Course Identification  
Program: Games Programs
School: Media and Communications
Course Code: COMM22301
Course title:   Media Cultures 1

 

Week

Lecture Content

#1

 

Introduction to the course.
Outline of the course's aims, objectives, assessment requirements and breakdown of weekly concepts.
Enroll on the Digital Art and Games site >
URL: Memory Palace
URL: Museum of Dust
URL: World Tales
URL: Strange Attractors
URL: Curiosity Cabinet

CLASS
WTF is a 'Media Culture' and what does it matter....

EXERCISE:
Form a group with 4 or 5 others. Develop a 10 question questionaire using Survey Monkey that investigates the present and past media usage of your assigned demographic.

Persuade AT LEAST 20 people in that demographic to fill out the survey. If your demographic members do not have access to the internet, you may need to print out the survey and get them to fill it in manually.

Post the url of the online form to Ning along with your group members' full names.

RESOURCES + LINKS
Tom Wujec on 3 ways the brain creates meaning
Teenage boy's report scares world's media bosses, The Age 19th July 2009
SurveyMonkey
20 Top Tips To Writing Effective Surveys
designingsurveysthatcount.pdf (server)

SCREENING:
Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/bunny.php
Annihilation ~ flipbook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frTsHwJXxLU
Paul Robertson -Pirate Babys Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006

#2

EXERCISE: Interpretation and presentation of survey results.
Make visualizations, using Illustrator, of the results of your survey.

Identify key results and theorise about
1. What might cause them
2. What they could mean in relation to the media habits of your demographic.

Class presentation then post (with team member names) to ning topic >

MAJOR ASSIGNMENT
Form Teams and discuss topic -- proposal due week 4.

SCREENING: ROBOTICA
All Your Base Are Belong To Us - Halo Music Video
Dance, Voldo, Dance
Terrible Secret
Hand Drawn Mega Man Boss Battle
Scary Nintendo ad
robots love their mummys too
PistolWimp - Stop-Motion Human Space Invaders
Heck No! (I'll Never Listen To Techno)

#3

SCREEN
Male Restroom Etiquette

CLASS: WTF is a Media Culture? Cont.

REF :: How Media makes History by Clay Shirky
REF :: Mac vs. PC
REF :: Harold Innis : Empire and Communications (1950), The Bias of Communication (1951).
REF :: Marshall McLuhen
REF :: Simulacra
REF :: Jean Baudrillard. Simulacra and Simulations
REF :: KISS of the Panopticon
REF :: Subculture: The Meaning of Style - Dick Hebdige (Methuen) Section as PDF on server

EXERCISE :: Subculture is as subculture does
In small groups or individually
1. Identify a subculture -- some examples: Elvis fans, polo players, ballerinas, headbangers, elderly Turkish men.
2. What are the specific conventions, etc. that define that subculture. These might include:

* age
* gender
* ethnicity
* clothing codes
* behavior and speech codes
* income
* geography
* entertainment or other venues that 'belong' to that subculture
* special events or rituals

3. Devise a new mobile service for this subculture. Write a synopsis and a feature list for the service.

4 Short class presentation in which your group presents the subculture (include pictures if possible) and the mobile service you have invented.

5. Post the presentation to Ning.

#4

LECTURE: Body Talk: Nonverbal communication and Semiotics

REF :: TEDTalks : Why play is vital -- no matter your age - Stuart Brown (2008)
REF :: Ron Mueck - monumental hyperrealist sculpture
REF :: a-website/hyperessays/06comTheory.html
REF :: Semiotics for Beginners by Daniel Chandler

EXERCISE : Do clothes maketh the character?
Choose an important (figurative) character from either a game involving or a feature film/animation. Analyse the character's nonverbal communications. Begin by describing:

  • Stance and posture
  • Kinesthetics (how they move and typical movement patterns)
  • Gestures
  • Facial expressions
  • Tone, volume, accent and other non-linguistic voice elements.
  • Proxemics (Do they get close to other characters or keep their distance? Do they touch or allow themselves to be touched? Where?)
  • Clothing (style, colour, etc)
  • Their 'home' (if appropriate)

Write at least a paragraph analysing what the above information tells us about the character. Include at least 2 'typical' pictures of your chosen character.

