UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS
B.Sc. DEGREE COURSE IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA
SEMESTER SYSTEM WITH CREDITS
(Effective from the Academic Year 2003-2004)

Semester V - Major -IX - Media Aesthetics

Duration: 3 hrs
Maximum Marks: 100
Credits: 4

Unit 1

Media Aesthetics and Contextualism: Contextualistic Aesthetics, Context and perception, Stabilizing the environment, Selective seeing, The power of context Medium as structural agent, Fundamental image elements, Content and responsibility. The First Aesthetic Field : Light-- Nature of light, Lighting purposes and functions, The nature of shadows, Attached and Cast shadows, Outer orientation functions: special orientation, tactile orientation, time orientation, Inner orientation functions: predictive lighting, light and lighting instruments. Structuring the First Aesthetic Field : Lighting: Standard lighting techniques, Chiaroscuro lighting : analysis, functions, types, Flat lighting : functions, Silhouette lighting, Media -Enhanced and Media- Generated lighting, Single and Multiple camera lighting. The Extended First field : Colour: Colour perception, Physiological factor, Psychological factor, Colour Mixing: additive colour mixing, subtractive colour mixing, mixed mixing, Relativity of Colour : light environment, surface reflectance, colour temperature, surrounding colours; colour juxtaposition, colour constancy, Colours and Feelings, Colour Energy. Structuring Colour --Function and Composition- Informational function of Colour, Colour symbolism, Compositional function of colour, Expressive function of colour : Expressing Essential quality of an event, Desaturation Theory, Colourising films.

Unit - 2

The Two-Dimensional Field : Area: Aspect Ratio, Object size, Knowledge of Object, Image size, Visual Approaches - Deductive approach, Inductive approach.The Two Dimensional Field : Forces Within the Screen Main directions : horizontal, vertical, Magnetism of the frame- headroom, top edge, side edges, Asymmetry of the Frame, Figure and Ground, Psychological Closure, Vectors: type, magnitude, directions. Structuring the Two Dimensional Field: Interplay of Screen Forces: Stabilizing the field, Stages of Balance : stabile balance, neutral balance, labile balance, Object framing, Facilitating Closure, Premature Closure, Illogical Closure, Graphic cues, Natural Dividing Lines, Extending the Field with Multiple Screens, Dividing the Screen, Screens within the screen.

Unit - 3

The Three Dimensional Field: Depth and Volume : The Z-axis, Graphic Depth Factors, Overlapping Planes, Relative Size, Height in Plane, Linear Perspective, Ariel Perspective, Depth Characteristics of Lenses, Overlapping Planes, Major Graphication Devices, Typological and Structural Changes. Structuring the Three-Dimensional Field: Screen Volume Volume Duality, Dominant Positive Volume, Preponderant Negative volume, Z-axis Articulation, Lens distortion, Z-axis Blocking, Spatial Paradoxes- figure- ground, relative size, Superimposition-- Building Screen Space : Visualization: Storyboard, Field of View, Point of View, Looking Up, Looking Down, Subjective Camera, Over the Shoulder shooting, Cross shooting, Multiple Z-axis Blocking, Angles - vector continuity, multiple viewpoints, point-of- view clarification, event intensification, setting style.

Unit - 4

The Pour Dimensional Field: Time-- Importance of time, Types of time- objective, subjective, biological, Time Direction: past, present, future, Transcending Time, Time Vectors: in live television, in recorded television and films, in edited videotape and film. The Four-Dimensional Field : Motion-- Motion and Media Structure, Zeno and film, Basic structural unit of film, At-At Motion of film, Bergson's Motion, Basic Structural unit of television, Process image of television, Digital video, Motion paradox, Frames of reference, Z-axis motion, Perceived object speed, Perceived Camera speed, Slow motion, Accelerated motion. Structuring the Four Dimensional Field : Timing and Principal Motions. Types of Objective Time: Timing - clock time, running time, sequence time, scene time, shot time, story time, Types of Subjective time: Pace, Rhythm, Principal motions and their functions. Structuring the Four Dimensional Field: Continuity Editing: Graphic vector continuity, Index vector continuity, Index vector line, Motion vector continuity, Motion vector line, Special continuity factors : action continuity, subject continuity, colour continuity, continuity of environment. Structuring the Four- Dimensional Field- Complexity Editing: Metric Montage, Analytical Montage sequential, sectional, Idea- Associative Montage, Comparison Montage, Collision Montage.

Unit - 5

The Five-Dimensional Field-Sound: Sound and Noise, Literal sound, Non-literal sound, Functions of sound, Information function ofsound, Outer orientation functions of sound: space ,time, situation, external condition, Inner orientation of sound : mood, internal condition, energy, structure, Aesthetic factors. Structuring the Five-dimensional Field Sound Structures and Sound/Picture Combinations.

References

Zettl, Herbert; Sight, Sound and Motion: Applied Media Aesthetics. Wadsworth. Thompson earning, 1999.

Berger, John. About Looking. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.

Dondis, Donis A.A Primer of Visual Literacy. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press,l973.

Gombrich, E. H. The Image of the Eye. Ithaca, N. Y.. Cornell University Press, 1982.

Gregory, R.L. ,and J. Harris (eds), The Artful Eye. New York. Oxford University Press, 1995.

Knopp, Lisa. Field of Vision. Ames, Iowa: University of Iowa Press,1996.