War Photography and Related Media
Fall 2005
Thurs.
Instructor:
War Photography and Related Media is a studio course
with short seminars where multiple perspectives of war imagery and media are
explored. The essential elements of conflict and how it is captured visually
and aurally throughout history are examined. Through film screenings, images
and personal accounts, students become aware of multiple perspectives of
looking at the same conflict. Short studies exploring notions of conflict and
response lead to a student directed final project which comments on a major
theme of possible resolution.
Conflicts abide worldwide, from disagreements with
others to outright wars. Ancient
Why do we want to see images of War? Them and us?
What would a Department of Peace look/sound like?
Is War really part of the human condition?
Can simulation be a potent tool to help us
recognize different points of view?
Can we use technology, which many times comes
from military research, to help us understand instead of annihilate?
_______________________________________________________________________
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others
Sun Tzu, The Art
of War, The oldest military treatise in the world. http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html
Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/debord/society.htm
_______________________________________________________________________
Short Studies: notions of conflict and response
Due Sept 15
* Create a photomontage about war (using found
images) which particularly affected you or your family.
Due Sept 22
* Create a photomontage about peace (using found
images) which relates to your family in the event war did not occur.
Due Sept 29
* Create a War game plan map (pencil on vellum
drawing)
Due Oct 6
* Create a Resolution game plan map (pencil on
vellum drawing)
Due Oct 20
* Create a photo essay about conflict in your
environment (using your original imagery)
Due Oct 27
* Create a photo essay about resolution in your
environment (using your original imagery)
Due Nov 10
* Create a simulation and show multiple points of
view
Final Project:
An artwork or essay which comments on a major theme
of possible resolution to world conflict
Due Dec 1 Project Pre Reviews
Due Dec 8 All Final Projects
_______________________________________________________________________
Possible Films:
Regret to Inform
1998 –
Photomontage Today:
Peter Kennard
http://www.roland-collection.com/rolandcollection/section/36/667.htm
Zygosis,
a film by Gavin Hodge & Tim Morrison about John
Heartfield, the anti-Nazi German satirist who pioneered
the photomontage
http://www.frif.com/cat97/t-z/zygosis_.html
War Photographer, about photojournalist Jame Nachtwey by Christ
Ran, a film by Akira Kurosawa
The famous Japanese
filmmaker uses Shakeapear’s King Lear to tell the
story of an old man’s quest for meaning within and incomprehensible, unframed
war. To enable the audience to see the clash of armies, Kurosawa silences their
clashing armor and the screams of the wounded before he immerses the carnage in
music. He imposes a spectacular order on chaos.
21 Days to
War Spin: the Media
and the
Basic Camera Techinques, BCTE
Images in Media A
behind-the-scenes look at the media's image-makers, from the first
photographers to today's Madison Avenue wizards; asks some disturbing questions
about the self-selected few who hold a distorted mirror up to our society.
American Photography:
A Century of Images The story of the pictures
we have taken and where they have taken us. The series traces the profound
effect photographs have had on American life-- influencing what we buy, how we
dress, how we get the news, and in the matters of life and death, medicine,
science, and war.
Fälschung,
Die (Circle of Deceit) Volker Schlöndorff
(English) olker Schlondorff's
CIRCLE OF DECEIT eloquently captures the chaos of war through the eyes of
German journalist Georg (Bruno Ganz).
As his marriage quickly degrades, Georg decides to
escape to war-torn
Live from Baghdad,
This HBO Films production mixes breakneck excitement, biting humor and
blistering drama in telling the behind-the-scenes true story of how brash CNN
producer Robert Wiener (Michael Keaton) and his
resourceful team made history, and reported it, during the onset of the 1991
Gulf War. Arriving in
Control Room
(2004) (2004) a documentary about
the Middle East news agency Al-Jazeera, takes a
perspective that most Americans won’t share, but refusing to look at
perspectives different from one’s own is a denial of larger realities.
http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies8/ControlRoom.htm
A Force More Powerful:
series on on-violent political resistance in
Hotel
Rowanda The deeply moving true
story of a five-star-hotel manager who used his wits and words to save more
than 1,200 lives during the 1994 Rwandan conflict.
_______________________________________________________________________
Schedule
Week 1
Sept 1
Intro to class and
studio/seminar topics
Ideas about multiple
viewpoints
Film: Regret to
Inform, showing two sides to the “
Lecture/ Discussion setting
the ideas to see multiple sides of conflict
Week 2
Sept 8
History of
Photomontage
John Heartfield, the
anti-Nazi German satirist who pioneered the photomontage http://www.towson.edu/heartfield/art/5.html
Hannah Hoch: Born 1898,
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_hannah_hoch.htm
http://hannahhoch.com/hhindex2.html
Skills: image
scanning, traditional photomontage & digital photomontage techniques,
cutting, pasting, feathering edges, layers,
Film: Photomontage Today:
Peter Kennard
http://www.roland-collection.com/rolandcollection/section/36/667.htm
Week 3
Sept 15
Discuss Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others
Critiques
of photomontage
about war (using found images) which particularly affected you or your family.
