Assignment
Electronic Media and Culture, October 2

Digital Film: Nostalgia "Noir"

Construct a short narrative film based on a place, time, or person that evokes nostalgia. The only stipulation is that your recollection of nostalgia be without sentimentality, rather, feel free to explore the macabre, the dark side of nostalgia, in other words a nostalgia "noir."

Before beginning work at the computer, write down a one or two paragraph description of your idea. Then, translate your nostalgic recollection into a narrative with a beginning, middle and end. To do this, create a storyboard on paper, with thumbnail sketches of your sequence of screens, each screen including an image and / or text. Given the length is to be no more than one minute, keep in mind that the viewer needs enough time to read your texts, so be brief, sparing, and concise.

We will create our films in Macromedia Flash 4.0, outputting either to a Quicktime movie or Netscape / html. The specific requirements of the film will include:

• a sequence of images: scanned, built, or downloaded from the web
• a "stage" area of any size or dimension, up to 640 X 480
• incorporate text wherever necessary to tell your story
• use sound throughout, drawn from your voice, recorded, effects, or downloaded from the web
• use dissolve transitions between images, sound and text
• the movie will play continuously from beginning to end

Do not use the following:

• digital video clips
• animation other than your sequence of images
• vector graphics generated in Flash
• interactivity

The assignment is due in two weeks and everyone will present their work for class discussion and critique.

The purpose of the assignment is for everyone to focus on the integration of image, text, and sound, and to learn to use these essential elements to construct a coherent and evocative narrative.

Good luck!

Randall