Audiovisual Technology (20383)
Degree/study: Degree in Audiovisual Communication
Year: 1st
Term:1st
Number of ECTS credits: 4 credits
Hours of studi dedication: 100 hours
Teaching language or languages: catalan
Teaching Staff: Joan Ignasi Ribas
1. Presentation of the subject
This subject pretends to give students a general idea of the evolution of the main technologies that support the audiovisual from cinema and analogue technologies antecedents until the deep conceptual change represented by the digital coding of the audiovisual information.
The chronological prospect also allows reflecting on the influence of technology in building the audiovisual speech of each period and also the society in which this speech is produced.
This subject also wants to give the bases to promote a critical posture in students when facing technology, enabling them to question the audiovisual consumption models that are usually offered as unavoidable, desirable and necessarily superior to what they substitute.
2. Competences to be attained
1.- Capacity to apply knowledge, understanding and skills to resolve problems in new or non familiar environments and in wide or multidisciplinary contexts in general related to his field of study.
2.- Learning skills that allow continuing studies in a self-directed or autonomous way.
3.- Capacity for a socio-cultural analysis and in particular of a political, economic and technological dimension in knowledge societies.
4.- Skills for communicative knowledge and for its interrelation with Social Sciences and the New Technologies.
5.- Acquisition of the capacity and of the necessary skills for a suitable use of the main technological tools of the different phases of the audiovisual process.
3. Contents
3.1. Master classes
Unit 1: Invention and cinema technological antecedents.
Unit 2: Fundamental technological Principles of photography.
Unit 3: Cinema: cameras, projectors, formats and special rooms.
Unit 4: Sound. Features, perception and analogue systems for coding and treatment.
Unit 5: Coding and electronic transmission of images: television
Unit 6: Principles and history of computation. Image and sound digital coding.
3.2 Seminars
Initially the subject of the assignment is free and can be proposed by each group of students. The subjects chosen should complement the master classes from any of these points of view (or combinations of them all):
Complement the descriptive approach of the master classes employing, for example, a much more historical, comparative, interpretative or critical method.
Complement the technological contents explained, especially in the aspects which are not treated in the class notes, such as analogue and digital systems of edition, digital television, flat screens, three-dimensional cinema, cinematographic and television formats, current sound formats, etc.
4. Assessment
There will be a final assessment through an exam and a continued assessment through a student's follow-up in the seminar sessions. To pass the subject it is necessary to independently pass the two parts, exam and seminars.
|
Exam |
60% |
|
Seminars |
40% |
Exam: 2 or 3 specific conceptual questions, as well as a test part with approximately five questions. The three or four parts will have the same grading.
Seminars: A written assignment. The contributions of each student to the debates and discussions of subjects in the seminars can also be assessed.
It is necessary to pass both parts to be able to pass the subject.
5. Bibliography and teaching resources
5.1. Basic bibliography
BELLAÏCHE, Philippe. Les secrets de l'image vidéo. Paris: Eyrolles, 1995.
WYN, Michel. Le cinéma et ses techniques. Quincy: Nouvelles editions techniques europeennes, 1982.
LLORENS, Vicente. Fundamentos tecnològicos de vídeo y televisión. Barcelona: Ediciones Paidós, 1995.
CHARDÈRE, Bernard. Le roman des Lumière. Gallimard, 1995
BARBEY, Pierre. Iniciació al vídeo. Barcelona: Marcombo i TV3, 1988.
LUXERAU, François. Video. Principes et techniques. Paris: Editions Dujarric, 1989.
PAREJA CARRASCAL, Emilio. El magnetoscopio digital profesional. Barcelona: Marcombo, 1994.
PRADERA, Alejandro. El libro de la fotografía. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1994.
WYVER, J. La imagen en movimiento. Valencia: Filmoteca Valenciana, 1991.
TORRES URGELL, Luis and others. SisUnits analógicos y digitales de televisión. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat Politècnica de Barcelona, 1994.
