Project 5 : The Rushkoff Edit (Group Project)

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DUE

OCTOBER 8

-Reading 3 :

Snippets of Douglas Rushkoff's

Program or Be Programmed (2011).

Both the "10 commands" and bibliography

of quote selections. The reading directly

correlates with Project 5. We will put it in

the context of what we will do for it.

OCTOBER 15 (2:30 PM)

-Final cut of Project 5.
We will assemble all of them
into a single Final Cut Pro reel.

To be detailed below! 

I will be ensuring there is sufficient

in-class time to plan, map, and edit

the project. We will even use a portion

of the due date class to finalize the big edit.

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A S S I G N M E N T   5

The Rushkoff Edit

"Crossover : Reading + Found Footage"

a.k.a.  collaborative short film using existing

internet footage to make a visual representation of

Douglas Rushkoff's Program or Be Programmed.

a.k.a. FRANKENFILM

inspiration : https://vimeo.com/groups/foundfootage
reading location (sectioned off, 1-18) : 
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B288S_z9geMuaEFzcUJ6NDFGSTA/edit?usp=sharing

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THE GOAL : As a whole class, we will create a found footage short film in reaction to a very condensed (by my own hand) reading. Every person is to visualize a portion of the material which is read. Using found footage from the internet, in a way, to critique the internet and Western fascination (failure?) with it. 18 of us. 18 sections of the reading to edit. 15 seconds a piece for each student/section. Give or take a beginning and end credits, 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

THE ORDER
[Intro credit/graphics]
1. Connor
2. JC
3. Megan
4. Cassondra
5. Jeff
6. Luiza
7. Mitch
8. Katie
9. Erica Lee
10. Stacey
11. Erica Taylor
12. Emma
13. Sean
14. Nozomi
15. Josh
16. Carlos
17. Elizabeth
18. Victoria
[Outro credit/graphics]

http://archive.org/ (Thousands of existing free-to-edit video. Old time footage!)
http://youtube.com (The immediate source for all things 'internet found'.)
http://keepvid.com/ (For taking footage off of a Youtube video.)
http://www.clipconverter.cc/ (A very good one also for Youtube ripping, for the fact it doesn't need java!)
Plus plenty more aggregates that exist in finding "found footage". Including those which we have possibly gone over in class.

This is an experimental assignment designed only for specific classes such as these. One which combines aesthetic-technical ability with academic study. Grading wise, I am taking note of this. I will not deduct for experimentation in video editing technique. Go nuts! The only real deduction comes with lack of participation.

You are not to shoot any of your own footage for this assignment. This may come as a relief for some of you possibly. BUT, we are to attack one of the most technical of all aspects when it comes to creating your own time-based work : editing. Essentially, for those any and all familiar with the language of cinema, everything ends on the editing floor. Some even question if the editor ultimately is the 'auteur' of a work of film or video having the final say and composition.

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★Read all the commands and quotes prior to engaging with editing your section.
★Your section is to last EXACTLY 15 seconds. Each section of the '10 commands' is small enough to fit this time frame.
★Edit a visual representation to the reading using found internet video footage.
★3 seconds cannot go by without a cut to another clip. You cannot play a single clip 100% of the way through. Nor 20% of the way through. Use creative editing.
★And surely keeping in mind, we shall discover kinks that will occur along the way.


First time this experimental project was done (with Nicolas Carr's The Shallows : What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains), the result was mailed to the author and we received appraisal back in response. We shall do the same and send these results to Rushkoff.

This assignment is laboriously easier, but slightly more mentally intensive. It may also be deceptively simple. In much lesser parameters, I expect a myriad of editing skills you will learn in between now and conclusion. I shall reiterate that all cinema/video ends on the editing room floor. This is a project that will literally begin and end on the editing room floor.

You will of course have others going before and after you in the lineup of 1-18. It would be wise to consult those around you what their creative edge with this project is, so there is coordination.

For reference, the two earlier iterations of this project. The entire classes all made a single 'section' of a very large short film. Nicolas Carr's The Shallows and Nicolas Bourriaud's Postproduction respectively. Think about strengths and weaknesses when viewing these-

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