Film:
Week 4
Sept 22
Critiques of photomontage about peace
(using found images) which relates to your family in the event war did not
occur.
Film: War Photographer
Week 5
Sept 29
Discuss Sun Tzu, The Art of
War (see below)
See film Ran
Discuss war scenarios and game plans
Create War game plan maps (pencil on vellum
drawing)
Who
is Sun Tzu?
Chinese general, circa
500 B.C.
A collection of essays on the art of war is attributed to Sun Tzu. These are
the earliest known treatises on the subject. There is
a growing number of translations of this Chinese classic, usually titled Sun
Tzu: The Art of War. Sometimes the wording is reversed. Knowledge of Sun
Tzu reached
The most
fundamental of Sun Tzu's principles for the conduct of war is that "All
warfare is based on deception".
Another key
Sun Tzu principle is that "The supreme art of war is to subdue the
enemy without fighting."
Sun Tzu's ideas spread to the rest of Asia and
to Japan ian
cultures are referred to as cultures of strategy, and Sun Tzu has played no
small part in this development. The works of Sun Tzu have been widely known in
the United States U.S. ps ing
Confucius, Lao Tze and Mao Dzedong.
Basketball coach Pat Riley and lawyer Gerry Spence have quoted from Sun Tzu in
their books. [Pat
Riley and Art of War] [Gerry Spence and Art
of War] [Ronnie
Lott and the Art of War]
http://vikingphoenix.com/public/SunTzu/suntzu.htm
(
http://www.ralphsawyer.com/work1.htm
Sun-tzu Art of War
The oldest and unquestionably
most famous work in
Although the extant text is fragmented, enigmatic, and marked
by disjunctures and outright contradictions because
of the limitations imposed by the written medium -- short bamboo stri
Even though the core of the book is a translation of the
traditionally received text of the Art of War -- the book that influenced
imperial military thinkers and commanders for two thousand years -- passages
from recently recovered tomb texts are integrated or otherwise provided, and
fragments otherwise preserved over the centuries included. The introduction
explores the historical context of the Spring and
Autumn period; examines Sun-tzu’s life; discusses the
politics and measures in the state of Wu where he purportedly served as a
military advisor; and describes the pivotal campaigns that unfolded during his
era and immediately thereafter, including Yueh’s
resurgence to exterminate Wu itself. Spring and Autumn
weapons and military practices are briefly characterized and extensive notes on
both textual and historical matters provided. A Chinese glossary and
categorical bibliography conclude the book.
Text of The Art of War:
http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html
Week 6
Oct 6
Critique War game plan maps and War
Resolution
game plan maps (pencil on vellum drawings)
Photographic Techniques:
Using camera, tripod,
lighting kit, the Epson 10,000 archival printer
Framing http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/SGframing.htm
Shadow http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/SGshadows.htm
Portrait http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/SGportrait.htm
Joiners http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/SGjoiners.htm
Films: 21
Days to
War Spin: the Media
and the
Week 7
Oct 13
Photojournalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photojournalism
Photographers of the
Civil War:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography_and_Photographers_of_the_American_Civil_War
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/v?ammem/cwar:0001-0014:T1
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/cwphtml/cwpabt.html
War Photographers: Some of the Greats:
From Robert Capa's 1936
photograph "Falling Soldier" to Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer
Prize-winning image of Marines raising the flag on
Robert Capa:
Bio and most famous photographs http://www.pbs.org/weta/reportingamericaatwar/reporters/capa/
Falling soldier controversy http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/capa_r.html
Joe Rosenthal:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAProsenthal.htm
http://www.iwojima.com/raising/raisingb.htm
http://www.newseum.org/warstories/interviews/mov/journalists/bio.asp?ID=32
Gilles Peress:
http://www.artsmia.org/get-the-picture/peress/
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/11/eusb/hob_1998.180.1.htm
James Nachtwey
American Photojournalist http://www.americanphotojournalist.com/story.php?storyid=66
War Stories
http://www.newseum.org/warstories/exhibitinfo/artifacts.htm
War Pornographers
Read: Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/debord/society.htm
Film: Fälschung,
Die (Circle of Deceit) Volker Schlöndorff
Week 8
Oct 20
Visiting
Photojournalist
Symbol, Allegory,
Representation
Artists’
Responses to War and conflict
Assignment: start your
research for your final project
Week 9
Oct 27
Critique photo essays on conflict in your
environment
Critique
photo essay about resolution in your environment
War Memorials : Who are we
remembering? Why are they forgotten? What did they do? Can we learn from their
experiences?
