OVERVIEW

«

The Ancients knew the metaphor. In the Middle Ages the metaphor is present. In the Renaissance there is the metaphor. In Shakespeare there is the metaphor. In the eighteenth century there is the metaphor. There is also a metaphor in Pushkin and Gogol. In Mayakovsky there is the metaphor. In each of these cases, the content of the metaphor is different. What is translated is different, but also the direction in which it is translated, and the conscious purposes of the transposition are different. But there is one thing that always remains the same: it is the method, the principle of the metaphor, the means of the metaphor. Even the structure of the metaphor, the technique of the metaphor is absolutely the same. Sergej M. Ejzenstein.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to analyse new forms of storytelling, from videogames to multimedia shows, from installations to narrative museums. The course compares narratological theories from Aristotle to Genette, questioning techniques, ideologies and methods of the narrative structures. The application of these theories to new media products allows us to offer essential interpretative tools for understanding the meanings and perspectives of multimedia technologies, and at the same time to rethink traditional artistic forms historically, critically and creatively. The first part of the course introduces the main concepts of narratology, through the study of Propp, Tomaševskij, Genette, Greimas’ classical theories. The second part of the course combines the analysis of narrative structures in different media, through close readings of literary, cinematographic and pictorial works, with a workshop-type activity, in which students will work on an multimodal interactive project, critically reflecting on the active dynamics involving the playing between different languages of narration.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course will enable 

1. to understand the main morphological structures of a narrative text (with respect to narratological categories: time, mood, voice)

2. to understand how these structures are applied in intermedial and hypermedia contexts

3. how to employ the structures learned in collaborative projecting interactive multimodal narrative experiences

PREREQUISITES

Basic knowledge for understanding a narrative in linguistic and / or visual form

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures (both in presence and synchronously online) and seminar workshops for the shared design of multimodal interactions.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1) Introduction to main narratological concepts:

a. narrator, reader, description, storytelling levels

b. order, rhythm, frequency, characters, space, focus, visual stories

c. events, actors, time

2) Application of these narratological principles to the analysis of visual media, visual and interactive installations

3) Design of an Interactive multimedia multimodal interaction dedicated to a fullbody, interactive, experience with visual art images

As active participation in lessons and team projecting experiences are fundamental for the full achievement of the learning objectives,  students unable to attend should define with the teacher some bibliographical integrations.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mieke Bal, Narratology in Practice, Univ of Toronto Press 2021

Mieke Bal Endless Andness, Bloomsbury Academic, 2013

Mieke Bal Of What One Cannot Speak, University of Chicago Press 2011

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

NICOLA FERRARI (President)

GUALTIERO VOLPE

ANTONIO CAMURRI (President Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

https://corsi.unige.it/9913/p/studenti-orario

Lessons will start on Tuesday 27 February (9-13) in the site of Casa Paganini for the presence of Visiting Professor Heiner Goebbels

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The final exam will consist of

a) the discussion of a written narratological analysis dedicated to one of the multimodal installation/experience, presented in the course

b) the discussion of the interactive and multimodal cooperative projects developed and presented in the course.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam will evaluate

1. skills and ownership in the use of the main narratological categories

2. the ability to transfer classical narratological categories in a personal and original way in contexts of multimodal and interactive storytelling

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Non attending students could phone to agree his/her personal program:

39 345 4558112

Students with disabilities or learning disorders are allowed to use specific modalities and supports that will be determined on a case-by-case basis in agreement with the Delegate of the Engineering courses in the Committee for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities. Students are invited to contact the teacher of this course and copy the Delegate (https://unige.it/commissioni/comitatoperlinclusionedeglistudenticondisabilita.html).