OVERVIEW

This course offers a focus on the production of images and narrations addressed to those who design virtual environments. The analysis of the historical dynamics of communication through images and the reading of the problems faced by artists in modern and contemporary times will be accompanied by a reflection on the forms and structures of traditional, literary and cinematographic narration and those produced by contemporary intermediality and transmediality.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide those who design virtual environments and produce digital images with the ability to analyse the historical dynamics of communication through images and to read the problems faced by artists in modern and contemporary times in their value as responses to current needs in visual proposals.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide those who design virtual environments and produce digital images with the ability to analyse the historical dynamics of communication through images and to read the problems faced by artists in modern and contemporary times in their value as responses to current needs in visual proposals.

During the course students are invited both to consider the potentialities of the use of digital and multimedia reconstructions related to problems of historical-artistic reading and fruition of cultural heritage, and to develop the ability to analyse and use adequate narrative structures in the communication proposals tackled.

Attendance and active participation in the proposed training activities (face-to-face lessons and group work) and individual study will enable students to:
- know the applications of virtual technologies to the problems of cultural heritage;
- acquire the ability to analyse the historical dynamics of communication through images;
- know how to read the problems faced by artists in modern and contemporary times in their value as responses to current needs in the visual proposal;
- to know how to use the basic analytical methods and tools also to interpret intermediate and transmedia narrative

The course aims to contribute to the achievement of the following Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda:

• Goal 4. Provide quality, equitable and inclusive education and learning opportunities for all
• Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development

TEACHING METHODS

The course will be organised using the flipped classroom methodology: recordings of the lectures will be made available to the students and workshop meetings will be organised during which the content used will be discussed and projects on specific topics will be developed. with powerpoint presentations. Follow-up sessions with direct experiences on cultural and artistic heritage will be organised.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Module 1

The construction of narration: from comics to virtual worlds.
Intermedia, crossmedia, transmedia, multimedia narrative forms.
Transmedia storytelling.
Narrating with video games and serious games.

Module 2

Analysis of the artistic image: from the myth of Pygmalion to the proposal of virtual space in artistic representation and the empathic relationship between image and audience.
Ways of applying virtual technologies to the problems of cultural heritage.
Narration and storytelling: definitions, structures and objectives.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

A list of reference texts is provided from which reading suggestions may be made to students:

W.J.T.Mitchell, Pictorial turn: saggi di cultura visuale, Palermo 2008.

G.Didi-Huberman, L’immagine aperta, Milano 2008.

Cultura visuale. Paradigmi a confronto, a cura di R. Coglitore, Palermo 2008

Andrea Bernardelli, Remo Ceserani, Il testo narrativo, Bologna, Il Mulino “Itinerari”, 2005.

Karin B.Evans, Dennis Metzger, Storytelling, ASTD, 2000.

Giovagnoli, Max, Transmedia Way. Guida galattica per storyteller, comunicatori e designer, Milano, Apogeo/Maggioli Editore, 2017.

Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,  2012.

Roman Jakobson, Saggi di linguistica generale, Feltrinelli, Milano 1966.

Jenkins, Henry, « Transmedia Storytelling. Moving characters from books to films to video games can make them stronger and more compelling », Technological Review, 15.1.2003.

Christian Salmon, Storytelling : la machine à fabriquer des histoires et à formater les esprits, Paris: La Découverte, 2007.

Fabio Vittorini, Il Testo narrativo, Bologna, Carocci “Bussole”, 2005.

Non-attending students will find the materials on Aulaweb and should contact the lecturers for information on the bibliography to be used for preparation.

Students with DSA can contact the lecturers to agree on a specific bibliography.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

September 2024

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral examination and presentation by the student of a written synthesis of a proposal for the application of digital technologies to cultural heritage and of a narrative proposal in the context of the construction and design of a video game.

Verification of learning with questions related to the course through commentary on power point images presented in the lectures; discussion of the chosen readings. 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Verification of knowledge and skills acquired in relation to

• - getting to know the applications of virtual technologies to cultural heritage issues
• - acquiring skills to analyse the historical dynamics of communication through images
• - being able to read the problems faced by artists in modern and contemporary times in their value as responses to current needs in the visual proposal
• - know how to use basic analytical methods and tools also to interpret intermedial and transmedia narratives

Assessment criteria

• ability to correctly propose what has been learnt during the course and to report on the indicated readings
• originality and feasibility of the application proposal presented by the student
• development consistent with the intended specificities of the analysis of the intermediate product

FURTHER INFORMATION

Registration Required on aulaweb.

Students with disabilities or with DSA may apply for compensatory/dispensatory measures for the examination. The modalities will be defined on a case-by-case basis together with the Engineering Referent of the University Committee for the support of students with disabilities and with DSA. Students wishing to make such a request are invited to contact the lecturer of the course well in advance, copying the Contact Person for Engineering (https://unige.it/commissioni/comitatoperlinclusionedeglistudenticondisabilita.html), without sending any documents regarding their disability.