. Videorecording (VHS). Jaffe Productions in association with Actuality Productions for the The History Channel. Written and produced by Chris Mortenson. Oroducer, Bruce Nash. New York. A&E Television Networks. 1997. (50 min)
5. The Cinematograph Videorecording (VHS). A Louis Saul Film production in association with Bavarian Television ... et al. Written by Susanne Pach, Herbert W. Franke. Tools of the AV trade. Milestones in science and engineering. Princeton, N.J. Films for the Humanities and Sciences. 1994. (15 min)

Week 5 Resources

1. Discuss McCloud 4-6 (45 min)
   1. Time Frames
   2. Living in Line
   3. Show and Tell
2. Second Life Demo (part 2) (30 min)
3. Watch McLuhan's Wake. Videorecording (DVD). A production of Primitive Entertainment. Produced by Kristina McLaughlin, Michael McMahon. (95 min)

under development

etc...