time-based design archive | Isabel Meirelles

The third assignment extends the exploration of relationships among visual, aural, and kinetic vocabularies in the construction of time-based linear structures. The task is to create a message that communicates and elicits social, cultural, or environmental awareness in the general public. The goal is to inform the audience about a social issue and ultimately to have the viewer adopting the value of the message.

First, students select and research a topic. Research involves finding information about both the nature of the selected problem and how it has been communicated in different media (e.g., posters, television ads, articles, documentaries, etc.). Students are responsible for creating both the visual and the verbal components of the message. The structure of the narrative is first discussed in the form of storyboards. The movie/message should be communicated using typographical, visual, and aural elements. Visual components can be any combination of still images, video clips, and abstract or figurative forms. In few particular cases students are allowed to use and manipulate found images. The movie should have an aural component in any combination of narration, sound track, and/or audio effects.

The following text must be part of the message as typographical elements (in any order): the social cause, a memorable message related to the cause, credits for the use of images and sound, and themselves as the designers.

The movie/message can be any size within 320 x 320 pixels (either the height or width should be 320 pixels). The duration has to be between sixty and ninety seconds at most. Students can use up to two typefaces of their choice.