Oberlin Center for Convergence (StudiOC)

Imagemaker/Noisemaker

An intermedia collaboration involving the creation of moving image and sound. Learning from and expanding on the tradition of silent film accompaniment (a practice with strong ties to the history of the Apollo Theatre), the collective of student-artists will create new work within new modes of sound and image.

Rian Brown-Orso in dark shirt

Photo credit: Jenn Manna

Rian Brown-Orso

Ross Karre in blue button down

Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Ross Karre

Imagemaker/Noisemaker

Offered Spring 2025

This StudiOC course cluster centers collaboration in the creation of interdisciplinary work involving moving image, projection mapping, foley sound, sound design, and music soundtracks. Students will create moving image work using everything from 16mm celluloid film to digital projection mapping software tools. They will also create sounds with simple, analog tools, acoustic instruments, and digital creation software. 

The collaborative work will culminate in two public events in the Wurtzel Theater and the Apollo Theatre.

Instructors

Course instructors for this learning community are:

  • Professor of Cinema and Media, Co-director of the Apollo Outreach Initiative, and Co-director of Apollo Center for Media Education and Production: Rian Brown-Orso.
  • Associate Professor of Percussion: Ross Karre.

Courses associated with this cluster

Rian Brown-Orso, Instructor

CIME 322 OC: Experiments in Moving Image and Sound I
Meets 1:30 pm; Wednesday and Friday, 4 Credit Hours, Enrollment 15

This is a hands-on advanced media production course that aims to activate and amplify students' creativity, and to stir passion for time-based media that transcend mainstream conventions. Students will be introduced to both 16mm film and advanced HD video production techniques and post-production strategies. We will screen a wide range of works by independent film directors and artists and will examine closely cinematic strategies and experimental approaches to the medium that span from early cinema to present day. Each student will create a fully realized short film ready for film festivals or exhibition.

This course must be taken with APST 136OC. Recommended Preparation: CIME 291 or CIME 326. Prerequisite(s): CIME 290.

Ross Karre, Instructor

APST 136 OC: Percussive Sounds Objects
Meets 11:00 am; Wednesday and Friday, 4 Credit Hours, Enrollment 15

Drums, Cymbals, Cowbells, Anvils, Chimes, Xylophones: When set into vibrational motion by a stick, these objects become phenomenal musical instruments capable of making an entire room dance, energize a full orchestra, or haunt a house with the creepiest film sound effect. This course will serve as a laboratory to explore the histories, present fields of research, and future opportunities of percussive objects. Students will study how implements such as sticks, mallets, and bows can strike materials and amplify their vibrations through special resonators. Each sound experiment will be contextualized within the well- document histories of percussion as an expressive craft. This is a beginning-level course open to both Conservatory and Arts and Sciences students.

This course must be taken with CIME 322OC.