BETHENCOURT MACHADO, Tomás. SisUnits de televisión. Clásicos y avanzados. Madrid: Departamento de Publicaciones. Centro de Formación RTVE, 1991.
BISHOP, Peter. Estudio general del ordenador. Madrid: Alhambra, 1985.
HELLER, Rachelle S. I MARTIN C. Dianne. Bits y Bytes. Iniciación a la informática. Madrid: Anaya Multimedia, 1984
5.2. Complementary bibliography
Each one of the 6 units of the master classes have an own bibliography with 5 or 10 entries. We cannot specify them here because of its large extension.
Also there is a basic bibliography for the seminars:
Crowley, David; Heyer, Paul. La Comunicación en la Historia. Tecnología, Cultura, Sociedad. Barcelona: Bosch, 1997
Marvin, Carolyn. When Old Technologies Were New. Thinking About Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century. New York [N.Y.] [etc.] : Oxford University Press, 1988
Williams, Raymond. Historia de la comunicación. Vol 1, 2. Barcelona: Bosch, 1992
Bordwell, David; Staiger, Janet; Thompson, Kristin. El cine clásico de Hollywood. Barcelona: Paidós, 1997
Burch, Noël. El tragaluz del infinito. Madrid: Cátedra, 2006
Fielding, Raymond. A Technological History of Motion Pictures and Television. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983.
De Lauretis, T. I Heath, S. (comps.). The Cinematic Apparatus. Londres: Macmillan, 1980.
Zielinski, Siegfried. Deep Time of the Media. Towards an Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006
Crary, Jonathan. Técnicas del observador. Visión y modernidad en el siglo XIX. Murcia: CENDEAC, 2008
Crary, Jonathan. Suspensiones de la percepción. Atención, espectáculo y cultura moderna. Madrid: AKAL, 2008
Friedberg, Anne. The virtual window: from Alberti to Microsoft. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006
Beau, Frank; Dubois, Philippe; Leblanc, Gérard. Cinéma et dernières technologies. Paris : Institut National de l'Audiovisuel; Bruxelles : De Boek Université, 1998
Almiron, Núria; Jarque, Josep Manuel. El mito digital. Discursos hegemónicos sobre Internet y periodismo. Barcelona: Anthropos, 2008
Mitcham, Carl. ¿Qué es la filosofía de la tecnología? Barcelona: Anthropos, 1989
5.3. Teaching resources
General subject's class notes
Units 1 to 6 (available at Campus Global or in photocopies)
There are some class notes, elaborated during the last teaching years, of approximately 250 pages divided in 7 units, numbered from 0 to 6.
Subject's website
http://www.dtic.upf.edu/~ribas/TecnoAV/web/index.htm
Specific additional web resources: "Idees i vincles en el segle XX. La ciència" / "Informació: a distància, per a tothom, per a cadascú".
http://www.xtec.es/aulanet/seglexx/navegador/index.htm
(You must enable pop-ups or emerging windows)
Specific material for seminars:
Document that explains the seminars general functioning with several parts:
Group characteristics
Assignment characteristics
Guiding activity to the different sessions
Possible assignment subjects
Some general ideas on the methodology to employ
Bibliography (on methodology)
Bibliography commented on the seminars document
Websites commented in the seminars document
Other additional material:
Production documents of "Idees i vincles"
Unit 0: audiovisual scientific basis (with many complementary technical and scientific information)
Press articles, etc.
6. Metodology
This subject will be developed in two parts, master classes and seminars. In the master classes we require all students' attendance. In the seminars, the whole group is divided in 4 groups (1, 2, 3 and 4). Each one of these groups will create approximately 4 teams of work formed by 5 students, each one of these will work on a different unit. There will be a total of 16 to 18 work teams.
This is the temporal distribution of the two types of activities.