Upload to ning topic >

SCREENING:
9 by Shane Acker
Charlie Chaplin - The Kid (1921) 1 of 8
CHARLIE CHAPLIN - modern times (tempos modernos)
MIT's Nexi MDS Robot: First Test of Expression
The Sims 3 - Devious Trailer [HD]
The Sims 3 - Official Trailer

#5

LECTURE: Speech: The Brain's Killer App and Narratology.

REF :: Jonathan Harris -- The Art of Collecting Stories
REF :: The Biology of the Language Faculty: Its Perfection, Past and Future Noam Chomsky
REF :: Ali G - Language
REF :: Narratology: The Study of Story Structure
REF :: Propp's Morphology of Folk Tales
REF :: proppian fairy tale generator
REF :: The Matrix - Joseph Campbell Monomyth
REF :: The Hero's Journey in Film
REF :: the hero's journey : summary of the steps
REF :: Monomyth.org

EXERCISE #5 : Telling a Game/Gaming a story Part 1

In pairs, devise and sketch out a story using;

  • some or all the character types from Propp's Morphological analysis;
  • either Propp's narratemes or Campbell's monomyth stages;
  • the three random values you have been assigned.

Post story to dagrmit.ning.com : deliverable #5 due before start of class 6

SCREENING: Language is a Virus
LAURIE ANDERSON - LANGUAGE IS A VIRUS
JOHN CAGE "Words"
Laurie Anderson - Drum Dance & Smoke Rings
Words Of Advice William S. Burroughs
Laurie Anderson - Talk Normal
Howl Ginsberg
LAURIE ANDERSON - LANGUE D'AMOUR
John Cage - Speech (1955)
Laurie Anderson - Difficult Listening Hour
William S. Burroughs - Thanksgiving Prayer
True Stories (1986) David Byrne

#6

LECTURE: Games mechanics vs. narrative functions

REF :: LUDOLOGY MEETS NARRATOLOGY: Similitude and differences between (video)games and narrative. By Gonzalo Frasca.
REF :: Where Stories End and Games Begin by Greg Costikyan
REF :: What are game mechanics? by Danc
REF :: The Invisible Narrative of Games - OR - The Story of Chess by Frank Forrestall
REF :: Minimal Risk Designs: How to Design a Game When You Don't Have the Time by Brent Ellison
REF :: Genre and the Video Game, by Mark J. P. Wolf
REF :: Game Mechanics That Tell Stories by Francisco Souki
REF :: Game Design links @ SS's delicious
REF :: Three Hundred :: Three Hundred Mechanics

EXERCISE #6: Telling a Game/Gaming a story Part 2

Transforming narrative functions into games mechanics.

  • Using a mind mapping tool such as bubbl.us or a graphics program, produce a plot-line based on your story. The plot-line acts as a timeline showing the beginning at one end, the events in temporal order with the conclusion at the other.
  • Identify and label the major narratemes/monomythic stages and label them.
  • Identify and label the major narrative settings and their persistence over the plotline.
  • Identify and label the appearance/exit (or persistence if appropriate) of the major characters. Identify their character type as per Propp's Dramatis personae.
  • Choosing an appropriate game genre, devise game mechanics that parallel each stage of your story. Chart these on a parallel line next to your plotline.
  • On this second timeline indicate where the cut scenes (if any) would occur and their content.

Screenshot or save as pdf and post to dagrmit.ning.com topic >

SCREENING: Making Stories from Games (Machinima)
Watch the World(s).
The 1k Project II
I'm Still Seeing Breen.
This Spartan Life: A Talk Show In Game Space
Code Monkey
Fight For Kisses
GTA Coke
Fake Science by Dead On Que
Tra5hTa1k with ILL Will and Mal Content -- Ill Clan
The Ballad of the Noob - World of Warcraft machinima

#7

SCREENING: TED @ David Perry on Videogames'

