This is an intermediate to advanced level course. The work is fairly demanding and the expectation is high. It is important to keep up with the schedule and deadlines.

Assignments and Projects
You will be designing and producing two sets of work for two separate projects that depend on one another:
1. Content – That will include background art, Illustration, animation, video and sound
2. Page, or presentation – will hold the content in an organized manner and adds the interactive interface used to present the content

Project 1 – Redesigning Inter Active Design web page http://art.hsu.edu/dad/3803/
This is a web-base design project that will include the content listed below

Project 1 content:
Design of a page topper (or sider depending on your design) -- this is an animated piece of art the will present the title of the course
Link to ideas and tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXnDQjXNt7Y&feature=related
Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRv-okzm1Rc&feature=related%00
Interface artwork and scripting or other techniques for adding interactivity to the interface
Slide show of student work, and or links to student interactive portfolios


Project 2 – Self Promotional Flash Portfolio
This project will involve developing a personally expressive portfolio that presents your work and ideas. You will use a combination of your existing artwork, and media content you develop specifically for this course.

The following is possible content for project 2 -- This information will most likely chaange. So check back here later

Rotoscope studies
Dynamic sketching – using tracing paper make a series of related frames that create movement. Copy these to Flash frames to create a rotoscope animation.

Time capsule – gather a series of small images (scans or collections of images of objects work great). String them together as frames adding time where needed to go with the beat of a soundtrack. Use Soundtrack, Garageband, or your personal original music if you have some. Add the images to keep time with the sound track.

Animated text – Make type move in an interesting way using computer generated type. Inject some meaning other than the words into the animation (ie: car shaped word car bumping into a pole shaped word “pole”).

Stylized digital video – Short, simple video with soundtrack about HSU art department space (possibly to be used for web content). It will incorporate DV and filtering to create your personal style. Create a short storyboard and possibly a script for the project.

Slide show – Produce a Flash-based slide show of your best art and design work. Include at least one example (as a series of slides) of a project’s development from sketches and concept development to finished artwork.

If time premits a DVD project
Using DVD and the materials developed earlier in the course, create an interactive dvd-based portfolio. Sound should be incorporated as well as motion and video.

Extra credit assignment - create you own "how-to" tutorial.

Schedule (coming soon)

Course Materials
Text and online resources are recommended for anyone who needs more help understanding the tools that we use in the course:
Book: The How to Wow with Flash book by Colin Smith
Web tutorials: www.lynda.com -- online video library of tutorials for all the tools we will use in the course. This is $25/month, but a big help if you are lost, and you can subscribe for one month.

A sketchbook
A digital camera will be useful
Recordable CDs and DVDs to reproduce copies of your projects.

Grading Policy
Your grade will be based on the evaluation of the two major projects project as well as the components that will go into these projects. I will take into consideration the quality or your craftsmanship, the creativity of your ideas and amount of effort you put into each step leading to the production of the projects. More on this in the near future.

Attendance
Attendance is essential. The information in this course is challenging. If you miss class you miss important information. It quickly becomes difficult to keep up. Your final semester grade will be drop by a letter with four absences (excused or unexcused) and a letter grade for each additional absences.

Digital Studio Hours
The Digital Studio is open to art students during regular business hours (8AM to 5PM). If you are enrolled in this course, you will also have access whenever the Russell Fine Arts building is open. Please read the rules for the Digital Studio posted inside and outside the door to the lab. Always clean up after yourself.

Contact
Office: RFA 243. My hours are posted outside my door.
Phone: 230-5020. If I don’t answer, leave a message.
E-mail: stoddad@hsu.edu

Other Policies
Students with documented disabilities are entitled to all reasonable accommodation due them under Section 504. Students must notify instructor of special needs so that accommodation can be provided. Instructor reserves the right of flexibility as individual opportunities and class needs dictate.

It is university policy that plagiarism is treated seriously and will, at the least, result in failure of the class and could result in expulsion from the University.

University Accreditation
National accreditation boards are constantly reviewing the university. This process is design to insure that institutions of high education like HSU meet national standards for education. Part of this process requires instructors and professors to state the desired “outcomes” for each course. These are the ideas and skills that students should obtain by completing a course successfully. Below is the list of desired outcomes for this course.
Interactive Design
To successfully complete this course each student should understand and have the skills to do the following:
Demonstrate the ability to develop and design multimedia projects using Flash and DVD Pro
Demonstrate the ability to develop webpages with interactive and multimedia content using ImageReady and Dreamweaver
Demonstrate a professional level of craftsmanship
Demonstrate a strong understanding of issues such as file size management, color systems, appropriate file formats, file compression formats and sound formats
Have a good understanding of video and sound editing and creation tools
Understand on a basic level the use of scripting for multimedia and the web
Understand the concept of good multimedia interface and navigation design
Have a variety of media-based content developed based on the ideas and techniques demonstrated in the course
Have a completed multimedia portfolio in web and DVD formats


Website
The assignments, links, and syllabus for The Digital Page for Artists can be accessed on the web at http://art.hsu.edu/dad/3463/index.html

This syllabus is a general guide for the course and is subject to change at my discretion. I will keep the class informed of changes if they are necessary.

© David J. Stoddard, 2008