The general idea is that the assignment has to be relatively simple and short (the extension will not be graded as a merit) but well studied, thought over, well reasoned, rigorous and convincing. Its coherence will be specially assessed, that is to say, it's stylistic unit, its treatment, its contents, etc.; Its structural balance, the absence of unnecessary repetitions, emphasis in the important aspects, etc.
The standard format of presentation can be an illustrated word or pdf text of roughly 12 to 15.
The deadline will be the same exam's day and hour. This means that there are some days between the last session and this date to finish improving the work.
The assignment has to be presented in paper and digital (CD) format.
An alternative assignment can be considered by carrying out the work in a web (HTML) format. This can be interesting and even advisable if the speech has many hypertextual links on internet.
Other alternatives are more sophisticated hypertextual or interactive presentations (for example, in flash format) can be considered whenever the group has the personal skills to carry out the assignment. If it is decided to make this, the file or files should be compatible with a standard Windows system.
The assignment will have to include - in a way of appendix, without being part of the main body - a brief critical reflection (and self-criticism), centred on a description, possibly sequential on the work carried out. Possible ideas can be aimed here to improve the work, in the common part as well as in the specific part of the work to each group. The description of the work has to include explicitly the detail of the works done by each one of the members of the team.
As for the division of works it is necessary to point out that it is necessary that everybody has a minimum common basis on the contents and the methodology of the work. For example, it will not be accepted that a same student does all images or all the graphic design and not intervening in the core of the work.
7. Planning of activities
7.1. Master classes
In the master classes the 6 units will be developed following this schedule:
7.2. Seminar activities
These are the activities scheduled in the several seminar sessions.
Session 1. Week 3:
General proposal, not specific, to possible general options, ideas, subjects, methodologies, etc Possible debate.
Explanation of the available documentation.
Explanation of the open proposal of bibliography (books, internet, articles).
Creation of the 4 class groups (1, 2, 3 and 4) of approximately 20 persons.
Proposal creation of work subgroups in each one of the 4 groups.
Time between session 1 and session 2 (between 17 and 21 days): documentation research, first bibliography reading. Out of class work.
Sessions 2 to 4, separated in the 4 class groups of approximately 20 students each one:
Session 2:
Each subgroup of 5 students will have already chosen their subject.
Handing in a brief writing as a synopsis of the subject.
First approaches to the treatment and possible structuring.
First significant list of documentation sources
Generic proposal of work division.
This first assignments division proposal has the aim to facilitate and to guarantee the good team functioning. If each student is responsible for some tasks since the beginning it is more difficult that important imbalances are produced in the contribution of the several members of the group. This first proposal will be inserted and will be compared with the final self-criticism.
Session 3:
Consolidated approach to content.
Consolidated approach to structuring.
Initial approach for the presentation.
Session 4:
Practically definite content.
Practically definite structuring.
Consolidated approach for the presentation.
Between the session 4 and the exam day:
Assignment closing. Very especially, guarantee the stylistic unification. It is very important that the work does not seem written by several people, it is necessary a final work to unify style but also levels of depth approach, points of view, orientations, etc.
Exam day:
Assignment in written and digital format (CD) handing in. Appendix with self-criticism reflection.
7.3. Calculation of the effort schedule required for students
The hours of in class attendance work are the following:
· Master classes............................................................ 30 hours
· Seminars....................................................................... 4 hours
· Subtotal attendance....................................................... 34 hours
The individual out of class recommended work hours are:
Synchronic theory improvement.............................................. 12 hours
· Seminar work
o Research and first bibliography reading.................. 6 hours
o Synopsis and work division proposal...................... 2 hours
o Content preparation............................................... 12 hours
o Structuring preparation........................................... 6 hours
o Additional material preparation.............................. 6 hours
o Carry out written work and stylistic unification............. 12 hours
· Exam preparation........................................................ 10 hours
· Subtotal non attendance.................................................. 66 hours
· Total....................................................................... 100 hours