LECTURE: Pacing in Games

REF :: Call Of Duty 4 Sniper Mission "All Ghillied Up" Part 1
REF :: Beyond Pacing: Games Aren't Hollywood by Jacek Weso?owski
REF :: Level 2: Game Design / Iteration and Rapid Prototyping « Game Design Concepts
REF :: Game Design 2 - Theory of Fun
REF :: Guidelines for Paper Level Designs
REF :: Paper prototype of Aperture Science + Left 4 Dead
REF :: Paper Prototyping - ReThinkWiki

EXERCISE 7: Telling a Game/Gaming a story Part 3 -- Paper prototype
Using paper or cardboard, crayons/textas/whatever, games tokens, etc (whatever it takes), produce a paper prototype of your game, showing alternate routes, settings, games mechanics etc. The exact form your prototype will take will depend on the genre and features (game mechanics) of your translation.

Take photographs or video of the protoype and post, with team members' names (if they contributed!) and game title in the comments field, to the ning discussion>

#8

Deadline #1 Major Assignment: Storyboard and script
Please email them to shiralee.saul@rmit.edu.au

EXERCISE 7: Telling a Game/Gaming a story Part 4 -- Presentation and assessment
You must complete 1 feedback form for EVERY prototype except your own! Place them in the folder provided on the server. Make sure that your student number is part of the file-name of the assessment sheets.

I will strip away the identifying names and compile all of the feedback for each game so that you have access to what the rest of the class thought of your game... please do not attempt to access them until this has been done.

Presentations start 1 hour after the beginning of class.

#9

CLASS: Finish paper proptype presentations (begins immediately at the start of class time)

LECTURE: Moving Pictures :: The Appearance of Life

EXERCISE 8: Feedback to paper prototype presentations

REF :: The Magic Mirror of Life
REF :: Persistence of vision
REF :: Muybridge´s Zoopraxographer
REF :: Chris Marker's "La Jetee" (1962)
REF :: Anatomy of a Murder -- titles: Saul Bass
REF :: Kevin Kelly on how technology evolves

#10

GALLERY VISIT: Len Lye + Screen Worlds @ ACMI

Meet inside the Flinders St ACMI entrance at 10.00am 0r 12.30pm Wednaesday. Thurday evening class members may attend either wednesday session. There will be no class on Thursday evening.http://www.acmi.net.au/len_lye.aspx
http://www.acmi.net.au/screen_worlds.aspx

EXERCISE #9: write a short report (aprox 500 words) on either

  • an aspect or specific exhibit of the new 'History of Australian media' permanent exhibition, or
  • discuss either Lye's films or his kinetic sculptures.

Consider your report object's:

  • materiality;
  • content;
  • its historical role and importance;
  • how it's exhibited;
  • your response to it.

#11

LECTURE:: The Vocabulary of Cinema

Major assignment studio time.

#12

PRESENTATIONS: Major assignment

EXERCISE: Peer assessment and team/self assessment

Deadline #2 Major Assignment: Communications Technology Video

RESOURCES

'digital + art + games' network site   http://dagrmit.ning.com/
Media Cultures links http://del.icio.us/shiralee
k.i.s.s. of the panopticon The idea of k.i.s.s. of the panopticon is to give people a quick, user-friendly, one-stop shopping guide to cultural/critical theory and its relationship with communications and new media, including the Internet.

Course Description:

This course will enable students to develop an understanding of the theory and practice of time-based, interactive and digital arts and media. It will assist students to understand the continuous cultural, institutional and aesthetic transformations caused by communication innovations.

The course will explore the interrelation of art and technology by exploring the evolution of communications' technologies and concepts, with an emphasis on the development of digital media. Historical, cultural and theoretical perspectives of media will be extensively explored. The course will examine how the language of new media relies on cultural forms and conventions from prior media such as fine art, graphic design, industrial design, architecture and cinema .

As a means of applying these theoretical and historical perspectives, this course will also explore the theory and practice of writing and conceptual development techniques to suit a range of media. There will be a strong emphasis on the development of analytical and presentation skills, with course work including individual and group research and production.

Throughout the course, students will build a solid foundation of ideas, methods and techniques as well as professional formats for presentation, which will have a deep and broad impact on the way they approach, work on and develop future multimedia projects.

Learning Objectives

The learning approach in this course will be student-centred and project-based. Students will be expected to utilise the processes of lateral, analytical and critical thinking, both at an individual and group level through class exercises, critiques, reviews and discussions.