Stereoscopy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy#Techniques
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereographic_projection
Film Live from
Assignment: start your
research for your final project
Week 10
Nov 3
Simulation
Game Simulation
Techniques: Maya, vrml,
open GL
Contemporary Culture and War: simulation, games and
war
It's no videogame: news commentary and the second
gulf war
Consalvo Mia
November 2003 Level Up Conference Proceedings
Full text | INFO
This study analyzes
Keywords: War coverage,
Satellite
Imaging, Bigger Brother and War Technology
Film:
Control Room
Week 11
Nov 10
Critiques of simulations with multiple points of
view
Film:
Week 12
Nov 17
Studio work and
research for your final project
Film: Hotel
Rowanda
Week 13
Nov 24 Off for Thanksgiving
Week 14
Dec 1
Final Project Pre
Reviews Due
Week 15
Dec 8
Final Projects Due
Requirements and
Suggestions
How to take the course
(in a nutshell):
Show up. Attendance is
mandatory every week. Do the work and the assignments. Do the readings and come
prepared to ask questions. Turn work in on time. Contribute to the discussions.
Check the course website for the latest information about assignments and
activities.
Evaluation
Students must
demonstrate satisfactory achievement of course projects and by contributing to
class discussions and critiques.
Grading
• 15% Short studies
(7. 5% each x 2)
• 75% Final Project
with Final Game Design Document
• 10% Participation in
class
Letter grade equivalents for the course are as follows:
90 - 100 A
80 - 89.99 B
70 - 79.99 C
60 - 69.99 D
0 - 59.99
F
Class Attendance
Policy
As an enrolled
student, you have made a commitment to this class and your attendance is a significant
part of that commitment. Attendance will be taken at every class. An absence is
considered excused if the student has informed the course instructor by phone,
email or in person before the beginning of the class and the excuse is
considered reasonable by the instructor. All students are required to be on
time and in attendance for each and every class. Students arriving to class
more than 10 minutes late may be counted as absent. Two (2) unexcused
absences will result in a reduction of one entire letter grade. Four or
more absences will result in a zero for class participation.
Adherence to deadlines
is expected. It is the individual student's responsibility to keep track of
deadlines and to present the work to the class and instructor on the specified
dates. 15% per day will be subtracted from late assignments.
If you are concerned
about your creative trajectory or your grade at any point during the semester,
please do not hesitate to contact your Instructor and schedule an appointment
during office hours.
Statement On Academic Integrity
Class Specific
Collaboration and
discussion about class projects is actively encouraged, and is in no way
considered cheating. This is a studio course, and personal ownership of information
is not deemed to be appropriate. Original images/ designs are required except
where indicated otherwise. Projects are expected to reflect personal endeavor,
but may also be collaborative in nature when the nature of the collaboration is
clearly indicated.
Academic Honesty
Student relationships
are built on mutual respect and trust. Students must be able to trust that
their teachers have made responsible decisions about the structure and content
of the course and that they are conscientiou
Required Materials
• An active RCS account.
• Approximately 5 CDs
• Other materials on a
project basis
• You may be making a
number of digital prints/manifestations of your work on and off campus. The
costs of digital printing vary, but be prepared to
incur at least $25 in fabrication/material costs.
Electronic
Communication
Email: All students
are expected to have an active electronic mail account, and should check mail
at least four times a week for class information. Some essential class
information is communicated by email only.
Work Habits
Always back-up your
work frequently; that is, every time you make something you think is worth
keeping. Systems crash when least expected and you could lose all your
work. It is a good idea to make three backups (on different media),
as storage media are sometimes unstable. Always save onto your own media or
into your account as files left on hard drives will be removed.
Also, please keep in
mind the highly addictive aspects of working with computers. Many people lose
track of time and later wonder why they have severe back, neck and eye
problems. It is a good idea to take a rest every 15 to 20 minutes.
Look up or beyond your computer or, better still, at a long distance to relax
your eyes. Take a walk or stretch. Fatigue can lead to frustration.
Stay in touch with your body's needs.
Try not to harm or
deface any equipment in any way or lose files and folders belonging to our
class or other classes.
Please report studio
lab problems to Arts Engine staff.
Please follow the
guidelines for working in each studio very carefully, as you will be held
personally responsible for problems you incur. At all times please keep the lab
clean after each use.