DOCUMENTARY PRACTICE & EMERGING MEDIA

SPRING 2019

TAUGHT BY: AMIR HUSAK

CRN: 7294

How do emerging media change the way we tell non-fiction stories? What are the potentials and limitations of using interactive and non-linear forms to negotiate between reality on the one hand and representation, and interpretation on the other? What kind of challenges do new media forms and practices pose to traditional documentary practice and established principles of narrative logic? This practice-based course addresses such questions and explores documentary practice in emergent media technologies such as web-based interfaces, locative media, GPS-adapted systems, and mobile applications. Over the course of the semester, students develop and complete a series of conceptual exercises and a final project using a variety of proprietary and open-source tools and technologies. Combining screenings, discussions, readings and production assignments, the course focuses on issues regarding representation, sequencing, and non-linearity when using integrated media to tell non-fiction stories. Students work with text, graphics, stills, sound, and video, and experiment with linear and hypertextual navigation interfaces as well as popular social media and mapping tools. Students may either develop an existing project or generate a new proposal in class, ideally using previously acquired media (video, audio, photography). Prior coding and/or web design experience is helpful, but the course also makes use of pre-designed models to help facilitate production processes for those students with limited exposure to coding and web design.