The exploration of existing models, theories and paradigms will be essential, allowing students to develop their knowledge base of creative strategies. Students will further enhance their knowledge through practical application, providing both creative and conceptual solutions to media problems.

Analysis and evaluate a variety of media relevant to the program as a whole.

•  Understanding how media operate in shaping and disseminating information, meaning and experience.

•  Understanding of the relationship and influences between art and technology.

•  Understanding of major economic, aesthetic, technological, cultural and theoretical developments in world media.

Develop and explore linear & non-linear spaces through spatial and aural mediums:

•  Develop original content through heightened conceptual and idea generation processes suitable for multimedia productions.

Investigative problem identification and innovative creative solutions:

•  Develop forms of narrative storytelling within interactive, animation and video works.

Ongoing analysis development and application of conceptual processes:

•  Develop a language for discussing media, art and technology.

•  Develop creative conceptual responses to a brief.

•  Identify and evaluate a range of presentation and essay themes.

•  Practice independent research.

Record, document & present concepts, process & outcomes

•  Meet deadlines and develop skills for the professional presentation of material.

•  Develop skills to effectively give and receive constructive criticism within a group situation.

•  Conduct effective seminar presentations.

Awareness of contemporary methodology and developments:

  • Compare knowledge of contemporary media to older media forms.
  • Initiate, identify, define, evaluate & apply research methodologies:
  • Actively identify, record & incorporate visual and conceptual influences.

Overview of Assessment

Assessment is based on progressive assessment briefs, and class exercises. In completing the assessment briefs, the student must demonstrate the knowledge acquired through the planned learning experience.

Assessment will progress through each development stage and students will receive written feedback and participation in group critiques (formal and informal).

ASSIGNMENTS:

Assessment Tasks  10x Class exercises.

Class exercises will follow from weekly class content and are to be submitted on the 'digital + art + games' network site (unless otherwise specified). http://dagrmit.ning.com/

Please note that these exercises will generally be set on a weekly basis and are to be completed before class the following week.

Each exercise is worth 5% of the total mark (50% in total).

Work submitted late will not be assessed.

Marks will be deducted for spelling mistakes, poor proofreading and lack of correct citations.

If someone else has already posted the example you were going to use, you will have to find another (first in, best dressed!) or you will receive only 1%(out of 5%) mark for the exercise.

1x Major Assignment

A collaborative assignment to be completed in small groups (max. 4 members). Groups will research a dead, current or potential communications technology or concept. They will produce

•  Either a trailer-style video introducing it to the world or a short video documentary/overview of the topic. You can use original footage or mash-up found footage, stills and text.
Due week 12.

•  A brief synopsis, script and storyboard for the video. Due Week 8.

Completed videos will be uploaded to YouTube and 'digital + art + games' network site http://dagrmit.ning.com/

This assignment is worth 40% of the total mark.

RESOURCES:
Trailers to Learn From

Learn from the professionals: Tales from the Trenches; Games Talks Attendance

6 Games Talks from some of Melbourne's leading industry figures, every second Tuesday 12.30 – 1.30
Building 12 / Level 13 / Room 03

Value: 10%

Due: Ongoing

Assessment

Assessment will be based on the student's knowledge and understanding of the topics as per the course outline. Students should keep a copy of all work submitted for assessment. Loss or corruption of data (student's electronic based work) is not a valid reason for late or non-submission of work. Assignments that do not conform to the required format will be returned to the student for resubmission. Assignments must be received by the due date otherwise the student will incur a grade penalty. Any resources used in the student's work must be cited properly. Submitting substantially similar work to meet requirements of any other subject is not permitted without the written permission of the lecturer.

Assessment Criteria

All assessment tasks will be provided in writing via briefs and verbal reinforcement. Criteria include:

•  Participation in individual and group activities

•  Originality of ideas

•  Ability to present ideas and respond to critical analysis

•  Research skills

•  Effective communication (verbal and written)

•  Completing the assessment tasks on time

•  Presentation standards (including spellcheck, grammar, proofread).

Lecturer: shiralee.saul@rmit.edu.au